Tony Artuso is the Director of STEM at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in Boston, Mass., and also a member of the Board of Directors at the Triangle Coalition for Science and Technology Education. His specialties include product development, positioning and launch, marketing strategy and communications, intellectual property management, marketing campaign development, partner and vendor negotiations, and general management.
Artuso, who holds an MBA in Marketing from Harvard’s Business School, spoke with WashingtonExec about STEM. Specifically, how he got involved, how to get others involved, misconceptions in STEM, what NGSS is (and why it’s so important), STEM success cases, and more.
WashingtonExec: What is your background and how did you get involved in STEM?
Tony Artuso: Prior to joining Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) as their Director of STEM in 2010, I worked across a variety of STEM industries including aerospace (Rockwell International, where I was a technical editor), IT (startups such as ON Technology and Moka, where I was a product manager), and healthcare (International Diabetes Center, where I focused on bringing their education program into the 21st century), so I saw firsthand our country’s crying need for engineers and scientists, including women and minorities, who are current underrepresented in STEM fields. For example, working on the Space Shuttle at Rockwell, I encountered 1 – just 1! – female engineer. Thus, when I started working in education, I knew we could do better in STEM. That’s why I was drawn to the opportunity to be Director of Publishing at Education Development Center, a nonprofit curriculum developer that focuses on STEM. After many years at EDC, I decided that change in education could best be driven from the for-profit side so I went to Delta Education, where I managed the FOSS program, one of the leading hands-on science curricula, and later joined HMH.
WashingtonExec: What, in your opinion, are the biggest misconceptions about STEM?
Tony Artuso: There are several misconceptions about STEM – for instance, that simply teaching one subject, say math, is sufficient, when STEM is really about the intersection of the 4 disciplines – Science, Technology, Engineering AND Math. Folks also seem to think that offering, say, a robotics program afterschool is sufficient. It’s a great start, but it’s hardly a comprehensive approach. The biggest misconception about STEM is that the T stands only for electronic devices with on-off switches.
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“In fact, even mundane things that we take for granted – like spoons and wheels – are technology. Anytime we apply science and math to solve a human problem, we’re creating technology.”
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WashingtonExec: Please describe your day to day responsibilities at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Tony Artuso: As HMH’s Director of STEM, my focus is on product development. As you might imagine, with its rich publishing heritage, HMH has an incredible depth of resources, especially in science and mathematics, traditional areas of study in grades K through 12. HMH has strong engineering and technology resources as well, and my job is to leverage and enhance the intersections of those resources to help our customers capitalize on interdisciplinary STEM teaching opportunities in their classrooms today. My focus as regards future STEM product development is on helping our customers address the forthcoming Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and keeping HMH at the forefront of this rapidly evolving field.
WashingtonExec: What are NGSS, and why are they so important?
Tony Artuso: As you know, over the last few years, the states have voluntarily come together to create common educational standards in both English Language Arts and Mathematics. These are known as the Common Core State Standards. The states are going through a similar process right now with science standards, the NGSS. In the next few months these standards will be finalized and then adopted by those states that choose to adopt them, and this will lead to a fundamental shift not only in what is taught in science – for example, engineering and technology will be key new areas – but how it is taught. There will be a focus on hands-on, inquiry-based or project-based learning – a significant change for many teachers, and our job is to help make that transition as smooth and successful as possible.
WashingtonExec: The U.S. is not turning out the engineering students that we need to in order to compete as an innovative country. Why is this issue so important?
Tony Artuso: There are lots of statistics people like to quote on this subject, but I find that a true story can go a lot further in illustrating the significance of this issue. A few months ago, I was visiting with a very innovative elementary school principal in a rural area of a Midwestern state, and I asked him why he was teaching engineering to kids in grades K-5. He told me that, in the recent recession, his town had lost its automobile manufacturing plant. He’d done some research after that and discovered, to his horror, that now that the plant was gone, the highest paid job left in his county was that of prison guard. What kid would stay around a place like that? That’s why, he decided, he needed to improve the STEM workforce in his area so that, in future, the talent pool might attract businesses back to his community and make living there a better option for his students and their families. That’s why the issue of scientists and engineers is so important.
