The Urban Institute recently released the report by Lindsay Lowell and Hal Salzman that I mentioned in my post on challenges to conventional wisdom on innovation—the one claiming that all the “gathering storm” concern about a declining U.S. science and engineering workforce is way overblown. Their title, appropriately enough, is “Into the Eye of the Storm.” Their abstract:
Recent policy reports claim the United States is falling behind other nations in science and math education and graduating insufficient numbers of scientists and engineers. Review of the evidence and analysis of actual graduation rates and workforce needs does not find support for these claims. U.S. student performance rankings are comparable to other leading nations and colleges graduate far more scientists and engineers than are hired each year. Instead, the evidence suggests targeted education improvements are needed for the lowest performers and demand-side factors may be insufficient to attract qualified college graduates.
A narrative history of personal computing and the Internet.
The story of the Santa Fe Institute and the emerging science of complex adaptive systems.
My first book—a study of artificial intelligence.
One Comment
Maybe the salaries just aren’t high enough. I’m a recent graduate from a very expensive university, and my friends and I all have significant debt (it seems, with tuition skyrocketing nationwide, that this must be a trend). One friend graduated with a degree in biomedical engineering, and now works as a saleswoman, hawking medical devices for much higher pay than an entry-level engineer. Another has a degree in biology, and earns minimum wage giving talks at Monterey Bay Aquarium.
For young people, there isn’t a promise of big bucks at the end of the bachelor of science, and this doesn’t sit well for the generation that was brought up with more luxury than their parents had known. As far as I know, business schools are having no problem attracting bodies.