President and Director, National Center for Technological Literacy, Museum of Science, Science Park, Boston, MA
Nominated By: James Spohrer
Miaoulis received his B.S. M.E. from Tufts University, M.S.M.E. from M.I.T., and a M.A. in Economics and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Tufts University. He is a leading authority on STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) education, and recognized as the foremost champion of K-12 Engineering education in the US. His model of engineering as a process by which the human-made world of technology is created has been widely proclaimed as a necessary parallel to the teaching science as a process for our understanding of the natural world. Miaoulis championed the introduction of engineering into the Massachusetts science and technology public school curriculum, the first state in the U.S. to do so in 2001.
Prior to the Miaoulis initiative the science curriculum focused exclusively on the natural world, which arguably, occupies less than five percent of our day-to-day activities. Thus, the classical K-12 curriculum essentially ignored the engineering design process. Five major reasons motivated Miaoulis to champion the introduction of engineering as core discipline: (1) technological literacy, understanding the human-made world and how it is made; (2) engineering integrates all disciplines and creates wonderful problem-solving team activities; (3) engineering makes mathematics and science relevant to students and motivates them to continue their studies in these areas; (4) engineering motivates students to consider engineering as a desirable career option, ensuring a much-needed robust U.S. technological workforce; and (5) engineering design builds students’ skills and abilities to navigate in a three-dimensional world.
Miaoulis is a fellow in the Massachusetts Academy of Sciences, is a member of the NASA Advisory Committee, a Presidential Appointee to the National Board of Museum and Library Services, and a member of the Board of Trustees at Tufts.
