Mike Boughton This is Me

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1. 1. Maui News page: Hawaii News, Tourist and Vacation Information

   www.mauinews.com/bwnews0b.htm - [Cached]

   Published on: 9/15/2002   Last Visited: 9/15/2002

   Mike Boughton, the former head of the Maui Economic De-
   
   velopment Board and now head of the tech company Options Technologies Inc., says that if you graphed the economic outcome of the Sept. 11 attacks, "it would look like a square root sign."
   
   Big, fast drop, followed by a bounce back to nearly pre-September levels, and then business almost as usual.
   
   Another way to look at it would be to say that the economic aftereffects delayed, by about a year, the state's economic rebound that had begun around 1998-99.

2. 2. High Tech Maui Press Releases

   www.hightechmaui.com/Press/TO_ - [Cached]

   Published on: 6/4/2002   Last Visited: 8/7/2005

   Mike Boughton, President of Options Technology Company, Inc.
   
   A diverse group of over one hundred entrepreneurs, scientists, technologists, investors, and business service providers attended the inaugural May 7th event. The June 12th event will feature Maui technology entrepreneur Mike Boughton along with both structured and free form networking opportunities building on feedback from the first meeting.
   
   Mike Boughton, President of Options Technology Company, Inc., has insights on the Maui Technology scene from several perspectives. As former President of the Maui Economic Development Board, he is widely credited with conceiving the idea of a super-computing center on Maui, and led local efforts in technology business incubation in the early 90,s that are still paying dividends today.
   
   Boughton left MEDB to create Options Technology Company, Inc., now a five-year-old company that uses neural networks for complex decision making. Initial marketing efforts targeted investment fund managers. Currently, the military is showing interest in using Option Technology,s software for battlefield decision making.
   
   In addition to the last 15 years on Maui, Michael Boughton has had a distinguished career doing strategic planning at TRW, and has close ties with Cal Tech from where he graduated and for many years, led the Alumni association.

3. 3. The Guide to Math & Science Reform Features

   www2.learner.org/theguide/maui - [Cached]

   Published on: 11/28/2000   Last Visited: 8/2/2001

   These concerns did not affect Mike Boughton when he decided to take a project from Pasadena to Maui. Mike is not a teacher or administrator , and he does not work for a school system. But he is a concerned citizen and member of the Maui Economic Board of Development , responsibilities that led him to jump headfirst into the largely unfamiliar world of education. A lot of people in Maui are glad he took the chance.
   
   Project SEED ( Science for Early Educational Development ) has been part of the Pasadena Unified School District ( PUSD ) since 1985. The district paired with scientists from California Institute of Technology ( Caltech ) to develop SEED with a grant from the National Science Foundation. The project provided a hands-on elementary science curriculum to help students develop problem-solving skills and appreciate the creative aspects of science. It also provided professional development for teachers to learn the curriculum. The entire PUSD elementary and middle school system now uses the program.
   
   ...
   At about the same time Pasadena project directors realized SEED's success , Mike Boughton , a private business owner , was a member of a frustrated economic development board in Maui. Board members had been brainstorming about ways to help local businesses by attracting top-notch students , especially in the sciences. Boughton also was president of the Caltech alumni association , which fortuitously brought him face to face with SEED developers Jerry Pine and Jim Bower.
   ...
   SEED was looking for a location to demonstrate the replicability of its project , and Boughton saw an opportunity to boost the science talents of Maui students through its teachers. He recognized similarities between the districts : both experienced an education crisis , and both had diverse communities. Project directors warned , though , that the PUSD program should be viewed as an example -- not to be duplicated , but to be modified to fit the needs of individual districts.
   
   When asked if he knew what he was doing in the education community ( specifically how to apply for grants and gain the interest of teachers and administrators ) , Boughton admitted , I had no idea -- it was new territory. I came to Maui with the objective of creating an environment for technology businesses. The motivation for connecting to science education evolved from a clear recognition that the necessary technological skills were nonexistent.. Reform at the elementary school level made sense to Boughton , since the situation couldn't change quickly and easily , and the instrument of change had to include an educational , systemic approach..
   
   He met with more than a little resistance when presenting the idea to the education community at the Maui Chamber of Commerce. There was a crisis in Hawaii public schools and they were ready for a change... [ But ] they had tried science education initiatives before , with limited success , and knew it would take an enormous long-term effort.. Boughton also saw that schools lacked community support ; Maui is a plantation-based economy , and many parents do not value formal education as much as in other areas of the country.
   
   Unlike PUSD , Maui schools are highly autonomous. This became an advantage when , within three months , Boughton was able to convince principal Ralph Murakami and a teacher to use the program in one classroom.
   ...
   Had the program not been infectious , it would have ended right there , stated Boughton , but students were so enthusiastic that all the teachers in that school wanted to participate by the end of the school year.
   ...
   Luckily , the program sold itself , states Boughton , so the teachers were willing to go that extra mile ( no pun intended ) to participate.
   
   Project SEED has met with great success in Maui , reaching all of the elementary schools , but Boughton and other participants see a hard road ahead.
   ...
   Boughton is , however , so confident that these problems will be surmounted that he is already thinking about taking SEED into Maui's middle schools. All it takes is one principal or teacher -- one enthusiastic person makes all the difference , he comments , modestly forgetting that he has already proven that with his own efforts.
   
   In The Guide Online
   
   Hands-on Science for Maui : Today's Children for Tomorrow's World
   
   Science for Early Educational Development ( Project SEED )