Des Moines Business Record
02-18-07
State grapples with engineer shortage
By Sharon Baltes
On the surface, it appears that there has never been a better time to be an engineer. Peruse local employment advertisements, and you'll find dozens of job openings in that field. Engineering college career fairs have never been bigger. Those engineers must have it made, right?
But consider what it means when so many businesses and agencies - from small-town public works departments to the U.S. Patent Office - are trying to hire engineers. It's something that David Scott, executive director of the Central Iowa chapter of the Iowa Engineering Society, thinks about a lot. "There is a definite shortage of engineers," Scott said. "It's a huge issue right now for everyone in the industry."
Firms such as Howard R. Green Co., which specialize in engineering and architecture, are feeling the effects of a highly competitive job market. Green, which employs about 180 engineers at its offices in five Midwestern states, has a long list of job openings, according to David Dougherty, an area manager who works out of the Urbandale office.
"In the past four years or so, it's become increasingly difficult to fill positions, especially for people who have experience and can come in with a good skill set," Dougherty said. "In some instances, you simply go without filling those jobs for a long time."
One position at Dougherty's office has been vacant for three years: a civil engineering job requiring 10 to 15 years of experience. When such jobs go unfilled, the ramifications are widespread.
"We are still able to provide the service to our clients, but there is so much more that we could be doing," Dougherty said. "It restricts the growth of our business."
The problem of finding enough workers is not unique to Dougherty's firm. Gloria Frost, vice president and director of human resources for Shive-Hattery Inc., said her firm struggles to find enough engineers to keep pace with its growth, especially for jobs requiring experience.
Scott from the IES suspects that every engineering firm in the state is fighting the same battle with recruiting.
Hot commodity
The shortage of engineers extends beyond the borders of Iowa, according to Larry Hanneman, director of engineering career services for the Iowa State University College of Engineering. Hanneman sees this trend in the dramatic increase in the number of job postings his office handles. Since 2003, job postings are up 680 percent, he said.
Also during the past few years, the number of companies coming to campus to recruit is up 53 percent, and the number of companies participating in the spring and fall engineering career fairs is up 71 percent.
"We maxed out the space at Hilton (Coliseum) and the Scheman (Building) at our recent career fair," Hanneman said. "If we'd had the space, even more companies would have come."
At a conference Hanneman attended earlier this month, the demographics of the engineering work force was a main topic of discussion. He heard some experts say that the situation might be reaching the level of a national security crisis.
"I think that every sector is seriously challenged by the demographics of the engineering work force," Hanneman said. "Engineering has implications in so many areas of our lives, from the food and water supply to aerospace defense, power generation and on and on."
It concerns Hanneman when government agencies such as the U.S. Patent Office come to career fairs with 1,000 job openings for engineers.
"You have two major impacts that are immediate," Hanneman said. "One is maintaining our infrastructure, and the second is future innovation. It's certainly going to have an impact on the U.S. economy if things don't change."
Enrollment trends
Judging by the number of students declaring engineering majors, the shortage is not expected to improve immediately.
Loren Zachary, an assistant dean at the ISU College of Engineering, said enrollment has been mostly in a downward trend over the past six years. In 2001, the college had 1,556 new freshmen; in the fall of 2006, freshman enrollment was 1,213, which was up slightly from 2005's enrollment of 1,155.
Of the 800 or so students who graduate with a bachelor's degree in engineering from ISU each year, more than 60 percent leave the state for employment, according to Hanneman's figures.
"Certainly you have a lot of engineering students who are leaving the state," said the IES's Scott. "You'll always have that because the universities attract many out-of-state students."
Zachary said ISU has only a small number of engineering students who are women or minorities. For the current academic year, 14.5 percent of undergraduate engineering students are female. These are two demographics the university is targeting to boost enrollment.
"We need more females in engineering," Zachary said. "It's an untapped market for us."
Zachary attributes part of the challenge of boosting enrollment in the engineering school to the decline in the number of high school students in the state. According to the 2006 Condition of Education Report from the Iowa Department of Education, high school enrollment has dropped every year since 1996.
"What is scary is that surveys from our high school students show that the number of students who say they are interested in a career in engineering is down," Zachary said. "When there are fewer high school students to start with, and fewer plan to study engineering, it's a double whammy.
"The main issue is that the number of engineers like me who plan to retire in the next 10 years is enormous. There aren't enough students in the pipeline to meet those needs."
