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STEM crisis
THE year 2017 has been a difficult one for Silicon Valley as the tech industry in the United States has repeatedly come under fire following blog posts, lawsuits and exposés centred on sexual harassment and gender discrimination. While there is still a long way to go before we see equality of the sexes in the American tech industry, the year 2017 has been a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, many other countries around the world have not yet reached the same level of discourse around issues of diversity and inclusion in STEM, or science, technology, engineering, and math.
A recent study, Engineers of jihad, exploring the connection between violent extremists and the STEM fields showed that a large majority of radical-minded Muslims have engineering backgrounds. The researchers' explanation was that individuals with extremist proclivities may be more inclined to pursue studies in engineering. The authors describe an 'engineering mindset' which favours right-wing ideology, hierarchy and order.
Some have argued against this study, calling into question the samples and methodology used. In Pakistan, however, there is overwhelming anecdotal evidence for the existence of religious extremism in STEM. Famous examples include Afiya Siddiqui, an MIT-trained neuroscientist who was arrested on charges of her connections to Al Qaeda, 9/11 'mastermind', Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who studied mechanical engineering in the US and Hafiz Saeed, a founding member of Lashkar-e-Taiba, who was a faculty member of University of Engineering and Technology in Lahore.
This pattern has become even more alarming in Pakistan's context with the newest militant group, Ansarul Sharia Pakistan (ASP) which is claimed to have carried out several terrorist attacks in Karachi. Some members of the ASP belonged to the physics department of Karachi University and the NED University of Engineering and Technology.
Do religious extremists opt for STEM education?
Further exploration is needed to determine whether there is a significant correlation specifically between STEM fields in Pakistan and violent extremists, and the underlying mechanisms of this relationship. While it is indeed possible that the mindset that leads individuals to gravitate towards these disciplines also makes them more likely to espouse extreme religious beliefs, STEM departments at universities and colleges have also fostered a culture of radicalisation.
This is not just significant for effective counterterrorism policy. Science and technology play a central role in the development and progress of any nation. Sadly, the prevalence of extremist ideology has had a damning effect on the STEM fields in Pakistan. There is a common perception that STEM departments in universities are heavily dominated by bearded men and have fallen victim to increasing religiosity. This trend extends to workplaces in STEM fields.
Pervez Hoodbhoy, a physicist and professor, has been an outspoken critic of the impact of 'Islamisation' on the state of science and technology in Pakistan. In articles and interviews, he has brought attention to the increasingly anti-science culture in Pakistan which is closely tied to the infiltration of religion in the teaching of STEM subjects. He cites examples, such as textbooks that decry the theory of evolution. The increasing religiosity and our inability to separate religion from science has had great bearings on the quality of education in STEM and the future of the field in Pakistan.
The intolerant and extremist culture in the field is also a deterrent against diversity and inclusion. Women are unwelcome in a field dominated by ultra-religious men. My career in the technology sector in Pakistan has led me to encounter men who inform women in the workplace that religion forbids them from going outside the home unless it is out of absolute necessity; men who harass women who are friendly with male colleagues; and men who refuse to look directly at female colleagues as they are 'na-mehram'. This intolerance extends to all kinds of diversity — the most tragic example being that of Dr Abdus Salam, a Nobel prize winning Pakistani physicist who was rejected by our country for belonging to the Ahmadi community.
In this atmosphere, the brightest and best students of Pakistan are no longer gravitating towards STEM subjects as they are now seen as backwards. Those who are, strive to leave Pakistan resulting in a serious brain-drain in the STEM fields. A friend who recently completed her PhD from a top university in the US lamented that she couldn't come back to a country where she wouldn't even be able to teach the theory of evolution.
While the debate in Silicon Valley rages around gender equality, it is time that Pakistan seriously started considering the sorry state of the STEM fields. We need to modernise the field, including revising textbooks, attracting better faculty, enacting legislation around diversity and inclusion and reintroducing Pakistani youth to heroes such as Dr Abdus Salam.
The writer works in strategy and business development at Microsoft.
Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2017


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LISTEN: Reflection for the Fifth Sunday – Year C
According to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus called his first disciples away from their fishing fleets on this Sea on which today's events take place.
It was a natural barrier between the Jewish side to the west and the Gentile side to the east. The Gospel of Mark, in particular, has Jesus crossing the Sea of Galilee in a boat on a number of occasions. These crossings turn the Sea of Galilee into a bridge bringing Jew and Gentile together through Jesus' preaching and healing activities.
Let's looks closely at today's Gospel scene. Jesus is teaching by the shore and the crowds press in on him. Jesus spots the boat of Simon and gets in it, and asks him to launch out a bit from the shore so that he can preach from there. When finished, he tells Simon to take the boat into the deep water and let down his nets. Simon is wary: "Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing!"
These are the weary words of a veteran fisherman who knew how frustrating the sea could be. But there was something about Jesus that made him want to comply, so Simon let down his nets.
There are a number of lessons we learn from this encounter. When have I wanted to give up and why? What kept me going? When has the Lord surprised me?
Notice the strong link between listening and doing in today's Gospel
Join Fr Russell Pollitt SJ as he reflects on the readings for the Fifth Sunday of the Year.
Read the texts in your Bible or hover your mouse over the references below to see the texts.
Isaiah 6:1-2,3-8; Psalm 137; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11
If you regularly visit our website and listen to this reflection please consider supporting us in the work we do. Your donation ensures that we can continue to provide you with only the best. Click HERE to donate now. Thank you!


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Technology today subverts by-gone physical interactions as simulated & interpretable one over images, videos, voices that Augments the Reality.
Real-Life comming into Reality
Over a great period of time right from the basic evolution a super-sized computer to these smart hand-held devices, technology has seen the greatest changes of all time when it happend to be coming as of whole with robust networks as internet and the breath-taking softwares. One such big-boom change has already & will ever always be dominating the forth-coming generatations, is Augmented Reality. Augmented Reality exibhits,
Be it the super-computer, a desktop, a laptop, a tablet or a mobile phone, the software and the hardware paradigms running on these ever enhancing maschine are all subjectable & managable when once used with Augmented Reality.


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Managing in the Next Society - Abridged
By Peter F. Drucker
Narrated by Arthur Morey / 3 hours 20 minutes
Change has become a constant. Changes in the way we live and work. Changes in institutions and the society around us. Changes in people's needs and desires. For more than 60 years, Peter Drucker has been modern society's preeminent thinker, lecturer, and writer of and about change and its effect on management.
Now, at the start of the 21st century, this major new title takes the listener into two broad areas of life today: first, the information society and its new and vastly different employee, the knowledge worker; and second, the underlying trends in today's society that are already influencing, and will greatly change tomorrow's. These major trends include: The Global Baby Bust; The New U.S. Demographics; The New York Force; The More competitive Knowledge Society; and the Future of Top Management, among others.
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