[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 32 (Monday, March 8, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1244-S1246]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                INCREASING ENGINEERING SCHOOLS GRADUATES

  Mr. KAUFMAN. Mr. President, I rise to speak today about the 
importance of engineering education. As my colleagues know, this is an 
issue near and dear to my heart.
  I believe we are at a crucial moment for STEM--for science, 
technology, engineering, and mathematics--that often reminds me of 
sailing. Whether you have done much sailing or not, we all know that 
you can construct the perfect sailboat, outfit it with the best sails, 
man it with the greatest crew, and if the wind is not blowing, you will 
not move. The wind is blowing for STEM and I believe we must work 
effectively to capitalize on it now.
  Today, America's engineers have a central role to play in developing 
the innovative technologies that will help our economy recover and 
promote real job growth. In particular, as the global economy turns 
increasingly competitive, many nations are investing heavily in 
training their future scientists and engineers.
  We don't know where the next generation of innovation will come from. 
That is the nature of innovation. But we want to do what we can to make 
sure it comes from the United States. This means we must have an 
innovation policy, one that helps to generate greater interest in STEM 
and actually leads to the production of greater numbers of engineers.
  A few weeks after I took office, I began meeting with groups of 
engineering deans and other leaders in the engineering community to 
discuss these issues. I have learned many important things from these 
conversations. For example, while all the surveys today say that young 
people want to ``make a difference'' with their lives, they do not see 
engineering as the way to do that.
  To someone of my generation, this is an astounding revelation. 
Engineers have always been the world's problem solvers. We need to make 
sure students are aware of that--so they will aspire to take on the 
challenges we face today.
  I also learned about a challenge occurring on many of our Nation's 
college campuses. In talking to engineering deans it is clear that the 
present economic downturn has exacerbated a problem that has been with 
us for quite a while--that is the additional cost of educating an 
engineering student, which requires an investment in labs and other 
costly facilities. Simply put, most universities make more money on 
liberal arts students than STEM students.
  We must start educating college and university administrators about 
the long-term benefits to the university and to the United States of 
spending the additional money required to graduate more engineering 
students.
  Many administrators do get it. One is Pat Harker, president of the 
University of Delaware and an engineering graduate from Penn. Working 
with his engineering dean Mike Chajes they have increased last year's 
entering engineering class by 25 percent, but they do not have the lab 
space to accommodate these students. They now have to hold lab classes 
for engineering students on Saturday.
  To figure out how to address these issues and grow the engineers and 
scientists we need, I again met with a small group of deans in the fall 
and worked with the American Society of Engineering Education to give 
them a homework assignment.
  Yes, I turned the tables on them. This time the professors had 
homework. We sent out an informal survey to solicit ideas on how to 
increase the number of graduates from our engineering schools. We 
received some very thoughtful feedback from nearly 25 deans across the 
country. These comments provide a very clear picture of what needs to 
be done. Several common themes emerged from the surveys.
  To begin, many of these deans said that we need a better way to 
communicate to parents, teachers, students, and school counselors about 
what it means to be an engineer. There was a great idea from Maryland 
about creating a web site on the rock stars of engineering such as Bill 
Gates, Steve Jobs, Alan Mullaly, and others.
  They also agreed that green jobs are an excellent way to show young 
people how engineers make a difference. I think this comment from New 
York sums it up best: ``Service to the community and the belief in 
great causes

[[Page S1245]]

