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For sake of human family, society must be redesigned with diversity in STEM fields

Diverse community essential to develop healthy solutions in STEM, not more of the same, writes Nusraat Masood

oung students get hands-on experience at a STEM event hosted by WISE Kid-Netic Energy. To succeed, STEM fields must fill their ranks with all kinds of people, writes Nusraat Masood, including girls, Indigenous youth, youth of all colour and sexual orientation, youth with different physical and mental ability and youth facing socio-economic obstacles. (Submitted by WISE Kid-Netic Energy)

This column is an opinion by Nusraat Masood, director of WISE Kid-Netic Energy, a STEM outreach program, and IEEQ, a licensure pathway for internationally-educated engineers. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.

Creativity, curiosity, collaboration, ingenuity and, most importantly, diversity is what is needed in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields for our entire international human family to continue.

It is difficult to remember a time when the world relied on STEM professionals as much as it does right now. Dr. Theresa Tam, chief public health officer of Canada, has warned us that COVID-19 will stay with us for a few years. The world is still waiting for a vaccine for the virus that has destabilized almost every aspect of our daily lives, though a vaccine may not prove to be the solution we crave. A vaccine may make it easier, but the previous normal may be years away.

Technology is being stretched to crunch data faster, algorithms are being developed to model multitudes of scenarios and labs are busy around the clock. At the heart of all this precision are STEM professionals. It normally takes a decade to find a vaccine, but we are demanding one now — and unfortunately, this virus is not the only problem looming over us.

In the past, we have relied on iterative improvements, little steps forward, to maintain everyone's needs and expectations. Humanity has managed to progress to our limits of scientific understanding and now we need revolutionary ideas, approaches and concepts. How will we inhabit Mars? How will we cope with climate change? How will we harness different energies? How will we redesign a culture that offers us all an opportunity to experience joy and comfort?