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I. INTRODUCTION
Scientists and engineers are a vital part of this country's work force-as shown by
their participation in all sectors of the economy. The focus of this report is on the
approximately 202,300 scientists and engineers employed by the federal government,
primarily in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the
departments of Defense, Commerce, Agriculture, Interior, Health and Human Services,
and Transportation. Comprising 10.7 percent of the federal work force, scientists and
engineers are classified into one of seven broad occupational categories: social
scientists; computer specialists; biological scientists; agricultural scientists; engineers;
physical scientists; and mathematical and computer scientists (see Appendix A, Table 1~.
A vital and necessary resource for the government to serve the nation, federal scientists
and engineers are employed in:
research;
development;
design;
data collection, processing, and analysis;
natural resource operations;
management;
installation, operations, and maintenance
planning;
testing and evaluation;
research contract and grants administration;
construction;
production;
scientific and technical information;
standards and specifications;
regulatory enforcement and licensing:
teaching and training; and
technical assistance and consulting.
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Yet some people feel that federal agencies are not very successful at recruiting
and retaining the most capable scientists and engineers. One individual corresponding
with the study committee viewed the system as a "ponderous bureaucracy" making
decisions based on pork-barrel grounds rather than meaningful technical
objectives. . . . Hiring of staff is at best tortuous. . . . [There are]
arbitrary limits on personnel, mountains of paper that confront the hiring
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manager- The working scientist has little control of his project in many
cases.
As a result of this perceived lack of success in attracting and keeping talented scientists
and engineers and the alleged inadequacy in the administration of this work force, the
Carnegie Commission on Science, Technology, and Government asked the Office of
Scientific and Engineering Personnel to convene a committee to examine this issue more
closely. OSEP established the Committee on Scientists and Engineers in the Federal
Government to undertake this task. The charge of the Committee was to consider
organizational and decision-making processes that may affect the recruitment, retention,
and utilization of scientists and engineers by the federal government. This activity is the
first stage of a multiphased project, with the second phase expected to go into greater
depth and develop action-oriented recommendations. The Commission requested the
Committee to examine the general processes that now affect recruitment, retention, and
utilization and the data available to enable one to comment on those processes; to
conduct a preliminary assessment of current problems, emphasizing federal
organizational capability to implement policy; and to identify possible changes that might
be made to improve the effectiveness of the federal government.
~ George A. Paulikas, group vice president of the Aerospace Corporation, to Alan Fechter,
November 13, 1989.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
social scientists
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