Panel: U.S. science leadership at risk

Mercury News ^ | Dec. 02, 2003 | Glennda Chui

[yonif]

New census figures show the United States is relying more than ever on the skills of foreign-born scientists and engineers. Yet the number of foreigners coming to work in those fields has recently plummeted -- and Americans are not rushing in to fill the gap, according to a report from the National Science Board.

If those trends continue, it warns, the nation will find itself unable to compete with growing economies such as China and India for the brainpower needed to remain a world leader in science and technology.

The panel recommends that the government spend more money to train science and math teachers, support college students while they study and entice more Americans -- especially women, Latinos and other groups that are now under-represented in science -- to work in technical fields.

``We're very concerned about our capacity to invent and innovate as a nation,'' said Joseph A. Miller Jr., senior vice president and chief technology officer for Corning. He led the task force that produced the report for the science board, which advises the government on science policy.

``We believe that competition will heighten,'' Miller said, ``and we will no longer be able to rely on the foreign-born to fill the gap and fill our needs.''

He acknowledged that the call for more spending comes at a tough time, with a growing federal budget deficit and many states struggling to make ends meet. In California last week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed cutting $270 million during the next two years from state universities; the plan would eliminate funding for outreach programs that draw minority students into the University of California and California State University systems.

``We realize this comes at a very, very difficult time,'' Miller said, adding that training the next generation of scientists and engineers must become part of the debate on spending priorities.

The science board began its study in 2000, as the longest peacetime economic expansion in U.S. history was coming to an end. Its goal was to identify long-term trends in the science and engineering workforce, rather than react to short-term shortages or surpluses.

While the number of science and engineering jobs is projected to grow three times faster than those in other occupations, the number of American students training for those jobs has remained flat or even declined, the task force found. Many of the American students who do earn technical degrees go on to work in other fields.

At the same time, the number of foreign-born scientists and engineers working here increased between 1990 and 2000, at every level of expertise: from 11 to 17 percent among those holding four-year college degrees, and from 24 to 38 percent among those holding doctorates.

However, another set of numbers indicates that this trend may be changing: From 2001 to 2002, the number of H-1B visas issued to foreign workers in fields related to science, engineering and technology fell by more than half, from about 166,000 to about 74,000.

Miller said the task force did not try to determine how much of that decline was related to the bursting of the high-tech bubble and how much might be due to the security crackdown following the Sept. 11 attacks.

The report said 13 countries, including Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and a number of European nations, now produce more college graduates with science, engineering or technology degrees than the United States, when the size of their populations is taken into account.

The number of Americans with technical training is expected to drop further unless more Americans can be lured into science and engineering -- particularly women, Latinos, blacks and Indians, all of whom have traditionally gone into science in fewer numbers than Asians or whites.

The number of underrepresented minorities earning college degrees is expected to grow during the next three decades, with about 90 percent of that growth among Latinos, the report said. So recruiting more scientists from those groups is critical.

However, the report added that the United States should maintain its ability to attract internationally competitive students and researchers from other countries.

``The good thing is that we've got some of the brightest people in the world doing research for us, and many of them decide to stay. Actually, most of them decide to stay,'' said George Castro, associate dean for science outreach at San Jose State University, who was not involved in the study.

``But it does make the competition pretty rough for our existing kids,'' he said. He added that the government could do more with the money it has by stipulating that grants used to hire graduate students in research labs go only to U.S. citizens. ``But they'll never do that,'' he said.

M.R.C. Greenwood, chancellor of the University of California-Santa Cruz, said, ``Those of us who are in the science and technology business have seen this coming for a decade. It's the sort of thing you start worrying about, and now it's here.''

A lot has been said about American companies moving their manufacturing operations overseas, she said. But now businesses are starting to move their research and development operations offshore, too, ``not just because labor costs less, but because these countries are beginning to produce an international brain trust which is beginning to rival the United States.''

She said she views the trend as ``the biggest national security issue the country has today. It might not be immediate, like somebody blowing up the World Trade Center. But if it's not stopped, in 20 years we will leave our children and grandchildren a country that is no longer leading in innovation.''

[yonif]

The report, ``The Science and Engineering Workforce: Realizing America's Potential'' is available at www.nsf.gov/nsb/.

[Paradox]

A direct result of the Culture of Stupidity.

Yo Yo Yo, I's autentic YO! Watzamatta witchou peeps? Don't hate the playa..

[Steve_Seattle]

For starters, we could divert funds from questionable departments like Women's Studies, Black Studies, and Sociology, and use those funds for science education. When colleges are teaching courses in Rock 'n' Roll and Queer Theory, it's time to start spending our money more wisely.

[dmanLA]

And this is a surprise?

This has been happening for at least the last 20 years. Science and engineering are tough fields to study and our kids are not encouraged to pursue these fields.

