House Passes Lipinski's Bill Honoring Contributions
of American Engineers

Cites Need to Improve Education to Continue American Technological Leadership in World

WASHINGTON, DC - This week the U.S. House of Representatives passed Congressman Dan Lipinski's resolution, H.Res. 681, Supporting the Goals and Ideals of National Engineers Week. Since 1951, National Engineers Week has been celebrated across the country to raise public awareness of the important contributions engineers make to our nation and to inspire more young Americans to become interested in engineering.

"Engineers have helped us build boats to cross the seas, railroads to take us west, and the internet to communicate with the world," stated Congressman Lipinski, who holds engineering degrees from Northwestern University and Stanford University. "Today we need the innovative capabilities of engineers to confront the new challenges before us, such as developing American energy independence, finding solutions to confront global climate change, and making our nation more secure."

Currently, there are more than 2 million working engineers in the United States, but the nation is lagging far behind many others, especially China and India, in the training of new engineers. The National Academy of Sciences recently released a report - Rising Above the Gathering Storm - that raised questions about America's future technological competitiveness. This report emphasized the need for the government to take a number of actions, including addressing the looming shortage of engineers. Improving science, technology, math, and engineering education is one needed step and Congressman Lipinski has co-sponsored legislation that will address many of these education gaps.

"I am one of only nine members of this body who has an engineering degree," said Congressman Lipinski. "People often ask me, ‘How does your training as an engineer help you?' Certainly it helps in understanding science and technology issues, math and science education, and transportation and manufacturing issues. But engineering is more than that. Simply put - engineering is problem-solving. Training as an engineer teaches you how to analyze a problem and how to put the steps together to solve that problem, no matter what it may be. It helps teach the type of analytical and innovative thinking that has made America a world leader technologically, militarily, and economically. We must do everything we can to encourage and inspire future engineers so that America continues as a leader in this increasingly competitive world."

To view Congressman Lipinski's statement on the floor of the House of Representatives during debate of H. Res. 681, click on this link:  http://www.house.gov/apps/list/speech/il03_lipinski/new2006.html