'Tis the Season for STEM Learning

Thanksgiving family gatherings are a time to reflect on the year behind us and the year ahead. Join me in putting our holiday gatherings to work with a double purpose this year.  Enjoy time together but, also, persuade those gathered to stay in Ohio or return to Ohio.  STEM jobs in manufacturing are at the heart of that convincing.  

Try a little word association with your family and friends.

STEM is the acronym for science, technology, engineering, and math.  Make these holidays the season for STEM learning.

S  is for stuffing.  It’s also for science. 

Life sciences, in particular, have made huge gains in Central Ohio.  Amgen makes its medicines in new fill lines here in Western Licking County.  Pharmavite’s Nature Made brand gummy vitamins are made right here too.  [Note: It was a homesick Ohioan CEO who brought the new plant here.]

OhioMeansJobs.com shows nearly 50 job openings with these two companies among over 300 chemistry jobs within commuting time of Columbus. Science is indeed a career path in Ohio and a reason to return to a job here.

T is for turkey.  Technology is the T in STEM.

That delicious bird is the star of the season’s family dinner and technology is the star in STEM learning.  While all the technology talk for the last three years has been about Intel, the real story is that the same technology skills that a semiconductor manufacturer needs—fabrication, mechanical, industrial maintenance, and material handling—are, today, needed by growing Central Ohio manufacturers.

In our Port Authority park, manufacturing jobs have increased by 150% in the last ten years.  Reshoring of manufacturing is real and technology skills are behind every one of those new jobs.  One estimate has over 1,800 manufacturers and 89,000 jobs in manufacturing in the Columbus region.  Ohio is the third largest manufacturing state with nearly 700,000 jobs in manufacturing.

E is for that edible cranberry thing.  E is for engineering too.

Grandma brought that cranberry mold again.  Yes, it is edible.  To make that thing hold up, she put her engineering skills to work for sure.  Engineering skills are in demand and manufacturing is where it’s most in demand in Central Ohio. 

Unique engineered products are a standout in our region.  Covestro in Hebron can turn an idea at 9 into a new product line and a bag of material to make it by 5. Anduril needs both mechanical and software engineers for their products to be made in Pickaway County. A job search in Newark shows more than 8,000 jobs open with “engineering” in the title.

M is for mashed potatoes.  In STEM, it’s math.

Math is an essential part of every manufacturer’s day.  Plaskolite couldn’t deal in volumes and tolerances of its plastic sheets without math skills at its core.  Ariel compressors rely on multiple decimal points after zero levels of accuracy.  Boeing’s missile guidance systems miss their mark without precision math.

Enjoy your STEM dinner.  Partake of STEM learning talk too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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This column was submitted as a regular development column for The Dispatch and The Advocate.