FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 20, 2007
CONTACT: Geoff Embler or Matt Mackowiak
Sen. Hutchison Announces $40,500 Grant for Education Forum
WASHINGTON -- Texas’ senior Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) today announced that The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST), which she co-founded and serves as honorary chair of, has received a $40,500 grant from the Greater Texas Foundation. TAMEST will use part of the grant to provide funds for exemplary STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) teachers from across the state to attend an education forum at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy (BIPP) on October 12-13. The forum is entitled “Improving Math and Science Education: Texas Confronts the Gathering Storm.”
“Rising powers like China and India are threatening America’s economic leadership, and we must refocus our efforts to meet that threat head on,” Sen. Hutchison said. “Working together, I know we can find solutions to maintain our competitive edge.”
Concerned about America’s continued leadership in an increasingly competitive global economy, Sen. Hutchison charged the TAMEST Education committee to examine the conclusions of a recent National Academies of Science report, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Future.”
The United States graduates about 70,000 engineers annually, yet more than half come from overseas. India matriculates about 250,000 engineers each year, and in China, the number is even greater. It is projected that if this trend continues, approximately 90 percent of all scientists and engineers in the world will live in Asia.
TAMEST, in cooperation with the BIPP at Rice University, will host a forum to address these challenges with improved STEM education. The forum will include several discussion sessions and recognition of outstanding STEM teachers in Texas. Conclusions from the forum will be published in a detailed report, and more information can be found at www.tamest.org.
Sen. Hutchison helped established TAMEST in 2000 to increasing federal research funding to Texas’ institutions of higher education. TAMEST consists of the state’s 10 Nobel Laureates and more than 200 members of the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences.
Located in Bryan, Texas and functioning as a charitable foundation since 2001, the purpose of Greater Texas Foundation is to improve education in the state of Texas through public-private partnerships and by providing funding to educational institutions. In addition to the creation of multiple scholarship endowments, the foundation currently supports excellence in education through initiatives that enhance math and science education at all levels; increase access to higher education; provide skill enhancement and induction-program opportunities for teachers; and/or encourage parental and community involvement in education. The foundation's other recent notable grants include $864,000 to the Texas High School Project and the Communities Foundation of Texas to establish the Canutillo Early College High School at El Paso Community College and $410,000 to the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin to fund development of a mathematics capstone course for Texas public high schools.
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