Without them, our entire way of life might not exist, nor would our chances of improving it. Oddly enough, though, we are training far too few engineers for the world we hope to build. The META Group, an industry analyst firm, reports that approximately 400,000 information technology jobs are vacant in America today. The Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts that this field will create an additional 5.3 million jobs by 2008. A large part of this shortage has been brought on by the rapid growth of the Internet and the online world of e-business.
Education is a good start.
Engineering's potential knows no limits. But a more targeted approach is warranted now. In fact, a viable solution to the shortage of engineers is surprisingly obvious. Raise the proportion of women in the field, and we can dramatically increase the overall number of engineers. Current studies of engineering schools show that women have earned only 15 percent of the bachelor of science degrees and less than half that percentage of doctorates.