The Internationalization of U.S. Science and Engineering

Chapter 3 in Science and Security in a Post 9/11 World: A Report Based on Regional Discussions Between the Science and Security Communities, Committee on a New Government-University Partnership for Science and Security, National Research Council, 2007.

The report notes that:

• Foreign-born PhD scientists and engineers constituted 37.3% of the U.S. S&E workforce in 2000, and increase from 23.9% in 1990.
• Foreign student enrollment in U.S. universities decreased in the years following 9/11, in part due to the security measures introduced by the U.S. government.
• Thirty years ago the U.S. accounted for 54% of the world's PhD degrees, but by 2001 that portion had dropped to 41%.
• Participants in the meetings held during the preparation of the report were concerned about increasing difficulties in attending scientific meetings abroad and bringing visiting faculty and scholars to the United States.
  
• Participants also complained about the expansion of the Technology Alert List which regulates access to dual-use technologies.
  

Comment: Innovation is increasingly taking place in international networks, rather than within companies. I would guess that foreign-born scientists and engineers in the United States and U.S. educated scientists and engineers abroad are the best assurance that U.S. industry will be plugged into these networks.

Read the News Release on the Report.

Listen to an Audio Webcast made at the release of the Report.