After earning mathematics and computer-science degrees at Eastern Michigan University, Chinese national Maria Zhang worked for Microsoft and Zillow, an online real-estate firm, before starting a mobile technology company, called Propeld, in Bellevue in late 2010.

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Dominated at the moment by courses in mathematics, computer science, and engineering, MOOCs may be ill-equipped to teach students to write and express themselves or to provide the hands-on experience of working in a lab.

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According to the National Science Foundation, during the last half-century, foreign-born students earned three-quarters of U.S. doctorate degrees in mathematics, engineering and computer science.

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