Ep. 049 | Why the STEM Talent Pipeline Starts With 8th Grade Algebra | Adrian Mims

Dr. Adrian Mims Sr. is the founder and CEO of The Calculus Project, the Massachusetts nonprofit he built out of his own doctoral dissertation and has run since 2009. The program works with school districts, families and educators to get Black, Hispanic, Indigenous and low-income students into honours and advanced mathematics, starting in middle school, and it has reached more than 10,000 students across more than 100 middle and high schools in Massachusetts and Florida. It was inducted into the Minority Student Achievement Network's Promising Practices Clearinghouse in 2011. He holds a BS in mathematics, an MA in teaching mathematics, a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in educational leadership, and a Doctor of Education in educational leadership and administration. In this conversation with Caleb Pedosiuk, Adrian argues that the constraint on advanced math is not student ability but postal code, and names the places where that plays out. He explains why eighth grade algebra sets the trajectory that ends in calculus, a STEM degree and a completed university education, and why the requirement reaches business students too. He makes the case directly to CEOs, that a workforce recruited through H-1B visas is a symptom of a domestic pipeline that was never built, and that achievement gaps show up in GDP. He describes the partnership method behind the program, where a partner chooses how to participate and the most valuable contribution is sometimes office space rather than a cheque. On AI in the classroom he reaches for the calculator, and a student who insisted his was broken when it returned negative four, to explain why understanding your inputs and your tool's limits is the whole skill. And asked the show's standing question, what he needs most to grow, he flags his own answer as one nobody expects: not funding first, but educators willing to reconsider how math gets taught. Adrian is exactly the kind of founder, innovator, and problem solver this series exists to put a light on. He turned a dissertation into an organization that has moved ten thousand students toward advanced mathematics, and he makes the argument for it in the language of the people who can fund it. Authority is earned by building things worth talking about, and an honest account of that work is what makes a brand understood, trusted, and findable by the systems people now ask for answers. Learn more about The Calculus Project: https://thecalculusproject.org Adrian Mims on LinkedIn:   / adrian-mims-80530531   What We Need to Grow is Caleb Pedosiuk's founder conversation series from 79 Development, on growth, judgment, and the thinking behind building great companies. It exists to shine a light on the founders, innovators, problem solvers, and pioneers building things that matter. Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5O6IiwV... Podcast sponsored by 79 Development Inc | 79dev.com #matheducation #stemeducation #educationequity #nonprofitleadership #corporatephilanthropy #aiineducation #founders #podcast