April 29, 2008 -                                        

WASHINGTON, D.C. – American leaders in business and education voiced concern Tuesday that support for math and science is still urgently needed, more than two years after the blue-ribbon report “Rising above the Gathering Storm” warned that America is losing crucial ground in math and science skills.

Norman Augustine, chair of the report and retired CEO of Lockheed Martin, said that since the landmark report was issued, the U.S. trade deficit in high-technology goods has further increased.  Other countries –such as China and India – have ramped up investments in math and science while the U.S. continues to lose ground, he said.

“Churchill said that you can always count on the Americans to do the right thing after they have tried everything else,” Augustine said, speaking at a special summit held in the nation’s capital to assess what has happened since the “Gathering Storm” report was issued by the National Academies in 2005. “Our nation's leaders need to follow through on their bipartisan effort in the America COMPETES Act and fund improvements to math and science education – otherwise, our nation’s greatest export is likely to be our jobs and our standard of living.”

“’The Gathering Storm’ report should have been a Sputnik moment for our country.  If Americans can’t add, America can’t compete.  The next generation of Americans must be better educated in math and science -- or they won’t be able to keep up in the new global economy,” said Tom Luce, CEO of the National Math and Science Initiative, which was created as a result of the “Gathering Storm” report.  Luce, a former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education for Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, agreed that Congress took a positive step last year by passing the America COMPETES Act, but needs to take the next step of funding the measures. 

“The enemy I fear most is Complacency.  The science and engineering talent, tools, and research required to prosper and be a world leader in this century do not grow on trees.  We urgently need to invest in people and knowledge to create well-paying jobs. We must again be the ‘can do’ nation -- building a strong, competitive economy and meeting the challenges of energy, security, healthcare, and global change,” said Charles Vest, President of the National Academy of Engineering and former president MIT.

Other speakers included Craig Barrett, Chairman of the Board of Intel; Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings; Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman; G. Wayne Clough, President of Georgia Tech University, and former astronaut and physicist Sally Ride.  Bob Schieffer, Chief Washington and Capitol Hill Correspondent for CBS News moderated the opening panel.

A bi-partisan contingent of Congressional leaders also addressed the math and science challenge at the convocation, including Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Tex.; Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tex.; Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn.;  Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va.; Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Tex.; and Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J.

Academic,  government, and business leaders participating included David Ferraro, Senior Program Officer for Education, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation;  Francis (Skip) Fennell, Past-President, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics;  Arden Bement, Director of the National Science Foundation; Steven Chu, Director, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab; Kristina Johnson, Provost, Johns Hopkins University;  C.D. Mote, Jr., President, University of Maryland, College Park;  Deborah Wince-Smith, President of the Council on Competitiveness;  Gail Cassell, Vice President of  Scientific Affairs at Eli Lilly; Deborah Stine, Specialist in Science and Technology policy at the Congressional Research Service;  James Duderstadt, President Emeritus, University of Michigan;  William B. Bonvillian, Director of the MIT Washington office; and George M. Scalise, President, Semiconductor Industry Association.

The National Math and Science Initiative, a non-profit organization, was created in 2007 as a result of the “Rising above the Gathering Storm” report.  NMSI’s mission is expanding programs with proven success in math and science education across the nation.  The initial focus is on replicating two programs that each have 10 years of data proving they work:  a training and incentive program for Advanced Placement * courses and UTeach, a  program to recruit, prepare and retain qualified math, science and computer science teachers. Forty states have applied for the programs, according to Luce, but additional public-private support is needed to implement the programs in all the states that have applied.

Contacts:   Eddie Reeves, Public Strategies, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (214)363-3990,  Rena Pederson, NMSI (214) 665-2523, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it For more information, visit www.nationalmathandscience.org

*AP and Advanced Placement Program are registered trademarks of the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this product.