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Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D.
President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Good afternoon.
If, ever, there was a time at which one might be in danger of preach-
ing to the choir, this may be that time.
I find myself in the happy circumstance of being surrounded by like
minds and comparable interests. There are more than 30 organizations
participating at this summit, and even more in attendance each con-
cerned with, and working on, the issue of developing the United States'
scientific and technological workforce of the future.
I currently serve with three of these organizations:
· With our hosts, the Government-University-Industry Research
Roundtable (GUIRR) I am a member of the Roundtable, and chair the
Working Group on the Science and Engineering Workforce.
· With Building Engineering and Science Talent (BEST) I serve on
the Board of Directors' executive committee, and chair BEST's Blue Rib-
bon Panel on Higher Education.
· With the Committee for Economic Development I am co-chair of
the Subcommittee on the Supply of Scientists and Engineers.
So you can discern the level of my interest in, and commitment to,
this issue. And to be in this company to be a member of this choir, if you
will is an abundance of riches.
One would wish only that the topic were neither so serious nor so
urgent. I am sure that most of you saw in yesterday's Chronicle of Higher
Education that the number of doctorates awarded by American research
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universities in 2001 fell to a level not seen in nine years a decline of 4.5
percent over 1998, the all-time high. The decrease in doctorates in the
science and engineering disciplines, which fell by 6.5 percent since 1998,
is responsible for a major portion of the decline. Fields outside science
and engineering, on the other hand, saw a decrease of less than 1 per-
cent over 1998.
Is there a more apt, or more timely, incentive for our work at this
summit? Obviously not.
Nevertheless, I am buoyed and encouraged because what I sense,
overwhelmingly, is that this summit may represent an approaching criti-
cal mass a coming together of enough good minds, good work, and good
research on the issue. With critical mass, we can begin to make a real
difference.
To make a difference, this issue must capture the full and serious at-
tention of lawmakers, policymakers, educators, corporate executives, gov-
ernment officials, the media, and, ultimately, the public, for these are the
constituencies that, in the end, will address and resolve it. And to have
that happen, we will want to work in concert with each other, supple-
menting our research data and pressing conjointly for the points upon
which we agree.
So, as I have said, I am buoyed that there are so many organizations
that take this issue seriously, each approaching the situation with its own
perspectives, having positions that reflect the issue's urgency to them,
and actively working for change. For although we may differ on some
aspects, and although we may differ on approach, we are moving in es-
sentially the same direction. And, that is the important thing.
For, surely, we all understand that if the United States is to continue
to be a world leader, a nation without peer a position Americans have
enjoyed for decades and now take for granted the nation must make a
substantial investment in its scientific and technological capital, its intel-
lectual capital.
As we all know, the source of our innovative capacity and technologi-
cal ability, which has given us heretofore unknown richness, choice, and
leadership, is thinning.
· We know that the average age of the science and engineering
workforce is rising. And we know that the total number of retirements
among science- and engineering-degreed workers will dramatically in-
crease over the next 20 years.
· We know, too, that the college-age population has declined, that
fewer U.S. students are electing courses of study in the sciences (espe-
cially the physical sciences) and engineering, and that growth in doctor-
ates awarded has been to students from overseas, not to U.S. recipients.
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The net of these and other factors is that U.S. production of science
and engineering professionals is at risk of not being sufficient to maintain
the status quo, which puts the United States in danger of relinquishing its
world leadership to other nations leadership important not only to our
economic status and security but to the world.
For years we have avoided confronting this issue, shielded by import-
ing the advanced talent that we need on H-1B visas. International scien-
tists and engineers have been, and remain, a valuable reservoir of talent
for the U.S.
But several factors make this no longer a viable option for the long
term. With new homeland security concerns, many science and engineer-
ing positions (especially in government and with regard to certain dual-
use technologies) must be held by U.S. citizens, and only by U.S. citizens.
