from the priming-the-pump dept.
According to a report in the San Jose Mercury News ("Tech talent alarm sounded", by Tia OíBrien, 21 July 2001), foreign countries, not the United States, are increasingly producing the engineers and scientists driving high-tech innovations. The report says the shortage threatens to further slow the U.S. economy and high-tech innovation, as well as the U.S. position as a world technology leader. The article quotes Stanley Williams of Hewlett-Packard Labs and a leading molecular electronics researcher: "Everyone over the age of 45 in my lab was born in the United States. No one under the age of 45 in my lab is from the United States." Williams spoke at the New Democrat Network's fifth annual retreat, which brings Democratic members of Congress west to learn more about Silicon Valley's needs. Many of the legislators present back measures to provide additional funding to U.S. universities to encourage students in science and technology fields.
Similar concerns about a lack of native U.S. scientific talent were raised by the U.S. military in June 2001.
