[Editors] FYI: Demand surges for students who can design cool products and keep the U.S. ahead

Thu Apr 21 10:31:39 EDT 2005

Detroit Free Press
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Demand surges for students who can design cool products and keep the U.S. ahead

BY ROBERT (BUZZ) KROSS

April 19, 2005

As high school seniors begin selecting their college courses, they must 
consider what fields hold the most promise of a solid, successful career. 
Biotechnology? Political science? Economics?

The surprising answer is that electrical engineering and mechanical 
engineering are two of the three most sought-after bachelor's degrees, 
according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers' 2005 Job 
Outlook survey.

Demand for engineering graduates will grow as much as 9 percent per year 
through the end of the decade, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 
College hiring is also expected to be on the rise this year, 13.1 percent 
over 2004, according to the study.

Mechanical and electrical engineering graduates will find employers with 
open arms -- and generous offers -- especially in the Midwest, home of some 
40 percent of the employers in the survey.

But these rosy job prospects mask an enormous problem for American 
competitiveness. The plain fact is that the demand for mechanical and 
electrical engineers to design the next hybrid automobile engine, 
high-efficiency electrical turbine or complex machine tool far outstrips 
the expected supply. To make matters worse, the nation's current 
engineering workforce is rapidly getting older, with the average age of 
engineers in many companies now in the late 40s.

Educational and engineering organizations, such as the American Society of 
Mechanical Engineers, have warned that the number of students selecting 
engineering as a college major has fallen far behind the need. Especially 
troubling is the lack of female and minority engineering students at a time 
when those groups make up the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. population.

The loss of engineering talent in the United States is immense, and far 
greater than simple jobs. Innovation is the last competitive advantage U.S. 
manufacturers enjoy against hungry global competitors. U.S. manufacturers 
simply can't compete with producers in China or Eastern Europe on price; to 
succeed, they must compete on innovation -- new products, superior designs, 
new manufacturing techniques. If we don't fuel that innovation with a 
steady crop of young U.S. engineers, it will spell the ultimate demise of 
manufacturing in this nation.

The decline in the quality of our math and science education is 
well-documented and a very real issue. As early as middle school, American 
students are behind their top international peers in these subjects, and by 
the time they are ready for college they need remedial classes just to be 
able to begin studying engineering. But that's just part of the problem.

The simple fact is that engineering has lost something important for young 
people.

In the era of the Space Race in the 1950s and 1960s, engineering was the 
height of cool. That's no longer true today, even though everything from 
today's hottest consumer electronics to the technology behind tsunami 
relief depends on engineering. As a society, we have simply failed to show 
just how much engineering makes a difference in lives of kids.

When a high-school kid dials up the volume on her iPod, does she realize 
the role of mechanical engineering in its stylish design? Or in the tiny 
disk drive that makes it work?

When a college freshman begs his dad for a Mini-Cooper, does he fathom the 
engineering that gives that car its cool personality?

If they don't understand that, chances are they don't understand what 
engineering does for humanity, how mechanical and electrical engineering 
are vital to providing clean water, food, health care and communications to 
victims of the Asian tsunami.

We owe it to our kids -- and to our future -- to show them how cool 
engineering can be. Only then will we be able to create the innovation that 
has always made America great.

ROBERT (BUZZ) KROSS is vice president of the Manufacturing Solutions 
Division of Autodesk of San Rafael, Calif., which has offices in Novi. 
Write to him in care of the Free Press Editorial Page, 600 W. Fort St., 
Detroit, MI 48226.

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 Jay Chrepta
 Communications Officer

 Department of Mechanical Engineering
 Room 3-461B

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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 Phone: 617.324.1155
 Cell: 781.727.6888
Email: <mailto:jchrepta at mit.edu>jchrepta at mit.edu   
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