Former astronaut, Alvin Drew, spoke about adding the arts and humanities to STEM – science, technology, engineering and math education – at a recent White House convening.

Drew was part of a panel that gave the State of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Address, a follow-up to much of what the president said about science during the President’s 2015 State of the Union address.

“I also see STEM evolving into STEAM, the A being for arts and humanities,” Drew said. He noted that the public often shies away from meaningful engagement with hard science, because it’s easy to get lost while navigating equations and ethereal concepts.

Drew traveled to space twice, once aboard the space shuttle Endeavour and once to the International Space Station.