Throughout our nation’s history, our engineering enterprise has been a wellspring of security and prosperity. The National Engineering Forum is building on broader global conversations about engineering, technical job creation and sustainment, and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. NEF’s focus is on providing solutions to some of the greatest challenges facing the engineering industry.

This value-creating engine is sputtering as the result of:

THE CHALLENGES

Capacity
America needs quantity, quality, and diversity in its engineering workforce, including homegrown talent to fill critical national security roles. Young people are not entering engineering fields in sufficient numbers to replace retiring engineers.

Capability
America needs skilled engineers versed in multiple disciplines. Emerging, multi-disciplinary engineering and technology fields need a workforce trained to solve challenges in sustainability, climate change and evolving areas such as cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing, cloud architecture, energy, and healthcare.

Competitiveness
The engineering enterprise is the underpinning of America’s productivity and prosperity. The engineering community must work more creatively and collaboratively – alongside political leaders and media – and make the case for the essential role engineering plays in fueling our economy, bolstering national security, and advancing U.S. leadership.

Once lost, it will take decades and tremendous resources to reconstitute the national resource that is the U.S. engineering enterprise. We, as the leaders of this enterprise, need to come together and act now to preserve and extend this critical capability to ensure our well-being for future generations.