Volume VII Issue 6
Fall 2011 |
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 PSM
Degree Holders Find High Job Placement
 The
Council of Graduate Schools has released its first Professional Science
Master’s (PSM) Student Outcomes Survey, documenting initial hiring
outcomes for 2010-11 graduates and perceived satisfaction with the PSM
degree. The PSM is a new graduate degree designed to allow students to
pursue advanced training in science or math, while also developing
workplace skills. Most PSM programs require a final project or team
experience, as well as a “real-world” internship.
“The results of this survey confirm the value of Professional Science
Master’s degrees to both degree holders and employers given that 82% of
PSM graduates had jobs soon after receiving their degrees,” said Debra
W. Stewart, CGS President. This
new report
includes data on the reasons students enrolled in PSM programs, their
experiences and satisfaction with them, their current employment status,
salaries, and the perceived value of a PSM degree. Among the findings,
of those in new jobs, 38% secured that employment because of their PSM
internship. Also, over 55% of those employed earned $50,000 or more in
annual salary. Also, of those who were working, 88% were working in a
job that is closely or somewhat related to their field of study.
 Find
out more about PSM degrees...
Robotic
Roach Gets Wings
 Engineers
at the University of California, Berkeley have outfitted a six-legged
robotic bug with wings in an effort to improve its mobility. First
unveiled by Fearing Ron Fearing, professor of electrical engineer ing
and head of the Biomimetic Millisystems Lab at UC Berkeley and graduate
student Paul Birkmeyer in 2009, DASH (Dynamic Autonomous Sprawled
Hexapod) is a lightweight, speedy robot made of inexpensive,
off-the-shelf materials, including compliant fiber board with legs
driven by a battery-powered motor. With its new motorized flapping
wings, DASH+Wings’ running speed nearly doubled, going from from
0.68 meters per second with legs alone to 1.29 meters per second. The
robot (see photo courtesy of Kevin Peterson, Biomimetic Millisystems
Lab) could also take on steeper hills and the flapping wings improved
the lift-drag ratio, helping DASH+Wings land on its feet instead of just
plummeting uncontrolled. Its small size makes it a candidate for
deployment in areas too cramped or dangerous for humans to enter, such
as collapsed buildings.
Find
out more...
K-12
Online Learning Trends for 2011
 Keeping
Pace 2011, a report on online education trends, was recently released
and tracks significant changes this year. According to the report,
growth within single district programs -- run by one district for that
district’s students -- is outpacing all other segments.
Several years ago, state-level and statewide schools and programs were
driving most online learning activity. That is no longer the case; now
the bulk of activity is at the district level. A second important area
of growth is among consortium programs, as districts choose to combine
resources to create cost effective online opportunities. Another new
trend is that most district programs are blended, instead of fully
online. That means that some aspect of the online course is offered in a
traditional classroom environment. The reason for blending online and
face to-face learning is simple: Districts are often serving their own
students, who are local, so there is limited need to bridge large
distances. Even when the district is providing an online course with a
remote teacher, the local school often provides a computer lab,
facilitator, or other on-site resources that may define the course as
blended instead of fully online.
Find
out more about online education...
Degree
Profile: Computer Science
 The
rapid and widespread use of computers and information technology has
generated a need for highly trained workers proficient in various job
functions. These computer specialists include computer scientists,
database administrators, and network systems and data communication
analysts. Job tasks and occupational titles used to describe these
workers evolve rapidly and continually, reflecting new areas of
specialization or changes in technology, as well as the preferences and
practices of employers.
Computer scientists work as
theorists, researchers, or inventors. Their jobs are distinguished by
the higher level of theoretical expertise and innovation they apply to
complex problems and the creation or application of new technology. The
areas of computer science research range from complex theory to hardware
design to programming-language design. Some researchers work on
multidisciplinary projects, such as developing and advancing uses of
virtual reality, extending human-computer interaction, or designing
robots. They may work on design teams with electrical engineers and
other specialists.
Computer scientists and database administrators hold about 29,000 jobs
in the U.S. Median annual earnings of computer and information
scientists is about $97,000 in the most recent data. According to the
U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, computer scientists and database
administrators are projected to be one of the fastest growing
occupations over the next decade.
Find
out more about a careers in
computer science...
