Part I (Content and Marketing)

Netpreneur Kevin Sproles created the online shopping cart in 1999 at the age of 16. He is founder and CEO of Volusion, an eCommerce company that helps retailers make more than $2 billion a year. Other young innovators are well known. Mark Zuckerberg began Facebook in his Harvard dorm room, and Jack Dorsey was a New York University dropout who developed the prototype for Twitter. … Read more

UCLA star professor Todd Samuel Presner has been called a “time traveler” for using emerging technology and history to portray the growth of cities. In 2008 he led a Center for Digital Humanities team to create “Hypermedia Berlin,” an interactive Web-based visualization of the city from the 13^th century to present. The result is a collection of maps, one on top of another, in layers similar to an archeological dig.

Presner refers to himself simply as a “techie-humanist,” but his work has spawned a new field called “digital humanities.” Scholars in this new occupation hold positions such as … Read more

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most new and emerging occupations first appear in small employers. However, one exception is the federal government.  Since one factor leading to the creation of new occupations is a change in laws or regulations, government employees are needed to establish procedures and enforce compliance. Other new occupations evolve … Read more

“Snooper Bowl,” Spying, and Safe Havens

Computer Forensics

The Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa Bay is sometimes referred to as “Snooper Bowl” because the faces in the crowd were scanned and compared to mug shots of criminals in the area.  Planned by the Tampa Bay police with the knowledge of the National Football League, this surveillance was considered a success, yielding 10 matches among more than 70,000 fans.  The same technology is used in at least 70 U.S. casinos.

Cryptologists use codes to encrypt information and protect its privacy from anyone but the sender and receiver. However, the document does not make sense when seen by someone without the secret key.  Some repressive governments consider possession of any coded material to be subversive, with dire consequences.

Steganographers create image, audio and video files that do not arouse suspicion of hidden messages.  Invisible ink was an early use of steganography. In 5th century B.C. a ruler had his loyal slave’s head shaved before being tattooed with a secret message.  After his hair grew out, his head was shaved again by an ally to reveal a message about battle plans. This method had obvious limitations by the length of time required! Political dissidents and human rights workers in oppressive regimes, members of organized crime, and terrorists have used steganography to conceal their activities.  Intelligence analysts suspect that videos of Osama bin Laden contain hidden information. Cryptology and steganography can be used together for double protection against detection.

Graphic artists sometimes use digital watermarks for copyright protection. Cartographers may hide a fictitious landmark in a map to identify themselves as its originator. Marketers can add fictitious names to mailing lists to see whether their work is being sold by others.

Electronic discovery is expected to increase up to 15% in 2010, allowing lawyers with broad scope to retrieve evidence, such as email, instant messaging, databases, and web sites .  Archiving systems are now available to keep electronic information from being deleted, changed, or available to unauthorized parties. Some job titles in e-discovery include computer forensics examiner, forensic technologist, e-discovery analyst, and legal analyst.

Family Law

Changes in technology, family structure, and the law have created new disputes in child custody. Family forensic psychologists work in an emerging occupation that is interdisciplinary, combining family psychology, forensics, and law. Decisions about child custody now take into consideration the rights of surrogates or donor parents, gay or lesbian parents who divorce, a parent serving in a prolonged military deployment, and grandparents. Litigation has also occurred during divorces in which spouses both want custody of a family pet.

Animal Rights

Although online sex offender registries have existed for several years, New York’s Suffolk County has instituted the first animal abuse registry. Legislators in several other states have proposed similar initiatives.  In the 1970s the FBI discovered that most serial killers had a childhood history of violence against animals. This early behavior was also common among perpetrators of child abuse, spouse abuse, and elder abuse.

The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and Northeastern University conducted a joint study in 1997, concluding that people who were violent to animals were five times more likely to become violent against humans.  Domestic violence victims are often reluctant to leave their abusers because they fear maltreatment of the family pet.  Safe havens have been created for their temporary refuge.

In addition to early identification of young people prone to violent crime, animal advocates hope that this registry will help expose operators of puppy mills, animal-fighting rings, and animal hoarders. Animal law litigators specialize in animal rights.