Moreover, the United States finds itself amid nations fast becoming peers
in science and engineering. Centers of technology-based activity, train-
ing, and entrepreneurial activity are spreading rapidly throughout the
globe. China, for instance, which used to send students to the United
States for advanced training, has increased its domestic Ph.D. production
by a factor of 60 over the last 15 years. Those students who used to come
to the United States to earn advanced degrees and then stay to work in
our industries, now have a viable choice to return home, where they can
find both employment and the satisfaction of building and contributing
to their own nations. We are not the only game in town. What we are
considering is occurring, and must occur, within the global context.
Other nations have put into place strong national strategies to pro-
mote and expand their core technological strengths. These countries rec-
ognize that national superiority, security, and economic status in a global
economy rely on technological capacity and their ability to muster a tech-
nologically trained and literate workforce. Yet, despite the obvious need,
the United States has no national plan for "growing and sustaining our
own" technological talent.
This is a general consideration and overall risk.
There are areas of specific concern, however. I already spoke of govern-
mental needs. The situation with regard to nuclear science is another case in
point. As in the other science and engineering disciplines, the nuclear
workforce is approaching retirement age without a corresponding influx of
appropriately qualified younger personnel to replace them. Fewer young
people are studying nuclear science, nuclear engineering, and related fields
at the university level, and a growing number of universities are giving up
their nuclear education programs altogether, due to a lack of interest and
perceptions that the nuclear power industry is fading.
Yet, ironically, the nuclear power industry is recording better perfor-
mance than in any time in its history. The safety, performance, and eco-
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nomic competitiveness of the nuclear industry are at an all-time high. The
questions are, Who will maintain and enhance existing nuclear technol-
ogy? and Who will design the new in nuclear power, and beyond?
On the security front, there are new threats from rogue nations and
groups that have, or are developing, weapons of mass destruction. Home-
land protection has taken on new importance, and if the United States is
to engage in credible monitoring, inspection, and mitigation roles, it must
have the trained nuclear scientists who can perform those duties.
This is but one example. To maintain our economic standing and our
national security, we must examine the scale and severity of the current
shortfall in "succession planning" for the science and engineering
workforce, as a whole, and identify educational and training initiatives
that will help to ensure the nation's human reservoir of scientific and tech-
nological knowledge and expertise.
Now, there are varying needs. I am not talking about predictions of
numbers of specific jobs in specific fields, but rather, national capacity-
national capacity that has brought the United States, and I dare say, the
world, to the degree of advance and progress we have reached today-
national capacity to ensure our future and to provide hope to those be-
yond our shores.
I will not presume to suggest specific answers, or even to summarize
all good ideas after all, that is what this summit is about.
Rather, as we collaborate at this summit, and in the future, to resolve
these issues, there are two key elements that I would urge you to keep
uppermost in your minds.
The first concerns demographics. The population of our nation now
reflects a "new majority" made up of women and minority groups, which
together account for more than half of our numbers. As an example,
women now outnumber men in undergraduate enrollments. This "new
majority" will continue to grow throughout this century. But although
they now make up more than half of the nation's workforce, these groups
long have been underrepresented in the science and engineering disci-
plines. They are the underrepresented majority. Moreover, there is no tra-
dition for them to follow, and few examples for them to aspire to. So, for
some time to come, students pursuing these career paths will be pioneers,
breaking a new path.
This is a change with enormous implications for the future of the sci-
ence and engineering workforce. It means that, although this is where sig-
nificant talent resides and it is from these sectors that we must draw our
future scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technologists we are not
doing so. This really must change. There is no other choice. The talent that
we have as a nation lies within all of our young people, including this new
majority talent pool. And, it is there. And, it can, and must be, mined.
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To do this, we will have to find new ways to interest and attract these
nontraditional pioneers into science and engineering. We will have to find
new ways to educate them. We will have to find new ways to mentor
them. We will have to value intellectual agility, if we want intellectual
agility. We may have to alter workplace cultures to assure that these non-
traditional pioneers feel comfortable and welcomed in their new careers.
