Speech

Aviation Education/Teacher Forum

Good morning, and thank you, Lee [Siudzinski], for that wonderful introduction. I can tell you that this is one group that I look forward to seeing. You know, I’ve had several occasions to think about you since last year. Shelia Bauer, who runs our aerospace education program at the FAA, is reminding me constantly about the importance of what it is you do.

But, in truth, I don’t need much of a reminder. This is one of the most active groups in all of aviation. You know, to be perfectly frank, I deal with special interest groups just about every day. I’ve got to tell you, way too many of those groups are neither special nor interesting.

The difference between the people in this room and some of the other special interest groups is that you have the special interests of others at the top of your agenda. And it’s hard to argue the point — you come in, sit down, and say with all bluntness: “We’re here because of the future … because of the children.”

That’s a compelling special interest. I don’t think it gets much more special than that.

Earlier this year, I had the occasion to speak at a STEM event in Washington, D.C. The room was jammed with people much like yourselves, and I’m assuming that a few of you may even have been there. The topic of the day was the need to push science and math courses for our young girls. I was on a panel that featured university chancellors, people with advanced science degrees. So there I sit, and I look down in the front row, and who’s scribbling notes but a former astronaut by the name of Sally Ride.

She was the luncheon speaker. For those of you who are looking for a rule of thumb about public speaking, I suppose it’s way better to go on before the first American woman in space than it is to follow her, but she really is no different than any other Ph.D. in physics from Stanford who made history at the age of 32. Let me tell you, her idea of “been there, done that” involves zero gravity, six million pounds of thrust, and inventing a robotic arm for snatching disabled satellites.

But Sally Ride’s resume isn’t what I remember most about that day. I told you about the panel with the Ph.D. astrophysicist from Cal Tech, a college president, the cofounder of the National Center for Women and Information Technology, a vice president from Raytheon. But still, as bright as bright can be, it was the woman who sat on the end of the panel.

Her name is Erin Dale. This woman is no slouch either. She has worked on a technical paper utilizing satellite imagery to increase the accuracy of hurricane forecasting, as well as using a program to calculate the hypothetical damage of a category five hurricane hitting New Orleans, which she put together before Katrina.

By the way, Erin is a junior in high school.

Now that’s impressive. But that’s exactly the kind of fire you’re setting. Erin told me that she’s taken every math and science course that her school has to offer. Now, she’s looking elsewhere, local colleges, to get even more study under her belt.

She’s bought what you have to say hook, line and sinker. The science, technology, engineering and math curricula aren’t just a good idea, they’re a must if our youth are going to be eligible for the high tech jobs that are coming down the road. I’ve said on many occasions that aviation represents somewhere between five and ten percent of America’s GDP. It’s an industry that demands high tech on a resume. Without the instruction you’re providing, we can’t get there from here.

So, I come to you this morning with a challenge. You’ve set the bar high, but you need to ratchet it up even higher. Without what you’re doing, I’m absolutely certain that we won’t get there from here. Let’s make no mistake about it — without that math and science background, it’s going to be awfully hard to climb into that left seat.

I’ve got some good news from the FAA’s perch. We’re putting in place an agreement with NASA that gives us the full resources of the Smart Skies program. You can find it on our website at FAA.gov, but in a nutshell, we’re bringing the combined firepower of NASA and the FAA to aviation and space education. We’re going to pull together to develop a calendar of education outreach activities for mutual collaboration. We’re going to link our websites. NASA is going to provide training to our volunteers for outreach activities.

I also had the good fortune to meet Lyn Freeman, the chairman of Build A Plane. His idea is to bring actual and “virtual” aircraft construction into our high schools. Let me tell you, Lyn Freeman calls it Build A Plane, but I think he’s gotten it wrong. He should have called it Build A Future because it turns teens on to science, technology, engineering and math. He was one live wire. He’s got 16 of those projects going on in the U.S. and India and Nigeria. And he’s working with Cessna, Cirrus and AVEMCO insurance.

I’d be remiss not to mention the folks who host us here. EAA is at the front of the line when we we’re talking about partners. We needed to give our students the experience of flight at our ACE Camps a few years ago. We called EAA. It’s the same place to call today. Hands down, EAA’s Young Eagles Program has been the crown jewel at our ACE Camps. EAA has been providing us all exciting venues to love aviation — just open the hangar door and look outside. Let’s give EAA a hand.

With all of that said, the long and the short of it is this. It doesn’t matter to me who’s out front, or who gets the credit, or whose name is first. What matters is that we get the math and science and space and aviation information into the hands of our students, into the hands that will shape tomorrow.

The FAA is doing its part as well. I’ve also directed the FAA to include aviation and space education in our national strategic plan — that’s a first. The significance of this maneuver is that our strategic plan, the achievement of the goals in our strategic plan, is the basis for bonuses across the board. You don’t achieve the goal, you don’t get the bonus. Needless to say, there’s a heightened interest in reaching the goal. We post our report card for these goals on the web every month. Take a look. Check it out.

I’m going to close now, and while I could leave you with one of those dagger nuggets like “21 percent of the degrees awarded in China are engineering. Only 6 percent of America’s degrees are in engineering,” I’m not going to do that. I’m just going to say this:  The future is in your hands. Teach our children well.