Attracting New Blood.

• Author: Quenneville, Don
• Position: READER'S FORUM - Letter to the editor

* In your editorial "Attracting New Blood Tougher Than Building Jets and ICBMs." (Sept. 2009) you have accurately characterized the acute shortage of scientists and engineers that faces the defense industry, especially those scientists and engineers who can get a security clearance.

Despite being in an area of the country that is rich in technologically oriented institutions of higher learning, industry leaders in the New England region work daily to solve this worsening dilemma. One of the more innovative initiatives designed to target potential science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) students has been developed through a collaboration of Boston-based ConnectEDU and the Massachusetts High Technology Council.

ConnectEDU (http://www.connectedu.net) is the nation's leading technology firm dedicated to providing students, educators and employers with comprehensive solutions to successfully navigate education and employment transitions; the Massachusetts High Technology Council (http://mhtc.org) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan lobbying organization that represents technology employers.

The collaboration of these two has resulted in the launch of TalentConnect, a comprehensive new work force development program that uses ConnectEDU's web-based technology to create a seamless talent pipeline from high school through college and into the work force.

High school students benefit from TalentConnect by having free access to a full-service college to career development program. TalentConnect gives college students the ability to reach out to prospective employers for internship and long-term employment opportunities.

Don Quenneville

* I very much appreciated the chance to read your piece on attracting new talent. It presents a balanced and interesting view of youth's declining interest in science and engineering.

I am an active published senior research engineer in industry with experience dating back to 1974 I hold one technology degree, two engineering degrees, and a Ph.D. in computer science.

I am extremely concerned about America's declining education system Even if youth are interested in science and engineering, they are not, as a whole, getting the background needed to embrace such fields of work. As an adjunct professor, about 50 percent of the people who enter my graduate classes don't have the slightest appropriate undergraduate preparation. Worse, their study-learn-work-produce ethic is nearly absent. As a money-making system seeking...