Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute President and Council University Vice Chair Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson Highlights Importance of STEM Education
Dr. Jackson discusses quiet crisis building in the United States – a crisis that could jeopardize our nation’s pre-eminence and well-being.
February 09, 2012
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) President and Council University Vice Chair Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson addressed RPI's 14th Annual Black Family Technology Awareness Day this month, and implored attendees to pursue and cultivate careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.
Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, who serves as the president of the RPI and the University Vice Chair for the Council on Competitiveness (CoC), warned about the threats facing the U.S. job market. She stated that “there is a quiet crisis building in the United States – a crisis that could jeopardize the nation’s pre-eminence and well-being. The crisis has been mounting gradually, but inexorably, over several decades. The crisis stems from the gap between the nation’s growing need for scientists, engineers, and other technically skilled workers, and its production of them.
As the generation educated in the 1950s and 1960s prepares to retire, our colleges and universities are not graduating enough scientific and technical talent to step into research laboratories, software and other design centers, refineries, defense installations, science policy offices, manufacturing shop floors, and high-tech startups.”
To help ensure the United States economic strength and security, Jackson underscored one of the Council's key Competitiveness Index imperatives, a national commitment to educate Americans, particularly those groups under-represented in STEM fields.
To learn more, please click here.
Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, who serves as the president of the RPI and the University Vice Chair for the Council on Competitiveness (CoC), warned about the threats facing the U.S. job market. She stated that “there is a quiet crisis building in the United States – a crisis that could jeopardize the nation’s pre-eminence and well-being. The crisis has been mounting gradually, but inexorably, over several decades. The crisis stems from the gap between the nation’s growing need for scientists, engineers, and other technically skilled workers, and its production of them.
As the generation educated in the 1950s and 1960s prepares to retire, our colleges and universities are not graduating enough scientific and technical talent to step into research laboratories, software and other design centers, refineries, defense installations, science policy offices, manufacturing shop floors, and high-tech startups.”
To help ensure the United States economic strength and security, Jackson underscored one of the Council's key Competitiveness Index imperatives, a national commitment to educate Americans, particularly those groups under-represented in STEM fields.
To learn more, please click here.
Contact:
Lisa Hanna
T 202 383 9507
F 202 682 5150
lhanna@compete.org