Intel President Calls for More Engineers

ATLANTA, GA: Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini stated that “a chronic shortage of engineering students threatens America’s role as the world’s leading innovator and continues to impede our nation’s fragile economic recovery” in his opinion article printed in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, among other national papers.  While overall college graduation rates have grown dramatically over the years, the number of engineers produced has stayed at roughly 120,000 per year over the past two decades.  India and China produce about 1 million engineers per year.  Alarmingly, he pointed to the fact (according to data from the American Society of Engineering Education) that 40 percent of freshmen leave engineering after their first year.  Otellini is a member of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.