As we've previously reported, Latinos are one of the fastest growing demographics in the U.S. and, as consumers, have widely been considered "ahead of the digital curve." But Latinos are still vastly underrepresented in future-forward careers and educational fields associated with high-tech, which will be the focus of a panel discussion at the Latino Education and Advocacy Days summit at Cal State this year.

On Thursday, March 27, Gisele Ragusa, director of teacher, K-12, and community education for USC, will speak with other members of a panel discussion -- including CEO of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers Pilar Montoya, Chairman of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation Emanuel Pleitez, and Marvin Martinez, President of East Los Angeles College -- on the problem of Latinos in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields (also called STEM).

"Our future engineers are sitting in our K through 12 classrooms, and we're not tapping into that," told Ragusa to the Press Enterprise. Latinos are underrepresented in STEM fields in the U.S., with 2011 U.S. Census Bureau statistics showing that only 7 percent of people working in STEM are Latinos, compared to that 15 percent of Latinos in the workforce, overall. Getting young Latinos interested in STEM fields is the key to growing that statistic, said Ragusa, along with educating parents about preparing their kids for STEM education.

Creating and expanding mentorship programs with professional Latinos from STEM careers talking to young Latinos is part of that strategy, too. "If you don't see [any] one who looks or acts like you or represents who you are, the hidden message is you can't make it -- just like the message females get is that they can't make it in science or engineering," said Ragusa, pointing out that women are also underrepresented in STEM careers.

While there are fewer Latinos and other minorities in STEM fields, the demand for more people to enter the STEM workforce remains high. During the recent recession, for example, while unemployed people outnumbered general job postings by 3.6 to one, in STEM occupations, job postings outnumbered qualified but unemployed people 1.9 to one -- meaning, on average, there are nearly two jobs for every STEM professional in the U.S. It's one of the reasons CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been in favor of immigration reform. He, and other heads of high-tech industries, need more workers.

Bilingual Latinos can be extra valuable in STEM fields, said Ragusa. As Latin American technology markets continue to boom, companies are looking for people able to work with customers and clients of different cultures and backgrounds.

The Latino Education and Advocacy Days (or LEAD) at Cal State, San Bernardino, CA., is the fifth annual summit focusing on Latinos and education, family, and social activism. This year's conference has been expanded to four days and starts on Wednesday, March 26, with a free webinar focusing on the recent PBS series Latino Americans. Other events in the days afterwards will be live streamed here.