WashingtonExec: What’s your view to get more parents involved in STEM?
Tony Artuso: Parents have a vital role to play in STEM. It’s more than just advocating for better STEM education with their local school board. That’s important, to be sure, but schools could always benefit from direct parent involvement. Kids need STEM role models, so parents in engineering and scientific fields should be welcomed into the classroom to share their stories. Even parents without technical backgrounds could help, perhaps by donating supplies for hands-on science activities or putting together or refurbishing hands-on kits for busy teachers. At home, all parents can raise student awareness of STEM by pointing out all the STEM that surrounds them. After all, we leave in an engineered world.
WashingtonExec: You are involved in the Triangle Coalition for Science and Technology Foundation. What’s the mission of the organization and why you are involved?
Tony Artuso: The mission of the Triangle Coalition for STEM Education is to bring together government, business, and education to foster a STEM literate workforce and citizenry. While lots of national STEM advocacy groups have sprung up in recent years, Triangle is one of the oldest – if not the oldest – of the STEM advocates on a national level. I’m proud to be on its Board of Directors. I’m thrilled to be part of a group with so many smart, dedicated, passionate STEM leaders. I believe the Coalition is uniquely suited to capitalize on the opportunity for change in education that the current focus on STEM and NGSS offers.
WashingtonExec: What’s the best STEM success case study/project that you have been personally involved in?
Tony Artuso: HMH has a great partnership with U.S. Satellite Laboratory, an organization based in Rye, New York, that, among other things, runs a program called Endeavor. It’s a 100% online teacher professional development program that, if teachers complete it, they receive a STEM education certificate endorsed by NASA and Teachers College (Columbia University). The stories of Endeavor graduates, or Fellows, as they’re called, are some of the most inspiring STEM success stories I’ve ever heard. To pick one of my favorites, there’s a young woman teaching at a STEM elementary school in Missouri. She likes to describe herself as a theater teacher who also happens to teach heliophysics. What I love about her story is that it illustrates that anyone can teach STEM – it’s just a matter of learning to access the right resources, such as all the terrific free resources that NASA offers.
WashingtonExec: What do you think about current trends in STEM education, such as BYOD or BYOT (Bring Your Own Device or Technology)?
Tony Artuso: We’ve seen a sea change in how educators approach technology in the classroom. Just 4 years ago, I was involved with the startup, Moka, that had the then-radical idea that students could use texting on cell phones for educational purposes. At the time, educators were horrified at the concept that students would be encouraged to bring cell phones to class!
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“Now, the current buzz is BYOD/BYOT, i.e., encouraging kids to bring their mobile devices to school for educational purposes. I’m delighted to see this shift, but the key question is not what devices do students use, but how do they use them.”
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WashingtonExec: What’s the future of STEM? How can other like-minded people get involved?
Tony Artuso: The future of STEM, as I said, is tied to the NGSS. For teachers, that means a new focus on teaching engineering as well as scientific practices, which will be a major challenge involving not only a change in pedagogy but professional development as well. While such changes will be challenging, payoffs will include greater student engagement thanks to STEM’s focus on students addressing challenges hands-on. Students will learn that STEM fields can not only be lucrative but fun as well. However, STEM is not solely the responsibility of educators. For parents, it’s more than just advocating for STEM education – it’s getting into your kids’ classrooms and helping their teachers with hands-on education as well as pointing out the STEM all around students at home. For businesses, it’s a matter of investing in education through partnerships with schools, providing grants and giving employees time off to help in local schools. For example, in Bellevue, Washington, Microsoft gives some of its engineers and scientists time off during the work day to teach AP math and science at area schools.
