scholarly journals Why the US science and engineering workforce is aging rapidly

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (15) ◽  
pp. 3879-3884 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Blau ◽  
Bruce A. Weinberg

The science and engineering workforce has aged rapidly in recent years, both in absolute terms and relative to the workforce as a whole. This is a potential concern if the large number of older scientists crowds out younger scientists, making it difficult for them to establish independent careers. In addition, scientists are believed to be most creative earlier in their careers, so the aging of the workforce may slow the pace of scientific progress. We develop and simulate a demographic model, which shows that a substantial majority of recent aging is a result of the aging of the large baby boom cohort of scientists. However, changes in behavior have also played a significant role, in particular, a decline in the retirement rate of older scientists, induced in part by the elimination of mandatory retirement in universities in 1994. Furthermore, the age distribution of the scientific workforce is still adjusting. Current retirement rates and other determinants of employment in science imply a steady-state mean age 2.3 y higher than the 2008 level of 48.6.

Author(s):  
Samuel K. Cohn, Jr.
Keyword(s):  
Top Down ◽  

This chapter asks whether Canada, Australia, and India followed the US pattern in their responses to the Great Influenza. These countries were involved in the war with heavy losses, but, as in the US, their civilian populations were beyond the battlefields and their militaries did not play a significant role in providing physicians, nurses, hospitals, and material aid to civilians suffering from the pandemic. They show patterns resembling the US’s charitable outpouring, especially in Australia, with heavy reliance on women. Canada differed slightly in that the charitable impetus was more top-down, and India differed further in that its response, like the Deep South’s, was principally centred on men’s organizations. In all these countries, the Great Influenza did not instigate blaming but rather proved to be a force for charity, self-sacrifice, and unity, bringing Muslims and Hindus together in India, even during a period of heightened antagonism between the two.


Author(s):  
Anna Mura ◽  
Tony J. Prescott

The Living Machines approach, which can be seen as an exemplar methodology for a wider initiative towards “convergent science,” implies and requires a transdisciplinary understanding that bridges from between science and engineering and to the social sciences, arts, and humanities. In addition, it emphasizes a mix of basic and applied approaches whilst also requiring an awareness of the societal context in which modern research and innovation activities are conducted. This chapter explores the education landscape for postgraduate programs related to the concept of Living Machines, highlighting some challenges that should be addressed and providing suggestions for future course development and policy making. The chapter also reviews some of the within-discipline and across-discipline programs that currently exist, particularly within Europe and the US, and outlines an exemplar degree program that could provide the multi-faceted training needed to pursue research and innovation in Living Machines.


Author(s):  
Alice M. Agogino

How will engineering practice change in the next twenty years? What are the implications to engineering education? Will we have achieved gender equity? These questions will be discussed in the context of three recent reports of the US. National Academy of Engineering – The Engineer of 2020: Global Visions of Engineering in the New Century; Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century; and Beyond Bias and Barriers: Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
pp. 170103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chanchal Mondal ◽  
Siddharth G. Chatterjee

The surface of a turbulent liquid is visualized as consisting of a large number of chaotic eddies or liquid elements. Assuming that surface elements of a particular age have renewal frequencies that are integral multiples of a fundamental frequency quantum, and further assuming that the renewal frequency distribution is of the Boltzmann type, performing a population balance for these elements leads to the Danckwerts surface age distribution. The basic quantum is what has been traditionally called the rate of surface renewal. The Higbie surface age distribution follows if the renewal frequency distribution of such elements is assumed to be continuous. Four age distributions, which reflect different start-up conditions of the absorption process, are then used to analyse transient physical gas absorption into a large volume of liquid, assuming negligible gas-side mass-transfer resistance. The first two are different versions of the Danckwerts model, the third one is based on the uniform and Higbie distributions, while the fourth one is a mixed distribution. For the four cases, theoretical expressions are derived for the rates of gas absorption and dissolved-gas transfer to the bulk liquid. Under transient conditions, these two rates are not equal and have an inverse relationship. However, with the progress of absorption towards steady state, they approach one another. Assuming steady-state conditions, the conventional one-parameter Danckwerts age distribution is generalized to a two-parameter age distribution. Like the two-parameter logarithmic normal distribution, this distribution can also capture the bell-shaped nature of the distribution of the ages of surface elements observed experimentally in air–sea gas and heat exchange. Estimates of the liquid-side mass-transfer coefficient made using these two distributions for the absorption of hydrogen and oxygen in water are very close to one another and are comparable to experimental values reported in the literature.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Droho ◽  
Harris Perlman ◽  
Jeremy A. Lavine

