The Last Word

Gerald R. Marxman ’56

STEM AND THE LIBERAL ARTS: A POTENT ACADEMIC COMBINATION

Growing up in rochelle, a small town in northern illinois, i knew from an early age that I wanted to be an engineer or applied scientist but didn’t know how to get there. Earnings from summer jobs, if supplemented by a scholarship, provided a chance to be the first in my family to attend college. But I felt that I might get lost at a large university. Monmouth College had a strong reputation in the sciences and awarded the needed scholarship, making it my college choice. It was a much better decision than I realized at that time.

During my junior year, Professor Lyle Finley, then chairman of Monmouth’s physics department, recommended that I go to Case Institute of Technology (now the Case School of Engineering at Case Western Reserve University) on Monmouth’s then-new 3/2 program (three years at Monmouth, two at Case, resulting in baccalaureate degrees from each). My response was that I couldn’t afford an expensive private university like Case. So without my knowledge, Professor Finley drove to Cleveland during spring break and personally requested a “full-ride” scholarship from Case for me. Upon returning, he handed me a letter from Case offering the scholarship and said, “Now you have to go.”

That extraordinary act by Professor Finley (one of Monmouth’s many exceptional mentoring stories) began an amazing cascade of new advisers, colleagues and transitions that eventually took me to places and opportunities I couldn’t have imagined then. It led me to earn a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and physics at Caltech, where I was lucky enough to meet and know many world-renowned scientists, including several Nobel laureates. My Caltech work, in turn, gave me the requisite tools to help pioneer hybrid rocket technology and develop a hybrid rocket combustion model and theory still used today. And that success gave me the confidence to launch two additional careers—first as a senior officer of a successful environmental startup company, and then as co-founder/ president of a venture capital firm specializing in commercialization of technology from SRI International, Stanford University and other research institutions.

All of these experiences taught me the value of combining a STEM education with a liberal arts background. That kind of education had given me an edge in communicating and interacting with diverse interdisciplinary teams, and it also gave me a broader and possibly more creative view of how to tackle a new challenge.

My appreciation for these advantages grew in graduate school, when I was an instructor in a fluid mechanics course and grading lab reports. It was a surprise to find that many of these very bright engineering students couldn’t write a good report. I began grading their writing as well as their engineering conclusions, resulting in complaints that “This is an engineering course, not English composition.” But when I countered that “It doesn’t much matter what you know if you can’t explain it to others,” students began asking me to show them how to write a better report. I tried to do so, and they eventually improved considerably. It was an eye-opening interaction for me.

For more than three decades I’ve housed entrepreneurial Stanford graduate students in a guest cottage on my property near Stanford. Most had an undergraduate engineering degree from a prestigious university and were earning a Stanford MBA. While living there students have founded four successful companies: Coinstar (kiosks in your supermarket); Care2 (promotes progressive causes); Kiva (pioneering microfinance company) and Groupcard (ecards and gifts to you from a group of friends). A current resident has another startup underway, using artificial intelligence and other technology to combat vineyard pests and pathogens. It’s notable that among these five entrepreneurs, the one whose education combined a baccalaureate degree from a small liberal arts college like Monmouth with a graduate engineering degree has progressed through the challenging startup process much faster than the others, owing largely to his better communication and interdisciplinary team skills.

During most of the 20th century, college graduates usually had just one career, and some worked for the same company until they retired. It’s a different world today. Many current college graduates can expect to have more than one career involving several different working environments. And in a recent survey, 74 percent of corporate CEOs said they now prefer a liberal arts background, because they’ve found that a broader education helps employees adapt more easily to a changing workplace.

While all STEM graduates are finding strong demand in many fields, Monmouth’s STEM graduates will have the extra breadth, flexibility and transferable skills that employers value in liberal arts graduates. My experience suggests that Monmouth’s STEM students also will have a superior foundation for graduate studies in the interdisciplinary environment of today’s graduate schools, which can lead to the most exciting careers. As these advantages become evident, I think Monmouth College will achieve national recognition for introducing an innovative STEM program that places us at the forefront of liberal arts and sciences education.

Finally, let’s recognize that a college education isn’t just about acquiring the skills for a career, although that certainly is a primary objective. STEM students sometimes are perceived as having rather narrow interests, with too much focus on their “techy” obsessions. That’s largely a myth, but it certainly won’t pertain to Monmouth’s STEM graduates. Their liberal arts education will have extended beyond academia and the workplace to give them a wider perspective on how the world works, including an enhanced awareness of our cultural heritage and the qualities necessary to be contributing and respected members of their communities.

My own Monmouth experience nurtured a lifelong love of good books, magnificent classical music and great visual arts. That’s the kind of cultural enrichment a liberal arts education at Monmouth College offers beyond the skills needed for a successful career. It provides Monmouth’s graduates—including our future STEM graduates—an opportunity to have not only rewarding careers, but more meaningful and fulfilling lives.

----------------------

Gerald Marxman is an emeritus member of the Monmouth College Board of Trustees and a member of the College’s Hall of Achievement.