Catch them early
Iowans are responding to the engineer shortage by backing several programs designed to introduce students to engineering, mathematics, science and technology at an early age. ISU sponsors a competition called First LEGO League through the Iowa State Engineering Kids outreach program. Children ages 9-14 participate by building a robot from a LEGO kit. The university also offers summer camps for students interested in science and technology.
The Iowa Engineering Society sponsors a program called Math Counts for middle-school students.
But the program that is perhaps attracting the most attention right now is Project Lead the Way, a national program that is starting to gain more momentum in Iowa schools.
Project Lead the Way is a four-year curriculum for high school students designed to increase the quality and quantity of engineers and engineer technologists who graduate from engineering schools.
Project Lead the Way involves partnerships among high schools, higher education institutions and the private sector. The University of Iowa and ISU provide training for schools wanting to offer Project Lead the Way curriculum, and businesses provide resources and expertise for teachers. Ken Maguire, an educational consultant for the Iowa Department of Education, is the state leader for Project Lead the Way and a strong advocate for the program.
Maguire said his department is encouraging more schools to participate in the program because studies have shown that the coursework is effective.
"This curriculum can actually improve the academic performance of students," Maguire said. "It has a direct focus on math and science and reading within this technical curriculum, and that is helping increase academic attainment."
In addition, Maguire said, Project Lead the Way has shown success in attracting minorities and females to engineering careers.
Even though educators see the benefit of the program, Maguire said the cost of implementing it can be a deterrent. There is no cost associated with the curriculum itself, but some of the activities in the coursework require equipment that schools typically don't have, such as a rapid prototyping machine. If a school isn't able to borrow those items from a business or nearby college, it has to either spend from its budget or find a funding source.
"Cost has been the No. 1 factor that schools look at," Maguire said. "They tell us that they love this curriculum and it's exactly what they need, but they don't have the funds to implement it."
Since 2005, more than 40 Iowa schools have started using Project Lead the Way or its component for middle-school students called Gateway to Technology. Currently, Waukee Middle School is the only Central Iowa school using one of these programs, but others plan to add the curriculum for the 2007-08 school year.
Dean Lange, a technology education teacher for Waukee Middle School, helps coordinate the classes at his school. He likes the curriculum because it is organized and includes many hands-on activities. Joshua Heyer, an industrial technology teacher at Johnston High School, will teach Project Lead the Way courses at his school starting this fall.
He likes the fact that high school students can earn college credit from the engineering classes, and he expects the classes to help students decide if they want to pursue an engineering career.
"I have 59 students signed up next year, and if the class helps them decide if engineering is something they want to pursue, I'll have been successful," Heyer said.
Maguire said businesses have opened their wallets to support programs such as Project Lead the Way. Since 2005, the private sector has donated more than $1.2 million toward implementing Project Lead the Way in Iowa schools. Cedar Rapids-based Rockwell Collins Inc., a large employer of engineers, has been responsible for $700,000 of that total. The company's money is utilized by schools in Eastern Iowa.
Now, Maguire said, it's time for the public sector to give its support to programs such as Project Lead the Way.
"In my opinion, businesses don't want to be the only ones funding this," Maguire said. "They want to see a local commitment from schools and a state commitment from the Legislature to show that we're in this together."
Cindy Dietz, manager of community relations for Rockwell Collins, says her company wants to see more schools support Project Lead the Way before it provides more widespread funding to the program.
"If Rockwell Collins is going to support some of the start-up costs, the district has to show that they feel this is vitally important to their curriculum and show that they plan to support the program in future years," Dietz said.
Currently, the state steering committee for Project Lead the Way, which includes Dietz and Maguire, is talking with business organizations such as the Iowa Association of Business and Industry and the Iowa Business Council about increasing private-sector support for programs that encourage students to pursue careers in engineering, math and science. Mike Ralston, president of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry, said his organization plans to become more involved with these types of programs.
In the meantime, companies such as Rockwell Collins, which expects to hire 800 engineers at its Cedar Rapids headquarters in the next year, and firms such as Howard R. Green and Shive-Hattery, will continue their recruiting efforts and attempt to make the best of difficult circumstances.
"You just have to be patient," said Shive-Hattery's Frost. "The worst thing you can do is hire a person who may not be the best candidate just to put a body in the job. That's not good for the other employees or for us."