The Critical Need for Future Engineers, Scientists, and Technical Professionals

1

• The Critical Need for Future Engineers,
  Scientists, and Technical Professionals
  
• BEST Middle and High School
• Robotics Competition
• A Workforce Development Program

2
African Proverb

• Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It
  knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or
  it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up.
  It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it
  will starve to death.
• It doesnt matter whether you are a lion or a
  gazelle. When the sun comes up, you better start
  running.
  
• - Thomas Friedman, The World is Flat

3
How Aware Are We?

• The United States is like the proverbial frog in
  the pot of water, oblivious to the slowly rising
  temperature. (1)
  

Losing the Competitive Advantage The Challenge
for Science and Technology in the United States

American Electronics Association
4
Issues Problems

• Heres what engineering-based companies are
  facing
  
• Technological illiteracy
• Workforce shortages
• The Math Crisis
• Poor perceptions

5
Technological Literacy

• Reading literacy was the essential element of
  education in the 20th century.
  
• Technological literacy has become the essential
  element in the 21st century.
  
• Those who arent technologically literate face a
  standard of living comparable to those who
  couldnt read and write in the 20th century!

6
Workforce Shortages

• 15 of the science and engineering workforce is
  eligible to retire now.
  
• An additional 25 will be eligible within 5
  years.
  
• By 2008, 1.9 million new jobs in science and
  engineering will have been created since 1998.
  
• By 2008, 198,000 engineering and science college
  graduates per year will have entered the
  workforce since 1998.
  
• That is almost 2.0 million short!!

Losing the Competitive Advantage The Challenge
for Science and Technology in the United States

American Electronics Association
7
Workforce Shortages
Retirements
WorkforceShortage
Millions of Jobs
New Job Requirements
Graduates
Workforce Requirement
Available New Hires
8
Workforce Shortages

• Engineering-based industries are now competing
  with a large number of markets for an alarmingly
  smaller number of qualified future employees.
  
• The potential workforce for 2013 is in middle
  school today.
  
• What are we doing to prepare them for the future?

Ensuring Workforce Skills of the Future The
Birth to Work Pipeline (2003, The Boeing Company)
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Critical Shortages

• There has been a steady decline in the number of
  Bachelor degrees in Engineering in the last 20
  years, dropping from 71,000 in 1981 to less than
  56,000 in 2002.
• Analysis of current trends in the Science and
  Engineering (SE) workforce indicate serious
  problems lie ahead that may threaten our
  long-term prosperity and national security.
• Indicators
• Reduced student interest in SE studies
• Large increases in retirements
• Projected rapid growth in SE occupations (3X
  that of all occupations)

National Science Board report, August, 2003
10
Behind and Losing Ground

• China graduates four times as many engineers as
  the U.S.
  
• European Union graduates three times as many.
• In 2004, only 7 of the 868,000 bachelor-level
  engineering degrees granted worldwide were earned
  in the U.S. (17th place)
  
• Emerging countries are churning out more
  engineers while the number of U.S. students
  entering engineering has remained flat.

Losing the Competitive Advantage The Challenge
for Science and Technology in the United States

American Electronics Association
Various Sources (Chinese Statistical Yearbook
2004 Global Research Institute National
Association of Software and Service Companies
National Science Foundation Fortune Magazine
New York Times)
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Future Critical Job Skills

• Tomorrows jobs will go to those with education
  in science, engineering, and mathematics and to
  high-skills technical workers. (1)
  
• By 2012, over 40 of factory jobs will require
  post-secondary education. And yet, almost half of
  all 17-year-olds do not have the basic
  understanding of math needed to qualify. (1)
• Companies have to do the training.

(1) The Looming Workforce Crisis National
Association of Manufacturers
12
The Math Crisis

• Jobs requiring math are increasing four times
  faster than overall job growth.
  
• However, American children rank 13th in the world
  when it comes to basic math skills
  
• Less than 1/3 of American 8th graders are at
  least proficient in math
  

MathMovesU survey conducted for Raytheon Company
by KRC Research.
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The Math Crisis

• 93 of American 6th to 8th graders realize they
  need math skills later in life, but few directly
  link math to their dream jobs.

