School & District Management

STEM Issues Among Those on New NSF Chief’s Platter

By Sarah D. Sparks & Erik W. Robelen — October 19, 2010 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Education watchers say the U.S. Senate’s confirmation of Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineering dean Subra Suresh to lead the National Science Foundation may lead to greater action on an interagency strategy for science, technology, engineering, and math—or STEM—education research, which has been in the works for a while now.

The federal agency, with an annual budget of about $7 billion, focuses in part on promoting K-12 science education and research. Mr. Suresh, 54, who was approved Sept. 29 for a six-year term, replaces Arden Bement, who stepped down June 1.

Cora B. Marrett, until now the acting NSF director, told Institute of Education Sciences officials and advisory board members that NSF, the U.S. Department of Education, the National Institutes of Health, and the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology have had some difficulty coordinating inter-agency strategies.

“We’re committed to integration of education and STEM,” she said, but “how do we ever get the heads of these organizations together? How do you figure out who within them is responsible [for STEM education]? We don’t have a single unit responsible for aggregating, bringing together the different experiences of the agencies.”

The NSF has already made a start. Though still without an assistant director, the agency’s education directorate has just put out a new request for proposals on collaborative interdisciplinary research in education issues.

“We’re looking at how to bring the disciplinary-based work to the more general work on the science of learning,” Ms. Marrett said.

Meanwhile, the NSF at the end of August launched a national search to recruit a new assistant director for the Education and Human Resources Directorate, which oversees four NSF divisions and administers an $872 million budget. In seeking recommendations for the post, the agency cited as qualifications for the post “a grasp of the issues facing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics research and education.”

A version of this article appeared in the October 20, 2010 edition of Education Week as STEM Likely to Bid For NSF Chief’s Eye

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School & District Management 3 Tips to Help Districts Navigate Educator Layoffs
Keep cuts in line with the district's overarching goals, an expert advises.
3 min read
Illustration of scissors cutting row of paper dolls.
iStock / Getty Images Plus
School & District Management Teachers Hate All Those Meetings. Can Principals Find a Workaround?
Principals can't do away with every meeting, but they can reduce some and make others more effective.
4 min read
Image of a staff meeting.
E+/Getty
School & District Management Q&A When This Principal Talks About Mental Health, People Listen. Here's Why
The NASSP Advocacy Champion of the year said he used stories from his school and community to speak with his state’s legislators.
6 min read
Chris Young, a principal from Vermont, poses for a photo in front of a Senate office building in Washington, D.C.
Chris Young, a principal from Vermont, stands in front of a Senate office building in Washington on March 13, 2024. Young was among the secondary principals to meet with legislators urging them to keep federal funding for schools stable.
Olina Banerji/Education Week
School & District Management Teacher Layoffs Are Mounting. How Districts Can Soften the Blow
Layoffs are coming in districts large and small. Here's how district leaders can handle them.
8 min read
Pencil Eraser Erasing Drawn Figure
AndreyPopov/iStock/Getty