Opinion: Technology and science find new roots in rural Arizona

When most people hear the word "scientist," they picture someone in a white lab coat working in a laboratory. They probably don't picture a farmer in southeastern Arizona, a librarian in a small town or a student on the Navajo Nation. But they should.

One of Arizona's most remarkable innovators is Ed Curry, a world-renowned chile geneticist who never went to college. When he needed equipment that didn't exist, he built it. When he found better ways to grow crops, he patented his ideas. Today, he uses drones to monitor his fields and speaks at agricultural conferences around the world.

He didn't set out to become "a scientist." He simply saw problems and refused to stop until he solved them.

That's what science really is.

Somewhere along the way, too many people became convinced that STEM belongs to someone else — researchers, engineers, or people with advanced degrees. The result is that countless Arizonans, especially in rural communities, don't see themselves reflected in the very fields where they already excel.

That's a mistake our state can't afford.

Science isn't just something students learn in biology class. It's a way of thinking. It's noticing there are fewer songbirds than there used to be and asking why. It's observing changes in weather, soil, or water and figuring out how to adapt. It's collecting information, testing ideas, and improving the world around us.

In other words, STEM begins with curiosity and grows through problem-solving. That mindset has always existed in rural Arizona.

Our ranchers, farmers, healthcare workers, educators, entrepreneurs and tribal communities solve complex challenges every day. They build, adapt, create and improve with limited resources and remarkable ingenuity. Rural communities have talent. They need greater access to opportunities, partnerships and networks that help transform local ideas into lasting solutions.

Partnerships matter. Across our state, organizations are working together to expand rural STEM opportunities by connecting educators, community leaders, universities, healthcare professionals, and industry partners. These relationships have come together for the past four years at the National Rural STEM Learning Summit.

In September, about 300 people from across the country will gather at Midwestern University Campus in Glendale to exchange ideas and leave with practical tools they can immediately put to work in their own communities. The goal is to support the people who already know their communities best and give them the connections and resources to help young people see themselves as problem solvers.

Those of us at the Arizona Science Center and SciTech Institute see a need for belonging.

If young people don't believe science is for people like them, they'll never imagine themselves pursuing careers in healthcare, engineering, technology, agriculture, or research. If adults don't recognize that the work they already do requires scientific thinking, they'll miss opportunities to build on skills they already possess.

Creating that sense of belonging happens through schools, libraries, Boys & Girls Clubs, tribal organizations, local businesses, and neighbors encouraging one another to stay curious and keep asking questions.

Arizona's future won't be determined solely by the breakthroughs made inside research laboratories. It will also be shaped by the farmer who invents a better tool, the teacher who sparks a student's curiosity, the healthcare worker who finds a better way to serve patients, and the young person who decides they're capable of solving a problem no one else has solved.

We invite people working in STEM fields to register for the Summit — where we will share ideas, celebrate victories and find new ways to foster that sense of belonging through science.