Occupations in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) "will only be 5 percent of all jobs in the U.S. economy by 2018," according to the Center on Education and the Workforce of Georgetown University. However, such occupations "are critical to our continued economic competitiveness because of their direct ties to innovation, economic growth, and productivity." Visitors will find...

The US Department of Energy and Government Printing Office have combined to provide this resource, a searchable directory of "full text and bibliographic records of report literature produced by the DOE and DOE contractor research and development community." Reports are available since 1996 at this time and may be searched by three fields in the easy search and fourteen in the advanced search....

Some of the most famous engineering projects are the focus of this series of four programs from PBS. The first looks at the flood prevention systems implemented for the Mississippi River and the Hoover Dam used to harness water resources from the Colorado River in the early 1900s. The development of the US national electric system is discussed in the second. The last two consider the bridges of...

In January 2004 Lemelson-MIT released results from their annual Invention Index Study, which measures Americans' attitudes towards invention. This news release highlights the study findings, methodology and background about the study. The nationally representative survey found that "the cell phone is the invention they most hate but cannot live without" -- just slightly more hated than the alarm...

The Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy (STEP) is charged with integrating "understanding of scientific, technological, and economic elements in the formulation of national policies." The website highlights recent projects, including Intellectual Property Rights in the Knowledge-Based Economy, Government-Industry Partnerships for the Development of New Technologies, Tracking...

This article and accompanying lesson plan from the New York Times Learning Network examines how consumers have self educated themselves about technology, especially in regard to computer applications and networking. Even if a person does not work in a technical field, he or she is still likely to operate computers on a regular basis. The infeasibility of seeking professional training has resulted...

The University of Michigan Digital Humanities Series is designed to "feature rigorous research that advances understanding of the nature and implications of the changing relationship between humanities and digital technologies." The website contains books, monographs, and a range of experimental formats that are made available at no charge. A great place to start is the "Our Books" area. Here...

The Lemelson-MIT Invention Index is "an annual survey of Americans' perceptions about inventing and innovating," and on January 21, 2003, the results for 2003 were released. According to this article, the one invention that respondents said they could not live without was the toothbrush, which was found to be more important than the PC, the automobile, the cellular phone, and the microwave oven....