Sometimes The Postings Just Write Themselves

Allen July 22nd, 2005

I’m a member of the Association of Computing Machinery (despite the name, I am not a machine).  I subscribe to ACM Tech News which sent the following to me today:

  • "Senators Promise ‘Brain Drain’ Bill"
    InternetNews.com (07/21/05); Mark, Roy

    U.S. Senators plan to present legislation to replenish the ranks of America’s science and engineering graduates, which many agree are essential to maintaining the country’s leadership in global innovation. "New ideas, the development of new technologies and innovation will lead to a better educated workforce, a higher standard of living in the United States, and a strengthened American economy," declared Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.). Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) said the number of jobs requiring technical training is growing at a rate five times that of other occupations, while the average number of students entering those fields is falling concurrent with the rising age of the American science and engineering workforce. Meanwhile, Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) estimated that America produces an average 50,000 engineering graduates annually, compared to 150,000 from India and 250,000 from China. The lawmakers did not offer a detailed description of the bill they intend to propose next week, although they said it is based on the 2004 National Innovation Initiative Report from the Council on Competitiveness. The report calls for the creation of 5,000 new graduate fellowships underwritten by federal R&D agencies, an overhaul of immigration laws to permit science and engineering students from abroad to reside and find employment in the United States, and the construction of 10 "innovation hot spots" over the next five years.

  • "HP Drops 4 Research Groups in Downsizing"
    San Francisco Chronicle (07/22/05) P. C1; Pimentel, Benjamin

    Four research groups at HP Labs will be dropped as part of Hewlett-Packard’s latest downsizing effort, one of which was headed by renowned computing pioneer Alan Kay. Kay won the ACM’s A.M. Turing Award and the National Academy of Engineering Charles Stark Draper Prize, and was a co-designer of ARPAnet, the Internet’s predecessor. HP Labs’ Dave Berman says Kay’s group dealt with advanced software research, but insists that HP’s research agenda will remain "rich and varied" despite the loss. The other groups eliminated by the downsizing include a pair of Palo Alto labs focusing on consumer applications and emerging technologies, and a Cambridge, Mass., group whose work covered health care and medical issues. Berman cites HP Labs’ continuing quantum computing and nanotechnology research as evidence of the company’s dedication to R&D-supported innovation. "We are trying to refocus our research into the areas of greatest promise and our core strength and those areas which are most important to HP in the medium and long term," Berman says. Analyst Michael Dortch warns that HP could put itself at a disadvantage if it no longer has access to talent of Kay’s caliber. He says, "How many times in a lifetime does a company like HP get access to a mind like Alan Kay’s?"
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Gee, I wonder if they are related?  I wonder why the number of students enrolling in computer science has been dropping the last few years?  Surely the two articles have nothing in common with each other!  Yeah, most people look at a "geeky" career with high-profile layoffs and say to themselves, "Yeah baby!  That’s the life for me!"

And I’m curious how offering 5,000 graduate fellowships is going to entice people who disinterested in science and technology into entering the field.  Good news to those already trending that way for a career, but not enough of an enticement for those who are not thinking that way.  I think a lot of those who entered the field in the mid to late 90s were interested primarily in the money.  Now that the bubble has popped, it doesn’t look so sexy anymore.

And all of this doesn’t oblivate the need for technical people.  It’s simply that we are on the rebuilding side of the popped bubble.  The demand for technical people will come back someday.  With the way things are running, that demand will be supplied by non-US employees.  And more the pity for the American way of life and culture.

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