Continues call for investment in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics talent and research to sustain the national capacity for innovation

Troy, N.Y. — Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute President Shirley Ann Jackson applauded the bipartisan House-Senate Conference Agreement on the America COMPETES Act (H.R. 2272), which was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate last night. She continued her call for adequate investments in U.S. science, technology, engineering, and mathematics talent and research to sustain our national capacity for innovation.

“If the United States is to maintain its leadership in the global economy, we must sustain our capacity for innovation by funding research and fostering the next generation of science and engineering talent,” Jackson said.  “The economic and national security of the United States is contingent on our capacity for innovation, and that capacity is at risk. This bipartisan agreement to enact the America COMPETES Act is a vital step in addressing this ‘Quiet Crisis’ our nation is confronting.”

The America COMPETES Act creates a framework for increased federally funded research in science and technology, including a new energy research agency. It also authorizes greater resources for teacher development at the K-12 levels to enhance education in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields, as well as increased supports for undergraduate and graduate programs in the STEM fields.

“I applaud members of Congress for their bipartisan support of this legislation,” President Jackson said. “Though perhaps little noticed, this innovation initiative will go a long way in strengthening the economic vitality and security of our nation if the programs are adequately funded.” 

Jackson has long warned of what she has dubbed a “Quiet Crisis” in America — the threat to our nation’s capacity to innovate due to reduced support for research and the looming shortage in the nation’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce. The impending workforce shortfall results from a record number of retirements on the horizon in the STEM fields, and not enough students in the pipeline to replace them. 

According to Jackson, if the United States is to maintain its leadership in science and technology, it will require a significant increase in the number of people choosing to pursue careers in these fields. To do that, it will require tapping into all of the talent this nation has to offer, including women and minorities – what she calls the “underrepresented majority” — who traditionally have been underrepresented in the STEM fields.

Working through a range of academic, corporate, and government entities including the AAAS (as past President and Chairman of the Board), the National Academies (among the authors of the “Rising Above the Gathering Storm” report), the Council on Competitiveness (member of the Innovation Initiative), and the National Governors’ Association (member of the Innovation America Task Force), President Jackson has been actively involved in the effort to build consensus for this national innovation agenda. 

Jackson has urged a national focus on energy research as a focal point to excite and encourage greater interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers. “Addressing the world’s energy needs, in an environmentally sustainable way, is the central challenge of our time,” she says.  She notes that, just as the race to the moon invigorated the STEM workforce in the 1960’s, so too could a focus on energy now.  “Energy security is the space race of this millennium,” she says.

Jackson, former chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is co-chairing the recently announced Council on Competitiveness “Energy Security, Innovation & Sustainability Initiative.”   That combined effort among leaders in business, academe, and labor also seeks to enhance U.S. competitiveness and energy security.