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05.09

Rebuilding the Economy through Science, Engineering and Innovation

By Senator Ted Kaufman (D-Del.)

America’s economy is in crisis. But the financial crisis might prove to be an opportunity for America — if we respond by taking steps to once again lead the world by creating new, innovative industries, businesses and products. To do that, we must put science, engineering and innovation back in their rightful place in our economy.

As the only Senator holding an engineering degree, I remember when engineering ranked far ahead of business administration as the premier college degree. After the Soviet Union’s 1957 surprise launch of Sputnik 1, American leaders spurred the nation to catch up and improve our commitment to science. The Sputnik crisis led to the creation of NASA and an increase in U.S. government spending on scientific research and higher education. I was one of the young students who were drawn by “Sputnik” and our leaders’ call to pursue an engineering education and career.

More recently, an inordinately large percentage of America’s best and brightest college students opted instead to take their “quant” skills in math and analysis to Wall Street. And it wasn’t just that engineers were choosing finance over traditional engineering careers; fewer students were choosing to study engineering, period.

Back in 1986, engineering and engineering technology students earned close to 10 percent of U.S. bachelor’s degrees. Despite attractive starting salaries, often above $50,000 a year, the percentage today is only about 5 percent. Only about 121,000 people earned degrees in engineering in 2007 — and that includes bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees.

Today’s financial crisis gives our young people a new opportunity to look at how they want to spend their lives. And it gives America’s political and education leaders the opportunity to ensure that our educational pipeline is producing students skilled in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. While America must remain a leader in finance, it’s clear we need a renewed dedication to leadership in engineering.

Here is what we should do right away:

• Find more and better ways to marry public policy and engineering. Many global problems require technical solutions, designed by scientists and engineers who also have a basic understanding of public policy.

• Develop programs that allow students to “make a difference.” Create an engineering jobs corps — similar to the Peace Corps or Teach for America — to help channel the young talent emerging from our engineering schools.

• Before graduating, engineering students typically must write a final paper addressing a problem to solve. Let’s publish those papers and make them available to government and to the business community, with authors’ rights kept secure.

• Reach out to women and others who have traditionally been under-represented in engineering.

Fifty-two years ago Sputnik shocked the United States into supporting science and engineering on an unprecedented level. America’s competitive spirit helped us meet the challenges of those times.

We can do this again. The financial crisis should cause us to focus on the innovation and know-how that have always been the American way. The federal government should again invest strongly in supporting the basic scientific, medical and engineering research that will spur new innovations. I would like to ask engineers, scientists and researchers to join me in this effort. Join my email dialogue at science@kaufman.senate.gov

This article has been reprinted with permission from the 12 March 2009 issue of the Science Coalition Newsline.

Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) is the only U.S. Senator with an engineering degree. Comments on this article may be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org.

Opinions expressed are the author's.