Hi-Tech Kids: Our Future Is In Their Hands

By Russ Yelton

          In the late 1990s I accepted a job teaching middle-school students computer technologies. I was promised a brand new lab and, while I have never considered myself the most technology savvy person, you can imagine my surprise to find eight different types of Macintosh in my room with over half running off 5-¬º inch drives!

           

Representatives from 13 countries gather at the 100 year old entrance to Fudan University.  Russ Yeltson is standing in the center of the second row.

            It was impossible to meet the objectives of the class using outdated technology. After suffering through one semester using these dinosaurs, I commandeered an eighth-grade computer lab with decent machines until a new lab was purchased the following year.

Many people are beginning to wonder how we are going to compete in the global economy and a world moving faster and faster as the result of innovations in technology. We cannot keep using outdated technologies, and we already are seeing a shortage of students graduating with engineering and scientific degrees. Statistics show the U.S. graduating only 134,000 four-year engineering students annually compared to 351,000 graduated annually by China1. But is the U.S. really that short of engineers and science graduates? A survey of 4,000 engineering firms in November 2005 showed that 56 percent reported having a shortage of engineers2.

In Western North Carolina, where we lack a major research institution, we face specific challenges in attracting both companies and talented individuals to work for them. The high cost of housing is an added burden. Fortunately, both Western Carolina University and Appalachian State University have developed innovative programs that will greatly assist in the development of needed graduates. But will we have the needed numbers of students to take them?

In order to engage younger people in engineering and the sciences, we have to look at the changing culture in the U.S. While many of us enjoy the benefits of the pace of technology change, the aging of our population will soon lead to an exodus of professionals in these professions. Younger people have become increasingly used to instant gratification. From text messaging to blogging, we have instant access to people and information. We are not used to working through a development cycle to get results.

In China, students are engaged in considering high-tech professions in a number of ways. The Yangpu Science and Technology Center in Shanghai has a business incubator with a smaller program called a student incubator. Students from Fudan University work with professors to commercialize their technologies even before some have declared majors. Projects cover a broad range of technologies and applications, and a number of them work to solve very specific cultural issues. In Shanghai, for example, a large population and a limited number of theaters make something as simple as attending a movie problematic. Residents wait in line sometimes for hours in hopes of getting a seat. To solve this, a professor and students developed new software for their local theaters: residents simply go online and pre-purchase their movie tickets, and the software emails a barcode to the ticket purchaser. On arriving at the theater, a patron simply swipes his cell phone for admission.

Mobile-Ticket Business Logic software developed by students and Professors at Fudan University in Shanghai, China.  The Yangpu Science and Technology Center is partnered with the Business Incubator at AB-Tech Community College.

The same type of student involvement is happening in Guadalajara, Mexico. At the Technologico de Monterrey, students work with companies in their incubation program as well. One of the most promising technologies I saw there earlier this year was the development of a watch to be worn by diabetics. Using new non-invasive technologies, the watch is designed to monitor blood glucose levels and automatically administer insulin as needed. Through the incubator program, students were working directly with the manufacturer to apply what they were learning in their classes.

One of the best models is the Scibelli Enterprise Center in Springfield, MA. In this model, the incubator staff goes into the local middle- and high schools seeking out young entrepreneurs. The staff provides lesson plans to teachers across all disciplines and provides office space to students wishing to start their own businesses. Students interested in high technology are paired with local professionals who serve as mentors, getting the opportunity to explore their desired fields and learn from actual operating companies. This model is being adapted by the Business Incubator at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, which also has international agreements with other incubators.

With technological change moving so fast, we sometimes need to slow down to appreciate what we do have available to us. I find myself now chatting in real time with my new contacts in China as we seek new markets for U.S.-based businesses. It is also easy for me in the afternoon to start up a software program called Skype to speak directly into my laptop (essentially a free phone call) to work with a client who has moved her business to New Zealand. From Palm Pilots to iPods and Blackberrys, technology is moving at the speed of light, and we need a skilled, trained and, most importantly, interested workforce to keep the U.S. in the forefront of development.

To encourage more interest in fields such as engineering and science, we have to put more in students\’ hands. While in my old biology classes, we studied the text and performed labs; this is simply not enough in today\’s environment. Today\’s students have greater expectations and demands, and shorter and shorter attention spans. They want to see that what they are doing is useful in a real-world environment; they need to be engaged in an increasingly global society.

When students see applications designed by their peers being put to work in worldwide economies, they begin to understand the new world and workforce — as well as the importance of learning about other cultures. And when given the ability to see their own work utilized in actual business or experiments, they quickly grasp how exciting math and science can be when applied to real projects.

The insurgence of new technologies will continue with or without us, and we have to prepare our best and brightest for this challenge. After all, in the end it is only a short flight across a big pond that separates us all.

1 Engineering, Is the US Really Falling?, Business Week Magazine, December 25, 2005.

2 Ibid.

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Russ Yelton is the Director of the Small Business Center, A-B Tech Enka-Candler Campus