ASEE in the Media - Past ASEE President Ron Barr’s editorial

U.S. Needs More Engineering Students

BY RONALD BARR
Past ASEE President
rbarr@mail.utexas.edu 

This Editorial originally appeared in the Miami Herald on August 11, 2005. You may view the original article at the following address: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/12354523.htm (You must register to view the article. Registration is Free.)

This fall, more than 2.5 million young Americans are entering college for the first time. These freshmen will find themselves confronted with an array of new choices. But their most important decision will be what to study. If past years are any indication, the majority will flock to majors like business, psychology and liberal arts. I am here to argue for engineering.

This diverse, dynamic field has some 1.3 million current practitioners in the United States. We must produce engineers in larger numbers to meet our security needs and maintain our competitive edge. Engineers are vital both to protecting this nation's key infrastructures from attack and to keeping our economy strong. The information revolution encircles us on a daily basis with instant access to almost any place on Earth. The world has shrunk, and China, India and others are becoming increasingly important technology players. As these countries strengthen their economic, industrial and technological clout, America must strive not just to keep up, but to excel.

America's future

Engineers are a driving force in a strong economy. Without a vibrant engineering community, America's productivity, essential to economic growth, would suffer. America's engineers are the most innovative in the world. Their ability to invent and create is what has set the United States apart. Without an innovative engineering workforce America's future is less secure.

In 1999, the most recent year that figures are available, China graduated almost 200,000 engineers -- 44 percent of the undergraduate degrees -- according to the National Science Foundation. China has plans to eventually graduate a million engineers each year.

In contrast, U.S. engineering schools churned out 73,000 engineers last year, totaling less than 5 percent of all bachelor's degrees awarded. Our graduate schools are filled with foreign nationals who last year earned 58 percent of the engineering Ph.D.s awarded in the United States. This country relies heavily on these grads to fill our technological needs, but more and more U.S.-trained engineers are returning home after graduation.

Why is America lagging? We must do a better job at the primary and secondary grades, which are crucial in terms of developing future engineers. Our students rarely come out on top in global comparisons, particularly in science and math, fields not considered attractive by many young people today. It's vital to get students excited about these subjects early on.

Part of the problem lies outside the classroom. Many Americans have no idea what engineers do. Lawyers and doctors are usually depicted favorably in the media, but there are no television shows that feature engineers. If engineers are written into the script, it's often to play the part of a nerd.

Efforts are under way to improve the perception of engineering among K-12 students. Many engineering colleges have initiated programs that send engineering professors into elementary, middle and high schools to introduce students to the field. The American Society for Engineering Education has just published the second edition of Engineering, Go For It!, a magazine aimed at high school students. Almost 600,000 copies of the publication have been distributed since 2003.

Engineers in Congress

More needs to be done. Women and minorities are still underrepresented in engineering. A recent Gallup poll reflects engineering's low profile. When a national sample of adults was asked what kind of career they would recommend to young women, medicine was the top choice. A scant 3 percent suggested engineering.

America needs engineers in emerging fields such as the financial sector, homeland security, health systems and the entertainment industry -- and in Congress. All nine members of the central committee of the Communist Party of China are engineers by profession. In this country, only a handful of members of Congress and a few in top administrative posts have engineering degrees. Important scientific decisions are made all the time by people who don't fully understand their technical merit.

America is facing global competition from countries whose political leaders understand the importance of engineering education in improving a nation's productivity and standard of living.

Ronald Barr, Immediate Past President of the American Society for Engineering Education (http://www.asee.org/), has taught mechanical engineering at the University of Texas-Austin for 27 years.