Travel and entertainment

Intergenerational trips, also known as “grandtravel,” are popular among those in their 50’s-60’s. Baby boomers have prompted changes in the tourism industry, which is offering more creative options. For example, family reunions may be held at the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone National Park. The Walt Disney Company’s “adventure guides” offer family vacation destinations on six continents. Whether the location is the Eiffel Tower or the Alps, family members can bond as they “experience the world.”

Closer to home, package tours may include horseback riding, canoeing, rollerblading, rafting, biking, and kayaking. If the senior traveler isn’t quite ready for such physical exertion, the adventure travel fitness specialists at Fit for Trips have the solution.

The new name of Elderhostel is Road Scholars, designed to attract baby boomers. Since the average age of its travelers in 2009 was 73, a new image is expected to widen the appeal of this educational travel group. According to the U.S. Travel Association, 58% of travelers are age 46 or older. By 2015, all baby boomers will be over 50 years old.

For elderly travelers who are frail, travel companions may be hired to help them with details, from packing to checking in.

Eldercare

When making decisions on behalf of aging parents, nearly four out of ten primary caregivers have conflicts with their siblings. Sharing responsibility for their parents’ care can be complicated by differing circumstances: employment, childcare needs, living space, health, and financial resources.

An elder-care mediator can help middle-aged brothers and sisters consider various options. Living arrangements are typically a major issue. Aging in place is increasingly popular with seniors. At what point is it unsafe for a relative to live alone or continue driving? Who will determine when a parent needs assisted living, nursing home, or hospice care? If necessary, which child should serve in roles such as power of attorney, guardian, health care representative, or executor of the estate? The mediator facilitates the problem-solving process and family members make decisions.

A geriatric care manager may assist families with a broad range of services, from recommending where the parent will reside, to researching and explaining his or her entitlements (e.g. Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, long term care insurance, veteran’s benefits, and pension). A virtual eldercare agent can also be a resource.

The fastest growing segment of home remodeling is universal design for aging-in-place. Occupations in this field include the Certified Active Adult Specialist in Housing (CAASH), and Certified Aging-In-Place Specialist (CAPS). According to CAPS contractors, these modifications also increase the value of a home.

If additional financial resources are needed, a Certified Reverse Mortgage Advisor is qualified to explain the details of a home equity conversion to the homeowner.

Brain health and performance

Cognitive neuroscientists and neuropsychologists are researching ways to diagnose and optimize brain function. Digital brain health and fitness software is an emerging industry with 2009 sales of $295 million worldwide. Gerontologists at The Hartford Financial Services Group collaborated with Posit Science Corporation to develop DriveSharp, brain fitness software that decreased crash risk up to 50%. The program is based on National Institutes of Health research.

Alzheimer’s disease is usually identified long after onset of the condition. An internet-based test (ALZselftest) is now available to consumers. This instrument has diagnosed cognitive impairment with more accuracy than the current standard, the Mini-Mental Status Examination.

Interveners for the Deaf and Blind

“The most important day I remember in all my life is the one on which my teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, came to me.” Helen Keller

Helen Keller lost her sight at the age of 19 months after contracting a serious illness. Uncontrollable by the age of six, her parents sought alternatives to placing her in an institution. Alexander Graham Bell considered teaching deaf children to be his “true vocation” and was instrumental in identifying Anne Sullivan as Helen’s teacher. (Experimentation with hearing devices was influenced by the inventor’s deaf mother and wife.)  Sullivan taught Helen Keller an alphabet sign language by finger spelling into her palm, a method that was developed by medieval monks.

Approximately 1.2 million Americans have combined hearing and vision losses, according to researchers at Mississippi State University. These scholars found that intensive and early intervention, from infancy until the age of three, is critical for the deaf-blind to achieve integration into society. Those with loss and/or serious impairment to hearing and vision are often medically fragile and need help from professionals with highly specialized skills.  The number of visually impaired is expected to double by 2030 due to aging of the baby boomer generation.

