Engineers have been known to grouse that while pop stars and sports figures get lots of attention, engineers labor in the shadows, and, like Rodney Dangerfield, “don’t get no respect.”

In the short term, forecasting is hard to do, matching a development with a timeline. That said, IEEE-USA's government relations editor George McClure provides an overview of changes and trends in eight categories that are likely to affect all of us, in one way or another, in 2008: technology, energy, climate change, workforce, employment benefits, immigration, infrastructure and the economy.

In study after study, more and more engineers over age forty are reporting age bias in their job search, and engineers are increasingly wondering what they have to do to get a job in the second half of their careers.

The dearth of women in IT and programming, and declining numbers of women enrolling in undergraduate computer science majors in the United States has many causal factors, and has been studied extensively since the 1980s. Yet the underlying causes are so intertwined that it is difficult to separate them. Some sociologists suggest that many of these causes may reflect the pervasive effect of the gender system. Confounding the issue are technological and cultural changes.

Post-secondary education is expensive and choosing your educational provider is a decision requiring careful thought. A decade ago, the decision was much easier. Today, the choice of an educational provider is complex; a wrong decision has huge financial and time implications.

The topic may seem dull, but technology export controls are vital to U.S. security and competitiveness. Technology that could help other nations compete with the United States if released — or that could be useful to terrorists — is subject to export controls. The rub comes in weighing the needs of U.S. innovators for greater sales versus the harm to the national interest if the technology is divulged.

According to some, engineering is the most essential profession in the world. Engineers mold the very foundations of almost every device, mechanism, system and substance on which the world's population relies. So, if the United States is suffering from an "engineering gap," where will the nation's future engineers come from?

The following is a recap of news and notable developments in electrical engineering and computer or information technology emerging from the federal government in January-early February 2008.

In today’s world products, money, and people transcends borders. The career-savvy individual will take the time to become informed about other countries, their cultures and ways of doing business. Asia is the world’s largest continent, containing almost 60 percent of the world's population.

Henry Ford and Rudolph Diesel’s initial efforts to fuel their fledgling automobiles involved ethanol and peanut oil, respectively. However, they soon discovered that refined petroleum was a far more efficient source for gasoline and diesel fuel. Are biofuels ready to make a comeback?

When the National Engineers Week Future City Competition hosted its 16th National Finals 18-20 Feb. in Washington, D.C., a record 37 regional championship-winning teams participated. They represented the cream of the crop among the more than 1,100 schools and 30,000 students who competed during the 2007-08 season.