How might we break down barriers to education and vocations in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math?
The beginning of a series discussing our efforts to pursue our second stated societal mission.
In this series of posts, we will explore possibilities of how Synoptic Engineering can pursue its societal mission of breaking down barriers to education and vocations in STEM. Presently, we individually participate in volunteer activities such as mentoring young professionals, leading scouts, speaking at inspirational panels, and other intermittent events. In the future we would like to see a more focused effort that is integrated with the scientific research and communities in which we are already involved.
Inspired by the book A More Beautiful Question, by Warren Berger, the top heading of this blog post is an open-ended question that lies at the heart of our goal. Berger says about How might we questions,
“It’s a simple way of ensuring that would-be innovators are asking the right questions and using the best wording. Proponents of this practice say it is surprisingly effective – and a testament to the importance of wording a question just right to spark creative thinking and freewheeling collaboration.”
Below are questions that follow from this main goal. In attempting to answer these more limited questions through research and experimentation, we can hope to light upon a meaningful answer to the main question.
What barriers exist to STEM education and vocations?
What are the needs of communities who face these barriers?
What are the choices or opportunities that are not made available to some communities?
What do solutions look like?
What are the problems that our expertise would allow us to concretely address?
Who else is trying to break down barriers to STEM education and vocations?
Who else would like to address these barriers?
What is missing in existing efforts to break down barriers to STEM?
What does it mean for Synoptic?
How do our current activities, paid and volunteer, help to advance our STEM mission?
What short-term experimental actions can we take to learn more about our ability to break down social or economic barriers to education and vocation in STEM?
What does our societal mission mean to us as individuals?
How is the societal mission tangible to us as Synoptic employees?
What was the genesis of this particular mission? What was the driving desire?
How does pursuit of this mission circle back to helping us as a company?
What is the relationship between our societal mission and our business model?
What impact could we achieve within the constraints of our current model of 40 hours per year, per employee?
What would it mean to develop a line of business to support our STEM mission?
Is it important that our societal mission pursuits be philanthropic?
How does the feeling of philanthropy change if our pursuits are revenue-driven, or even profit-driven?
How can we pursue funding when our costs are not aligned with traditional (non-profit oriented) funding sources?
