In its “Science and Technology Priorities for the FY 2014 Budget,” OSTP and the Office of Management and Budget emphasized the need for coordinated efforts by all government agencies to address the entire spectrum of concerns regarding STEM education, R&D, and the future of the U.S. technology base.

“Scientific discovery, technological breakthroughs and innovation are the primary engines for expanding the frontiers of human knowledge and are vital for responding to the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century,” Holdren wrote in a memorandum accompanying the report. “Within research portfolios, agencies are encouraged to identify and pursue ‘Grand Challenges’ – ambitious goals that require advances in science, technology and innovation to achieve …

“[Those should] support the research tools and infrastructure needed to ensure that U.S. science remains at the leading edge of discovery … Agencies should also enhance coordination with other agencies and focus their funding on those areas of STEM education where the federal government can have maximum impact. These areas include engaging more citizens in STEM, preparing effective STEM teachers, and improving undergraduate STEM success … .”

Countering the decline in advanced U.S. technology education also is a battle against complacency and “instant gratification.” With technologies advancing so quickly and new capabilities becoming part of daily life seemingly every day (increasingly the fruit of non-U.S. R&D), many adolescents and young adults have come to expect such things without the need to work to help bring them about. Worse, many of the most talented college grads who might contribute to scientific breakthroughs are instead lured away by the financial services industry, which offers massive financial incentives.

The moon race attracted students to those difficult majors and helped give the United States an influx of young, high-tech scientists and engineers in the 1960s and ’70s. But as they moved into leadership roles in the 1980s and ’90s – and despite an ever-faster rate of breakthroughs and advances at all levels of technology – the next-generation U.S. “bench” went into decline. That left fewer and fewer people qualified to not only replace the retiring workforce, but continue pushing technology to new heights.

At the same time, industry has been forced into what might be seen as a “chicken or egg” situation, needing to advance its technology to remain competitive, but allocating scarce R&D funds only where it expects to have a large enough market to justify it, according to Dale A. Ormond, director of the Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM). And that has added to the dilemma facing the military.

In a cascade effect, fewer scientists and engineers led to a diminished infrastructure and a growing possibility of not only seeing other nations taking the lead in future advances, but the United States not having the capability to match or even understand how to implement and improve on those advances.

“Like many people in this part of the business, I worry that we don’t get so focused on the here-and-now that we lose sight of the future, because reconstitution in the future can take decades. If we walk away from things because of budget constraints, we may not be able to rebuild that for decades – if at all,” warned Mary E. Lacey, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for RDT&E. “We need to be involved, even if not driving everything, although there are some things we really ought to drive because they are so important to the military. And if we don’t drive them, we should at least assure we are in the right place in terms of global availability.

“The Navy is focusing on having the right capacity – people and knowledge and facilities and equipment to do the tasks the Navy needs them to do [and] making sure they keep up or increase their skills where needed,” Lacey continued. “Part of that is being able to produce [foreign-developed technologies] without relying on someone outside the U.S. So we need to understand how much capacity we must have to meet the military need, then make sure that capacity is maintained to take advantage of breakthroughs, no matter where they occur.”

All the uniformed services have created community outreach and college-level programs to encourage and support student interest in STEM.

“Talent is what we must have and be able to hire. Part of our reason for being engaged in academia is not only to take advantage of the great research they are doing, but also to engage with the talent they are developing,” Walker said. “Working with the universities so they understand our needs is part of their own recruiting efforts. We’ve been very engaged for decades in doing this, which is one reason we are able still to find the talent we need right now.

“But this is not something we can let our guard down on – we must continue doing this, keeping engaged and finding the best students, using our internships and STEM programs to get people excited about what we are doing in DoD – and particularly the Department of the Air Force – and bring that talent on to serve our needs.”

While most such efforts focus on college and middle and high school students, RDECOM’s Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC) has begun a five-year initiative called STEM Superstar in 12 elementary schools in the immediate area of its headquarters at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. In its inaugural 2012-2013 school year, the program will reach approximately 6,000 students, from kindergarten to fifth grade, with activities designed to challenge them to think like engineers.

“Building, imagining, discovering – these are all things kids do naturally when they play,” CERDEC educational outreach team lead Erica Bertoli said. “No one ever puts the word ‘engineering’ next to it, but that’s what they’re doing. We hope that STEM Superstar shows students that engineering is truly a creative science … Too long there has been a paradigm in this country that you’re either a math and science kid or a creative, artsy kid. It’s a disservice to the kids and our country. Engineering, innovation – it’s driven by creativity,” she added.

“We’re trying to demystify math and science and give students the confidence to believe they can do it … and set a foundation for a future that might involve the statement, ‘I want to be an engineer when I grow up’ … We show them the amazing things engineers at CERDEC do – creating night vision goggles to let soldiers see in the dark, making ‘sense-through-the-wall’ that lets soldiers see what’s on the other side of a brick wall. To a kid, what CERDEC engineers do can seem like really giving soldiers super powers – and that’s a powerful message,” Bertoli said.