S&T Revitalization
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S&T Revitalization A New Look CENTER FOR ENERGETIC CONCEPTS DEVELOPMENT SERIES Editorial Board Davinder K. Anand, CECD, University of Maryland, College Park, MD James M. Short, CECD, University of Maryland, College Park, MD Don DeVoe, CECD, University of Maryland, College Park, MD Bryan Eichhorn, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park, MD Satyandra K. Gupta, CECD, University of Maryland, College Park, MD Michael G. Pecht, CALCE, University of Maryland, College Park, MD Michael R. Zachariah, CECD, University of Maryland, College Park, MD ENERGETICS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SERIES Editorial Board James M. Short, CECD, University of Maryland, College Park, MD Robert A. Kavetsky, CECD, University of Maryland, College Park, MD Davinder K. Anand, CECD, University of Maryland, College Park, MD S&T Revitalization A New Look Davinder K. Anand Lisa M. Frehill Dylan A. Hazelwood Robert A. Kavetsky Elaine Ryan Center for Energetic Concepts Development Series University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland Cover design by Dylan Hazelwood and Kunal Sakpal Library of Congress Control Number: 2012954872 The book contains information from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reprinted material is quoted and credit is given when appropriate. A wide variety of references are listed. Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the authors and the publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or for the consequences of their use. The views of this book are solely the views of the authors. No opinions, statements of fact, or conclusions contained in this document can be properly attributed to the Department of the Navy, the Office of Naval Research, or its contracting agencies. Neither this book nor any part may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from CECD. CECD consent does not extend to copying for general distribution, for promotion, for creating new works, or for resale. Specific permission must be obtained in writing from CECD for such copying. Direct all inquiries to: CECD Department of Mechanical Engineering 2140 Glenn L. Martin Hall University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742 Ph.: (301) 405-5205 http://www.cecd.umd.edu 2012 CECD International Standard Book Number 978-0-9846274-5-5 Printed in the United States of America Printed in Southern Maryland DEDICATED TO DILIP ANIL “NEIL” ANAND WHO ALWAYS SAID THIS IS A NO BRAINER Preface and Acknowledgements The issues impacting S&T revitalization and the supply of S&Es are complex and do not usually lend themselves to easy or straightforward solutions. Considering that the United States used to lead the world in the percentage of adults with college degrees but has now fallen to 10th place, and that the outlook for America’s ability to compete for jobs in the global economy has continued to deteriorate in the last five years, we need to address this issue and reverse it by a sustained investment in education and basic research to keep from slipping further. Today, globalization of the S&E workforce plays a powerful role in the education and movement of S&E professionals worldwide. While it is debatable whether there is a shortage in the U.S., it is clear that the S&E professional of the future will be more migratory, alleviating the shortage if it exists. Educational opportunities, professional opportunities and higher salaries are all key drivers of the S&E workforce. While opportunities abound in developing countries, for now there continues to be a large influx to the U.S. of international students and professionals in S&E fields. However, global access to a quality free education from world-recognized and respected universities is bound to change this, while simultaneously creating even greater numbers of S&Es on the global stage. In a shrinking world where mobility is less of a restriction than ever, and where growing economies are beginning to recognize and address shortcomings in their educational systems, the question of engineers becoming a global commodity appears more a matter of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’. The revitalization of S&T was examined six years ago in a CECD book entitled From Science to Seapower: A Roadmap for S&T Revitalization, in which ten recommendations were made. The emphasis in this study was primarily on S&T policy issues affecting the U.S. Navy viii Preface and Acknowledgements Labs. These recommendations were revisited in a subsequent edition, Postscript 2010. The fact remains that the total number of students graduating with a bachelor’s degree in engineering in the United States continues to drop as a percentage of the total number of bachelor’s degrees awarded. With this in mind, we propose to re-examine the issue of workforce revitalization and to focus, explicitly, on the supply of engineers as it is affected by culture, immigration, demographics, and globalization. Our primary purpose in writing this book is to generate a discussion at the national level regarding how best the U.S. can ensure the vitality of the engineering workforce in the coming century. We feel strongly that our engineers need to be well prepared technically, be connected in a meaningful way to the global science and engineering world, and be gender and ethnically diverse and bilingual in order to enhance connectivity with the global S&E community both technically and culturally. The authors wish to acknowledge input from Jim Short on export controls, copy editing done by Eric Hazell, illustrations by Kunal Sakpal, production work by Ania Picard and research assistance on various topics provided by Kevin Ray and Piyush Jain. This book is a continuation of our work and interest in S&T revitalization with the U.S. Navy in mind. It is not intended to be an original work, but rather a compendium of open literature. Its purpose is to provide timely information in sufficient detail to support the development of appropriate policy decisions. The Authors College Park, MD Executive Summary The science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce powers the innovations that provide us with a strong national defense and a high quality of life. Over the past decade there has been much debate from many quarters about the vitality of the U.S. STEM enterprise. Declines in U.S. preeminence in innovation, questions about our ability to meet our national defense needs, and concerns about our ability to sustain a high standard of living have sounded alarm bells. In contrast to the robust annual growth rate of 5.9% seen through the last half of the 20th century, the growth rate in STEM employment has slowed dramatically between 2000 and 2009 to an average annual rate of 1.2%.1 If the U.S. is to maintain its preeminent position, the slowdown must be arrested. At the macro level, the United States has seen its position at the apex of global innovation challenged. The U.S. is now ranked 10th globally according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Innovation Index (GII), a drop from our position at #2 in 2009—Switzerland remains the top world economy on the GII. U.S. investment in the research and development (R&D) that is foundational for innovation has dropped to 8th; and, while the U.S. is home to 31% of global R&D, this share is now lower than the 37% share in Asia. At the micro level, as we have outlined in previous books, U.S. employers of S&T talent, including the DoD as one of the largest employers of engineers, face a range of challenges in maintaining innovation capacity. The employment outlook for key constituents of the defense enterprise is that of a “category five storm”2—a “bow wave of retirements of experienced S&T personnel;”3 work environments that have not kept pace with the private sector and academia; and Federal employment practices that hamstring knowledge workers such as those x Executive Summary in the S&T workforce. For private-sector employers, the implications of globalization have led to construction of offshore R&D facilities and employment of foreign-born STEM workers. But such strategies are currently not as viable for the DoD which is more “place bound.” Globalization, general cultural issues, and demography affect the pool of talent available to the U.S. S&T enterprise in general and the Department of Defense in particular. Over the past decade, STEM has received much attention, but in this book, acknowledging that the devil is in the details, we focus on engineering, in particular. The aggregate STEM category obscures the unique aspects of engineering. For example, women now lead men on a number of education metrics, accounting for the majority of college graduates. Yet, in engineering, women are still fewer than one-in-five among all new bachelor’s degree recipients in the field. In addition, in most science fields, the doctoral degree is considered the entry-level credential for professional practice, but the bachelor’s degree–with its far shorter educational incubation period–is the standard in engineering. A limited comparative approach in which the U.S. engineering workforce is compared to that in China and India provides insights about revitalizing the U.S. engineering career path. As two of the BRIC4 nations, China and India have the potential to become innovation powerhouses on the global stage. The cultural milieu in each of the three nations has different implications for the engineering profession in each nation. While interest in engineering has been declining in the United States, the field has increased in popularity in both of these nations, each of which is following a different path for building a robust engineering educational infrastructure.