IEEE ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT REVIEW
From The Editor: Volume 29, Number 2, Second Quarter 2001

Energy and Engineering
David J. Wells
University of Houston

"A most common commodity," "the lifeblood of an economy"-such phrases are applied to many things, but perhaps they ring particularly true for energy.

We have enjoyed a strong, growing economy for almost ten years, yet recently it feels less robust and certainly more risky. One contributing factor is the cost and uncertainty associated with energy. Take transportation, for example. The extent of commerce and industry in the western hemisphere, considered in light of the physical distances from city to city, signifies the importance of transportation to the economy. Most of what we purchase at home or at work travels great distances to get to us. The importance of transportation is further magnified by global trade and the growing emphasis on efficient supply chains. But transportation is energy intense. Increased costs and energy shortages affect how people and stuff are gotten about. We see this in utility bills, at the gas pumps, and in airfares.

Agriculture is also heavily dependant upon energy. Only a small percentage of the population now has their hand directly in farming, and many of us might miss the point that farming is a low-margin industry that is also energy intense. A sizeable portion of farm expenditures is committed to fuel and fertilizer. Organic farming aside, fertilizer is an energy product. When energy costs climb, the farmer is left out. Fluctuating energy prices are unnerving; consumer confidence falls, leading economic indicators into a full-blown lull, and massive layoff announcements become daily news. Companies announcing cutbacks seem to have made their names primarily in technology, so one must presume that engineers, at least certain kinds of engineers, now see a risk with their careers that was not on the horizon a few years back. Industry remembers the painful cutbacks of 20 years ago and has resolved to not procrastinate this time when the financial forecast is in question. And so the announcements are swift and hard.

However, this does not square with the other end of engineering careers, where a long-term shortage of graduates is projected across most engineering disciplines. Where will our engineers and engineering leaders come from during the next 20 years? In the United States there has been a long slide in the percentage of college students pursuing engineering studies while the nation's need for technical talent (usually) continues to grow.

One more observation is that, although economic uncertainty can place engineers' careers at risk, engineers have done the lion's share of expanding an economy over a period of six or so generations with new products and technology. Engineering has helped to significantly increase per-capita wealth. Returning to the previous point, isn't it odd that a profession with so much promise and contribution in the United States has such difficulty attracting new recruits to its academic programs?

The point is that our businesses and people of technology are a global economic resource-we need them, and we need more of them. Shortages and pricing uncertainty happen for a variety of reasons, but politics is almost always one root cause. Stable policy is needed for price stability, and that in turn ought to benefit consumer confidence and help keep unemployment low among the professions that customarily drive economic health and expansion. Career stability will also probably help to draw more students into the study of engineering.

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT REVIEW
A publication of the IEEE Engineering Management Society