Revolutionizing STEM Education: Dr. Kamau Bobb of Google on Reshaping the Approach
Dr. Kamau Bobb has a story of inspiration, showing us a new way of thinking about STEM education. He has long advocated for nations to have strong systems of STEM education as a bedrock of technological innovation and economic strength.
Dr. Bobb is a child of immigrants from Guyana. For newly independent countries in the global south, he saw the importance of STEM education as a necessary step in national development and economic sovereignty. In the United States, he saw how this translates to communities of color. Motivated by that background, he has become a respected leader in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education.
Today, he’s a key player in making education better. Dr. Bobb is the Director of STEM Education Strategy and Research at Google. He’s also the founding Senior Director of the Constellations Center for Equity in Computing at Georgia Tech. But he sees a problem: the growing tech economy promises a bright future, but many students in the United States are ill-equipped. According to the Nation’s Report Card, only 26% of public school students are proficient in mathematics in the 8th grade, and 31% are proficient in reading.
Dr. Bobb believes the solution is to change how we think about the structure of education, and STEM education plays a central role. Clearly, public education cannot solve this problem alone. The correlation of race and class with achievement has been largely fixed since the middle of the last century. Approaching the end of the first quarter of the 21st century requires new players and new approaches.
Dr. Bobb is committed to organizing and advocating for new approaches that center on the basic challenge of achieving educational justice. He was recently elected to the Board of Trustees of Spelman College, as reported in a GlobeNewswire article. Dr. Bobb aims to make lasting positive changes by being part of groups at the frontier of educational progress.
Dr. Bobb’s real impact lies in his commitment to educational equity in STEM, as highlighted on Lemelson.org. He has done a lot of work to understand the deep connections between STEM subjects, school systems, and how society in the United States works.
At a time when people often only talk about someone’s achievements based on the merits of their successes, Dr. Bobb’s way of doing things is different—in a good way. In a press release, he talked about how he disagreed with the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling because he believed it would not lead to fairness in education. Dr. Bobb doesn’t just want to work with the current system; he wants to make it better. He believes in ensuring everyone has real chances, especially those often overlooked in society.
Dr. Bobb will never stop trying to open up new possibilities for others while speaking up against rules that hold members of the population back and actively working to uncover ways for those who have been previously disadvantaged to succeed through education. Dr. Bobb’s thoughts are clear in interviews with publications like IdeaMensch, showing that he knows what’s ahead isn’t just about more tech—it’s about using tech to help the next generation get ahead.