Formula 1 racing driver Jenson Button has urged young people to study science, technology, engineering and maths in school, arguing that the drama and glamour of racing wouldn’t exist without the world’s cleverest scientists and engineers.

March 22, 2013 1 Comment

Jenson Button: Young people should stick with science and maths

Formula 1 racing driver Jenson Button has urged young people to study science, technology, engineering and maths in school, arguing that the drama and glamour of racing wouldn’t exist without the world’s cleverest scientists and engineers.

jenson-button_2514713b

By Louisa Peacock

1:37PM GMT 21 Mar 2013

The McLaren driver is backing a campaign, run by Britain’s biggest pharmaceuticals company GlaxoSmithKline in partnership with McLaren, to inspire young people to stick with STEM subjects in school.

As part of the campaign, budding scientists are being challenged to devise a test which could be used to improve a Formula 1 driver’s reactions.

Winning schools will be given an opportunity to visit the McLaren Technology Centre and put their test into action with one of the team.

Mr Button said: “The speed, drama, noise and glamour of Formula 1 may seem very different from a school science lesson, but our sport wouldn’t exist without the tireless work and dedication of some of the world’s cleverest scientists, engineers and mathematicians.

“That’s why I think it’s so important for young people to stick with maths and science at school. In the future they might just find themselves designing a new grand prix car, or working in the pits analysing telemetry data. And, while not everyone can be a racing driver or work in Formula 1, maths and science can open up some amazing opportunities.”

Research warned this week that one in five young people will need to become an engineer if the UK has any chance of addressing severe skills shortages and rebalancing the economy towards advanced manufacturing.

A report by the Social Market Foundation warns that the Government’s aim to divert the economy away from financial services is “inconceivable” due to the shortage of home-grown graduates in science, technology, engineering and maths.

The think tank calculates the industry is already 40,000 short of the number of so-called STEM graduates it needs each year, a problem which will only get worse as the engineering workforce ages and retires

Filed under Life

Unknown's avatarAbout bambooinnovator
Kee Koon Boon (“KB”) is the co-founder and director of HERO Investment Management which provides specialized fund management and investment advisory services to the ARCHEA Asia HERO Innovators Fund (www.heroinnovator.com), the only Asian SMID-cap tech-focused fund in the industry. KB is an internationally featured investor rooted in the principles of value investing for over a decade as a fund manager and analyst in the Asian capital markets who started his career at a boutique hedge fund in Singapore where he was with the firm since 2002 and was also part of the core investment committee in significantly outperforming the index in the 10-year-plus-old flagship Asian fund. He was also the portfolio manager for Asia-Pacific equities at Korea’s largest mutual fund company. Prior to setting up the H.E.R.O. Innovators Fund, KB was the Chief Investment Officer & CEO of a Singapore Registered Fund Management Company (RFMC) where he is responsible for listed Asian equity investments. KB had taught accounting at the Singapore Management University (SMU) as a faculty member and also pioneered the 15-week course on Accounting Fraud in Asia as an official module at SMU. KB remains grateful and honored to be invited by Singapore’s financial regulator Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to present to their top management team about implementing a world’s first fact-based forward-looking fraud detection framework to bring about benefits for the capital markets in Singapore and for the public and investment community. KB also served the community in sharing his insights in writing articles about value investing and corporate governance in the media that include Business Times, Straits Times, Jakarta Post, Manual of Ideas, Investopedia, TedXWallStreet. He had also presented in top investment, banking and finance conferences in America, Italy, Sydney, Cape Town, HK, China. He has trained CEOs, entrepreneurs, CFOs, management executives in business strategy & business model innovation in Singapore, HK and China.

One Response to Formula 1 racing driver Jenson Button has urged young people to study science, technology, engineering and maths in school, arguing that the drama and glamour of racing wouldn’t exist without the world’s cleverest scientists and engineers.

  1. OwlMcCloud's avatar OwlMcCloud says:
    March 22, 2013 at 11:15 am

    WoW very informative post.

    Reply

Leave a comment