Building Enough Engineers to Meet Future Demand Must Start Early

Nurturing interest in engineering in high school, and even earlier, is critical to preparing students to succeed in collegiate engineering programs, a 2011 report by Intel Corporation said. Currently, about half of students who major in engineering drop the program during their freshman year of college, according to National Science Foundation data.

It's important to graduate engineers, because the U.S. needs them to develop energy sources, replace aging infrastructure, deal with air and water pollution and create new medical technologies. However, 88 percent of employers surveyed in a new poll said they had difficulty finding enough engineers to hire, according to the Society for Human Resource Management.

Kurt Becker is an engineering education professor in Utah State University's College of Engineering notes, few students know what engineers really do: apply principles of science and mathematics to find solutions to technical problems and human needs.

Engineers build rockets, skyscrapers, roads, dams and bridges. They find ways to clean up water and air pollution, design machinery, create computer hardware and software, and develop life-saving medical equipment.

The job outlook for engineers varies depending on engineering discipline. The U.S. Department of Labor forecasts that the need for mechanical, electrical and electronics engineers in the United States will be below national job-growth averages through 2020 because the recent recession caused job losses in those areas, and the market is still recovering. There is booming growth in the fields of civil, environmental and biomedical engineering, though.


Despite strong job demand and good salaries for engineers — an average of more than $75,000 per year — few high school students think about being engineers. Intel's survey found that American high school students' general lack of familiarity with the engineering profession keeps them from considering engineering careers and preparing themselves to succeed in collegiate engineering programs.



Teen views of engineering:

• Sixty-three percent of teens have never considered a career in engineering.
• Twenty-nine percent of teens do not know of potential job opportunities in engineering.
• 13 percent don't think majoring in engineering in college will lead to more job opportunities than any other career.
• Sixty-one percent of teens are more likely to consider engineering careers after learning engineers make an average annual income of $75,000.

Source: 2011 Intel Corp. survey

Deseret News