The future engineers and scientists: You need them? I have them. Lots of them.

Go to any symposium, any conference, any trade show having to do with anything technical and what do you hear? Everyone\´s work load is exploding, with new and exciting research and technical requirements that is calling for hiring more engineers, more scientists. But then you will hear the back end of the discussion, ldquobut we can\´t find the people.rdquo We have all heard this so many times, so why can\´t we fix the problem. This is truly a resonating problem in the area of marine science and engineering as identified by the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME): ldquoDid you know that for every undergraduate degree awarded in the United States today, China graduates 100? Did you know that today, while the United States graduates approximately 70,000 engineers yearly, India graduates 350,000, and China graduates 900,000? In fact, the US has fallen from 3rd in total number of engineering graduates to 17th in the world. These numbers paint a disconcerting picture for the future of the engineering profession in the US. The US government has become increasingly concerned about the recruitment vulnerability in naval architecture, marine and naval engineering, and has concluded that a lack of quality technical education will ultimately result in a decrease in the level of competitiveness in the country. As it stands currently, there are not enough engineers in the pipeline to replace the aging workforce, set to retire within the next ten to fifteen years.rdquo The purpose of this paper is to catalyze a meaningful dialogue concerning the shortage of post secondary science and engineering students today in the United States. Science and engineering students today need to be challenged at a high level like never before. It is my premise that the solution to this problem lies in shrinking the gap that exists between the start to a student\´s science and engineering education (i.e. school) andtheir future destination (i.e. industry). Schools need to do a- better job at giving students a better and more solid academic background so that when they enter the workforce, industry can mold them into the particular niches that they need, and thus create the "experts" of tomorrow. On the other side, industry must take a more strategic and influential role in the development of education today. Funding is always an issue to be sure, but sincere interest is just as important. The overriding problem of insufficient post-secondary science and engineering students cannot be solved by schools or industry by themselves. A true lasting solution can only come from establishing unprecedented relationships between education and industry.