Amid concerns that not enough of America's brightest students are pursuing technical careers, a new Harris Poll survey shows that the US public feels uninformed about the engineering enterprise and betrays a startling lack of knowledge about engineers' involvement in key areas of American endeavor.
The survey was conducted by Louis Harris and Associates in late July and was commissioned by the American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES), with additional funding provided by IEEE-USA and others. An objective of the study is to determine the impact of public awareness of engineering upon the size and quality of the US engineering workforce, particularly given the changing demographics of the overall workforce.
Although the survey of "American Perspectives on Engineers and Engineering" found that Americans believe that engineers are to be credited with creating economic growth and preserving national security, the general public is less clear on how and why that is so. The survey revealed that 45% of Americans believe that they are "not very well informed about engineering and engineers" while another 16% stated that they are not at all well informed. Even a majority of college graduates (53%) reported that they are "not very well informed or not at all well informed" about engineering and engineers.
Respondents frequently underestimated the role of engineers. On one question that asked which professionals - scientists, technicians, or engineers - respondents "mostly associated" with various technical activities such as "working in space," "developing new forms of energy" and "creating new materials," scientists were cited more than engineers.
"Observers have often pointed to engineers' allegedly 'nerdy' image as a turn-off to students considering engineering careers," said IEEE-USA President John R. Reinert. "However, these results may have identified the stealth character of our profession as the real challenge in attracting the nation's best and brightest young people - including women and minorities - to technical fields."
A more encouraging result for engineers is that ignorance apparently doesn't translate into bad feelings toward the profession. Many parents suggested they would encourage their children to pursue careers in engineering. When asked the question, "Using a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being extremely displeased to 10 being extremely pleased, if your son or daughter or other family member said they wanted to be an engineer, how pleased would you be?" the mean response was 9.
Furthermore, an earlier Harris Poll conducted in June revealed that engineers hold relatively high prestige compared to other professions - although they fall considerably below scientists, teachers and physicians. And a Gallup poll last November found that engineers ranked seventh among surveyed professions in honesty and ethics.
Americans may be laying the blame for their own lack of engineering awareness at the feet of the news media. When asked to rate the quality of media coverage of science, technology, engineering, and medical discoveries, more than 69% of the survey respondents assigned "fair" or "poor" grades to engineering reporting while less than 3% gave the media an "excellent" score.
"Other professionals - such as doctors, lawyers and teachers - can inform the public more easily because they work directly with the public," said Reinert. "We speak mostly through our products, and even those are increasingly difficult to understand. So it's imperative that we do a better job of communicating directly to the public through the media and our professional societies. The health of the engineering workforce and, ultimately, the American quality of life may be at stake."
In addition to IEEE-USA, survey cosponsors included The American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and petroleum Engineers (AIME), the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), SPIE - the International Society for Optical Engineering, and the United Engineering Foundation.
YOUNG ENGINEER FORUM - ASME is sponsoring a career enhancement program for engineers with less than 10 years of experience on Saturday, October 24 at UTA. The program is designed to enhance young engineers' ability to compete in the global marketplace and will provide networking opportunities and practical, real-world advice on how to prepare for a successful career. Students and older professionals are welcome to participate. For more details, see Calendar of Events, ASME website www.asme-nts.org, or contact Jeremy Adams, jjadams@nortel.com.
CALL FOR PAPERS - Emerging Technologies Symposium, sponsored by the Dallas Section is soliciting papers in all areas of wireless communications and systems. The symposium will be April 12-13, 1999 at Clarion Hotel, Richardson. The deadline for submission of 500-word abstract is Nov. 23, 1998. Contact Kris Agarwal, 972-995-1882, k-agarwal@ti.com.
DALLAS HOSTS MICRO-31 - Micro-31, the 31st International Symposium on Microarchitecture, will be held in Dallas, Texas, Nov. 30 - Dec. 2, 1998. In the 1990's, MICRO has become the premier microarchitecture forum emphasizing exploitation of instruction-level parallelism (ILP). Visit www.acm.org/sigmicro/micro31/ for more information.
IEEE-USA ISSUES URGENT ACTION ALERT ON H-1B VISA BILL urging members and other technical professionals to tell Congress not to expand the H-1B visa program without providing effective worker safeguards. The alert is posted on a sophisticated new Web site - at congress.nw.dc.us/ieee/ - that allows users to compose a letter, identify their Congressional representatives, and send them the letter electronically or via postal mail.
IEEE-USA has opposed the version of H.R. 3736 that was agreed upon by House leaders on July 24. The legislation would raise H1-B visa limits by 190,000 over the next five years, while limiting application of recruitment and no-layoff provisions only to employers whose H1-B employees constitute at least 15% of their workforce.
During the recent recess, advocates of H.R. 3736 have mounted
a furious lobbying campaign to sway sufficient votes for the bill
to pass and even override a threatened presidential veto. According
to an aide to a Congressman opposing the bill, the outcome is
very much in doubt: "Most Congressmen don't even know what
an H-1B visa is. Some think it is a military issue and others
think it is a health issue or a vaccine." She added: "We
have a ton of work to do. We are eight months behind [proponents]
in our lobbying effort and cannot afford to waste any more time.
