High school and community college students with interest in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics — also known as STEM — received career advice from a panel of professionals Friday, kicking off the first Maryland STEM Festival event in Carroll County.
"There are a lot of careers that are changing, that are very dynamic; the careers that we anticipate students moving into are not some of the traditional careers that their parents thought about, like doctor, lawyer, farmer," said Bryan Shumaker, STEM coordinator for Carroll County Public Schools, which co-sponsored the panel discussion for students at Carroll Community College.
Juniors and seniors from Century and Winters Mill high schools, as well as the Carroll County Career and Technology Center, joined students from Gerstell Academy and the community college to listen five professionals and one student speak about different areas of STEM, imparting words of advice for those looking to get into different areas of those fields.
Since 2010, there has been an increased focus on STEM programs for students in Maryland that has been made possible in part through the U.S. Department of Education's Race to the Top award, according to the Maryland State Department of Education website.
"Maryland, for many reasons, is one of the hot spots [for STEM]," Shumaker said, citing the state's proximity to Washington and the biotechnology corridor in Frederick County.
The panel was one of various events being held across the state throughout the week.
"We wanted to show students that you might think that you're really interested in one field, but you really need to know about other areas to be successful," Shumaker said.
Speakers were chosen by a planning group, composed of employees from Carroll Community College and CCPS, to show the interconnectedness and diversity in STEM careers, Shumaker said.
Five professionals — Lisa Cazares, a senior scientist in the Molecular and Translational Sciences Division of U.S. Army Research Institute of Infectious Disease; Raul Cachau, principal senior scientist at the Advanced Biomedical Computer Center of the Information Systems Program in Frederick; Joe Maurio, senior researcher at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory; Dr. Robert Wack, a pediatrician at Frederick Memorial Hospital who led the effort to build the Westminster Fiber Network; and Webster Smith, a principal analyst at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory — gave students a glimpse of the work they do.
Cazares, who presented on mass spectrometry, an analytical chemistry technique, showed students that scientists can take body fluids and tissue and develop data into something useful to fight infectious disease.
"For STEM students that are looking to go into science, we are always looking for good bioinformatics approaches," she said, "because we can generate so much data very quickly and having that data support is going to be crucial as we move forward to these very high-technology platforms."
Wack, who is also president of the Westminster Common Council, spoke of his effort to build the Westminster Fiber Network, the first community-wide gigabit fiber network in the Mid-Atlantic, something he related to future careers in technology.
"You don't push the boundaries of human knowledge unless you're willing to take some risks," Wack said.
Wack gave students an example of those types of risks by singing a song from the movie "Napoleon Dynamite" about loving technology. He also explained to students the importance of having the data infrastructure to support research being done by scientists such as Cazares and Cachau.
Maurio, who works in the field of cybersecurity, explained to students the importance of protecting data.
Smith told students that selecting a major, while important, is not critical to career success. Developing a strong set of problem-solving skills, a good attitude, flexibility, the ability to work with others, perseverance and adaptability is even more important to ensuring success in a career, Smith told the audience.
Smith gave students some advice on choosing a major, though he prefaced his tips by saying advice should always be taken with a grain of salt.
"Find something that just interests you — that you find compelling, that is challenging to you or maybe it's just really cool," he told the students.
Students also heard from student speaker Amanda Corbel, who told of her educational path in STEM.
Corbel said she initially doubted her ability to be successful in science, leading her to enroll in general education courses at Carroll Community before pursuing her passion for science. She persevered, enrolling in science courses in her second year in the SMART Scholars Program at Carroll, she said.
In 2013, she earned an associate's degree from Carroll Community and began working as an intern at the U.S. National Cancer Institute the summer after her graduation. She went on to earn a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from Shepherd University in West Virginia.
"If any of you are like me and have always kind of doubted yourself — don't," said Corbel, who is currently enrolled in a post-baccalaureate program and is applying to medical school.
After the presentation, Corbel said, some female students from the audience said they have experienced self-doubt and thanked her for sharing her experience.
"There's always going to be people smarter than you, and you can't control that, but if you fail, you should not give up and keep trying," she said. "I think it's important to remember that for girls or boys or anyone."
The Maryland STEM Festival continues today at the college, with free events open to the community from 9 to 11:45 a.m.
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If you go:
What: Maryland STEM Festival at Carroll Community College
When: 9 to 11:45 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 7
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Where: Students can learn about STEM programs and courses from 9 to 10:30 a.m. in Great Hall. Science presenation from 10:45 to 11:45 a.m. in the theater in the Scott Center.
