Students should focus more on STEM subjects

May 29, 2017 News

– to improve chances in job market, says Dr. Vincent Adams

Overseas-based Lindener Dr. Vincent Adams wants more students to focus on science technology, engineering and mathematics, commonly referred to as STEM subjects, to advance their chances in the job market.

Dr. Vincent Adams

Adams was at the time speaking to winners of the Linden Dream Team’s Town week essay writing competition, and had committed to giving two full scholarships to two lucky CSEC students to attend the University of Guyana.
The scholarship, he noted would be in honor of his mother, who could neither read nor write.
Noting that there would be some requirements, Adams posited, “First of all you have to be from Linden and it has to be absolutely STEM related – science, technology, engineering or math related, and would be considered strictly on a needs basis.”
Reflecting on the fiftieth convocation ceremony of the University of Guyana, last year, where he had been a featured speaker, Adams expressed disappointment that most of the graduates were in social sciences.”
He opined that with this trend, there would continue to be graduates coming out of the university for whom the job market would be severely limited.
Adams however assured that,‘ STEM is sustainable, if you do anything that is STEM related you can be assured of a job, not only here in Guyana, but in any part of the world. It’s the most important aspect to develop any country.”
He exhorted the students not to follow the easy way out by dismissing STEM which some see as the ‘hard’ subjects. Adams said that one of the scholarship recipients must be female.
“I’ve heard ever since I was a little kid that girls can’t do certain subjects like maths, but I promise you that you can do anything that you set your mind to do, so believe in yourself.
“The guys do not have a better brain than you have. So do not follow the advice of people who say that females don’t have the brain for math, and then decide you’re going to do the simple things because I guess that is why so many persons are graduating with social sciences degrees, because they think it’s easy, so they are not pursuing the so called hard subjects-but nothing is easy.”
Adams in his keynote address at last year’s fiftieth convocation of the University of Guyana, expressed his honour at being invited to address Guyana’s future leaders. The event, he said, reminded of how his journey began, more than forty years ago.
Dr. Adams was among the first students to graduate with a degree in Civil Engineering from UG.
He recalled that it was a pinch of fate that brought him to the institution, as he had dreamed of becoming a cricketer, but those hopes were shattered by a terrible automobile accident.
Adams subsequently enrolled at the UG, where he obtained his Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil and Public Health Engineering. He later won scholarships for post-graduate studies at Ohio University and the University of Missouri, where he attained his Masters’ Degrees in Groundwater Hydrology and Geological Petroleum Engineering respectively, and completed a PhD in Environmental Engineering at the University of Tennessee.
Dr. Adams has held a number of prestigious posts in the United States, among them, the Office Director, US Department of Energy Engineering and Technology, and Consultant, International Atomic Energy Agency.