The first meeting was a pan-organizational summit held by the National Academies on Nov. 11 and 12 at which participants presented position papers. Just a few days later, Sigma Xi, the cross-disciplinary research society, held a two-day forum on workforce issues.

	Lane COURTESY OF RICE UNIVERSITY
	Colwell PHOTO BY PETER CUTTS

Although the structure and goals of the meetings differed, Merrilea J. Mayo, director of National Academies' Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable, saw many similarities in the issues raised and conclusions reached. GUIRR, she explains, wanted to compile points of view to create more unified and visible policy prescriptions and recommendations for change.

While the academies took a broad organizational perspective, Sigma Xi looked at issues at an institutional level, with presenters from universities and government organizations. "There's considerable debate about whether we have too many scientists and engineers or too few, or need more of one type or another," said Sigma Xi President W. Franklin Gilmore, who attended both meetings.

"However, there's no debate about whether we need more diversity," he continued, "and whether we could afford not to bring into our science and engineering workforce all the talent we can find regardless of the DNA of those individuals."

National Science Foundation Director Rita R. Colwell offered data on the current U.S. science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce. She noted that, unlike shifts occurring in overall U.S. employment, the diversity of the STEM workforce does not reflect population demographics.

Several other speakers presented data on minorities and women in education and the workforce. Using NSF data, Charlotte V. Kuh, deputy executive director at the National Research Council (NRC), said the number of degrees awarded to minorities has been growing. She also believes Sept. 11, 2001, has helped increase interest in science and engineering.

Kuh and others also indicated that women are starting to reach "parity" with men in the number of STEM degrees. "It's becoming a weaker and weaker excuse to say, 'They're not in the pipeline,' " she commented.

Yet in employment and job promotion there are still some discrepancies between men and women, reported others, including Indiana University sociology professor J. Scott Long. He chaired the NRC panel that produced the 2001 report "From Scarcity to Visibility: Gender Differences in the Careers of Doctoral Scientists and Engineers."

Besides gender, race, and ethnicity, Colwell addressed broader, long-term supply questions. A recent Commerce Department report projects that 60% of new jobs in 2020 will require skills possessed by only 22% of today's workers, she reported. And Department of Labor data predict that new jobs requiring science, engineering, and technical training will increase by 21% by 2008.

"A quarter of our science and engineering workforce is more than 50 years old and will retire by the end of this decade," Colwell said. "When it comes to educating the next generation, other countries are outperforming us."

"It's imperative that we maintain the intellectual capacity for research and innovation in order to keep the nation competitive," she continued. "Technology is estimated to account for half the nation's growth over the past 50 years, but future sustained growth will come from technology that's emerging from our laboratories today."

Discussion frequently touched on the U.S.'s reliance on foreign-born scientists to fill workforce needs and current constraints on this resource since Sept. 11. "We hope that this country will continue to be attractive to many of the best and brightest women and men from all over the world," said Neal F. Lane, University Professor in physics at Rice University and former NSF director. "But we can't be complacent--we still are missing thousands of U.S.-born women and men who are not attracted, for whatever reason, to careers in science, mathematics, and engineering."

The well-supplied global labor pool has contributed to lowering wages for full-time employees and stipends for graduate and postdoctoral students, said former National Science Board chairman Eamon M. Kelly and other speakers. Thus, they concluded, STEM careers may be unattractive because of the long time required for training--often 10 or more years of undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral work--and the lack of economic reward.

Richard B. Freeman, Harvard University economics professor and director of the Labor Studies Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research, provided some comparative analysis. He found that life sciences postdocs at Harvard are paid an average $12.44 on an hourly basis, without normal employee benefits. Starting level pay for a Harvard janitor is $11.85 per hour and includes benefits. And MIT pays its janitors several dollars more per hour than Harvard, he commented.

"If we do raise postdoc stipends, we will see a drop in the number of awards," Freeman said. "However, it won't be that Americans will not be going into these jobs, but probably a drop in the number of postdocs we're importing."

In response to workforce changes and needs, many universities and employers now have initiatives and programs to encourage U.S. students to consider STEM careers, and this includes more concerted efforts to dig deeper into the pool of minorities and women. To this end, more than half of the Sigma Xi presentations, as well as exhibits and other resources, offered case studies from universities, professional societies, government laboratories, and companies.

Proceedings from both the Sigma Xi and NAS meetings are to be published.

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INTRODUCTION - EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK 2003

DEMAND

The year ahead is shaping up as even tougher than this one for those seeking employment in most fields of chemistry. Jobs are available, but the hunt is likely to be long and arduous.

WANTED
Scientists Needed To Help Secure The Homeland

BEYOND GRAD SCHOOL
When Jobs Are Scarce, Some Seek Postdocs

SALARIES & EMPLOYMENT

The unemployment rate for chemists climbed to 3.3% in 2002, the highest rate measured in more than 30 years' worth of ACS surveys. But for chemists already in the workforce, the salary situation remained quite strong.

WORKFORCE
Societies Look At Changing The Face Of Science & Engineering

THE INTERVIEW

Seasoned chemical industry recruiters describe what works and what does not, plus a list of tips for the interviewee.

HEALTH INSURANCE

What employees need to know about ensuring continued coverage when their employment status changes.

CAREER-PLANNING RESOURCES

A guide to sources of job and career information well suited to chemical scientists seeking industrial, academic, or government positions or looking to change careers. Some of the most comprehensive resources can be found at the American Chemical Society.

Chemical & Engineering News
Copyright © 2002 American Chemical Society