By Milton Bertrand

As there is a major push by many organizations, the question remains as to who should get involved in STEM? STEM is the acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. I am sure you agree that everyone should get involved in STEM. It is impossible for anyone of you to decouple yourself from STEM. To get started take a look around you; don’t look too far; look at your hands, the screen that you are reading this article. You as a being are a biological system; that means you fall under many scientific categories like biology, chemistry, anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and the list goes on.  As a being, it is important to know more about the system. The system is you. I am sure you have been to a physician’s office; do you really have to be a medical doctor to better understand you as a being? I am sure you already make that assessment.

STEM education is important. A STEM education is not the idea for all of you to become scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians rather to appreciate and understand the core principles that make modern society. Many students who go on to work in business and public policy do everything they can to avoid STEM classes. At the end of the day, you want your policy makers to understand STEM related fields. At the same time, you want your business partner to have a clear understanding of the engineering firm. In so doing, they will have better understandings of the many things that can have long lasting consequences.

In fact, many believe that art is not STEM. That is not so true. There is also the acronym STEAM where A is “Art”.  A piece of art could not come to being without meeting science.  It is an amazing phenomenon when fields collide. There has been an emerging field known as Forensic Sculpture. It is a combination of art and science that aims to solve cold cases. The forensic sculpture comes into play once traditional methods like DNA testing and fingerprinting are not available.

The brain is a complex biological structure; I am sure if you are a neuroscientist, you have seen the inner working of the brain under a microscope many times. I am certain that gets you thinking. These neurons are incredible piece of arts.

I have always been fascinated with STEM. In my earlier years, I liked taking things apart just so I could put them back together. It is important to learn and adapt to new skills.  Curiosity and appetite to learn new skills will build you a successful career.  If you like to learn, a career in STEM might be the path for you and, at this point in history, you couldn't pick a better time to get involved in a STEM field.

You can teach yourself the many skills that you will need. There are many online courses like Coursera and free books. There's so much demand for talent across the STEM industry that if you want to learn new skills and go a different direction, you can.

Things move very rapidly. Hardware is getting faster. Algorithms are becoming more efficient. The industry needs curious minds and tenacious individuals to work on the problems we face today.  As for future's STEM careers, we don't yet know what we don't know. There will be new challenges to face that we just can't dream up today. Get involved.