Besides with anything tough, kids may fail and hurt their self-esteem right? Wouldn't it be cooler to be a singer or actor or athlete or environmentalist or .... Scientist and engineers are WAY DOWN on the list.

This is why I will encourage my kids to pursue the science fields because at some point demand is going to outstrip supply (and we all know what happens then...).

[dmanLA]

Oh... There is one other advantage. Students in the sciences are better insulated from the liberal tripe that goes on in other classes.

[I still care]

I have a book that purports to be a review for elementary students. Subjects are math, reading, writing, geography, and the environment.

I don't think I have to say anymore.

[Beaker]

Oh... There is one other advantage. Students in the sciences are better insulated from the liberal tripe that goes on in other classes.

Speaking as a chemistry major, I agree and I am extremely thankful. :-) My professors are much more concerned about, say, the importance of an SN1 versus an SN2 reaction instead of the importance of gay marriage. That's what I like about the sciences. There's no room for anything else but.

[cogitator]

The panel recommends that the government spend more money to train science and math teachers, support college students while they study and entice more Americans -- especially women, Latinos and other groups that are now under-represented in science -- to work in technical fields.

Meanwhile, the federal government is running up a huge deficit, and financially-strapped states are finding that one of the main places that they can cut is the state university systems, which forces them to raise tuition.

So where's the money for this going to come from? I ask rhetorically.

[doc30]

My wife learned that the hard way. She got her BA in Sociology and had trouble finding work. Now she's doing pre-med courses to get into pharmacy. The contrast in course content, analytical skills and quantitative nature between the social sciences and the hard sciences made her understand the difference in employment opportunities and salaries. But so long as university administration is groomed from the liberal arts, queer theory and black lesbians in the Middle East will be considered cutting edge studies. The administrators begudge the sciences and engineering departments for their lavish grants for research and their refusal to follow the political trends. IF they didn't bring in the bucks, those departments would be eliminated becasue they don't have the enrollment psychology has, nor the relativism of the liberal arts.

[Riemann]

The solution is simple.

Let the money follow the major. Instead of giving all in-state students the same tuition rate, give majors in appropriate subjects a discount.

As somebody pointed out, sociology is virtually a non-subject and English, instead of being about literature, is about political theory.

Close these departments, and let the tenured faculty in them clean up the labs and wash the blackboards (where applicable).

Ok, that was too far. Me bad!

[GingisK]

...and Americans are not rushing in to fill the gap...

Couldn't be related to the "rewards" of grueling school work, followed by thirty years experience plus continuous book purchases, followed by the job being shipped to India, could it?

[-YYZ-]

Yep, a bright young person with ambition can see that the real money is to be made in law leeching money out of the productive parts of society, or in management, running companies into the ground, cooking the books and sending jobs overseas.

And anyways, businesses are too focussed on the short term to spend much on R&D, and if they do, most likely the fruits of that R&D will be exploited in some other country, anyway.

[Archangelsk]

Yo Yo Yo, I's autentic YO! Watzamatta witchou peeps? Don't hate the playa..

Unfortunately, this is also the vernacular in white, suburban enclaves nowadays.

[RightWhale]

It's true. The trend has been continuing for some time and the momentum from WW II is about shot. It's going to take a massive effort over several decades to regain our strong lead.

[Paradox]

Oh, you are 100% correct, and thats how I meant it. "Urbanity", for lack of a better term, knows no race..

[Risa]

>>This has been happening for at least the last 20 years. Science and engineering are tough fields to study and our kids are not encouraged to pursue these fields<<

I don't agree with your assessment at all. I know many young Americans who are superb science and math students--they have been discouraged, however, from entering fields such as mechanical and computer engineering because their parents have been replaced by cheap foreign labor.

[dmanLA]

"I don't agree with your assessment at all. I know many young Americans who are superb science and math students--they have been discouraged, however, from entering fields such as mechanical and computer engineering because their parents have been replaced by cheap foreign labor."

I know that computer PROGRAMMING and IT workers are being outsourced to foreign countries but in regards to engineering, I think you are mistaken.

For now anyway, engineering schools as a whole in the U.S. are superior to anywhere else. Many foreign students come here to study engineering. Most STAY because salaries here are higher than their native countries.

I am in the engineering field and I see many job openings left unfilled because the talent pool is thin. Many positions are with defense companies that REQUIRE US CITIZENSHIP. No cheap foreign labor can apply.

I reiterate that science and engineering are tough fields. Unfortunately, when the going gets tough with most kids today, they quit. I saw it happen in engineering school. In my engineering major, we started with 150 students. Less than 50 stuck with it and graduated.

Say what you may, but the jobs are there. I tell every female I know that is entering college to consider engineering. I have yet to meet an unemployed (not by choice) female engineer.