MathMovesU survey conducted for Raytheon Company
by KRC Research.
14
Poor Perception

• Other parts of the world exalt science and
  engineering. In the U.S., far too often, these
  are seen as careers for geeks and nerds. This
  type of attitude embraces ignorance, and
  ignorance is poison to an economy that runs on
  technology and innovation.
• How is it not cool to create something that no
  one 10 or 20 years before had even conceived of?
  How is it not rewarding to look at a product,
  service, or procedure and say with pride that
  you were a part of its creation?

Losing the Competitive Advantage The Challenge
for Science and Technology in the United States

American Electronics Association
15
Why Not Engineering?

• Why arent high school students going into
  engineering?
  
• HS students generally dont know what engineers
  do and may often make uninformed decisions (both
  to and not to pursue engineering).
  
• HS graduates arent prepared for the rigor of the
  undergraduate engineering curriculum.
  
• The engineering profession has largely not been
  involved in K-12 education.
  

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The Challenge We Face

• K-12 science and math education increasing the
  talent pool is the biggest and most important
  challenge we face. (1)
  
• The synergy of public and private sectors is the
  key to competitiveness. (1)
  
• Educational reform is not just an education
  issue. Its also an economic issue, a civic
  issue, a social issue, and a national security
  issue. And its everybodys issue. (2)

(1)Rising Above the Gathering Storm The
National Academies (Sciences, Engineering, and
Medicine)
(2)Margaret Spellings, U.S. Secretary of Education
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What to Do?

• Is someone from outside the United States going
  to come in and rescue us?
  
• No.
• If we dont do it, what will change?
• Nothing.
• If we dont do it, who else will?
• No one.
• We need to create our own synergy.
• Business/Industry, Higher Education, and K-12 are
  all in this together.

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We Need an Alliance

• Why is such an alliance critical?
• Business and industry leaders have been bemoaning
  the fact that there isnt a more organized and
  effective effort to attract K-12 students to
  engineering, science, and technology fields.
• Manufacturers in particular need a future
  workforce that is technologically literate, yet
  they dont know how to find that thing that can
  help them connect to schools and reach students.
• BEST is that thing. It is a vehicle for
  reaching students.

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BEST Robotics A Start

• BEST Robotics, Inc. is a non-profit, volunteer
  organization whose mission is to inspire middle
  through high school students to pursue careers in
  engineering, science, and technology through
  participation in a sports-like, hands-on,
  real-world engineering-based robotics
  competition.
• This fall, more than 10,000 students representing
  over 700 schools will participate at 35
  competition sites (hubs) in 16 states.
  

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How to Describe BEST?

• Its difficult to describe a BEST competition to
  those who have never seen it.
  
• Lets say it is sort of like a basketball game,
  chess match, and science fair all rolled into one
  day, with cheerleaders, mascots, pep bands, and
  wildly cheering adults and kids mixed in.
• In a sports-like atmosphere, BEST is a
  celebration of students intellect, creativity,
  and ingenuity.

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Meeting Industrys Needs

• Building robots is just the hands-on platform for
  teaching students how to
  
• analyze and solve problems
• work on a team
• build consensus
• grow in both competence and confidence.
• What BEST students learn is what industry needs
  in its future workforce.
  
• It is less robotics and more problem-solving.

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BEST Results

• As a result of participating in BEST, students
• Understand real world use of mathematical
  concepts and applied physics.
  
• Experience real-world science and engineering
  challenges, training that is transferable to all
  academic disciplines and career pursuits.
  
• Understand what engineers do - engineering is
  demystified.
  
• Experience design-to-market product development
  - experience that is transferable to all career
  pursuits.

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Further BEST Results

• It establishes an engineering culture in
  participating schools.
  
• Students become technologically proficient -
  better prepared for tomorrows workforce.
  
• Students become competent and confident in
• abstract thought
• self-directed learning
• teamwork
• project management
• decision-making
• problem-solving
• leadership.

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Program Impact

• BEST provides participating students recognition
  and acclaim typically reserved for their peers in
  sports.
  
• BEST enhances teacher effectiveness.
• BEST helps prepare students to be technically
  proficient in tomorrows workforce.
  

