Wanted: Scientists and Engineers!
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After generations of world leadership, the US is falling behind in science and engineering. We look at the challenges and opportunities of a changing world. Also, Afghan officials talk peace with the Taliban, and bad management and big bonuses at the Tribune Company, one of America’s media powerhouses.
Banner image: Dr. Cynthia Evans opens a pass-through chamber to demonstrate the 'Geolab' glovebox rock sample testing laboratory inside the Habitat Demonstration Unit Pressurized Excursion Module, a concept off-Earth living and work quarters for astronauts stationed in space, September 15, 2010 at NASA's Black Point Lava Flow in the north Arizona desert, north of Flagstaff, Arizona. Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
Making News
Afghan Officials Talking Peace with the Taliban ()
Afghanistan's Karzai government is denying reports that it's conducting secret negotiations with the Taliban to end ten years of warfare. But the Washington Post quotes one sources saying the Taliban are "very, very serious about finding a way out." Craig Whitlock co-wrote the story.
Guests:
- Craig Whitlock: Pentagon Correspondent, Washington Post, @CraigMWhitlock
Main Topic
Is America Falling Behind in Science, Engineering? ()
America once led the world in science and engineering, the keys to creating the jobs that generated record-breaking prosperity. Last year just four of the top 10 companies receiving US patents were located in the US, and China graduated more English-speaking engineers than America did. With dire warnings about falling behind, Congress is being urged to fund education and research so the US can regain its competitive edge. But if other countries are catching up, is that all bad? As education and knowledge are globalized, won’t the US share in the benefits?
Guests:
- Charles Vest: President, National Academy of Engineering
- Irving Pressley McPhail: President/CEO, National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering
- Miles O'Brien: Science Journalist, PBS' NewsHour
- Ben Wildavsky: Senior Fellow, Kauffman Foundation
Links:
- Rising Above the Gathering Storm (2005)
- Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Revisited (2010)
- White House Summit on Community Colleges
- NACME's Community College Transfer Brief
- NAE's Grand Challenges National Summit
- USC hosts Grand Challenges for Engineeering
- Wildavsky's 'The Great Brain Race: How Global Universities are Reshaping the World'
Reporter's Notebook
New York Times on the Tribune Company's 'Bankrupt Culture' ()
Real estate mogul Sam Zell had no media experience when he bought the Tribune Company, which owns the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, TV and radio stations and other media properties. Less than a year later, the Tribune Company filed for the largest bankruptcy in the history of American media. Some 4200 people have lost their jobs. Others have left not for financial reasons but because of what today's New York Times calls a work culture featuring "sexual innuendo, poisonous workplace banter and profane invective [that have] shocked and offended people throughout the company." David Carr wrote the story.
Guests:
- David Carr: Columnist, New York Times, @carr2n
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