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Prez Obama cares about STEM so much he just threw $240m of other people's money at it

Thanks, Obama

Some $240m from the private sector will be spent on boosting science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs in America, President Obama said on Monday.

The President said the spending will hopefully increase diversity in STEM fields and improve educational programs in underrepresented communities.

Of that nine-figure sum, $150m will be blown on "empowering a diverse cadre of promising early-career scientists to stay on track to become scientific leaders of tomorrow," and $90m will go towards "expanding STEM opportunities to under-represented youth," White House staffers explained.

In addition to the $240m in private commitments, the US Department of Education said that it would be earmarking $25m towards funding new science textbooks and media materials for school programs. By way of comparison, the US spent $632 billion on public elementary and secondary schools in 2010-2011.

The drive to get more women and minorities into STEM careers has picked up as more companies are delivering diversity reports that show their workforce, particularly on the engineering and management levels, is made up overwhelmingly of white and Asian men.

Obama said in remarks at Monday's White House Science Fair that improving diversity in the STEM fields would not only expand the talent pool, but also bring in new perspectives.

"We need to get the most out of all our nation's talent and that means reaching out to boys and girls men and women of all races," the President said.

"We don't talk about the breakthroughs made along the way by women or people of color, and the consequence is people don't see themselves as potential scientists."

The investments are the latest in an ongoing "Educate to Innovate" push by the White House to increase funds for STEM education programs. The administration said that since 2009, it has pushed more than $1bn to the campaign. ®

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