Adm. Kirkland Donald, the fourth highest-ranking U.S. Navy officer and director of the Navy's nuclear program, will talk about "Technical Education and National Security" at MIT on Wednesday, April 11.
Donald will address the MIT community at a one-hour seminar at 3 p.m. in NW14-1112. At 4 p.m., he will answer questions from Navy ROTC midshipmen.
Donald, director of naval nuclear propulsion, said that recent statistics reflect an erosion of America's scientific and technical base. "We lack the number of students in science and engineering disciplines to replenish our retiring and diminishing workforce," he said. "In 2004, China graduated over 600,000 engineers; India, 350,000; and America, about 70,000." Donald said that tens of thousands of construction and plant operation jobs will result from the resurgence of the commercial nuclear industry driven by global and domestic energy demands, but the United States may not be graduating enough engineers to fulfill the need.
The event is sponsored by the MIT section of the American Nuclear Society.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on April 11, 2007 (download PDF).
