At this year’s Aspen Ideas Festival, The Atlantic asked a group of academics within some of America’s top universities to debate how STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) could be benefited by another letter.  Those interviewed unanimously suggested changing the acronym to STEAM, to include an ‘A’ for arts, or arts and humanities.

“I have no hesitation in saying we need to add the letter A,” says Harvard University education professor Howard Gardner. “An education devoid of arts…is an empty, half-brain kind of education.” Other panelists include Sebastian Thrun, Drew Faust, Erika Christakis, and Nicholas Dirks.