New Apollo program needed to boost engineering education

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The U.S. needs a new Apollo project to inspire young people to enter engineering and technology fields. The perception among students of a dour economic climate in electronics is perhaps one of the greatest challenges the industry faces to attracting the next generation of innovators, according to a panel discussion on education at DesignCon here on Tuesday (Feb 7).

"We need a focused, engaging program to capture the imagination. I have been thinking of something like solar[-powered] cars," said Belle Wei, dean of engineering at San Jose State University.

"I love the idea of an alternative energy program because it reminds me of computing in the late 1970’s," said Jim Hogan, a private investor who helped found Cadence Design Systems. "I could imagine a distributed power-generation system where an SAP could enable a thousand small Enrons," he added.

"I started off as an intern at NASA, that’s what got me going," Hogan said. "Energy independence would be a great place to start," agreed Carl Guardino, president and CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group that represents more than 200 companies and institutions.

Freshman entering SJSU in mechanical engineering outpaced electrical engineering candidates this year, in part because students erroneously believe outsourcing is taking away opportunities in electronic design, Wei added.

"Companies like Google and Marvell can’t hire enough engineers, but you don’t read reports about this. The news is all about companies moving jobs overseas," Wei said. "Google, eBay, Yahoo were all started by engineers. They are wealth creators," she added.

"Many of those founders were not only engineers but immigrants," said Guardino, noting the difficulty since 9/11 of retaining foreign-born engineers is one of the biggest problems in engineering education.

Guardino ticked off worrisome statistics: China graduates 600,000 engineers a year; India graduates 300,000; and the U.S. just 70,000. In addition, 55 percent of U.S. technical graduates are foreign born and an increasing number of them do not or cannot stay in the U.S., he said.

"The numbers of Asian graduates are a bit inflated, but these countries are knocking at the door," said Timothy Saponas, worldwide higher education manager at Intel Corp. "The US still has the premier graduate institutions, but other countries are coming up fast." The competition is real, as a group of 25 SJSU students found out last summer on a trip through Beijing and Shanghai, China, where students typically take twice as many courses per semester and plan on graduate school, Wei said. "Our students are shocked by how hard the Chinese engineering students work. They are very driven," she said.

K-12 has its own problems. "Two out of three middle school math teachers in California don’t even have a math degree," said Guardino.

The Silicon Valley group is kicking off a three-year program to work with eighth grade algebra teachers to help inspire young about math, Guardino said. "The core of the problem is always money. We need more money for programs," said Hogan.

The group expressed guarded hope over promises for more R&D and education funds made by President George Bush’s in his recent State of the Union speech. Bush promised to double federal R&D spending and launch several new programs to enhance K-12 math and science education.

However, a budget bill approved by Congress last week that is expected to be signed by the President cuts student loan programs. Previous budget measures intended to slow the growth of the federal budget deficit have also cut education programs.

"There’s a long way from a State of the Union speech to a law passed by Congress and signed by the President,” said Guardino. "We have been talking about problems in math and science education for 20 years, and this is the first year we may do something about it," said Wei.