In today's global knowledge-based economy, organizations and workers are coping with an ever-increasing pace of knowledge creation, particularly in the sciences and engineering. This exponential growth is gradually reducing the length of the "half-life" value of S&E degrees. In response to this challenging environment, both developed nations and the developing world are seeking to increase and sustain technical competencies and preparedness of their workforce. The U.S. makes substantial investments in higher education from the undergraduate through the postdoctoral level. But once in the workforce, opportunities available to scientists and engineers for learning experiences that would keep them at the leading edge of knowledge in their field diminish. Further, these opportunities may be falling over time due to a shortening of employment duration with a single employer with an attendant reduction in the willingness of many organizations to invest in continuing education of their employees. The consequence of this situation is to shift the burden of maintaining human capital to individual workers. While many studies from the National Academies, the Council on Competitiveness and other think-tanks have commented on the need for the U.S. to invest in lifelong learning opportunities for working professionals, an in-depth study on the topic has not been conducted since the National Academies report on continuing education was published in 1985. In the last 23 years, dramatic changes have occurred in the global economy. The purpose of this project is to begin a careful assessment of current practices in lifelong learning available to working professional scientists and engineers. In particular, it will explore for possible unmet needs in certain economic sectors or geographic regions. Our nation's technological pre-eminence has benefited from industry-university-government cooperation in determining needs for government-supported basic and applied research and investments in higher education, particularly the education of scientists and engineers. This project is exploring the extent of need and value for greater investments in lifelong learning. The Lifelong Learning Imperative (LLI) workshop is the first step. It will synthesize information gathered from in-depth interviews of thought leaders in lifelong learning from the corporate work, academia and government. This knowledge is fundamental to the development of a framework that enables our nation to sustain the intellectual capital and hence the competitiveness and of its science and engineering workforce.
