"Since last fall the Subcommittee on
Science, Technology and Space has spent considerable time discussing
ways to mobilize a new generation of science and technology experts.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has an important
role to play in this endeavor through the promotion of scientific
research, exploration and education programs.
"Mobilizing a new generation of science and technology experts
is a growing challenge in the face of a shrinking number of Americans
with degrees in science and engineering. Even more appalling is
the lack of women in the professional ranks of science, engineering
and technology.
"Of the 2 million scientists and engineers working in the United
States, 90 percent are men, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Ninety-three percent of the country's aerospace engineers are men.
"The most recent statistics about college graduates reveal that
out of 1.2 million graduates with degrees in math and the hard sciences
(which excludes psychology and the social sciences), only 70,000
are women. So, not only are fewer women studying math and the hard
sciences, but even fewer go on to careers in these fields.
"A positive note is that those women who do pursue careers in
math, science and engineering on the average earn more money than
women in other professional fields. The Bureau of Labor Statistics
reports that women working as engineers, computer scientists, pharmacists
and lawyers had the highest median earnings of women in any professional
occupation.
"Some might argue that women don't pursue careers in the sciences
because they are just uninterested – that there are biological reasons
why women don't go into math and science. Studies, however, dispute
those arguments. Studies indicate that girls show as much or more
interest in math and science as boys in elementary school, but something
happens around junior high school that turns girls away.
"Some of this is due to peer pressure: kids may think math and
science are just not cool. Some of this is due to teaching methods
that may dissuade girls from math and science studies. Whatever
the reasons are, something must be done to foster, not frustrate,
girls' interest in math and science and encourage them to pursue
these important careers.
"The bias against women pursuing careers in math and the hard
sciences is found throughout our society. The space program alone
cannot root out this problem. But NASA, with the launch of its major
new education initiative, can use this program as a trampoline that
can land more women in these academic disciplines, from which they
can find rewarding careers in a host of professions.
"If NASA will use its new initiative to help generate a significant
increase in the number of women pursuing careers in science, engineering
and technology, the benefits will be felt across our society.
"So today I want to challenge NASA to help triple the number of
women graduating college with degrees in science, math and engineering
by the year 2012. Over the same decade, I want to see the overall
number of graduates in math and the hard sciences triple as well.
"It is time to grow the next generation of innovators, engineers,
astronauts and astrophysicists, and to energize more women to pursue
careers in these fields. This panel convenes today to examine NASA's
efforts to do so. By educating and mobilizing the next generation
for achievement in science and technology, NASA is working to deepen
its roots in research and reach for new stratospheres in science.
"Whether pursued by men or women, science education and math education
are critically important to the nation. Last month former House
Speaker Newt Gingrich testified before this panel about the future
of the National Science Foundation. He cited a report from the Hart-Rudman
Commission on National Security to 2025. That report warned that
America's failure to invest in science and to reform math and science
education was the second biggest threat to our national security.
It warned that only the threat of a weapon of mass destruction in
an American city was a greater danger.
"In fact, the Commission unanimously concluded that the danger
from under-investing in math and science and failing to reform math
and science education was greater than the danger from any conceivable
conventional war.
"Simply put, technological advantages are also military and homeland
security advantages. If America does not invest in science education,
those advantages will be lost.
"But science education and innovation are not only components
of national security. Scientific innovation has driven this country's
economic competitiveness. Better engineering, new discoveries and
development of the Internet all contributed to the exponential growth
of the economy in the last decade.
"Today's witnesses will illustrate NASA's educational scope, from
the first grade through Ph.D programs around the country. They are
living examples of how NASA is developing educational material,
teaching teachers and funding education. These witnesses are both
inspired and inspiring – and today's testimony will range a bit
outside the realm of the usual. The Subcommittee will have an unusual
opportunity to hear taped testimony from an astronaut working at
the International Space Station, as well as to witness a live experiment
by two promising young scientists.
"NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe is also a witness today. He has
made education a priority for NASA. He has done so not only because
education is a worthwhile pursuit in itself. Education is essential
to the future of his agency.
"One third of NASA's work force will become eligible for retirement
in the next three to five years. Today's undergraduate and graduate
students – and even elementary school students – can rest assured
their work and study will be much sought after.
"Again, the goals for today's hearing are to begin an initiative
to encourage women to enter scientific and mathematical fields,
to examine NASA's current educational efforts and to determine how
they can best be expanded to benefit science and technology in general,
and women in those disciplines specifically. This is in the best
interests of the agency. Only by nurturing the next wave of science
experts can NASA reach the goal this Subcommittee has set: to maintain
NASA's mission of exploration and research for the future."