Support Service Providers (SSPs) facilitate access of the deafblind to their environment, whether moving from place to place or communicating basic needs. Many SSPs are family members or volunteers. Interveners arrange educational and environmental accommodations for the deafblind.  Training for interveners varies from certification to master’s degree programs.  Other professionals who work with the dual sensory disabled are deafblind special education instructors/case managers, SSP coordinators, braille transcribers, deafblind advocacy specialists, access technology specialists or consultants, rehabilitation teachers, orientation and mobility specialists, and low-vision therapists. Opportunities in this field are growing faster than the supply of qualified applicants. In addition to canes and service dogs, assistive technology for the blind includes scanners, and software (GPS, PDAs, computer games, notetakers, and Braille embossers).

I am a 19 year old college student… I had no idea how the PAC Mate would change my level of independence… I could download books from WebBraille… With StreetTalk, which is Freedom Scientific’s GPS interface to Destinator, I can look at what restaurants are around me, or take a relaxing stroll around my city on a cool evening.

Parent Educator

The role of parent educator has expanded since its emergence in the 1960s and 1970s. Originally targeted as early intervention for children at-risk due to poverty, disabilities, or teenage pregnancy, this training is now mandated for parents by divorce courts in more than 35 states.  Some states require filing of a formal parenting plan for joint custody: an agreement to visitation rights, residential schedule (including holidays, special occasions, summers), religious training, decision-making, childcare, relocation, and access to relatives.

Some form of educational support services are available in many locations for parents going through various transitions (separation and divorce, remarriage, adoption, foster parenting, military deployment, new immigrants and refugees, pregnant teenagers).  Parents in families undergoing trauma, such as domestic violence may receive special programming.
The Neighborhood House in St. Paul, Minnesota, serves refugees, immigrants, and low-income parents from more than 50 ethnic groups with teen parent educators and family workers (for support and education).  Boys Town trains family teaching couples, residential consultants, and in-home family consultants.  Bellevue Women’s Care Center, in the Schenectady, New York area, offers a class titled, “Before Your Baby Basics,” with success in reducing premature births.  Other goals of the program include reducing incidents of child abuse, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and shaken baby syndrome.

Babies, Boomers, and Daniel Boone

Psychology

Infant mental health is an emerging area in psychology, usually applying to children from birth to age 3 or age 5. Prenatal and perinatal psychologists can identify autism and depression in infants who are as young as four months. Problems with language acquisition and social interaction may be detected by the age of two. Early intervention can make a major impact on school readiness, adolescent adjustment, and even adult mental health.

Risk factors for young children include premature birth and low birth  weight, fetal alcohol syndrome, abuse or neglect, foster care, and maternal depression. More than three out of four childhood abuse or neglect fatalities are infants or toddlers.

A new specialty in industrial/organizational psychology is occupational health. This interdisciplinary field combines the study of psychology, public health, occupational health, human factors, organizational behavior, industrial engineering, and economics, among others.  The goal of occupational health psychologists is to improve the health and safety of employees. Workplace health is broad enough to include prevention of stress, illness, injury, disease, sexual harassment, and violence. It also encompasses employee assistance and work-family programs.

Education

The child life specialist has expertise in helping children cope with stress or trauma, such as hospitalization or chronic illness. Other situations with potential for long-lasting effects on children include witnessing violence, suffering abuse, surviving natural disasters, and grieving the death of a loved one.

As a member of the interdisciplinary treatment team at most children’s hospitals, the child life specialist works with medical staff, teachers, parents, and social workers. Training for this career includes courses in child development, education, and psychology. In addition to health care settings, child life professionals work in doctors’ and dentists’ offices, hospices, funeral homes, camps, schools, and the court system.

Social Work

Gerontological counselors are in a fast-growing specialty, dealing with subjects from preretirement to end-of-life. With the aging of the Baby Boom generation, 20% of the U.S. population will be at least 65 years old by the year 2030. Senior care resource centers are staffed with eldercare advisors to help families choose the assisted living facility or nursing home that best fits their needs.   Adult protective services investigators respond to complaints of eldercare neglect and abuse.

