Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Workforce Needs for the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Defense Industrial Base

Workshop Information

August 1-2, 2011
Waterview Conference Center
1919 N. Lynn St.
Arlington, Virginia  22209

The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and National Research Council (NRC) will convene a workshop August 1-2 in Rosslyn, Virginia on the topic of the STEM workforce of DoD and the industrial base. The workshop will include panels examining a series of questions and issues related to the STEM workforce (please see the numbered workshop charge, below). 

The planning committee for the workshop is co-chaired by Norm Augustine (NAS/NAE) and Dan Mote (NAE). The committee is assessing the STEM capabilities that the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) needs to meet its goals. The group will advise DoD on STEM workforce demands and the challenges to meeting them, options for doing so in the near term, how these needs might evolve over the next five to 15 years, and the capacity of the nation's higher education enterprise to meet these needs within DoD and the U.S. defense industrial base.

The workshop is structured as a series of five panel discussions with a plenary before and after to set-up and synthesize the workshop sessions. The five panel discussions will deliberate on themes chosen by the NRC committee responsible for the overall study. Register online!

Workshop Charge

1. Identify emerging science and technology that could significantly impact the STEM workforce needs of the DOD and its defense contractors over the next 15 years.
2. Estimate the STEM workforce needs by number and field of the DoD and its defense contractors under each of the following three budget scenarios:
   *a. The current 5-year defense budget continues under identical basic assumptions.
   **b. An abrupt change in security threats calls for an abrupt 35 percent DoD budget increase over that in 2.a above.
   ***c. A peace dividend calls for reallocating 25 percent of the DoD budget in 2.a to other national needs. 
3. Assess the limitations in meeting the above workforce needs and the forces shaping those limitations.
4.  Estimate the fraction of the above workforce needs that will not be met by the civilian educational enterprise without supplemental DoD intervention. Where and how should DoD invest to achieve its workforce need?
5. Given the unpredictability of: scientific and technological change; levels and trajectory of DoD budgets; advancements and emerging threats; and the historical inadequacy of past projections of future workforce needs--How can the DoD ensure an adequate workforce capability for itself and its defense contractors in the future?

*The outlays for FY 2010 were $667 billion for “DoD-Military” (Function 051). The estimates for the out-years were as follows (in billions): FY’11: $740; FY ’12: $707; FY ’13: $648; FY’14: $637; FY’15: $644; and FY’16: $651. (SOURCE: President’s Budget FY 2012)
**Roughly the percent increase, in real terms, in DoD spending from FY 2001 to 2005 following 9/11; compare also the 25 percent increase from FY 82 to FY 89.
***Roughly the percent decrease, in real terms, in DoD spending from FY 1990 to 2000 following end of the Cold War