Engineering academies to combat the "New American Dilemma".

Engineering academies to combat the "New American Dilemma". DATA FROM THE BUREAU OF LABOR Statistics Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)A research agency of the U.S. Department of Labor; it compiles statistics on hours of work, average hourly earnings, employment and unemployment, consumer prices and many other variables. say that two of the fivefastest-growing occupations in the next five years will be engineeringrelated and that the supply of engineering professionals has failed tomeet market demands. In an effort to address this issue, the NationalAcademy Foundation (NAF NAF National Arbitration ForumNAF National Academy FoundationNAF National Abortion FederationNaF sodium fluorideNAF Naval Air FacilityNAF National Ataxia FoundationNAF New America Foundation (think tank)), a partnership of business and educationleaders that sustains a nationwide network of public career-themedacademies, recently announced at its first corporate education summit aninitiative to bring more educational opportunities in the field ofengineering to urban minority students throughout the nation. In collaboration with Project Lead the Way (PLTW PLTW Project Lead the Way ), a nonprofitengineering curriculum and professional development program, and theNational Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME NACME National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering ), theinitiative will create 13 new Academies of Engineering (AOE (ATA Over Ethernet) A protocol for transferring data from an ATA (IDE) hard disk directly over the network. Developed by Coraid Inc. (www.coraid.com), AoE allows a storage area network (SAN) to be constructed economically within a LAN subnet. ) for the2008 school year, following a year of planning that began in July 2007.Jon Reinhard, AOE project director, hopes to see the Academies grow to anetwork of 110 by 2010. Irving McPhail, executive vice president and chief operatingofficer Chief Operating Officer (COO)The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. of NACME, calls the shortage of U.S. engineers-especially amongwomen and underrepresented minorities--the "new Americandilemma." With mentoring and internship opportunities supported bypartnerships with Fortune 500 firms, McPhail says the AOE initiative isa deliberate effort to actively engage students in engineeringdisciplines and "connect what they learn in the classroom toreal-world problem-solving situations." Reinhard adds that integration across all subjects--core areas likelanguage arts and social studies included--is at the heart of theAcademies' goals. "We're for all kids, and whatwe're really doing is setting the stage for postsecondary andreal-world success." [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] NAF currently serves over 50,000 students in 41 states through itsFinance, Hospitality and Tourism, and Information Technology Academies.The new Academies are being funded by grants from the Bill and MelindaGates Foundation Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,philanthropic institution founded in 1994 by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, to improve the lives of the poor throughout the world, primarily through grants for projects relating to global health care, , the Motorola Foundation, Verizon and Xerox.