The GEM (Graduate Education for Minorities) Fellowship prepares technical leaders for advanced careers in industry, academia, and government agencies by identifying and selecting highly qualified students to complete a program of STEM graduate study and industry internships. Through our university and employer members, GEM awards fellowships and builds mentor networks to support Fellows in achieving academic and professional success. GEM Fellows will receive an internship with a sponsor company.

Entries due November 3 to November 15.

From Dr. Valtorta:

Today's lead story in the Business section of the State is about GM's plan to hire "up to" 10,000 software developers and other IT professionals in the next 3-5 years ("GM to bring computer technology in-house"). This is an Associated Press article by Tom Krisher, bylined Detroit. It is very well written. For comparison, the expected number of jobs in mechanical engineering nationwide for the same period is about the same (cf. BLS Report).

Dr. Buell adds:

10000 jobs over four years (averaging 3 to 5) is 2500 per year. That represents 6.25% of the total estimated production of new graduates, if these were all to be new graduates.

I like this quote from the article:

Experts say it’s also the start of a trend as manufacturers realize that software is among the few things that will set them apart from competitors.

When manufacturing is entirely done by 'robots' (CNC machines, 3D printers, actual robots, etc), then the only thing left for us to do is tell the machines what to do, which is the definition of software: that which tells the machine what to do.

Interested in joining? Attend our next meeting! Thursday, October 11 6:30PM 300 Main Street, Room B201 General Information and Officer Elections Food Provided!

TLDR: The US has high unemployment and lots of job openings at the same time because kids are not choosing STEM majors, especially computer science.

From Helen Fields: This is a GREAT opportunity for select students who are interested in getting a real-world experience with Continental. Please see the information below and please encourage students to appy for this! Applications are due October 1 and students do need a faculty letter of nomination. Nomination letters can be given to the student to submit or emailed to Erin Kitchell (ramaker@mailbox.sc.edu). Selected students will have ALL EXPENSES PAID by Continental. Login to JobMate to learn more and submit your information!

On behalf of the Charleston Defense Contractors Association's (CDCA) Board of Directors, I am pleased to invite your school to participate in 2nd Annual Mobile Application Development Competition that runs from now until Nov. 2nd. The competition is an extension of our association’s educational mission and will run in conjunction with our Sixth Annual Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Combat Systems, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Government and Industry Summit, 27-30 November 2012 in Charleston, SC. One of the goals of the CDCA is to assist in fostering the next generation of employees in the defense industry – both government and private sector companies. In an effort to promote such continuum, we are offering an opportunity for your school and its students to receive up to $7000 in Scholarships and Awards. This hands-on experience introduces students to the industry and future employment opportunities, promotes teamwork, and encourages technical and creative innovation. We encourage you to inform your students of this excellent opportunity to showcase their skills and creativity before hundreds of potential employers. To take advantage of this opportunity, please print and post the attached flyer and rules for your students. Further information about our organization, the summit, and the competition can be found at www.charlestondca.org. We look forward to receiving entries from your students! Most Sincerely, John Jones CDCA C5ISR Summit Committee

Acalytics is looking for a brilliant student that loves a challenge to work with us on some projects. The ideal candidate will have exposure to machine learning and a strong math background. There are three interesting data sets that we are performing analysis on and could use as much help as we can get. Knowledge of both supervised and unsupervised learning approaches would be awesome! Email info@acalytics.com for more info.