resonates with the millennial generation. This makes green energy and 
clean tech the perfect vehicle to entice youth into considering careers 
in science and engineering.''
  Overwhelmingly, they told me that students need better preparation in 
K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. For 
the past 5 years, the College of Engineering at Marquette University 
has been engaged in a range of STEM activities to increase the number 
of K-12 students who are interested in studying engineering and 
prepared for college courses in the field.
  Marquette hosts nearly 50 Discovery Learning Academies every year. At 
these events, students spend several days engaging in hands-on learning 
activities in robotics, water quality, biomedical engineering, energy, 
bridges, and more.
  The university also supports Project Lead the Way courses that 
provide an engaging, hands-on curriculum in STEM education. They 
support First Robotics teams that inspire young people to be science 
and technology leaders through team robotics competitions.
  They created a scholarship fund to aid students in pursuing 
engineering who could not otherwise afford to attend school there. And 
to bring school administrators and teachers into the effort, Marquette 
holds a conference to motivate educators to begin STEM-related 
activities in their schools.
  Marquette's dean told us, ``We have been at this for five years now 
and over that time, our incoming freshman classes have increased by 46 
percent.'' This is great news.
  The surveys also told us that, even if our campuses had the physical 
space to teach more engineering students, these deans would need 
additional faculty members and research dollars. I have to tell my 
colleagues, I am so encouraged by what they are doing in Utah.
  In 2002, Utah's Governor challenged the higher education community 
through what they call the ``Engineering Initiative,'' to double--and 
then triple--the number of engineers and computer scientists they 
graduate. Each year since, the legislature has allocated funds to 
support engineering education. These funds have been matched first by 
the university, then by corporate donations, and, finally, by the 
Federal Government.
  Utah's Governor also prioritized building requests from the college 
of engineering, while the State legislature started the Utah Science, 
Technology, and Research--or U-STAR--Initiative. U-STAR provides 
salaries and startup packages to hire faculty who are doing research 
that can find commercial applications.
  Tenure-track faculty members grew by 46 percent since Utah's 
Engineering Initiative began. From 2002 to 2009, engineering research 
expenditures went from $25 million to $56.9 million.
  The number of engineering degrees granted by the University of Utah 
rose 76 percent in the past decade, and roughly 80 percent of these 
undergraduates accept engineering jobs right there in Utah.
  What is more, the College of Engineering spun off 35 companies in the 
past 3 years. For the past 2 years, the University of Utah as a whole 
ranked second only to MIT in the number of startups. These results are 
just remarkable.
  I truly am impressed with the work some of our Nation's engineering 
colleges are doing and I am inspired by their ideas. On our end, I 
think there are 4 things the Federal Government can do to bolster these 
efforts:
  First, we can help inspire more young people to pursue engineering in 
the growing green economy. That is why I am so pleased that President 
Obama launched the ``Educate to Innovate'' campaign. This campaign is a 
nationwide effort of private companies, universities, foundations, 
nonprofits, and science and engineering societies working with the 
Federal Government to improve student performance and engagement in 
STEM subjects.
  As part of the ``Educate to Innovate'' effort, President Obama 
announced an annual science fair at the White House, so that 
``scientists and engineers stand side by side with athletes and 
entertainers as role models.'' I think that is a very powerful message 
to America's youth.
  Second, we can build a new generation of engineers through policies 
that promote STEM education. The fiscal year 2011 Department of 
Education budget submitted by the administration includes $833 million 
for STEM education. This includes funding to improve teaching and 
learning of STEM subjects, to support STEM projects in the ``Investing 
in Innovation'' education program, to create a new STEM initiative to 
attract undergraduates to STEM fields, and to close the gender gaps in 
STEM disciplines.
  In addition, I was pleased to join Senator Gillibrand and a number of 
my other colleagues in introducing legislation last week that will 
further these initiatives.
  This bill is the Engineering Education for Innovation Act, or the E-
squared for Innovation Act. This legislation authorizes the Secretary 
of Education to award competitive planning and implementation grants to 
States to integrate engineering education into K-12 instruction and 
curriculum. It also funds the research and evaluation of these efforts.
  Based largely on recommendations from the National Academy of 
Engineering and the National Research Council's ``Engineering in K-12 
Education'' report, 77 organizations have voiced their support for the 
E-squared Innovation Act.
  The third important step the Federal Government can take is to 
promote policies that encourage women and underrepresented minorities 
to enter engineering. While women earn 58 percent of all bachelor's 
degrees, they constitute only 18.5 percent of bachelor's degrees 
awarded in engineering. We cannot let that go on. That is ridiculous. 
African Americans hold only 4.6 percent of bachelor's degrees awarded 
in engineering, and Hispanics hold only 7.2 percent. How can we move 
into the 21st century? How can we be the great country we are going to 
be if we are so underrepresented by women and minorities? We can and 
must do better.
  Last year, a bipartisan group of 13 Senators joined me in writing the 
Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture to urge greater funding to 
increase participation of women and underrepresented minorities in 
rural areas in STEM fields. That is the second thing I talked about for 
STEM education where there is clear bipartisan support. STEM education 
is not a partisan issue; it gets bipartisan support. It is important 
for all of us, and we all agree.
  I am grateful that in response, the Agriculture appropriations bill 
we enacted last October included $400,000 to fund research and 
extension grants at land grant universities for women and minorities in 
STEM fields. This was a small but important step that we can continue 
to build on from year to year.
  Last, we must continue to support research and development, a 
challenge that requires significant Federal as well as private 
investment. In our current economy, it is often hard, especially in 
this body, to imagine investing more in anything. But as Congress has 
recognized over the years and what was reinforced in the survey 
responses I received is funding is the lifeblood of research 
institutions. To yield more innovation, we need more R&D funding so 
universities can hire more graduate assistants and faculty, accept more 
engineering students, and ultimately create more jobs.
  Utah is a great example of the importance of investing in research 
and development. The Bureau of Economic and Business Research estimates 
that for every $1 million of research generated by Utah's research 
universities, $1.5 million is created in increased business activity.
  Listen to that. We are all talking about how to generate business 
activity. For every $1 million of research generated by Utah's research 
universities, we get back $1.5 million in increased business activity.
  Moreover, a forthcoming report from the Science Coalition features 
100 companies that can be directly traced to influential research 
conducted at a university and sponsored by a Federal agency. Examples 
include Google, Cisco Systems, SAS.
  I become more encouraged every day that we have growing support for 
engineering. Engineers and scientists will foster the research and 
innovation that continues to lead America on a path to economic 
recovery and prosperity. Likewise, these discoveries and innovations 
will create millions of new jobs,

[[Page S1246]]

and they will help us to invest in our future security and prosperity. 
This is the target. This is the way to get to long-term economic 
health.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Pennsylvania.

                          ____________________