Calling for a renewed national focus on science and technology, in an open letter to President George W. Bush (PDF), Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson has urged the President to use the State of the Union to outline a national agenda to “spark a legacy of innovation.”

Jackson has long warned of what she calls the “Quiet Crisis” in America – the threat to our nation’s capacity to innovate due to the looming shortage in the nation’s science and technology workforce. The shortfall results from a record number of retirements on the horizon, and not enough students in the pipeline to replace them.

“Mr. President, our science and technology position is a looming national crisis because it robs us of our capacity for innovation — so critical for our economic and national security,” Jackson wrote in the Jan. 25 letter to President Bush. “Investing in our nation’s capacity to innovate now will not only strengthen our economy, but may, by addressing global challenges such as energy security, help to allay geopolitical tensions that make for such alarming headlines today.”

“Outlining a national science and technology agenda to spark new research, ignite education, and entice our youth will provide the leadership we need at this critical moment,” Jackson wrote.  “I suggest such an agenda must be built around meeting global energy needs to ensure our energy security…. Just as President Kennedy galvanized the nation in response to the Soviet launch of Sputnik, so too could you galvanize the nation around energy security — indeed, energy security is the ‘space race’ of the 21^st century.”

Over the last five years, President Jackson has urged a national conversation to generate the will for a national policy to address the “Quiet Crisis.” She has been involved in developing initiatives by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Council on Competitiveness’s Innovation Initiative, and the National Academies’ report “Rising Above the Gathering Storm,” among others.

“The crescendo of conversation is growing, but what is needed now is galvanizing leadership from the President to coalesce and multiply these early efforts, as only the President can,” Jackson says.

For a copy of the Jan. 25 letter to the President, go to: http://www.rpi.edu/web/Campus.News/inthenews/Oped.pdf (PDF)

For information on the “Quiet Crisis,” go to:  http://www.rpi.edu/homepage/quietcrisis/index.html

For information on energy security at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, go to: http://www.rpi.edu/research/energy/

Published January 30, 2006