The Conversation U.S.

“When companies advertise job openings, they often use buzzwords like ‘ambitious’ and ‘self-reliant’ to describe their ideal candidate. These traits sound appealing — what hiring manager wouldn’t want a driven employee? “But there’s a catch… These terms may attract job applicants with more narcissistic tendencies… “Job postings [with] language used to describe an ‘ideal candidate’ often included traits linked to narcissism. For example, narcissists tend to see themselves as highly creative and persuasive. Prior research also shows that narcissistic employees are more innovative and willing to take risks to get the success and admiration they crave, even if it means bending the rules. “Based on these observations, we compiled two sets of terms commonly used in job postings. We call the two sets ‘rule-follower’ and ‘rule-bender’ language.” - Jonathan Gay, University of Mississippi

When a hurricane or tornado starts to form, your local weather forecasters can quickly pull up maps tracking its movement and showing where it’s headed. But have you ever wondered where they get all that information? Weather forecasts can seem effortless, but behind the scenes, a vast network of satellites, airplanes, radar, computer models and weather analysts are providing access to the latest data – and warnings when necessary. This data comes from analysts at the NOAA: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration and its National Weather Service. In this video, atmospheric scientist Kari Bowen, a former National Weather Service forecaster, explained NOAA’s central role in most U.S. weather forecasts. Bowen is a program manager Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences. Her co-author, Christine Wiedinmyer, is the associate director for science at the institute.

The US semiconductor industry faces a critical shortage of 300,000 engineers by 2030. Universities are launching specialized programs to train the next generation of chip designers and manufacturers. An engineering professor explains:

The Education Department's 50% workforce cut includes major reductions to the Office for Civil Rights. Education professors explain why these changes will likely have a lasting impact on the most vulnerable public school students. https://buff.ly/MmAWc4c #CivilRights

Congress, not the president, decides on government spending. Democracy EditorNaomi Schalit explains the basic facts on how the ‘power of the purse’ works.

“Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted office life, workplaces are settling into a new rhythm. Employees in remote-friendly jobs now spend an average of 2.3 days each week working from home, a research team that tracks remote employment has found. And when you look at all workers – and not just those in remote-friendly positions – they’re working remotely 1.4 days a week, or 28% of the time. That’s a huge change from 2019, when remote work accounted for only 7% of the nation’s paid workdays, even if it’s down from the height of the pandemic in 2020, when 61.5% of all work was remote. And it’s a giant leap from 1965, the dawn of telework. At that time, fewer than 0.5% of all paid workdays were out of the office, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The ideal balance of office and remote work remains a point of contention. While employees favor three days at home and two in the office, employers prefer the opposite: three days in the office and two working remotely, the Zoom survey found. Generally, the future of work looks hybrid. But the remote work of the lockdown days – what’s now known as “fully remote” – is also here to stay.” - Radostina Purvanova, Drake University and Alanah Mitchell, Drake University What’s your view on the future of the office and #WorkFromHome? https://buff.ly/QwAq09t

Ann Arbor's sustainable energy utility could provide a model for other cities looking to control their energy future. A scholar explains how it offers opt-in participation and can operate at different scales alongside the existing utility: https://lnkd.in/d66Jbxbk By Mike Shriberg University of Michigan

While Trump’s #DEI-related orders won’t stop most scientific research from continuing, the benefits of having the most competitive and diverse teams may be lost. Michigan State physics professor Filomena Nunes explains:

Federal student aid goes to just about everyone – and funding for inclusion programs goes to people of all races. “It’s a challenge to determine the exact percentages of federal DEI funding allocated to groups of students broken down by race and ethnicity. There is limited publicly available data. Broadly speaking, a large majority of people within most racial and ethnic groups receive some kind of federal funding – some of which is connected to DEI programs. That includes: 81% of Black students,? 74% of American Indian/Alaska Native students,? 72% of Hispanic or Latino students,? 70% of white students 66% of Asian students, according to a 2023 report from the National Center for Education Statistics based on data during the 2019-20 academic year. The center’s data does not indicate whether those grants were explicitly designated for DEI initiatives. For example, Pell Grants are need-based, but not explicitly DEI. People with disabilities make up the largest minority group in America – and represent a growing share of college students. Disability access is a vital yet often overlooked component of DEI efforts, with 20.5% of undergraduate students reporting a disability. For women, who make up more than half of college students, they promote equity in male-dominated fields such as science, technology, engineering and math, and leadership roles in government, academia and the private sector. For veterans, DEI programs provide tailored resources like academic support, mental health services and career transition assistance that recognize the unique challenges some of them face in higher education. The GI Bill, which provides financial assistance to veterans pursuing higher education, has also gotten caught up in Trump’s DEI purge. While it wasn’t designed back in 1944 as a DEI initiative – and has often failed to ensure equitable access for Black veterans – the Department of Veterans Affairs has recently tried to provide targeted support to veterans of diverse backgrounds. Trump’s order ended those programs.” By Liza Bondurant and Breana Jamison, Mississippi State University (Source: 2023 report from the National Center for Education Statistics based on data during the 2019-20 academic year.)

“Imagine a co-worker charges into your office, yelling, breathing heavily, face reddened, veins bulging. Even if you are simply an unsuspecting colleague who happened to have your door open, your attention is undoubtedly now fixed on your co-worker. Are you the target of their anger for something you did, or merely an observer of their anger at someone else? If you are an undeserving target, do you try to reframe the issue so that the angry person will realize the anger is better directed elsewhere? If you are the observer, you also have a choice about whether to ignore your co-worker’s anger or help them redirect it to a more effective outlet. You might simply listen empathetically while they let off steam, perhaps pointing out the relative risks and benefits of their taking their complaints to the supervisor. You are deciding, in effect, what suggestions to make about the direction of this person’s anger. The key to effectively managing the direction of anger is to manage the attention of those in the room. Reshaping how angry people attribute blame, for example, can help people take another person’s perspective or understand the situation in a new way, directing the flow more productively.” - Laura Rees Oregon State University and Ray Friedman, Vanderbilt University #angermanagement #workplaceculture #management Story: https://lnkd.in/dRpEFMDp