We are desperate for phone calls to members, letters, and visits."
POLLS INDICATE US PUBLIC OPPOSED TO H-1B VISA EXPANSION - According to an IEEE-USA/Harris Poll, 82% of a national cross-section of 1,000 adults opposed Congress "allowing US companies to sponsor 190,000 additional foreign technical workers, as temporary employees for up to six years." Only 16% were in favor, 2% were unsure.
Respondents, asked their level of agreement with several assertions made by proponents and opponents of H-1B expansion, overwhelmingly agreed with concerns expressed by H.R. 3736 opponents, including IEEE-USA:
Respondents were not swayed by most of the proponents' assertions:
Only one argument - that "there is a shortage of technical
professionals in the United States" - achieved a plurality
of agreement, with 51% of respondents saying they "strongly
agree" or "mostly agree" and 41% indicating they
strongly or mostly disagree.
IEEE-USA LEGISLATIVE CENTER OPEN FOR BUSINESS! - IEEE-USA is now offering an interactive Web site at congress.nw.dc.us/ieee/ to help members become more active and informed constituents. The Legislative Action Center posts daily information such as House and Senate schedules (including committee schedules), status of key bills, how to contact legislators (via e-mail links and forms) and more. Through the site, the IEEE's US members can also find out what legislative action IEEE-USA is taking on their behalf on crucial issues, and take action on IEEE-USA's Legislative Alerts. The Center includes a congressional directory listing all legislators, their committees and their contact information; Capitol Hill basics on how the legislative process works; and a tool for finding representatives in Congress by ZIP code, alphabet, state delegation or name.
WISE INTERNSHIPS - The IEEE is looking for outstanding student members who are engineering juniors with strong leadership skills and a keen interest in public policy to participate in the 1999 Washington Internships for Students of Engineering (WISE). Previously ranked by Princeton Review as one of America's Top 100 Internships, WISE selects 14-16 students to spend the Summer in Washington, DC, learning first-hand how engineers can contribute to public policy decisions on complex technology issues. For application forms, visit www.ieee.org/wise or contact Anne Hickox, 724-776-4841, anne@sae.org. For questions about IEEE's participation in WISE, contact Chris Brantley, IEEE-USA 202-785-0017, c.brantley@ieee.org.
WIN BIG IN IEEE-USA ANNIVERSARY CONTEST! - In honor of its 25 years of service to US electrical, electronics and computer engineers, IEEE-USA is sponsoring an anniversary trivia contest on the Web. By answering just six questions correctly, contest entrants are eligible for a random drawing of prizes such as "career vitality survival packs;" IEEE merchandise; and even a one-year (new or renewal) membership. See www.ieeeusa.org/usab/ANNIVERSARY/contest.html.
USE ETHICS PROACTIVELY - "It is incumbent for all of us as professionals, with or without a license, to practice our profession with the utmost of integrity, ethics and professionalism." So says Roger M. Boisjoly, P.E., the former Morton Thiokol engineer who put his career on the line to point out safety problems with the Space Shuttle's booster rockets. In an article in the latest Consultants' Network newsletter he emphasizes the need to stop looking at the codes in the usual "after the fact" way, "almost solely used to place blame on subordinate individuals after an event has occurred," and to focus instead on "a fresh approach to use the codes proactively, before the event is allowed to happen."
COMPUTER KIDS LEARN WIRED WORLD ETHICS - Schools are starting to realize that, as computer use becomes a part of daily life, part of their job is to teach not just technical skills but also the ethics that go along with living in a wired world. In Texas, the "essential knowledge and skills inventory" stipulates that all third grade students must know how to e-mail and that all sixth grade students know how to create a database. The Allen (Texas) Independent School District has developed an innovative program called "Chip and Friends," as part of an outreach program of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory using puppets and a squishy computer named Chip to teach little kids right and wrong online. See the Computer Learning Foundation's website at computerlearning.org/Books/Chip.htm.
Y2K UPDATES - The White House's Council for the Year 2000 Conversion has placed a draft of the proposed bill (www.y2k. gov/new/propbill.htm) and a section-by-section description (www.y2k.gov/new/sectanal.htm) on-line for public review. Meanwhile, in one of the first Y2K legal cases against a computer consulting firm, a large retail apparel company is seeking reimbursement for the cost of a computer system that Andersen Consulting ordered nearly 10 years ago.
At the beginning of each new IEEE term, the section officers set a number of goals and objectives for the year ahead. This term is no different, and one of the main goals this time is to increase revenue.
For the past number of years, section expenditure has exceeded revenue. The section's main source of income has always been the annual rebate received from IEEE headquarters. This money is primarily used to fund section programs, student activities, operational expenses, and this newsletter. If the section is to grow and continue to support quality programs, the deficit trend must be reversed.
Over the coming year we will make several changes to meet this goal, including a program of corporate patronage, increased number of advertisements in Signals, and, most notably, MetroCon will be moved to a weekday in April and held in conjunction with a large exhibits show.
Next month we'll take a look at the plans for MetroCon'99. In the meantime plan to take in a section meeting. There are a number of exciting topics this month including a talk from US Representative Joe Barton to the PES Chapter.
- Alan Triggs
Jean Eason, Editor