Patrick, Murray Launch STEM Council From The Mathworks
For years, Massachusetts, and the United States in general, has been criticized for failing to cultivate the necessary workforce to fill jobs in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) industries.
Wednesday, Gov. Deval Patrick and Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray said the state was making strides to reverse that trend.
Patrick and Murray visited The Mathworks in Natick Wednesday morning to sign an executive order establishing the state's STEM Advisory Council. The council, which Murray will chair, will serve as a central advisory board made up of public and private sector industry leaders. The council's mission is to increase interest in careers in the STEM fields.
"We have to make school curriculums that are relevant and exciting to students, so that they can understand what they're learning in the classroom has a real-world application," Murray said in a phone interview with the Worcester Business Journal. "We have to get there. That's really the answer."
According to Murray, only 22.1 percent of SAT test-takers in Massachusetts this year expressed an interest in majoring in a STEM field. He said the national average is 28.1 percent.
That negatively affects Massachusetts from a competitive standpoint, but Murray said it is also alarming because so many of the growing industries in the state require STEM training and education.
Murray said that a goal of the council is to develop partnerships between businesses and schools. Through those partnerships, teachers can pursue working opportunities during the summer and bring that work experience back to the classroom, he said.
The Mathworks was a natural to host the council's kick off because of its long-term involvement in STEM education.
"It's not just about mathematics but it's about all the great things that you can do with it," Dave Smith, a Mathworks spokesman, said of the company's message to students. "The students that are excited about math and science come away with a better sense of what they can do."
The first step for the council is finalizing the members of its advisory group, which Murray said will happen by the end of the month. Joining him - and individuals from the public and private business and nonprofit sectors - will be Education Secretary Paul Reville, Housing and Economic Development Secretary Greg Bialecki and Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Suzanne Bump.
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