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Although the literature on veteran differences in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupational outcomes by gender is established and veteran/nonveteran differences in STEM outcomes are well studied, we fill a gap in the literature by examining the following two research questions in this study: (1) are rural veterans less likely than urban veterans to be employed in a STEM occupation and how does race/ethnicity modify this relationship; (2) among veterans in a STEM occupation, does total income vary by rural/urban location and race/ethnicity? We retrieved data on employed military veterans (n = 845,467) aged 18 to 65 years from the 2008–2020 American Community Survey. Results showed that rural-dwelling Black and Hispanic veterans were less likely than Whites to be employed in a STEM field. Among veterans employed in a STEM field, rural-dwelling Hispanics had lower annual incomes than Whites. As such, future STEM education programs should target rural-dwelling veterans of color. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses a study that examines the relationship between science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupational history and cognitive function among military veterans. The study used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and assessed cognitive function using three tests. The results showed that veterans with STEM occupations had better cognitive function on the animal fluency test compared to those without STEM occupations. However, there was no significant difference in cognitive function on the word recall test or the digit symbol test. The study suggests that cognitive function may be better in veterans with STEM occupations, but further research is needed. [Extracted from the article]