To stay competitive, America needs more engineers — and a better pitch to young people

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] - As president of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), Tsu-Jae Liu is responsible for advocating for the profession and making sure the U.S. has enough engineers to maintain its technological competitiveness.

But right now, she said during a Monday, Nov. 9, lecture at Brown University, the field has a perception and awareness problem. Too many young people aren't clear on what engineering is, she said, and those who are aware of the field mistakenly think that its focus is limited to devices and technologies. But that's a limited view that shrouds the ultimate aim of engineering.

"Engineering is all about helping people," she told a capacity crowd in Brown's Stephen Robert '62 Hall. "That's the purpose of engineering: to develop solutions [that] serve the welfare of humanity and the needs of society."

Liu's remarks came at the Brown University School of Engineering's annual Dana M. Dourdeville Lecture on Engineering in Service to Society. The series brings prominent engineering leaders to campus to discuss the importance of the discipline in advancing human well-being. Before becoming NAE president, Liu was dean of the University of California, Berkeley's College of Engineering. She's also a co-inventor of the FinFET transistor architecture, which powers most high-performance computer chips in use today.

To underscore the engineering perception problem, Liu cited a recent survey of students in middle school through the first year of college, which found that fewer than half of respondents knew that the "E" in STEM stands for engineering. Meanwhile, she said, recent studies predict an annual shortfall of around 100,000 engineering graduates relative to industry demand.

That deficit poses a direct threat to America's economic vitality and national security, Liu said. In an era dominated by rapid advances in artificial intelligence, microelectronics and automated infrastructure, global technological leadership depends heavily on a steady pipeline of technical talent.

"If we don't have enough engineering talent, we cannot maintain technological competitiveness in the long term," Liu said. "And therefore… if you care about civil liberty, universal freedom and things like that, that might be a risk."

With the responsibility to improve people's lives, there comes also a responsibility to protect people by making sure new technologies operate safely. She pointed out that when Roman engineers were building bridges and aqueducts, many of which still stand across Europe today, they were often required to stand beneath their great arches as the construction scaffolds were removed.

"If their work was sound, they were able to walk away," she said. "And if not, the consequences were immediate and final."

Today, it's the job of organizations like the NAE and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers to set and enforce rigorous standards of professional conduct and accountability. That accountability will take on increased importance, Liu noted, as embodied AI systems become more prevalent in the near future.

But to make sure the nation and world have enough engineers to serve humanity, it's critical to get young people interested in the field. To do that, Liu said, it's important to emphasize what she sees as three critical facts: "Engineering helps people. Engineering is creative. Engineering is rewarding."

Too often, Liu noted, when engineers are asked about their work, they reply with deep technical details about a particular device or area of study. It might be better to start that conversation with the bigger picture.

"If each of us, when we're asked what we do, start with, 'My work helps people,' that would be helpful," Liu said.

By reframing the discipline around its human impact, she added, the nation can inspire a new generation to build the solutions of tomorrow.