[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 115 (Monday, August 2, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6563-S6565]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             STEM EDUCATION

  Mr. KAUFMAN. Mr. President, there is no doubt we stand at a critical 
moment in history. I am honored to be a Senator at this time in our 
history but even more so to be an engineer Senator. I believe the key 
to the future of our country and the world rests on the ability of the 
United States to use STEM--science, technology, engineering, and math--
to solve the major problems we face.
  You can work on an issue in the shadows for decades and then suddenly 
the Sun breaks through and it is shining on you and it is shining very 
brightly. This is one of those moments for engineers, in particular for 
the promotion of STEM education.
  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 have to do the same.
  We do not know from where the next generation of innovation will 
come. That is the very nature of innovation. But we do know the 
problems we face. We do know our central economic challenge. When we 
get through this crisis--and we will--when this recession has passed, 
we need to create new jobs. It is not enough to try to win back the 
jobs we have lost. To keep pace with our population and to keep the 
sacred promise to our children and grandchildren, we need to create a 
whole new generation of jobs.
  As former President Bill Clinton has said, in recent years, we were 
creating jobs in three areas: housing, finance, and the consumer 
economy. All three of those benefited from loose credit and easy money 
to build up a bubble. All three of those have suffered in this economy.
  I am very sorry to say that many of those jobs are not going to be 
coming

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back. We cannot look forward to the day where carpenters are scarce 
because we built more houses than people could afford to buy. We do not 
need a revitalized legion of clever bankers any more than we need 
another Starbucks 1 block closer.
  So where will tomorrow's jobs come from? I believe the answer lies in 
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. STEM jobs will be, 
and must be, the jobs of the future. Whether it is energy independence, 
global health, homeland security or infrastructure challenges, STEM 
professionals will be at the forefront of the most important issues of 
our time.
  In 2008, the National Academy of Engineering convened a panel of 
technology and engineering leaders to create a list of ``Grand 
Challenges for Engineering.'' The group included innovators from the 
private, public, and academic sectors with a wide range of expertise 
and experience. Eighteen committee members, including such well-known 
names as Google founder Larry Page and Segway inventor Dean Kamen, set 
to work to identify engineering challenges--both problems and 
opportunities--facing those born at the dawn of the 21st century.
  After considering ideas and input from experts and the broader 
general public, 14 Grand Challenges were identified, some of which 
include: making solar energy economical, providing energy from fusion, 
providing access to clean water, restoring and improving urban 
infrastructure, engineering better medicines, preventing nuclear 
terror, and securing cyberspace.
  Clearly, we will need STEM-educated professionals to address these 
Grand Challenges. In fact, according to a new study released by 
Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce, by 2018, 
STEM occupations are projected to provide 2.8 million new hires. This 
includes over 500,000 engineering-related jobs.
  So where will these STEM jobs be? What kind of work will be taking 
place in these jobs? The answer encompasses a myriad of locations, 
opportunities, skills, and subject knowledge. The following are just a 
few examples of what these jobs might look like.
  STEM graduates can go into the biomedical fields. In the United 
States alone, nearly 1 out of 25 people has a history of cancer and 1 
out of 13 people has diabetes. Finding scientific solutions to make 
health care more efficient, both in treatment and in cost, is essential 
for the health of our people and our economy.
  This entails creating personalized medicines tailored to a patient's 
genetic makeup, processes to quickly and cheaply screen for diseases, 
materials and techniques to make surgeries and treatments less 
invasive, biomaterials to aid in the repair of damaged body tissues, 
and new strategies to overcome multiple drug resistances. Biomedical 
and materials engineers, as well as scientists with skills in chemistry 
and genetics, will be needed to tackle these issues.
  STEM graduates can pursue jobs in clean energy fields, such as solar 
energy. Currently, solar energy's share of the total energy market is 
small--below 1 percent of total energy consumption. It is estimated by 
2030, however, that solar electricity has the potential to satisfy the 
electricity needs of almost 14 percent of the world's population.
  To get there, scientists and engineers will need to help us overcome 
the various practical and economic barriers to widespread solar power 
usage. This will require new technologies to capture the Sun's energy, 
to convert it to useful forms, and to store it for use when sunlight is 
unavailable. Electrical and computer engineers will be needed to lead 
the way and, indeed, in Delaware, my home State, they already are.
  A consortium lead by engineers from the University of Delaware 
achieved a recordbreaking solar cell efficiency of 42.8 percent. Solar 
cells, as you know, convert the Sun's energy into electricity. This is 
a major achievement in the development of low-cost solar systems, and 
we will need many more of its kind.
  STEM graduates can find jobs updating our Nation's infrastructure. 
Last year, the American Society of Civil Engineers rated the U.S. 
infrastructure as a D. This is unacceptable, unsustainable, and unsafe.
  We need chemical and civil engineers to design, construct, and 
maintain streets, sidewalks, public transit, water supply networks, 
sewers, street lighting, waste management, public parks, and bicycle 
paths, just to name a few.