AbstractAge-related macular degeneration (AMD) is genetically associated with complement. Dendritic cells (DCs) play key roles during innate and adaptive immunity, and express complement components and their receptors. We investigated ocular DC heterogeneity and the role of DCs in the laser-induced choroidal neovascularization (CNV) model. In order to determine the function of DCs, we used two models of DC deficiency: the Flt3−/− and Flt3l−/− mouse. We identified three types of ocular DCs: plasmacytoid DC, classical DC-1, and classical DC-2. At steady-state, classical DCs were found in the iris and choroid but were not detectable in the retina. Plasmacytoid DCs existed at very low levels in iris, choroid, and retina. After laser injury, the number of each DC subset was up-regulated in the choroid and retina. In Flt3−/− mice, we found reduced numbers of classical DCs at steady-state, but each DC subset equally increased after laser injury between wildtype and Flt3−/− mice. In Flt3l−/− mice, each DC subsets was severely reduced after laser injury. Neither Flt3−/− or Flt3l−/− mice demonstrated reduced CNV area compared to wildtype mice. DCs do not play any significant role during the laser-induced CNV model of neovascular AMD.


2002 ◽  
Vol 6 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
N Noah

Chickenpox is now one of the last of the infectious diseases of childhood that remain mostly uncontrolled. An effective vaccine has been available for many years but has not been used for routine immunisation in many countries. This is because the effect of giving the vaccine in early life on the subsequent development of herpes zoster is not known; high immunisation rates are important to ensure that the age distribution does not shift towards older age groups in whom the disease is more serious; and the disease is generally considered innocuous, especially in childhood when about 95% of infections occur.


Author(s):  
Ulrike Elisabeth Stockhausen

This chapter covers evangelical resettlement of Southeast Asian refugees from 1975 to the early 1980s. During this time, a number of evangelical organizations ran resettlement ministries and refugee service programs. This chapter describes the professionalization of evangelical refugee resettlement, including the founding of the first evangelical resettlement agency, World Relief Refugee Services. Evangelical volunteers and former missionaries to Vietnam played a significant role in running recreational and educational activities in the refugee resettlement camps in the mid-1970s. These “missionaries without a country” became an important resource for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which relied on their interpreting and translating services. By differentiating between mainstream evangelical and progressive evangelical responses to the government’s appeal for evangelical sponsors, this chapter shows that evangelicals’ political stances on the US involvement in Vietnam fundamentally shaped their response to the refugees.


2019 ◽  
pp. 23-40
Author(s):  
Stephen A. Crist

This chapter concerns the internationalization of the Dave Brubeck Quartet. After several years of preliminary discussions, in 1958 the group finally traveled abroad for the first time, on a three-month trip, largely under the auspices of the US State Department. By this time, the Quartet’s personnel finally reached a steady state, after a series of different bass players and drummers. The “classic” Quartet was the group of musicians who recorded Time Out the next year. Around the same time, Brubeck became increasingly involved with issues of civil rights. The Quartet also made history in the late 1950s by performing jazz in concert halls and on college campuses. Finally, Dave and Iola Brubeck devoted themselves tirelessly to the creation and promotion of The Real Ambassadors, a musical that they hoped would be produced on Broadway.


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