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When Dee Mooney took her job as executive director of the Micron Foundation in 2006, the emphasis on STEM education (short for science, technology, engineering and mathematics) was so new to the mainstream that Mooney sometimes found herself explaining that her job had nothing to do with stem-cell research.
Mooney, a Nebraska native, majored in psychology and has a master's degree in industrial psychology - the art and science of putting the right people in the right jobs.
The Micron Foundation has made STEM education a priority. The foundation is a co-sponsor of the University of Idaho's STEM Educational Research Initiative. The program studies Idaho's STEM educational outcomes, taking a close look at which students gravitate toward careers in math, engineering, science and technology, and which ones need more encouragement.
Micron's STEM education research includes focus groups and conversations with students, teachers and others to talk about the attitudes and other forces behind students' academic choices and achievements. The foundation is also carrying out telephone surveys of teachers and in-class surveys with students to learn more about these groups.
The Idaho Business Review spent time with Mooney talking about how the Micron Foundation is using its research to draw more students toward STEM careers.
IBR: What is the largest challenge for you in your job?
MOONEY: There seems to be a disconnect in what exactly it takes to be in engineering. A lot more career awareness should be happening in the junior highs and middle schools. We ask the grade-school kids what they want to be when they grow up, and there's a lot of, "teacher, lawyer, doctor." In junior high, if they're asked, they will say "engineering." But when we say, "Great, so...