Last Updated: 10/17/2011*

2011 Massachusetts STEM Summit commitment builds on earlier $1M EiE pledge

Raytheon Chairman and CEO William H. Swanson

During a keynote address titled:
The Role of Business in STEM Education, Raytheon Chairman and CEO William H. Swanson announced that the company would add an additional $1M to its support of the Boston Museum of Science’s Education is Elementary® program, creating the Raytheon-EiE Teacher Scholarship fund to facilitate teacher access to training and materials. The EiE program helps teachers tap their students’ imaginations by engaging them in projects designed to showcase science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

“Business has an obligation, indeed we all have a stake in replenishing the STEM pipeline with new talent for the future,” said Swanson. “I would challenge those businesses still on the fence to put on their helmets and get into the game.”

The fund, part of the company’s MathMovesU® initiative, will speed the adoption of the specialized EiE curriculum in elementary schools, with a particular focus on those located in inner city, rural and disadvantaged areas. By providing $200,000 in teacher scholarships annually over the next five years, the program will help offset the costs of attending the training workshops and help teachers buy the necessary supplies to use in their classrooms.

The scholarship fund builds on the initial $1M gift announced earlier this month. That donation helps support the expansion of teacher training hubs beyond Boston. New professional development centers will be located in Washington, D.C., Phoenix, Ariz., and Huntsville, Ala.

During his address to summit attendees (#MASTEMSummit), Swanson also suggested that business engagement was needed to help improve workforce alignment. He believes that employers have a tremendous opportunity to work together with academia to identify and address the structural misalignment between education and workforce needs. He pointed out that too many students and adults are training for jobs in which labor surpluses exist and demand is low, while high-demand jobs, particularly those in STEM fields, go unfilled.

“STEM is the foundation of innovation in this era of global competitiveness,” he said. “Therefore, it is critically important for the U.S. to have a strong STEM pipeline, so our nation can continue to be a leader in innovation.”