It is a huge undertaking, which will require new ideas, new concepts,
new ways of thinking. But in the end, we are lucky because our nation has
a rich vein of talent that can be mined and refined.
The second element I ask you to keep in mind, and to which we must
sensitize others, is the element of time. The challenge to building a new
cohort of scientists and engineers is that this is not subject to a "quick-fix."
The kind of investment that is required takes many, many years, as we all
know. If we wait until we discover that we do not have a science and
engineering workforce sufficient to meet our needs if we wait until that
crisis actually is upon us it will be too late, by several decades, to rem-
edy. That is why the crisis is today.
I could not help but notice that last month the public schools of the
District of Columbia endured a $30 million dollar budget cut. To accom-
modate this cut without closing schools or furloughing employees, the
school board postponed, by a year, the re-opening of McKinley Tech, a
school in Northeast Washington, DC, that is to re-emerge as a technology
high school. I am a product of the DC public school system. The genera-
tion of students studying and learning now in DC classrooms constitutes
our talent pool, and each time we delay engaging them, nurturing them,
educating them, teaching them, we delay our future.
The case could be made that delaying McKinley Tech sets back
homeland security, postpones increased nuclear safety and security, de-
lays energy production, curtails nuclear medicine and industrial radiol-
ogy, and strikes at the heart of our economic security and global com-
petitiveness.
Nevertheless, there are indications that we are approaching critical
mass in addressing these issues. Corporations have long understood the
need to invest in programs for both students and their teachers pro-
grams that build their future workforce. These help us to tap into the full
talent pool.
The National Science Foundation recently awarded grants amount-
ing to $50 million over the next five years to support new centers for im-
proving K-12 and postsecondary science and mathematics teaching and
for research on learning. This will help us to tap into the full talent pool.
We have new "No Child Left Behind" legislation, which encourages
proven teaching practices and promotes the concept that every child is
valuable. This helps us to tap into the full talent pool.
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And we have the participation of so many groups here today at this
GUIRR Pan-Organizational Summit on the U.S. Science and Engineering
Workforce. Your commitment and your efforts have a cumulative effect.
This, too, helps us to tap into the full talent pool.
When we are all moving toward the same goal, the nation is in the
strongest possible position, with the capacity to maintain our economic
security, national homeland security, and the American way of life.
Building science and engineering talent is a cumulative process re-
quiring commitment and participation over time, but beginning now, of
all elements government, industry, education, the media, the public,
everyone. We need to engage all these elements to create critical mass,
which is what is needed for action and progress.
And so since I am addressing the choir, since I am a member of the
choir I urge you to sing, and to sing loudly, to sing in harmony, and to
sing long. We need all our voices.
Thank you.
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Joseph S. Toole
Associate Administrator for Professional Development
Federal Highway Administration,
U.S. Department of Transportation
INTRODUCTION
America's transportation workforce has become a major issue for all
facets of industry. Faced with a shrinking pool of qualified workers, the
public and private sectors have begun to advance a variety of strategies
focused on dealing with this critical problem. Because all of these entities
are competing with each other for the same pool of candidates, there is a
clear need to advance strategies in a coordinated and comprehensive man-
ner to address the workforce issue.
There is a particular concern and focus on the need for scientists and
engineers in developing the workforce. Engineering is at the core of the
industry's ability to design and deliver the nation's transportation sys-
tem. It is also clear that an increasing dependence on technological ad-
vancements in transportation will be necessary to keep pace with the
country's growing demand for mobility, and science and engineering will
make a critical contribution to that technological innovation.
Many factors impact the industry's ability to recruit qualified indi-
viduals into the workforce. A critical issue is the increasing competition
among professions for skilled workers. Today, individuals have a broad
range of options available to them including positions in the information
technology, health, and environmental industries. Overall, this means
there is a decreasing pool of skilled workers available to the transporta-
tion industry. The industry is also changing. The new transportation real-
ity requires technical and managerial skills, and abilities beyond tradi-
tional backgrounds.