Anthropology

Cultural resource specialists use their knowledge of history, archeology, and anthropology to ensure compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. These specialists protect the remnants of human history, such as landmarks, shipwrecks, gold rush towns, and sacred Indian lands.   Boones’ Wilderness Road is an example of a major restoration by the National Park Service and Federal Highway Administration.

“I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several  weeks.”
Daniel Boone

American Indians forged a rugged trail through the Appalachian Mountains and named it the Great Warrior’s Path. Daniel Boone was hired in 1775 by the Transylvania Company, with the help of more than 30 woodsmen, to mark and widen a trail for pioneers. It was renamed Boone’s Wilderness Road and used from 1780-1810. Long after destruction by asphalt, roads, and tunnels, the federal government recognized the historical importance of the Wilderness Road and spent more than 20 years restoring it using an 1833 map.

National park specialists evaluate objects and places for their significance according to the National Register of Historic Places. State and federal government agencies employ most cultural resource specialists; others  work for environmental and natural resources management firms. Visual resource specialists evaluate new building and road projects for scenery management.

Federal Jobs: Part II

          How much do you know about these jobs?
Limnologist, physiatrist, transportation geography researcher, food technologist, engineering psychologist, arctic engineer, plant pathologist, terrestrial ecologist.

Public Health
The National Institutes of Health launched the country’s first Undiagnosed Disease Program last year, employing “super diagnosticians” to collaborate in evaluating patients with rare symptoms.   Forty distinguished physicians comprise a “dream team” of disciplines, such as endocrinology, genetics, immunology, and oncology. Their mission is to make breakthrough medical discoveries by focusing on mystery diseases.

New and emerging careers are often multidisciplinary, with informatics as a good example. In addition to a knowledge base in artificial intelligence, cognitive science, computer science, and information science, informatics has become specialized: bioinformatics, cheminformatics, and geo-informatics. In the federal government, health informaticists use computer science and information systems skills in a healthcare setting. These professionals perform disease surveillance, including identification of outbreaks and notification to public health agencies, through the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System. Food technologists and food microbiologists help ensure the safety of the food supply.

Occupational Health
Four innovative polytrauma facilities have been established for severely injured soldiers who are returning from Iran and Afghanistan. A treatment team evaluates veterans who have multiple injuries or illnesses, such as the loss of limbs, burns, cognitive deficits, and post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD).   A physiatrist is a physician who oversees a medical team to rehabilitate patients with musculoskeletal disorders, such as spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, and amputations. Certified Rehabilitation Registered Nurses are among the key staff members. New methods of treating PTSD include tele-psychiatry for patients in remote locations; immersive and interactive virtual reality technology that simulates the sights, sounds, and smells of combat;  drug combinations that decrease nightmares; and psychiatric service dogs.   Health physicists oversee the safety of radiation treatments for patients.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is leading the way in assistive technology. Prosthesis technology specialists design and fit appliances to patients with the most severe medical problems. The VA has developed adaptive automobile equipment for paraplegics, including digital steering and pushbutton brakes and accelerators.

Veterinary Health
A military dog can detect an explosive and save the lives of 150 soldiers. The Holland Military Working Dog Hospital, a $15 million facility in San Antonio, is a model for state-of-the-art veterinary care. In addition to veterinarians, hospital staff members include rehabilitation technicians and animal behaviorists to treat dogs for physical trauma and PTSD so that they can return to duty. Dogs with leg injuries may use underwater treadmills during physical therapy. These canines can respond to 87 commands, including dialing 911, opening a refrigerator door, turning on a light switch and distracting a veteran from panic attacks.

Engineering
President Obama’s priority on improving critical transportation infrastructure will create demand for engineers.   Transportation engineers focus on design and construction of highways, dams, railroads, public transit, and bridges.  Highway safety engineers study human factors and driver performance to minimize accidents. Some other related jobs include transportation geography researchers, engineering psychologists, and transportation specialists (planners).

Agricultural engineers, along with environmental engineers, ensure compliance with laws such as the Energy Policy Act and Clean Water Act. (See below for information about fire protection, sanitary, safety, and arctic engineers.)

