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The momentum for improving U.S. science and technology capabilities has been building across the country. This has been particularly apparent in the news, as more and more newspapers have been increasing their coverage of the issue. Use the links below to read more.
Editorial and Op-ed Support
July 14, 2008 – The Ripon Forum – “The unheeded threat”
Newt Gingrich, former House speaker, authored an article in the Ripon Forum on the critical importance of advancing STEM in the U.S. He writes, “Little focus has been paid to just how dangerous it is to allow other countries, especially non-democracies, to become the high-tech centers of the world. "A Nation at Risk" released in 1983 said, "If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves." Little more than marginal change has been enacted since these reports were issued, and it is unlikely there will ever be a September 11th type of wake-up-call in the realm of math and science education that will motivate us towards dramatic action.”
July 9, 2008 – Roll Call – “Leaders Ignore Science Shortfalls to the Peril of America’s Future” 
Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and contributing writer to Roll Call, wrote an op-ed on America’s failure to invest adequately in basic research in science and science education.
News Coverage
July 15, 2008 – Associated Press – “Report: US behind in doubling science grads”
A high-profile push by business groups to double the number of U.S. bachelor's degrees awarded in science, math and engineering by 2015 is falling way behind target, a new report says. In 2005, 15 prominent business groups warned that a lack of expert workers and teachers posed a threat to U.S. competitiveness, and said the country would need 400,000 new graduates in the so-called STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields by 2015.
July 15, 2008 – The New York Times – “A new frontier for Title IX: science”
Until recently, the impact of Title IX, the law forbidding sexual discrimination in education, has been limited mostly to sports. But now, under pressure from Congress, some federal agencies have quietly picked a new target: science. The National Science Foundation, NASA and the Department of Energy have set up programs to look for sexual discrimination at universities receiving federal grants. Investigators have been taking inventories of lab space and interviewing faculty members and students in physics and engineering departments at schools like Columbia, the University of Wisconsin, M.I.T. and the University of Maryland.
July 13, 2008 – San Diego Union-Tribune – “Summer in lab beats day at the beach”
An undergraduate program at the University of San Diego recruits students who often don't make it into the research ranks: students of color, students whose parents have never been to college or students who are financially needy. The plan is to expose them to science and math in hopes they will choose a career in science – not always a first choice for the Millennial Generation. Formed in 2001 as a way to diversify the sciences, the Pre-Undergraduate Research Experience program enables three to five freshmen to spend six to eight weeks in a lab before starting college, then provides free tutoring for two years.
July 1, 2008 – New York Sun – “$18M Gift Aims To Boost Math, Science in Harlem”
The New York City Department of Education is receiving its largest corporate grant ever, an $18 million gift from General Electric that will go toward improving Harlem middle schools, Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday. The grant is focused on math and science — subject areas in which General Electric's chairman and CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, said American students are falling behind in worrisome proportions. Working with outside partners such as Teachers College at Columbia University, General Electric will provide its employees as free labor to help out with generating student interest in the subjects. The grant is part of a national program General Electric has already launched in five cities to direct more American students into math and science careers.
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