Issue: Education and Development of the Talent Pool 



Federal interests in the broad goal of human resource development cut across all agencies 

 and transcend specific research issues. In addition, individual agencies have a special interest in 

 helping to develop the human resource pool in fields specific to their mission areas. 



RECOMMENDATIONS 



• Federal agencies should work with RIUs and with state and local governments to 

 promote systemic improvements in science, engineering, and mathematics education. 



• Federal agencies should promote excellent teaching by providing incentives to univer- 

 sities to foster sound, rigorous education in elementary and secondary schools, and to 

 nurture the proficiency and expertise of their own faculty and of the teachers that they 

 train. 



A major benefit of Federal funding of research at universities has been the involvement of 

 graduate students on an apprenticeship basis with cutting edge research, thereby making available 

 to industry, academia, and government technical personnel of unmatched competence and 

 creativity. Nevertheless, there is a rising concern that the greater rewards associated with re- 

 search, accentuated by patterns of Federal support, may be having adverse effects on the quality 

 of undergraduate education. Federal research support may also affect the choice of specialties by 

 graduate students, with unintended consequences. The result can be an overemphasis and over- 

 supply in some areas of expertise, or more seriously, neglect of others, thus weakening future na- 

 tional research and education capacity. 



RECOMMENDATION 



• Federal agencies should examine the impact of Federal research support on university 

 undergraduate and graduate education and identify strategies to ensure against uninten- 

 tional degradation of the educational mission and excellence of the RIUs. 



Several trends affecting both the applicant pool and the technical competency of the future 

 work force could have implications for Federal policies toward higher education. Low student in- 

 terest at precollege and undergraduate levels affects preparedness for employment and for future 

 studies. Also, women and underrepresented minorities are a growing share of the college age 

 population. Yet their interest in pursuing courses and careers in the sciences and engineering has 

 traditionally been low. Furthermore, at the graduate level, about a third of natural science and en- 

 gineering Ph.D. recipients come from other countries, including about 60 percent of engineering 

 and over half of computer science Ph.D.s. As more job opportunities are created in other 



