Mathematicians’ Central Role in Educating the STEM Workforce

Abstract

In the recent report Engage to Excel,1 President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) identifies mathematics as a bottleneck in undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. Among PCAST’s recommendations are ones calling for the development and teaching of college-level mathematics courses “by faculty from mathematics-intensive disciplines other than mathematics” and for “a new pathway for producing K–12 mathematics teachers…in programs in mathematics-intensive fields other than mathematics.”2 While we are in sharp disagreement with these specific recommendations, we do share PCAST’s concern for the state of STEM education. We encourage the mathematics community to focus constructively on the broad view the report sketches. We appeal to the community to amplify its communications with other STEM disciplines, to publicize its teaching innovations, and to redouble its efforts to meet the challenges discussed by PCAST.