Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2007 00:35:08 -0800
From: Norm Matloff <matloff@cs.ucdavis.edu>
To: Norm Matloff <matloff@cs.ucdavis.edu>
Subject: "STEM?  Who said STEM?  Wasn't us"

To: H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter

Many of you will recall that the Urban Institute recently came out with
a report whose summary was that, contrary to numerous claims that the U.S.
is not producing enough graduates in science, technology, engineering
and math (STEM), we are in fact producing far more than we need.  

You may also recall that I stated that the claims of a STEM shortage
had been made by computer industry lobbyists who were pushing Congress to
expand the H-1B program.  Microsoft and Intel rarely hire mathematicians
(in fact, NO ONE does), but the STEM umbrella gave them a much more
powerful wedge on the Hill than if they had cited the narrow fields of
computer science and electrical engineering.

So, when the UI study came out, I noted that the industry lobbyists'
response would be to say, "Oh, sure, we have lots of STEM graduates but
not enough in CS and EE."  It would be rank hypocrisy, of course, but
people in Congress wouldn't notice, and the UI report would be
effectively banished from the minds of the politicians.

Well, sure enough, University of Washington CS professor Ed Lazowska has
said exactly that in a letter to the editor of the Chronicle of Higher
Education, enclosed below.  He says we do have plenty of STEM graduates,
but not in crucial fields.  Right on schedule.

Lazowska has been the champion academic in public support for H-1B,
quoted quite often in the press.  This may be because he is so remarkably 
beholden to the industry.  Here is what I wrote in my university law 
journal article (http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/MichJLawReform.pdf): 

#    The Web page of the Computer Science Department at the University of
#    Washington, a leading supporter of industry's labor shortage claims,
#    showed the following as of March 16, 2000:  $1.5 milion from Ford
#    Motor Co. in research funds; ``several million dollars'' in
#    equipment from Intel; $500,000 from Boeing for an endowed faculty
#    chair; another $500,000 chair from Microsoft; another chair from
#    Boeing; and finally, $3 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates
#    Foundation for two endowed chairs.  Department chair Ed Lazowska,
#    who has been an outspoken supporter of the H-1B program, personally
#    benefits financially from a cozy relationship with industry too.
#    According to his personal Web page, http://lazowska.cs.washington.edu/, 
#    he is ``member of the Technical Advisory Boards for Microsoft
#    Research, Voyager Capital, Ignition, Frazier Technology Ventures,
#    Madrona Venture Group, and Impinj, and of the Boards of Directors
#    of Data I/O Corporation and Lguide.com.'';...

As to the projection he attributes to the Dept. of Commerce, he is
referring to the Dept. of Labor, not DOC, and I would point to something
a clever faculty colleague of mine said.  When our department chair
said, "The government projects that software engineering will be the
fastest-growing field in the next ten years," my colleague said, "Yeah,
but in which country?" :-)

Norm

To the Editor:

Michael S. Teitelbaum's Congressional testimony regarding the science
and engineering work force fails to differentiate among fields
("Researchers Dispute Notion That America Lacks Scientists and
Engineers," The Chronicle, November 16). It's hard to draw useful
conclusions from such a broad-brush approach.

There are fields that have faced, and continue to face, very significant
work-force shortages. For example, the U.S.  Department of Commerce
projected that between 2004 and 2014, 78 percent of new jobs in science
and engineering, and 68 percent of job openings (new jobs plus
replacements for retirees), will be in information technology. …

There may well be a glut of graduates in biology, but there is a
documented shortage of various medical professionals.

Work-force and pipeline issues in the STEM fields — science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics — are complex and subtle. Recently Congress
has heard some simplistic views. Let's deepen the discussion.

Ed Lazowska
Professor of Computer Science
and Engineering
University of Washington
Seattle