A valuable conversation with a chemical engineer

I had a good conversation about math education with a chemical engineer and university professor on my flight to Virginia recently. He affirmed a number of facts I've been reading about when it comes to math education including the following:

• There is a great need for data visualization these days
• The ability to manipulate numbers in your head and estimate is a critical skill
• Even more than chemistry, the ability to analyze and utilize data is very important today
• It's critical to be able to code, create and work with algorithms, and utilize technology in multiple, multi-dimensional ways

This conversation from someone in the field who is doing important work with regard to biology and health shows me that we need to build in greater data analysis and study, coding, and mental math into our math programs in order to help students be successful in the complex world they will live in.