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Summary of Major Findings
and Recommendations
The world in which U.S. engineers and technologists learn and
practice their profession is changing more rapidly than the institutions,
policies, and programs intended to ensure our future economic growth,
security, and welfare. The United States and especially its engineering
and science community need to adopt new attitudes and strategies
if we are to maintain or enhance our industrial health and standard
of living in the face of the reality of intense international economic
competition. Responses must be political, economic, and cultural,
as well as technological. Although improvements in the competitive
status of the United States will not come about solely as a result of our
being more aware of technological progress made outside the United
States, technological isolation will surely undermine the future of our
industries and educational institutions.
The benefits of international cooperation in engineering and tech-
nology are likely to outweigh risks in many situations, given thoughtful
and symmetrical implementation of programs. Technological protec-
tionism is not a sustainable path as a general course, since technology
inevitably diffuses. A better approach for the United States is to en-
sure that the internal rate of creation and application of knowledge is
always substantially greater than its rate of transfer, and that the rate
of acquisition and dissemination of relevant information from abroad
is significantly amplified over what it is today.
Programs in the United States must be modified to respond posi-
tively and beneficially to the growing quality and quantity of engineer-
ing activity abroad, and especially to the emergence of foreign centers
of excellence. The National Science Foundation (NSF) can and should
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play a significant role in advancing international cooperation in en-
gineering. Today, however, resources applied by the entire NSF to
advance such cooperation probably are not more than about $2 mil-
lion, or about ~ percent of the Engineering Directorate budget. This
is insufficient.
Better focused and improved U.S. efforts are needed for
Promoting international cooperation in engineering research;
Making U.S. engineering education more responsive to world-
wide progress and concerns;
Gathering, disseminating, and assimilating information from
abroad; and
. Supporting international organizations and standards.
Besides addressing recommendations to NSF and other federal
agencies, the committee's deliberations have led to specific recom-
mendations for academia, engineering professional societies, and the
National Academy of Engineering. The committee's principal recom-
mendations are as follows:
1. NSF should declare its recognition of the importance of interna-
tional collaboration in engineering research and education, and sup-
port this view by signipeantly increasing its level of funding for U.S.
participation in cooperative international endeavors. Specifically, NSF
should augment the international capabilities and responsibilities of
existing U.S. university-industry centers of excellence in engineering
research, such as the Engineering Research Centers, and ensure that its
sponsored researchers are demonstrably aware of engineering knowledge
generated abroad. [pp.~l, I~20, 31-324
2. NSF should develop a consortium of funding agencies to support
~7 ~ ~ . ~
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a program of fellowships enabling each year lUU to ZUU U.~. citizens
receiving doctorates in engineering to spend a year or more abroad
at centers of excellence in engineering in the Pacific Rim nations,
especially Japan, and in Western Europe. It should also encourage
and help sponsor engineering faculty members, Presidential Young
Investigators, and outstanding industrial researchers to take sabbatical
at centers of engineering excellence abroad. tpp.16, 2~27]
3. NSF, NAE, and other organizations should organize and fund tec-
ture tours by distinguished foreign experts to present reviews of, and
perspectives on, their nations' developments in engineering and tech-
nology to U.S. universities and industry. tp.314
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4. NSF and other concerned agencies should identify the potential
benefits from more assertive and better coordinated U.S. participation
in international standards development and in international engineer-
ing organizations. [pp.4~43]
5. NSF should assess the adequacy of federal efforts to gather tech-
nical information worldwide, analyze its trends, and effectively dis-
seminate insight into engineering advances overseas to government
agencies, private companies, and universities. (Now mandated by Ex-
ecutive Order 12591, dated 10 April 1987~. Also, it should evaluate the
merits of establishing on-campus international technology assessment
centers (ITACs) at existing academic centers of engineering excellence.
tpp.31-344
6. Major U.S. engineering schools should establish and publicize a
capability for providing information on international engineering pros
grams, and for promoting an awareness of the international nature of
technology. [p.27-28]
7. Universities should expand opportunities for engineering students
to study abroad through the pairing of U.S. schools with comparable
institutions abroad, and also should encourage the development of
cooperative efforts between engineering schools and other campus units
expert in international economic and cultural affairs. tpp.25, 274
8. Educational institutions should respond to the urgent need for in-
creased capability in Asian languages and culture for U.S. engineers
and technologists. Graduate degree programs in engineering and ap-
plied sciences should emphasize the need for spoken and technical
competency in at least one foreign language. [pp.21-24]
9. U.S.-based engineering professional societies should continue to
develop their international activities for the benefit of both the U.S.
and international engineering and technology enterprise. tpp.30-31]
10. U.S. firms should develop effective strategies for connecting to
engineering progress abroad, and ensure that senior management is
attentive to the need for the inflow of information from abroad. tpp.16-
17, 35-37]
In short, the committee believes that the time has come for the
United States to revitalize and refocus its activities related to inter-
national cooperation in engineering. Establishing a more coherent
and effective set of mechanisms for connecting to engineering progress
abroad will be critically important for the enduring vitality of U.S.
academia and industry.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
international economic
