Without proper investment in the engineering, science, technology and mathematics education, the United States could lose its "worldwide dominance" in those areas.
In order to maintain its technological and scientific supremacy, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine recently recommended that the U.S. double its number of graduates in these areas, specifically minority graduates.
Minority groups such as Hispanics, African Americans and Native Americans represented only 9% of employees in science, engineering and related careers in 2006. For the United States to continue to have a leading role in these fields, say the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine, schools must invest heavily in these minority groups.
For the underrepresented minority graduation rate to double, "an annual investment of $150 million in higher education is needed, eventually growing to 600 million."
The recent study, "Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America's Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads" builds on a 2005 reports which urged Congress to invest in 25,000 new college scholarships for mathematics and sciences, traditionally areas of great need, and to advocate for an increase in post-secondary enrollment, whether online or at a ground school.
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