Yes, It Is Rocket Science, and African Americans Are Doing It
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These 11 African Americans are leaders in their STEM fields, from video game technology to space exploration, setting an example for the kind of professional achievement that is possible.
By Nigel Roberts, The Root
1. African Americans are missing out on the tech boom. Job creation in science, technology, engineering and math—known as STEM—career fields is expected to significantly outpace (pdf) that of non-STEM jobs well into the future. But black students are earning just a handful of STEM-related degrees. The reasons they lag behind include a mix of “self-doubt, stereotypes, discouragement and economics.” With another school year under way, we need to emphasize math and science as an academic foundation to guarantee good jobs for these students. While some of the job titles may sound daunting, the faces behind those titles prove that our young people have plenty of role models.
2. Edward Tunstel, Robotics Engineer
Have you heard the (joking) prediction that robots will be doing all our jobs some day? Well, Edward Tunstel may have something to do with that. Tunstel is a senior roboticist at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. His expertise includes robot navigation and the use of behavior-based controllers to enable robots to react to their environment. He recently served on the NASA Mars Exploration Rovers project as a flight-systems engineer. Robotic engineering attracts innovative thinkers with backgrounds in mechanical, electrical and computer-software engineering.
3. Kamilah Taylor, Software Developer
Software developers write, edit and test computer programs that have an impact on nearly every aspect of our personal and professional lives. Employment in this field is projected to grow 22 percent by 2022. Kamilah Taylor is a senior software engineer at LinkedIn who works on the flagship LinkedIn iOS mobile app. She’s helping to build the “next big thing” for the company…
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