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Many organizations and individuals have attempted to address the
workforce issue in transportation. National associations have embarked
on programs specifically designed to attract individuals into the
workforce. These efforts have enjoyed modest success, but not to the ex-
tent that they have put in place permanent solutions to the problem. More
must be done, and greater industry-wide efforts must be embraced.
To address the critical issue of transportation workforce development,
the U.S. Department of Transportation hosted the National Workforce Sum-
mit in May 2002 during National Transportation Week. Transportation lead-
ers representing federal and state transportation agencies, academia, indus-
try, labor unions, professional associations, and consulting firms participated
in the program. The National Workforce Summit was the first ever, fully
coordinated workforce initiative focused on developing the people necessary
to preserve and advance our nation's transportation system.
FRAMING THE CHALLENGE
U.S. Department of Transportation deputy secretary Michael P. lackson
noted that the industry as a whole faces serious challenges of an aging
workforce win the potential of more than 50 percent of the transportation
workforce eligible to retire in 5 to 15 years. Mr. lackson commented that coop-
eration and creative partnerships win educational and academic institutions;
professional organizations; and state, local, and international transportation
agencies are the key to effectively addressing Me transportation workforce chal-
lenge. The deputy secretary referred to the process as "building the pipeline,"
which has become a metaphor for addressing workforce issues.
Deputy Secretary lackson also participated in a discussion with in-
dustry leaders concerning their perspectives on the transportation
workforce issue. Participants identified institutional concerns that the in-
dustry must overcome if it is to find and retain effective employees:
· Potential employees don't perceive transportation as an attractive,
rewarding career option.
· The industry is burdened with an "engineers-only" image that con-
tradicts the wide range of technical and managerial skills necessary to
operate successful transportation organizations.
· Transportation agencies offer inadequate career development oppor-
tunities, which makes it difficult to retain qualified employees at all levels.
DATA NEEDS
One obstacle is the lack of workforce data. Cinde Weatherby Gilliland,
senior project manager/Transit and Transportation Planning for URS
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Corporation, reviewed research concerning the challenges facing the
transportation workforce. The General Accounting Office (GAO) views
the projected human capital shortfall as providing serious programmatic
problems and risks for the industry. In addition to the anticipated loss of
the industry's technical expertise in the next five years, data indicate that
71 percent of federal career senior executive service workers will be eli-
gible for retirement by 2005. Transportation Research Board (TRB) data
research reinforce the GAO data, citing institutional constraints, human
resources, and an aging population as critical issues. To further empha-
size the changing face of the industry, TRB also sees computer support
specialists as the greatest occupational area for growth, predicted to in-
crease by 97 percent. By comparison, the projected change for civil engi-
neers is 10 percent, while occupational growth for environmental engi-
neers is expected to increase 26 percent. Gilliland concluded by pointing
to the lack of real numbers of transportation workers compared to need
(demand), and the number of projected workers (supply).
OPPORTUNITIES FOR INTERVENTION
Cheri Marti, assistant director for the Minnesota Local Technical As-
sistance Program/Center for Transportation Studies, and who chairs an
ad hoc Workforce Framework Group, reported on the group's work to
date. The group has identified important societal and cultural factors af-
fecting the decision-making process about career choices. Members also
developed a life-cycle continuum, a graphic that identifies opportunities
for intervention to create awareness, influence choice, and "brand" trans-
portation as an attractive career goal. The continuum reinforces the neces-
sity to create learning paths for fundamental skills that also satisfy
workforce needs. In addition, statistics indicate that two thirds of employ-
ees change occupations during their work life. This information reinforces
the need to look beyond the entry-level employee and include recruiting
midlevel professionals as a workforce strategy to capture the richness of
professional experience. Marti also emphasized the need to promote a
collaborative and coordinated approach to address the issue throughout
the transportation industry.