Report
Praises STEM Associate Degrees
 A
new report from
the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce shows
that 65 percent of Bachelor's degrees in STEM (science, engineering,
technology and mathematics) occupations earn more than Master's degrees
in non-STEM occupations. Similarly, 47 percent of Bachelor's degrees in
STEM occupations earn more than Ph.D.s in non-STEM occupations.
Furthermore, even people with only STEM certificates can earn more than
people with non-STEM degrees; for instance certificate holders in
engineering earn more than Associate's degree-holders in business and
more than Bachelor's degree-holders in education. "STEM provides choice
for people both immediately after school and at mid-career, allowing
people to transition to different and oftentimes more lucrative career
pathways, including management and healthcare that provide long-term
stability and excellent wages," says Anthony P. Carnevale, the Center's
director and the report's lead author. The report details STEM earnings
by occupation, race, sex, and education level, and finds:
-- For women and
minorities, STEM is the best equal opportunity employer.
-- The pay gap in STEM between women and minorities and white men is
smaller in STEM than in any other occupation.
-- STEM pays more than most jobs at each level of education, and at the
graduate level is exceeded only by a small sliver of managerial and
healthcare occupations.
-- Over 70 percent of STEM workers at the high school or some college
level make more than the average for workers in all other occupations at
the same education level. More than two-thirds of Associate's
degree-holders in STEM make more than the average for all Associate's
degree-holders.
-- Workers majoring in STEM in college earn more than all other majors
over their lifetimes, even if they work in non-STEM occupations.
Find
out more about associate
degrees and STEM careers...
Can
Any Surface be a Touchscreen?
 OmniTouch,
a wearable projection system developed by researchers at Microsoft
Research and Carnegie Mellon University, enables users to turn pads of
paper, walls or even their own hands, arms and legs into graphical,
interactive surfaces. OmniTouch employs a depth-sensing camera, similar
to the Microsoft Kinect, to track the user's fingers on everyday
surfaces. This allows users to control interactive applications by
tapping or dragging their fingers, much as they would with touchscreens
found on smartphones or tablet computers. The projector can superimpose
keyboards, keypads and other controls onto any surface, automatically
adjusting for the surface's shape and orientation to minimize distortion
of the projected images. "It's conceivable that anything you can do on
today's mobile devices, you will be able to do on your hand using
OmniTouch," said Chris Harrison, a Ph.D. student in Carnegie Mellon's
Human-Computer Interaction Institute. The palm of the hand could be used
as a phone keypad, or as a tablet for jotting down brief notes. The
device currently includes a short-range depth camera and laser pico-projector
and is mounted on a user's shoulder. But Harrison said the device
ultimately could be the size of a deck of cards, or even a matchbox, so
that it could fit in a pocket, be easily wearable, or be integrated into
future handheld devices. The optical sensing used in OmniTouch allows a
wide range of interactions, similar to the capabilities of a computer
mouse or touchscreen. It can track three-dimensional motion on the hand
or other commonplace surfaces, and can sense whether fingers are
"clicked" or hovering.
Find
out more about careers in engineering
and technology...
Salary
Offers Jump 6% for 2011 Grads
 The
overall average salary offer to Class of 2011 graduates has risen 6
percent over last year’s average, according to a new survey published by
the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). NACE’s Fall
2011 Salary Survey report shows the overall average salary offer to a
bachelor’s degree graduate rose from $48,288 for the Class of 2010 to
$51,171 for the Class of 2011. As a group, those earning
computer-related degrees saw their overall average salary soar 9.6
percent from $58,189 to $63,760. The overall average offer for those
majoring specifically in computer science jumped 9.3 percent to $66,084,
while information sciences and systems majors saw their average salary
offer increase by 5.9 percent to $55,619. The average salary offer to
engineering majors as a group rose 2.8 percent over last year’s average
of $58,669 to $60,291. The average salary offer to petroleum engineering
graduates grew 7.1 percent to $82,740, making it the highest-paid major
in this report. Also ranking on the highest-paid list, chemical
engineering graduates saw their average salary offer increase 1.8
percent to $66,058. Computer engineering graduates posted a healthy 4.1
percent increase to their average salary offer, bringing it to $62,849.
Find
out about current salary ranges for
all STEMM fields...
Career Cornerstone News is a publication of the
Sloan Career Cornerstone Center. Click here
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mathematics, or healthcare.
Find out more...
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