Environment
Plant pathologists and physiologists keep plants healthy by identifying sources of disease, such as bacteria, viruses, insects, drought   and air pollution.   Other occupations related to the environment include resource conservationists, terrestrial ecologists,  research ecologists,  hydrogeologists,  and fire protection engineers. Limnologists are often referred to by their specialty in freshwater systems, such as biogeochemistry, environmental science, ecology, fishery biology, hydrology, or chemistry. Sanitary engineers have expertise in public health and safety engineers are skilled in ergonomics, psychology, and physiology. Arctic engineers study climate change at the US Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory.

Part I: National Security

What do Disney Pixar Studios, Adobe, Netscape, Nintendo, and Garmin have in common?

Basic research by the Office of Naval Intelligence and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in the 1950s and 1960s played a crucial role in development of the Internet, 3D computer graphics, and commercial video games. The Air Force used the global positioning system (GPS) during the 1991 Gulf War, navigation technology familiar to consumers who buy Garmin products for their automobile.

The government’s quest for innovation continues with a new twist. The Department of Homeland Security is sponsoring the Cybersecurity Awareness Campaign Challenge, in case you have ideas for “making the public more cyber secure, cyber smart, and cyber assured.” Another contest is Apps for the Army, targeted to service members with a knack for writing battlefield software.  (Their deadlines are April 30 and May 15, 2010 respectively.)

Why choose the federal government for my first blog? First, this major employer is hiring! Private companies often benefit from public sector discoveries, needing the same skill sets. Further, it illustrates many of the reasons that new occupations evolve:

• Changes in laws or regulations
• Emerging technology
• Changes in demographics
• Shifts in the political, military, or economic environment
• The rise of different business practices

Cybersecurity

The Department of Homeland Security plans to fill approximately 1,000 cybersecurity jobs by 2013.  The Cyberwarfare Command will teach computer-network security professionals about 150 hacking techniques to better understand their adversaries. An information security analyst performs duties in intrusion detection, digital forensics, vulnerability identification, incident response, and computer virus control.

Geospatial technology
According to Government Technology Magazine, geographic information systems (GIS) are used in 80% of governmental activities, such as city planning, transportation, disaster recovery, and disease prevention. Some job titles in GIS include cartographic analyst, geospatial intelligence analyst, and orbit analyst. An imagery intelligence analyst gathers information through photogrammetry or remote sensing to use in strategic intelligence, counterterrorism, and humanitarian relief. These government employees collect and analyze aerial photographs, satellite data, and geodetic surveys. Environmental consulting firms use some of the same technology.

Linguistics and cultural competence

According to the New York Times, more than 120,000 hours of al Qaeda recordings were discovered after 9/11. They were not analyzed due to an inadequate number of qualified translators.

Agencies such as the CIA, FBI, Department of Defense, and Voice of America are recruiting speakers with critical language skills and cross-cultural awareness.  Those who also have high-level security clearances can earn six-figure incomes.  Some of the languages in high demand and short supply (depending on the agency) are these:

Arabic, Chinese (all dialects), Farsi, Hebrew, Hindi, Indonesian,  Japanese, Korean, Pashtu, Punjabi, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Thai, Urdu, and Vietnamese.

Computational linguists develop applications such as translation, voice recognition, automated e-mail response, and search engines. Conversation analysts/applied linguists analyze large bodies of data (including the Internet).  For example, terrorists use social media to recruit, as current articles about “Jihad Jane” illustrate.

Human terrain analysts are social scientists who use research techniques to increase military commanders’ cultural sensitivity to local civilians. Their attitudes are crucial to the success of stabilization and peaceful activities such as economic development. Leadership analysts research the backgrounds of foreign leaders and high level decision-makers to inform U.S. political executives and policymakers. The Transportation Security Administration is training behavior detection officers to detect potential terrorists at airports.

New and emerging occupations often require multidisciplinary and multilingual skills, consistent with many of the occupations described in this blog.

Please email me with questions and examples from your background if you have worked in (or want to seek) jobs discussed in this blog.

Resources for further information:

www.dhs.gov/cyberchallenge
wherethejobsare.org www.intelligence.gov makingthedifference.org usajobs.gov

My next blog will cover evolving health and science-related occupations in government.