Raytheon Recruits Insomniac's Price For Math Advocacy

Technology giant Raytheon has announced a new education program for children called MathMovesU, which enlists celebrities like skateboard legend Tony Hawk and soccer star Mia Hamm to get the attention of students, and show them how math can play a surprisingly important role in their future. However, also included alongside more obvious celebrities is video game designer Ted Price, President and CEO of Ratchet & Clank developer Insomniac Games. Price's own page on the MathMovesU website features him explaining: "When I was in school, I never thought that learning about math could actually help make video games! For most of us here at Insomniac Games, we use math every day when we create our games. And believe me, using math this way is a lot of fun!" Other stars featured include rollercoaster designer Kent Seko and former CIA agent Peter Earnest. According to 81% of sixth to eighth graders surveyed by KRC Research for Raytheon, math would be more interesting to them if they were shown how people in industries including video games use math in their jobs, and 67% say they want to do better in math. This accounts for Raytheon's program, aimed to help the company recruit skilled workers in the future, which includes an annual $1 million MathMovesU grant program that will fund classroom help for teachers; provide grants to teachers and schools to support math education; and offer scholarships to students who write in on the Web to tell how they would make math "cool."