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America’s New Deficit: A Shortage of Technology Specialists

A 'holistic approach' is key to solving the nation's critical shortage, and attracting more more women and minority scientists and engineers to pursue leadership roles in the industry

By Heidi Shyu, Raytheon Company, special to IMDiversity

August 2007 - Not too long ago, Java was coffee, C was a mediocre grade, and web masters were spiders. Today, experts in Java computer and C programming command a premium salary in the labor market, and an army of the new generation of webmasters keeps information current on the ever-growing WWW. The labor market for scientists and engineers is expanding at warp speed, driven by the unrelenting advancement of technology. Yet, thousands of engineering jobs remain unfilled because of a shortage of qualified workers.

Where are these workers, and more important – where are the women who can fill these vital roles?

The formal, four-year education system is producing only a small proportion of the scientists and engineers needed in the United States. As a result of this severe shortage of science and engineering students, future U.S. innovation, productivity, and competitiveness in world markets could be undermined.  India and China are producing far more scientists and engineers than the United States. In China alone, 60% of all bachelor’s degrees are in sciences and engineering and many of them are women.

As a Vice President, Corporate Technology and Research at Raytheon, I believe the key to attracting more scientists and engineers to the industry -- especially women -- is to take a holistic approach and work with our nation’s children to enlighten, motivate and ultimately recruit them into leadership roles. At Raytheon, the future of the technical workforce in the U.S. is a top priority for our corporation. We believe that one of the components to the successful formula we have attracting a diverse workforce is to develop partnerships between stakeholders in industry and education. In our view, fostering interest in math and science should begin at the grade school level, but to be truly successful, mentorship is a key requirement. There’s nothing more uplifting than going into an inner-city school and seeing young boys and girls excited about math or science.

Improving the country’s most critical labor markets in science and engineering is an important goal not only for companies like Raytheon, but for the entire United States.

As a young girl growing up in Taiwan, I was mesmerized by science and mathematics. I read books on female and male scientists and they became my role models. In America, we need to do the same for our kids, especially girls. Earmarking additional resources for students to help them discover and enjoy math and science would make the technology fields far more appealing and not “boring.”  Children are naturally curious, so interactive explorations of our planet and learning how things work in our solar system can create a lot of excitement.  Look at how fast digital animation has advanced in films in just the last 10 years.  We can now visualize things that were impossible to perceive just a few years ago.  Media helps to shape our lives in many other ways, so why not in the science and engineering field?

There are many ways to create positive role models -- in movies, on television, through books, magazines and online media.  We idolize sports figures, movie stars and music idols, but why not the Einsteins of our society? Hollywood could be helpful in this task by showing positive images of technologists and engineers, and encouraging our children to pursue science or engineering as a career.  The positive images will help our kids to feel self-confident and determined to make a difference.

Guiding students from an early age to explore options for a technical career path can help them to plot their education.  Raytheon has a “Bring Your Child to Work” day where the children are shown what kind of things their moms and dads do on a daily basis while creating some of the most advanced technologies in the world.  We make it fun for the kids and they leave with a very positive image of engineers and technicians.  In the process, we also educate them on all the neat and cool stuff that they can do in the technical field.  They can design satellites that explore the universe, build radar systems to map the ground, build command and control systems that can control an unmanned vehicle, and even build night vision goggles that can see people in the dark.

Finally, from a personal point of view, here’s another oft-ignored but integral professional development resource that I recommend for any woman, no matter what career path you decide to take. Use yourself to think. Ask yourself, “Am I heading in the direction I want to head? Am I satisfied? Do I feel enriched?”

Remember, at the end of everyone’s day, you go to sleep at night and ultimately want to wake up in the morning excited to go to work.

I can tell you that I do each and every day.

Readings of Related Interest

• Heidi Shyu on Radical Innovation & Reaching "Unachievable Goals"
  From Technology Today
  Q&A: Raytheon's VP  Corporate Technology and Research discusses the challenges of her work, her view on leadership, and the qualities and experiences that led to her career at one of America's leading technology companies
• Careers Q&A: Enrique A. Santiago, Systems Engineer
  By Carol Amoruso, IMDiversity Hispanic American Village Editor
  Recent addition to Raytheon's Space and Airborne Systems team in Dallas discusses his engineering career path, from school in Puerto Rico to a career in aerospace

Heidi Shyu is Vice President Corporate Technology and Research at Raytheon, a technology leader specializing in defense, homeland security, and other government markets throughout the world.