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ENERGIZING ENGINEERS: High Schools Try to Interest More Kids in a Lucrative Field That Badly Needs Fresh Talent.

Posted on: Tuesday, 16 May 2006, 12:02 CDT

By Gita Sitaramiah, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

May 16--Kate Marolt is good at math and science, so good that the Mounds View High School senior is taking accelerated physics. But despite the calls for more American students to study engineering, she's thinking of a degree in the humanities.

"Even I really don't know what an engineer does," Marolt said.

That lack of understanding is a big reason why the United States faces a shortage of engineers at a time when experts say the country's prosperity hinges on continued innovation.

The shortage could turn into a crisis as the trickle of engineers graduating from U.S. colleges flows into a gulf of openings left by retiring baby boomers. Students also stand to lose, because those who dismiss engineering are skipping a chance at high-paying jobs right out of college.

The nation is producing 5 percent fewer engineers per capita than it did 20 years ago, said Bob Black, deputy executive director of the American Society of Engineering Education.

Several factors contribute to the drop, but the most dramatic is the dropout rate among students who enter college majoring in engineering. About half change majors, many because they find the academic work too rigorous, Black said.

"We're getting to be much more of a technologically advanced society, but we're producing fewer engineers per capita," he said.

To help turn the situation around, education officials are slowly starting to investigate ways to turn high school students on to the profession. They also are beginningto offer more preparation to students, including girls and minorities, who are underrepresented in the field.

Politicians also are taking notice, including Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has called for tougher math and science standards as well as a greater emphasis on teaching both subjects.

Mastering math and science is key to engineering, but educators say they'll need more training to give students the necessary instruction to make the effort work.

"We have to start sometime," said Minnesota Education Commissioner Alice Seagren. "So we're aggressively moving forward."

Other steps school officials are taking to get students interested in engineering include:

-- Turning to a leading national curriculum of engineering courses called Project Lead the Way to help students get hands-on experience in the field. Johnson High School in St. Paul, the Anoka-Hennepin Secondary Technical Education Program and Mahtomedi High School are among the first to offer the curriculum, but many more will do so in the next few years.

-- Studying whether more magnet schools are a solution. The Mahtomedi school district is considering adding a magnet school in engineering, to address the need for more engineers and to boost enrollment, said Superintendent Mark Wolak.

-- Getting kids into activities like the Minnesota Academy of Science's State Fair and the Future City Competition, in which students design futuristic cities. Such competitions engage students and help them better understand science options they can pursue after high school.

Not only do students need to be exposed to engineering, but they also need to drop the "science nerd" stereotypes and see engineers as innovators. That might take an attitude adjustment throughout society, said Niel Tebbano, a vice president at Project Lead the Way.

"Math and science aren't revered the way they are in other countries," Tebbano said.

And students have noticed.

Jo Jackson, a senior at Mounds View High School who plans to study biomedical engineering at the University of Minnesota next year, said the basketball team received a lot more buzz for advancing to the state tournament last year than her Science Olympiad team did for winning the state title.

"Hardly anybody knew about it," she said.

SOLID FUTURES

Heather Hetteen demonstrates the engineering field's possibilities for students.

Hetteen graduated with a biomedical engineering degree from the University of Minnesota two and a half years ago. She was a summer intern at Boston Scientific in Maple Grove in summer 2001 and later worked part time at the company.

She took a full-time research and development job at the company soon after graduating.

"There's a lot of opportunities once you're done with school to work in one of those medical-device companies without relocating," Hetteen said.

None of her friends studied engineering, and most didn't find work so quickly. That's partly because of her major and her internship, she said.

"It's definitely a more specific field, whereas you might get an English degree, but it's not as clear cut what you'll do," Hetteen said.

Experts say such opportunities will remain for American engineers, even taking into account the movement of U.S. jobs to India and China.

"We know there's going to be a huge retirement of engineers and scientists over the next 10 years," Tebbano said. "We also know that the need for engineers is going to increase because we live in a technologically driven economy. So the jobs are going to be there."

At Fridley-based Medtronic, nearly 14 percent of the company's 24,000 U.S. employees are engineers. The company hired 461 engineers last fiscal year and now has 155 openings across the country, said Rich Fischer, a spokesman for Medtronic Foundation.

Pay is another incentive. Starting salaries for college graduates in engineering average $47,000 to $62,000, according to Twin Cities corporate recruiters.

Mark Sauerbrey, a work force planning and recruiting consultant at Xcel Energy, said the company is seeking college graduates with engineering degrees, and those new hires make about $50,000.

"That wage for engineering is higher than for an entry-level business or finance degree," he said.

The median wage of a civil engineer in Minnesota who might be involved in road or bridge maintenance and construction is $65,081 a year, according to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

Others make more. Electrical engineers earn a median income of $74,739 a year. Computer software engineers make a median income of $82,026 annually. Engineering managers often earn six-figure salaries.

All types of engineers are needed, say representatives of Twin Cities companies.

"There are so many aspects in designing a disk drive that we need many different types of engineering skills," said Jill Hornbacher, a spokeswoman for Seagate Technology, which has Bloomington and Shakopee offices.

SPARKING KIDS' INTEREST

In Kate Marolt's accelerated physics class at Mounds View High School, many of her peers know they'll study engineering in college.

Aaron Kreiser is one of them. Kreiser, who plans to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison next year to study mechanical engineering, said he finds his physics class offers a light workload.

"In the sciences, a few more upper-level classes would be helpful," he said.

To meet the needs of such students and get others like Marolt exposed to engineering, the Mounds View school district plans to add Project Lead the Way engineering classes next year. High school and middle school students will have an engineering elective, and a course is being developed for elementary students.

At the Anoka-Hennepin Secondary Technical Education Program, several high school students in a Project Lead the Way engineering technology elective said taking the class has interested them in engineering.

In the class, kids study reverse engineering and sometimes disassemble everyday gadgets such as a computer mouse or television remote. They also build miniature bridges and test conditions under which these bridges would collapse by using high-tech computers.

Educators such as Donna Andren, a Mounds View High science resource teacher, hope the efforts encourage more students to consider engineering.

"It really comes down to getting kids excited about science and math and how engineering can improve the lives of others," she said.

Gita Sitaramiah can be reached at gsitaramiah@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5472.

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Source: Saint Paul Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.)

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