Gov. Deval Patrick and Lt. Gov. Tim Murray spoke at the annual MA STEM Summit last week, held at the Newton Marriott.

Lt. Gov. Murray reviewed Massachusetts’ investments and achievements in STEM over the last year, noting that progress on the state’s STEM plan is on track. He noted that $500K was included in the state’s final supplemental budget for the STEM Pipeline Fund to finance the @Scale projects in concert with private funding. He also mentioned the work of NewtonSTEM in robotics, the DIGITS program for 6th graders, and our electronic newsletter promoting the importance of STEM. He also unveiled the WOW Initiative, poster, and video to promote STEM by highlighting 15 people whose careers exemplify “the Wow of STEM.”

Gov. Patrick spoke about the state’s growth strategy, focused on STEM-related capabilities:

• Education, including the need to invest even in a recession,
• Innovation, highlighting clean tech, bio tech, financial services/info tech, and precision manufacturing are industries that require an educated workforce
• Infrastructure, the “unglamorous” investment in roads, rails, broadband, and college/university facilities.

He also spoke about “new tools and rules” to enable teachers to move toward closing the achievement gap.