Feb 20

Written by:
2/20/2012 12:21 PM 

Revisiting the Storm

When I was first hired in this position I was told to read the report, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm,” since this report played a critical role in the formation of the Naval Engineering Education Center. What was the report about? I suppose if I had to summarize the 500+ page report, I would say - Globalization has increased competition across the world and delivered knowledge and technology to areas which has resulted in a gradual shift in the economic and strategic leadership the United States has experienced for generations. As a result, we are quickly losing our competitive edge. Just the other day I was on the National Academy of Engineering website (http://www.nae.edu) and I noticed one of the most popular items was, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Revisited: Rapidly Approaching Category 5.” I guess it was time to revisit the original report and see what progress was being made?

The original study, for those of you who are not aware, was in response to the following questions posed by Senator Lamar Alexander and Senator Jeff Bingaman of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: 

“What are the top 10 actions, in priority order, that federal policymakers could take to enhance the science and technology enterprise so that the United States can successfully compete, prosper, and be secure in the global community of the 21st century? What strategy, with several concrete steps, could be used to implement each of those actions?”

In response, the National Academies created the Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century. His committee released the original report and the findings were not good. In fact, from an engineering perspective, the picture was downright ugly.

“Today, the United States ranks 17th globally in the proportion of its college-age population that earns science and engineering (S&E) degrees, down from third several decades ago.1 Many other nations now have a higher fraction of 24-year-olds with S&E degrees. And even though the proportion of its population who attends graduate school is small, because of its large population China graduates three times as many engineers from its colleges as does the United States.”

Turns out the recent follow-up report indicates not much has changed over the past five years:

“America’s competitive position in the world now faces even greater challenges, exacerbated by the economic turmoil of the last few years and by the rapid and persistent worldwide advance of education, knowledge, innovation, investment, and industrial infrastructure. Indeed the governments of many other countries in Europe and Asia have themselves acknowledged and aggressively pursued many of the key recommendations of Rising Above the Gathering Storm, often more vigorously than has the U.S. We also sense that in the face of so many other daunting near-term challenges, U.S. government and industry are letting the crucial strategic issues of U.S. competitiveness slip below the surface.”

It is odd to see how, “other countries in Europe and Asia have themselves acknowledged and aggressively pursued many of the key recommendations of Rising Above the Gathering Storm, often more vigorously than has the U.S.”

“So where does America stand relative to its position of five years ago when the Gathering Storm report was prepared? The unanimous view of the committee members participating in the preparation of this report is that our nation’s outlook has worsened"

Not convinced? Check out these additional statistics and facts from the report (the list is several pages long):

• China has now replaced the United States as the world’s number one high-technology exporter.
• Of Wal-Mart’s 6,000 suppliers, 5,000 are in China.
• In 2009, 51 percent of United States patents were awarded to non-United States companies.
• China’s Tsinghua and Peking Universities are the two largest suppliers of students who receive PhD’s—in the United States.

So here we are, 5 years after our wake-up call….still sleeping. Our competitiveness – our ability to innovate, create and engineer is wavering and as a result, our stance as a global leader is being threatened. I have great concern when I read, “other countries in Europe and Asia have themselves acknowledged and aggressively pursued many of the key recommendations of Rising Above the Gathering Storm, often more vigorously than has the U.S.” Seems we have gotten complacent while others have kicked-it in gear. Just keep in mind that two of the four overarching recommendations of the report highlight engineering:

1. Move the United States K-12 education system in science and mathematics to a leading position by global standards.
2. Double the real federal investment in basic research in mathematics, the physical sciences, and engineering over the next seven years (while, at a minimum, maintaining the recently doubled real spending levels in the biosciences).
   
3. Encourage more United States citizens to pursue careers in mathematics, science, and engineering.
   
4. Rebuild the competitive ecosystem by introducing reforms in the nation’s tax, patent, immigration and litigation policies.

It is my hope that in the next five years, when the next report comes out, the conclusions have changed and we have regained our competitive edge and that the storm we are witnessing today, has not created irreplaceable damage.