Outsourcing Buzz: Cognizant’s Vice-President of Sustainability and Educational Affairs Talks About the Company’s Efforts to Improve Engineering and Math Education in the U.S.

Highlighting the broad issues in elementary education in the US, Mark Greenlaw says that American kids are falling behind relative to other countries in both science and math. There’s a drop in measurable creativity, and there has been a decline in interest in STEM education. “Because our kids lack interest in STEM, the U.S. faces a potential innovation crisis,” says Greenlaw.

Cognizant recently made a grant to bolster the technology and engineering portions of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education, and more specifically to help Boston’s Museum of Science create a library of video training tools for the Museum’s Engineering is Elementary program and allow the New York Hall of Science to build a “Maker Space” for hands-on learning. “The program encourages creativity, collaboration, and communication. We want people who have those abilities,” says Greenlaw.

Cognizant is donating $500,000 a year to Citizens Schools to extend the learning day by three hours in low-income schools. The company ranked No. 2 in terms of the number of employee volunteers who became Citizen Teachers to teach 10-week “apprenticeships”. Greenlaw notes that employees from the company’s legal team are working with middle schoolers to create a campaign against violence, while another team of volunteers is leading a Robotics apprenticeship. “The experience is life-changing,” he says.

Click here to read more.