  Professionals working on our Nation's infrastructure will also need 
skills in physics, electrical engineering, and urban planning. This is 
no small feat and will require the dedication of many new engineers. In 
fact, among engineering fields, civil engineering is expected to see 
the largest growth through 2018.
  STEM graduates can help protect us from security threats. Plutonium 
or highly enriched uranium is used to build nuclear weapons. Vast 
quantities of this fissile material exists in the world today, some of 
it still unaccounted for, even though 260 tons of it has been secured 
over the last two decades under the Nunn-Lugar program. It takes less 
than 10 kilograms of plutonium or around 25 kilograms of highly 
enriched uranium to build a nuclear weapon, and several terrorist 
organizations have demonstrated interest in acquiring a nuclear weapon.
  Consequently, we need nuclear engineers to determine how to secure 
these dangerous materials, detect nuclear threats at a distance, disarm 
potential devices, and respond and clean up after any explosion. 
Technical skills, in addition to various engineering skills, will be 
necessary to solve each of these dilemmas.
  These are just a handful of the exciting and important job profiles 
that will be available to our Nation's STEM graduates. We will also 
need environmental engineers to provide access to clean water, 
mechanical and aerospace engineers to update our transportation 
methods, agricultural engineers to help tackle world hunger, and much 
more. All the surveys today say that young people want to ``make a 
difference'' with their lives, and certainly these STEM jobs will. But 
beyond the opportunity to make a difference, STEM graduates will also 
earn high salaries postgraduation. During our current economic times, 
this is no small incentive.
  According to a recent survey by the National Association of Colleges 
and Employers, STEM majors account for the top five highest earning 
bachelor's degrees of those graduating in 2010. Specifically, 
engineering degrees accounted for four of the five most highly paid 
bachelor's degrees. Starting salaries for these graduates are between 
$60,000 and $75,000 per year.
  Yet despite the various incentives, we are already behind in the 
number of scientists and engineers we will need to educate in order to 
fill the jobs of the future.
  Between 1985 and 2007, the number of individuals receiving 
engineering bachelor's degrees fell by nearly 10,000. This precipitous 
decline occurred at the same time that the total number of 
undergraduate degrees rose by one-half million.
  Moreover, employers are having a difficult time filling available 
engineering positions. Raytheon CEO William Swanson recently told the 
Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce that he plans to hire 4,500 
engineers this year, but he finds it harder and harder to find them.
  This trend must be reversed. Fortunately, organizations such as the 
American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Society for 
Engineering Education are working to ``prime the pump'' for the next 
generation of STEM professionals. To promote and improve K-12 STEM 
education, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers is fostering 
partnerships with educational groups such as the First Robotics 
Competition, the Junior Engineering Technical Society, Project Lead the 
Way, and the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. The American Society for 
Engineering Education has a publication called ``Engineering, Go For 
It,'' aimed at inspiring students, particularly girls and 
underrepresented minorities, to pursue an engineering career. They also 
administer a number of undergraduate and graduate fellowship and 
internship programs, including several sponsored by the National 
Science Foundation and the Department of Defense.
  This type of organizational support is critical to ensuring that 
students across the country have access to quality STEM opportunities 
in K-12 education and beyond.

[[Page S6565]]

  In my remaining time in the Senate, I will continue to encourage my 
colleagues in Washington to invest in STEM education. It is true we 
have our partisan problems in Washington these days, but I believe 
there is bipartisan consensus on the value of promoting STEM education.
  Support for STEM education is essential for our economic growth and 
recovery. It is the future of our workforce. It is our children's and 
our grandchildren's future.
  Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor and suggest the absence 
of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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