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Broader Impact

• BEST is an outstanding educational program
  accessible to all students, schools, and
  communities.
  
• BEST provides a vehicle for corporate America to
  become an educational partner with the K-12
  community.
  
• BEST is a great community builder, as teachers,
  parents, mentors, students, and others in the
  community rally their support around their local
  BEST team.

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Industrys View of BEST

• The many businesses and industries involved in
  BEST see it as an ideal workforce development
  program because in the process of building their
  robot, students learn to identify and analyze
  design problems, brainstorm solutions for them,
  and build and test their designs, all in a
  team-building setting.
• Thats the kind of workforce industry needs
  people who understand technology and know how to
  use it to solve problems.
  
• That is why BEST is about developing
  technological literacy in students.

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A Teacher Testimonial

• We have around 50 students from the robotics
  team at Austin currently enrolled in college in
  the following fields of study aerospace,
  chemical, electrical, biomedical, and mechanical
  engineering computer science applied math
  physics international business and finance.
• When they entered college, they knew they had
  selected the correct field of study for them
  not because a guidance counselor or I told them
  they would be a good engineer, but because they
  had spent four years as active members of our
  BEST team.
• Susan Haddock, Math Teacher
• Austin High School
• Decatur, AL

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A Teacher Testimonial

• I can only tell you from the experiences that my
  students and I have had that BEST is one of the
  most phenomenal student competitions available.
  To be able to take materials literally a load
  of stuff and watch them transform it into a
  workable, tasking robot is something that no
  textbook alone could teach.
• Angel Findlater, Science Teacher
• South Girard Middle School
• Phenix City, AL

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A Teacher Testimonial

• I think the most important lesson learned by all
  was not to give up. Our robot never worked until
  the Saturday morning of the competition. No
  matter what we did, it always failed throughout
  the six weeks. It was not until that Saturday
  morning, with time running out, that as a team we
  pulled it together. It was an incredible boost to
  team morale to have a working bot for the
  competition. I believe this showed them to never,
  ever, give up.
• Jeremy Raper,
• Science Robotics Teacher
• Bob Jones High School
• Madison, AL

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A Teacher Testimonial

• In many ways, the BEST experience is like an
  education greenhouse what happens during six
  weeks of competition would take an entire year in
  the classroom.
• Dr. Mark Conner, Head
• The Engineering Academy
• at Hoover High School
• Hoover, AL

31
A Teacher Testimonial

• Several of our students were failing school and
  at risk of dropping out until they joined the
  robotics team and found their niche. The
  challenges of BEST Robotics were just what they
  needed to inspire them to do better in their
  studies so they could stay on the team. They are
  now some of our top academic students!
• John Hoffmaster,
• Science Teacher
• Billingsley High School

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A Teacher Testimonial

• I am a better teacher thanks to BEST Robotics. 
  The students, parents, mentors, community, and I
  have become, not only a team during the 42 days
  of BEST, but remain a team throughout the
  year. As a result of participating, I
  experience more enthusiasm in my classroom from
  my students. I now treat all of my students as
  future engineers and scientists and they now
  respond positively to this teaching technique,
  thanks to BEST.  
• Robin Fenton,
• Science Teacher
• McGill-Toolen High School
• Mobile, AL

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So, What Can You Do?

• Contact BEST to learn how to start a BEST hub in
  your community.
  
• Provide funding for a BEST hub in your
  community.
  
• Lobby school systems and state departments of
  education for teachers to obtain stipends or
  release time to participate.
  
• Recruit potential sponsors for BEST hubs in your
  community, state, or region.
  
• Recruit mentors for local BEST teams.

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A Quick Fix?

• Becoming a sponsor or helping to mentor BEST
  students is an investment, not a quick fix.
  
• The crisis that were in the shortage of
  engineers and the declining number of students
  going into engineering did not happen
  overnight.
• The engineering profession and engineering
  educators have known this for at least the last
  15 years. Change will take time, but we have to
  act NOW!
• Will BEST make a difference? Come see for
  yourself.

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In closing

• Even if youre on the right track, youll get
  run over if you just sit there.
  
• - Will Rogers