Obama Plays Cheerleader For STEM

President Barack Obama tours an exhibit set up by students from Blue Bell, Pa., who build a robot that plays soccer, during a science fair he hosted at the White House last month. "I've had the Lakers here, the Saints, the Crimson Tide," he said. "I thought we ought to do the same thing for the winners of science fairs and robotic contests and math competitions."

—Susan Walsh/AP

By Erik W. Robelen

Amid a struggling economy, a raft of foreign-policy headaches, and the tail end of a heated campaign season, President Barack Obama carved out time in his schedule last month to watch students in the State Dining Room demonstrate a solar-powered model car, a water-purification system, and a soccer-playing robot.

That might seem like a surprising distraction. But to hear the president tell it, those activities—part of what was dubbed the first annual White House science fair celebrating winners of STEM-focused student competitions—are just what the nation needs to prosper.

“In many ways, our future depends on what happens in those contests,” Mr. Obama said at the event. “It’s in these pursuits that talents are discovered and passions are lit, and the future scientists, engineers, inventors,...