FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 30, 2007
CONTACT: Geoff Embler or Matt Mackowiak
Sen. Hutchison Announces Dow Chemical Company Foundation Grant of $250,000 to TAMEST
WASHINGTON -- Today Texas’ Senior Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) announced a $250,000 donation from The Dow Chemical Company Foundation to the Education Committee Initiative of The Academy of Medicine, Engineering, and Science (TAMEST) on the campus of the University of Texas.
“This is great news for Texas because our troops and their families are finally getting the funding they need,” Sen. Hutchison said. “This bill represents an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars into military construction projects in Texas.
Passage of the bill today means that the full Fiscal Year 2007 funding for facilities for troops and their families has been approved. The funding includes $741 million Sen. Hutchison helped secure for Texas Base improvements.
As the Founder and Honorary Chairman of TAMEST, Sen. Hutchison charged TAMEST with producing an in-depth report examining variables negatively affecting K-12 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education, and offering recommendations for improvements. The report will be presented to Sen. Hutchison in September 2008.
“I am so pleased that Dow has made this donation to TAMEST, which will be used to study K-12 education, evaluate where we stand, and see where we can improve to keep Texas and our country competitive in math and science,” said Sen. Hutchison. “I have been working closely with TAMEST since we founded it and we will continue working with TAMEST to keep our schools at the cutting edge in educating Texas children.”
“We are very pleased to be working with TAMEST, a partner committed to the advancement of science and math education in Texas," said Bo Miller, president and executive director of The Dow Chemical Company Foundation. "As a company and an industry we are concerned about the decline in students coming out of American schools who are qualified and interested in careers in science and technology. We are confident that initiatives like TAMEST will help to reverse this trend.”
“A well-educated workforce with strong math and science skills is critical to the long-term competitiveness of the Texas petrochemical industry,” said Bob Walker, vice president and site director, Dow Texas Operations. “Our industry offers some of the best paying jobs in the manufacturing sector, and we anticipate that there will be an abundance of new jobs created here over the next ten years. Actions to improve the quality of K-12 education in this state will go a long way toward creating the scientists, engineers and qualified manufacturing employees that companies like Dow are looking for. Dow applauds TAMEST and Senator Hutchison for their leadership in addressing this important issue, and we are pleased to lend our significant support.”
Sen. Hutchison was instrumental in establishing TAMEST, whose membership includes Texas' Nobel Laureates and over 250 members of the National Academies. TAMEST is dedicated to increasing national awareness of and funding for research and development to foster partnerships between Texas educational institutions and private industry.
TAMEST represents the centerpiece of Sen. Hutchison’s effort to support research and development and promote Texas as a science state. During Sen. Hutchison’s tenure in the U.S. Senate, Texas has moved from sixth to third in the nation in receipt of federal research and development expenditures.
Senator Hutchison serves on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, is Ranking Member of the Space, Aeronautics and Related Sciences Subcommittee, and is a member of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees education.
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