Date posted: 07/31/2008*

Raytheon, a leader in support of science and math education to secure the technical talent pipeline for the future, spoke at a hearing on this subject recently called by the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee.

The hearing, held July 22, in Washington, D.C., was entitled, “Innovation in Education through Business and Education STEM Partnerships.” “STEM” stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

Representing the company was Brian Wells, Raytheon’s Chief Systems Engineer. Other speakers included Phil Mickelson, the professional golfer and co-founder of the Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy; and Dr. Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, who runs Sally Ride Science. Also testifying were representatives from IBM, Merck and Texas Instruments.

In his prepared statement, Wells reviewed Raytheon’s multi-pronged approach to education, including: tuition reimbursement; in-house training; Raytheon’s MathMovesU® program aimed at middle schoolers in science and math; title sponsorship of MATHCOUNTS®, a non-profit organization that promotes math excellence, also among middle school students; support for FIRST Robotics; employee education volunteerism; work with the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) to strengthen STEM education and college readiness; and an innovative STEM Modeling initiative, which was the focus of Wells’ remarks.

“Raytheon is taking a new approach to examine potential solutions to the challenge of increasing the number of STEM graduates,” he explained. “Our CEO, Bill Swanson, believes that the same systems engineering methods used to create complex aerospace and defense systems for the U.S. government can be applied to the U.S. education system.”

Teams of Raytheon systems engineers tackled the problem as their in-house engineering class project under Wells’ direction and in consultation with education experts. Their goal was to create an innovative dynamic systems engineering-based model of the U.S. STEM education system.

Wells emphasized more work remains to be done. “While Raytheon and BHEF have taken the initial steps in the area, there is much more to be done,” he said. “We are working with the Ohio State University and Kathy Sullivan at the John Glenn School of Public Affairs to form a community of researchers and modelers to expand the effort.”

Wells noted that with a generational transition on the horizon as “baby boomers” grow nearer to retirement, it was imperative that we “help our students prepare now for the skills they will need later” to enter STEM careers.

 

MathMovesU® is a registered trademark of Raytheon Company.

MATHCOUNTS® is a registered trademark of the MATHCOUNTS Foundation.

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