San Francisco Students Participate in STEM Career Awareness Day

A consortium of businesses, schools and governments in the San Francisco Bay Area held the second annual STEM Career Awareness Day March 15. The goal was to encourage high school students to pursue college degrees and, eventually, careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

More than 100 students from three San Francisco Unified School District high schools participated in the event that started out the day at the Rutter Center on the Mission Bay campus of the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). They then visited a number of businesses in the San Francisco area where they received tours and had discussions with scientists and engineers.

Among the companies that participated were:

  • Bayer;
  • FibroGen;
  • OtherLab;
  • Splunk;
  • Discovery Digital;
  • The EcoCenter at Heron's Head Park;
  • PG&E;
  • TechShop;
  • Adobe;
  • Illumina; and
  • PUC Southeast Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Bayer, which is the Bay Area's third largest biotech employer, was the primary sponsor of the event that was organized as part of UCSF's Science and Health Education Partnership with the school district.

The program is in response to a 2014 report from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics that found, while STEM unemployment is low — 3.1 percent compared to an overall national unemployment rate of 7.4 percent — more than 9 million more STEM jobs will be created by 2022.

"We know that the best investment we can make for our city's future is an investment in our young people," said San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, "and that's why we are laser-focused on making sure our public schools are the best in the nation. This helps to inspire our students to pursue the science and technology careers of the 21st century economy."

About the Author

Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.

Featured

  • conceptual graph of rising AI adoption

    AI Adoption Rising, but Trust Gap Limits Impact

    A recent global study by IDC and SAS found that while the adoption of artificial intelligence continues to expand rapidly across industries, a misalignment between perceived trust in AI systems and their actual trustworthiness is limiting business returns.

  • Children looking at screen displaying AI technology

    How Teachers and Administrators Can Contribute to AI Transparency

    To help students understand and use AI tools, teachers need professional development that supports them in redesigning tried-and-true assignments with an eye to teaching critical thinking.

  • red brick school building with a large yellow "AI" sign above its main entrance

    New National Academy for AI Instruction to Provide Free AI Training for Educators

    In an effort to "transform how artificial intelligence is taught and integrated into classrooms across the United States," the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), in partnership with Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic, and the United Federation of Teachers, is launching the National Academy for AI Instruction, a $23 million initiative that will provide access to free AI training and curriculum for all AFT members, beginning with K-12 educators.

  • interconnected blocks of data

    Rubrik Announces Immutable Backup for Okta Environments

    Rubrik has introduced Okta Recovery, extending its identity resilience platform to Okta with immutable backups and in-place recovery, while separately detailing its integration with Okta Identity Threat Protection for automated remediation.