STEAM on Capitol Hill

Abstract

Our increasingly technology-driven economy demands a workforce that is proficient in both the concepts and techniques of STEM fields as well as in extending those skills into new applications and innovations. Currently, an impressive and diverse coalition of educators, art advocates, industry leaders, and STEM practitioners across the county are working to achieve that goal, bringing their ideas and advocacy to Capitol Hill. Author/Artist Bio Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici was sworn in as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives on February 7, 2012. She represents the First Congressional District of Oregon, which comprises the Northwest portion of the state. As a member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, Suzanne focuses on making college more affordable and reforming public education. She founded the bipartisan Congressional STEAM Caucus, which aims to encourage innovation and creative thinking by integrating arts and design with science, technology, engineering, and math education. Suzanne also serves as a member of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and she is the ranking Democratic member of the Subcommittee on the Environment. Suzanne first moved to Oregon from Michigan in the mid-1970s. She worked her way through college in Eugene, first at Lane Community College, where she earned an Associate Degree from the Legal Assistant program, and then at the University of Oregon, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts from the School of Journalism. In 1983, she received her J.D. from the University of Oregon School Of Law. During college and law school, Suzanne worked at Lane County Legal Aid Service. Suzanne and her husband, Michael, have two grown children and a cocker spaniel named Charley. Congressman Aaron Schock, a product of Peoria, IL, is currently in his third term representing the 18th District of Illinois. In addition to co-chairing the Congressional STEAM Caucus, he currently serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees tax and trade policy, and the Committee on House Administration, which provides internal oversight for the House of Representatives. Aaron got his start in public office when he was elected to the Peoria School Board as a write-in candidate at the age of 19. At 22, his school board colleagues voted to make Aaron vice president of the board and a year later they voted unanimously to make him board president for one of the state’s largest school districts. He then was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives, where he succeeded in passing 18 substantive bills, several of which were hailed as “landmark reforms.” Learn more at http://schock.house.gov.