ADMINISTRATORS' PERSPECTIVES ON THE
WORKFORCE CHALLENGE
Three U.S. Department of Transportation administrators participated
in the Summit: Ellen G. Engleman, administrator for the Research and
Special Programs Administration (RSPA); lennifer L. Dorn, federal transit
administrator; and Mary E. Peters, federal highway administrator.
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Ms. Engleman noted that, whether we move goods, people, or infor-
mation, transportation is the pipeline to the nation's prosperity. lennifer
Dorn commented that three principles should guide the initiative: (1) all
recruitment is personal, it requires individuals who can motivate and in-
spire others; (2) knowing how to think is more important than knowing
what to think, a multidisciplinary approach is necessary; and (3) flexibil-
ity can be difficult, but it's not impossible; organizations must pilot new
approaches and identify new ways to engage and reward those in the
system. Mary Peters supported the need to help young people understand
that they can have a role in making change happen in their communities.
Education is key, but educating the transportation workforce requires a
variety of skills and disciplines in the new transportation environment.
ISSUES AND PRIORITIES
The Summit participants focused on three critical components of
transportation workforce development:
· Workforce Pipeline: identify new opportunities and approaches to
ensure a trained, motivated, and diverse workforce to deliver transporta-
tion programs.
· Training and Professional Development: characterize processes to
ensure that transportation workers are able to apply new technologies
and bring new skills to effectively manage projects in a more demanding
work environment.
· Institutionalize Workforce Development: improve and coordinate
training and development programs industry-wide by institutionalizing
procedures and resources to prepare a skilled, technically proficient, and
motivated workforce.
These themes reflected an awareness that the workforce development
effort needs to reach beyond current efforts and be more strategically ori-
ented in addressing the issues. While there was a desire on the part of the
public agency, private sector, organized labor, and academia representa-
tives to develop a workforce strategy, there was also a definite call for the
U.S. Department of Transportation to exercise its leadership, particularly
as a convener and an advocate.
WORKFORCE PIPELINE
Participants focused on the multidisciplinary aspects of transportation
and the need to develop communication and marketing strategies that
speak to potential, current, and retired employees throughout their educa-
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lion and professional lives. Working with the life-cycle continuum graphic,
the group identified the problem as both supply and demand, highlighting
the need to involve industry, locally led partnerships, and academic institu-
tions at all levels throughout the process. Participants noted that the pipe-
line analogy was perhaps too rigid, that in reality it was much more porous
because employees tend to move in and out of the system. They reinforced
the need and value of lifelong learning that welcomes a diverse workforce
competent in an array of academic disciplines and technical skill levels. The
group identified the need for industry partners to coordinate closely with
educational institutions K-12, technical schools, community colleges, and
universities to raise the awareness of transportation as a rewarding ca-
reer. These cooperative programs must be complemented with an aggres-
sive marketing and outreach campaign to create excitement about trans-
portation careers beyond the traditional engineering focus.
The challenges to the group's recommendations involve identifying
current partners and leaders to champion the effort. Additionally, while
the participants focused on the need for lifelong learning and professional
development, they are concerned about the current workforce and its abil-
ity to meet the demands of a changing transportation environment. There
was a feeling among the Summit participants that it would take a sus-
tained commitment on the part of the transportation community to assure
that the youth of today are attracted to the transportation jobs of the fu-
ture. Specifically, this included
· stronger partnerships with educational systems to reach students
in K-12;
· a concerted effort to show the contributions that transportation
makes to society, the career opportunities transportation offers, and the
importance of transportation to the United States;
· development of an integrated program of outreach activities that
would support students through ongoing activities (e.g., awareness pro-
grams that might lead to internship opportunities, which would lead to
scholarships); and
· a much greater tie between the transportation community and uni-
versities, colleges, and community colleges to support transportation-re-
lated programs, and the need for the transportation and education com-
munities to be much more proactive in attracting students into
transportation.
TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Group members considered better ways to invest in skills develop-
ment and training of transportation agency employees. They agreed that
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professional development encompassed more than traditional training
and should include mentoring programs and other opportunities avail-
able throughout the industry. They noted that training needs must re-
spond to the organization's core competencies and ensure that the em-
ployee and the organization benefit from the instruction. Participants also
recognized the need to modernize organizational structures so that they
can respond more quickly and accurately to employee training needs.
There was also a focus on the need to cultivate a public/private part-
nership to foster cooperative programs and activities. These partnerships
should also help develop a consistent definition of transportation training
objectives and outcomes, and promote the need for broad training that
incorporates both professional and technical skills. For example, an engi-
neer must be able to explain projects and schedules to communities af-
fected by transportation projects. There was a recognition that there needs
to be continuing investment in the transportation workforce to (1) assure
workers are using the latest technologies and practices to improve trans-
portation, (2) better equip the workforce to meet the challenges of today,
and (3) help attract and retain the best and brightest workers for the fu-
ture. Approaches would include:
· developing a clearinghouse of transportation-related training, edu-
cational and developmental programs that can be shared and used by the
entire community;
· developing programs that use the latest training and development
technologies (e.g., Web-based training, distance learning) to make train-
ing more accessible and effective;
· investing in existing programs that have served as successful
mechanisms for providing new skill development in the transportation
sector; and
· finding ways to support programmatic and cultural changes in the
transportation industry that encourage investment in learning and devel-
opment.
INSTITUTIONALIZING WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
Participants reiterated the need for a coordinated approach to recruit-
ing, retaining, and developing the transportation workforce throughout
the professional life cycle. With the impending retirement of more than
half of the industry's engineering and technical employees, the group dis-
cussed the need to encourage those who are retiring to choose partial re-
tirement rather than full retirement. They pointed to the number of 55-
year-old retirees who are interested in second and third career choices,
and the need for organizations to capture their years of experience.
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There was also agreement that the industry is larger than a single
mode, and it requires a broad range of technical and professional skills.
Participants regard partnerships with educational institutions and pro-
fessional associations as vital to the success of any workforce develop-
ment initiative. This includes partnering with the Department of Educa-
tion. Participants also discussed the need for accurate, critical data about
the transportation workforce. The group linked workforce development
with economic development issues, which can be translated into political
support. In the short term, these data will be key to reauthorization. In the
long term, having a better understanding about the status of the current
workforce will help managers project future staffing needs.
In addition to data, the participants saw a need for a better, more
systematic way to identify best practices across modes. The challenge is to
adapt innovations and create new initiatives to address workforce prob-
lems. This will require champions from the transportation community
who can advocate for resources to support the effort. Advancing initia-
tives to the institutional level will require start-up resources and the com-
mitment of key decision makers if they are to be linked to agency capital
programs. A key to these actions is partnering, and the value of the part-
nerships must be reflected in all aspects of the workforce development
effort. Likewise, any barriers to such partnerships need to be removed.
Specifically, there needs to be
· an institutional framework for coordinating these efforts and bring-
ing the transportation community together to more effectively address
the workforce issue, and
· greater ties between government, industry, and academia to share
and pool resources and data for the workforce effort to be truly effective.
A NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP
The National Workforce Summit was designed to create an industry-
wide partnership and foster the cooperative spirit that will carry forum re-
sults to implementation. The Summit concluded with each partner trans-
portation agencies, industry and association representatives, academics, and
union representatives signing a charter: "A Partnership for Educating,
Training and Developing the Nation's Transportation Workforce." With this
charter, the participants committed their support to an effort that will im-
prove workforce development through new initiatives in the academic and
transportation communities and may have implications for reauthorization.
As a next step in support of the Summit initiative, a steering committee is
being formed to guide and coordinate activities and to ensure that they
complement government, industry, and academic community efforts.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
workforce development
