Engineering Workforce Expert to Discuss Engineering Globalization at STEM Enterprise Measurement Event at AAAS Next Week

WASHINGTON, June 1, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is being released by IEEE-USA:

Dr. Ron Hira, a leading expert on offshoring and high-skill immigration, will be a featured speaker at a STEM measurement workshop in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday 6 June.

Hira, an associate professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology, will discuss the globalization of the engineering enterprise and what metrics should be collected to better understand it. His presentation will look at jobs, work, education, professional associations and firms.

The full-day workshop, "STEM Enterprise: Measures for Innovation and Competitiveness," is designed to measure the impact and effectiveness of all public, private and academic money spent on research and development in the STEM area. The American Association for the Advancement of Science is the event host.

Hira is co-author of "Outsourcing America," a book The Boston Globe described as an "honest, disturbing look at outsourcing." He was one of the first researchers to link H-1B temporary visas and the offshoring of high-skill, high-wage jobs to lower-cost countries.

A licensed professional engineer and research associate for the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, Hira has testified before Congress many times on engineering workforce issues. As a consultant to what is now known as the House Science, Space & Technology Committee in 2007, he helped organize a series of briefings on the "Globalization of Innovation and Research & Development."

Additional workshop speakers include, among others, leading labor economist Dr. Richard Freeman, who will deliver the keynote address; Dr. Diana Hicks, chair, School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech; and Dr. Stephen Merrill, executive director, Science, Technology & Economic Policy at the National Academies.

Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.), who holds a doctorate in physics, is scheduled to speak right after lunch.

For more information on the speakers, the program and to register, see http://www.ieeeusa.org/calendar/conferences/stem/default.asp.

The workshop is organized by IEEE-USA, AIChE, AIME, ASCE and ASME and supported by a grant from the United Engineering Foundation. Cosponsors include AAAS, ASTRA, SME, Thompson Reuters and Northrop Grumman.

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SOURCE IEEE-USA