STEM Skills Are Vital For Personal Growth and Economic Development

The U.S. has developed as a global leader, in large part, through the genius and hard work of its scientists, engineers, and innovators.

Many of those innovators came to the U.S. to pursue their dreams under the freedoms and opportunities provided by the U.S.'s emphasis on meritocracy.

Alexander Kartveli ventured out of his native Georgia fleeing the Bolsheviks. Leaving behind other family members, Kartveli, along with his mother, escaped turmoil and oppression to pursue a boyhood dream to design aircraft in the nascent field of aviation – an industry that resembled the freewheeling days of the early Internet.  In the U.S., he became one of the most important aviation engineers in U.S. history.

Kartveli (standing left) illustrates his aviation designs

In a world that’s becoming increasingly complex, where success is driven not only by what you know, but by what you can do with what you know, it’s more important than ever for our youth to be equipped with the knowledge and skills to solve tough problems, gather and evaluate evidence, and make sense of information. These are the types of skills that students learn by studying science, technology, engineering, and math—subjects collectively known as STEM.

All young people should be prepared to think deeply and to think well so that they have the chance to become the innovators, educators, researchers, and leaders who can solve the most pressing challenges facing our nation and our world, both today and tomorrow. But, right now, not enough of the world's youth have access to quality STEM learning opportunities and too few students see these disciplines as springboards for their careers.

In fact, future success in fostering a competitive economy and providing economic growth may depend on national policies that today emphasize STEM.

How do U.S. 15-year-olds compare with students from other countries in math and science?

The Kartveli Association is committed to STEM education and raising awareness of the life and accomplishments of Alexander Kartveli.

The Most Important Innovator In U.S. Aviation History Was An Immigrant

News of the Trump administration's executive orders restricting travelers from certain countries caused many tech companies and their employees to express their objections.

The reasons are obvious: immigrants are vital to preserving U.S. leadership in technology and innovation.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff tweeted a tribute to his grandfather, "Thinking of great grandfather Issac Benioff who came to US from Kiev as Refugee. W/O him no @Salesforce (2M jobs/200B GDP) or@GameOfThrones!" (Benioff's cousin, David, is the co-creator of the hit TV series.)

Another area vital to U.S. interests is aviation and aeronautical engineering. Alexander Kartveli, who was perhaps the most important innovator in U.S. aviation history, came to the U.S. on the heels of the Bolshevick revolution.

Kartveli emigrated from his home country of Georgia to pursue a dream to design aircraft.  In the 1920s and 1930s, aviation captured the imagination of entrepreneurs and financiers looking for glory and riches – not unlike today’s Internet boom.   Fleeing the Bolsheviks, Kartveli moved to Paris, studied aviation and, in his early 20s, designed an aircraft for Louis Bleriot that established a world speed record.

As a result of early success in the Paris aviation scene, Kartveli met and eventually moved to the United States to work with entrepreneur Charles Levine.  When Levine’s aviation company failed, Kartveli joined forces again as chief engineer for Alexander de Seversky, another early aviation pioneer who also happened to be born in Tbilisi, Georgia.  Seversky Aircraft eventually become Republic Aviation, a major force in aircraft manufacturing through World War II and the conflicts that followed shortly thereafter.

At Republic Aviation, Kartveli oversaw the design of some of the era’s most important fighter planes including the A-10 Thunderbolt II (nicknamed the “Warthog”), the P-47 Thunderbolt (nicknamed the “Jug”), the F-84 Thunderjet (nicknamed the “Hog”) and the F-105 Thunderchief.  In fact, the A-10 remains in service today, nearly five decades after it was introduced, despite quantum leaps in aviation technology.

Kartveli design the famous P-47 and the A-10 Warthog

Today, the tech industry has been anxiously waiting for the Trump administration's revamp of the H-1B visa program, which Silicon Valley uses to hire skilled workers. Late last week, the administration jettisoned an aspect of the H-1B visa application process called "premium processing," which allowed companies to pay extra for their visa applications to be expedited.

That change underscored the uncertainty in the industry over how the Trump administration will ultimately handle both work visas and travel restrictions.

Kartveli’s contributions were not limited to Republic Aviation.  His capacity to translate ideas into reality led to his role as an advisor to the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics, the predecessor to NASA, where he contributed designs that proved to be the seed concepts for the space shuttle.  NASA's History Office, in "The Space Shuttle Decision" published in 1999, references Kartveli's work on ramjet technology.  Kartveli and Antonio Ferri collaborated on some notable early ramjet designs.

It is hard to imagine what would have happened had Kartveli remained in Georgia and his talents absorbed by the Soviets.