Originally published by informs.org.

BALTIMORE, MD, August 2, 2022 – In overwhelming bipartisan fashion, the U.S. House of Representatives last week passed the “Mathematical and Statistical Modeling Education Act,” (H.R. 3588) which, if enacted, would modernize STEM education in the United States. The bill passed by a vote of 323 to 92. The legislation now awaits Senate action on its identical companion bill (S. 1839), which was introduced by Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. 

Sponsored by Reps. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa. and Jim Baird, R-Ind., the bipartisan and bicameral legislation would modernize science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education in the United States to attract more young people into these studies and fields to enhance the nation’s pipeline of STEM talent. The legislation specifically calls out operations research (O.R.), suggesting it is a foundational element of data-driven decision-making, and directs the National Science Foundation (NSF) to provide competitive grants to modernize STEM education through mathematical and statistical modeling, including data-driven and computational thinking. It would also direct the National Academies to conduct a study on the same topic.

“INFORMS thanks Representatives Houlahan and Baird for their leadership in steering this legislation through the House,” says Jeff Cohen, INFORMS’ chief strategy and innovation officer. “Their effort, and the House’s strong support, represents a big step toward better preparing the workforce of tomorrow to pursue more advanced STEM educational and career opportunities, including the pivotal role that operations research plays in saving lives, saving money and solving problems. We encourage the Senate to act on this legislation before the end of the 117th Congress.”

About INFORMS 

INFORMS advances and promotes the science and technology of decision-making to save lives, save money and solve problems. As the largest association for the decision and data sciences, INFORMS members support organizations and governments at all levels as they work to transform data into information, and information into insights that lead to more efficient, effective, equitable and impactful results. INFORMS’ 10,000+ members are comprised of a diverse and robust international community of practitioners, researchers, educators and students from a variety of fields.