Obama Holds Economic Summit on Campus

Events, News

“What do we need to do to make STEM (science, technology, engineering and technology) education sexy again?”

This was one of the questions posed by Senator Barack Obama this morning to a remarkably high-powered group of panelists at an economic summit, held in the Weigand gymnasium at Carnegie Mellon University this morning. The 2-hour summit focused on innovation and competitiveness, and especially on key questions related to energy and the environment, education, healthcare, national infrastructure, and innovation in science and technology. This was a small, invitation-only event, with about 100 or so people in the audience.

I can’t quite remember all the panelists, but they included: Lael Brainard, vice president of the Brookings Institution; Eli Broad, founder of the Broad Foundation; Geoffrey Canada, president and CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone; Steve Case, chairman and CEO of Revolution Health and former chairman and CEO of America Online; Susan Hockfield, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and venture capitalist; Federico Pena, former Secretary of Transportation and former Secretary of Energy; Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union; and G. Richard Waggoner Jr., chairman and CEO of General Motors.

The question about making STEM “sexy” came after almost two hours of discussion on a range of meaty topics, and exposed a general theme of the summit, namely the importance of science, technology, and basic research as the foundation of innovation and economic health. Certainly these are ideas that we know well, and the obvious consensus of the panel on such topics was both important and reassuring to hear. Answers from the panelists ranged from better teacher training, to improved access, to repairing what Obama called our “disastrous immigration policy”.

A few other impressions and highlights:

• The summit was pretty serious and meaty. After CMU President Jared Cohon gave some introductory remarks, Obama spoke very briefly (less than 10 minutes, I think), in order to give the maximum time to the panelists. There was a lot of content, and in fact the topic of science and technology innovation ended up getting cut a bit short.
• Obama was an effective moderator. When a panelist talked in terms of generalities or lofty goals, Obama would press him or her to suggest concrete strategies for federal action. He wasn’t bashful about raising elements of his own policy ideas as strawmen for discussion purposes. Often, panelists would respond with a plea for strong leadership (not just new policy).
• The university wanted to have the name “Carnegie Mellon” appear somewhere on the stage, podium, or backdrop, but this was vetoed by Obama’s summit organizers. In the end, water bottles with the Carnegie Mellon name and tartan plaid were allowed. I noticed that Susan Hockfield, the MIT President, turned her water bottle so that “Carnegie Mellon” faced away from the television cameras. Maybe she did this so that she could gaze at our university’s name. ;-)

The event was, in my view, quite successful. It wasn’t flashy. In fact, at times it seemed subdued and serious. The discussion was earnest, albeit at a very high level of abstraction.

The CMU administration, especially the government affairs office (led by Tim McNulty) and events staff, really must be commended for their role in making this all happen. There were lots of volunteers, too.  Two that stick out because they are from the Computer Science Department are Rob Simmons and Diana Hyde. Carnegie Mellon has become a very, very important (and accommodating) campus for the nation’s policy and thought leaders.

Peter Lee @ June 26, 2008