Purpose Prize

Marc Freedman Portrait

The Latest from CoGenerate

Documentary Brings the Beauty of Cogeneration to PBS

Documentary Brings the Beauty of Cogeneration to PBS

A new documentary film, Ink & Linda, chronicles the unexpected friendship between Inksap, a Vietnamese-American street artist in his 20s, and Linda, a white modern dance teacher in her 70s. Shortly after a chance encounter brings these two together, they begin...

Announcing the CoGen Challenge to Advance Economic Opportunity

Announcing the CoGen Challenge to Advance Economic Opportunity

We’re out to show the world that older and younger people can help solve pressing problems when they work together. To that end, today we’re launching the CoGen Challenge to Advance Economic Opportunity, a partnership with the Ares Charitable Foundation to elevate...

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Tom Luce

National Math and Science Initiative
Purpose Prize Fellow 2009

Seeing students performing poorly in math and science, Tom Luce created an organization that identifies proven teaching programs and replicates them nationally.

Seeing students performing poorly in math and science, Tom Luce created an organization that identifies proven teaching programs and replicates them nationally.Evidence has been mounting that U.S. students are falling behind in math and science, as they have scored far below their counterparts in other industrialized nations. In 2007, Luce founded the National Math and Science Initiative to remedy what he saw as a crisis in intellectual capital that threatens national and economic security. “Our country’s young people are not receiving the skills they need to be competitive in the global marketplace,” says Luce, 69, who left his job as a law firm managing partner for an encore career in public education. “In today’s economy, math and science are not just for brain surgeons or rocket scientists, but for any person looking for a job.” Luce’s organization – a public-private partnership – expands successful teaching programs through grants and other support. Through the initiative’s work, 13,000 high school students in six states have enrolled in advanced math and science classes, and 1,100 college students in 13 universities have signed on to become math and science teachers to help combat teacher shortages in those subjects.