Thursday, January 28, 2010

Mass. STEM council takes first steps, brings in $500,000

By Mass High Tech staff

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Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray and other Massachusetts public officials brought Governor Patrick’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Advisory Council together for the first time today, holding the council’s first meeting and announcing an investment in STEM resources.

Meeting at the Museum of Science in Boston, the council announced that the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative will provide $500,000 in funds to support the administration’s budget proposal for investing in STEM resources through the STEM Pipeline Fund, which will offer resources to STEM networks across Massachusetts.

“Investing in and improving STEM education will help us continue to build a highly skilled workforce in Massachusetts,” said Murray. “As we focus on retaining and attracting businesses that need employees trained in the STEM fields, we must simultaneously promote STEM education and STEM careers for our young people who will be the future leaders of the Commonwealth’s innovation economy.”
 
Education Secretary Paul Reville said that developing student interest in the STEM fields “provides new and exciting opportunities” for those students, helping them to acquire the skills they need to become leaders in our global economy.

The council will serve as a central advisory body of public and private sector representatives who are involved with STEM planning and programming.
 
The council has organized six sub-committees. They include: 
 
Public awareness subcommittee: creating and maintaining student interest
Teacher development subcommittee: training, recruitment and retention
Infrastructure subcommittee: grants, strategic partnerships and sustainability
Data collection subcommittee: stem metrics, indicators and evaluation
Curriculum framework and standards subcommittee: alignment and upgrades
Diversity subcommittee: improving the achievement gap and pursuing additional stem opportunities for women and minorities
 
“As a scientist and as an educator, I am very pleased to serve on a council that is focused on the critical issue of encouraging greater numbers of students to dedicate themselves to the study of science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” University of Massachusetts president Jack M. Wilson said. 

The governor’s office also has established a website dedicated to the council’s activity at www.mass.gov/governor/stem.

The council's members include:

Ex Officio Members

•    Timothy P. Murray, Lt. Governor; Chairman, STEM Advisory Council
•    Greg Bialecki, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development
•    Jack Wilson, President, University of Massachusetts
•    Joanne Goldstein, Secretary, Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development
•    Mitchell Chester, Commissioner, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
•    Paul Reville, Secretary, Executive Office of Education
•    Richard Freeland, Commissioner, Department of Higher Education
•    Sherri Killins, Commissioner, Department of Early Education and Care

Legislative Members

•    Daniel Bosley, State Representative, Goddard Council Co-Chair
•    Karen Spilka, State Senator, Senate President’s Pick
•    Thomas Conroy, State Representative, Speaker of the House’s Pick
•    Thomas McGee, State Senator, Goddard Council Co-Chair

Members

•    Alex Sanchez, Senior Principal Systems Engineer, Raytheon Company
•    Barnas Monteith, Chairman, MA State Science and Engineering Fair; Managing Partner and Co-Founder, Advanced Diamond Solutions, Inc.
•    Christos Zahopoulos, Ph.D., Executive Director, Northeastern University Center for STEM Education
•    Dennis Berkey, President, WPI
•    Gary DiCamillo, Chairman, Mass. Business Roundtable’s Education and Workforce Development Task Force; Partner, Eaglepoint Advisors, LLC
•    Ioannis Miaoulis, President and Director, Museum of Science
•    Isa Zimmerman, IKZ Advisors, STEM Education and Leadership
•    J.D. Chesloff, Deputy Director, Massachusetts Business Roundtable
•    Jim Stanton, Director, Technology Initiative, Metro South/West Regional Employment Board
•    John Hodgman, Adjunct Professor, UMass-Lowell College of Engineering
•    Joyce L. Plotkin, President Emerita, Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council
•    Kevin O’Sullivan, President and CEO, Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives
•    Larry Maier, President and Owner, Peerless Precision
•    Marcy Reed, Senior Vice President, National Grid
•    Mark DiNapoli, President and General Manager, Suffolk Construction Northeast Division
•    Mary Grant, President, MCLA
•    Mary McLaughlin, Vice President Greater Boston Region/South, Comcast
•    Melinda Boone, Superintendent, Worcester Public Schools
•    Michael Tamasi, Principal, Boston Centerless/AccuRounds
•    Susan Windham-Bannister, President and CEO, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center
•    Steve Vinter, Engineering and Site Director, Google Inc.
•    Ted Acworth, Founder and CEO, Artaic Innovative Mosaic
•    Yvonne Spicer, Vice President-Advocacy for Educational Partnerships, Museum of Science
•    Zorica Pantic, President, Wentworth Institute of Technology

STEM Council Staff

•    Adam Freudberg, Aide to the Lt. Governor
•    Marissa Cole, Deputy Chief of Staff, Executive Office of Education