NAE Members Testify in Congress on ‘Gathering Storm’

September 29, 2010 -- Four members of the National Academy of Engineering who were among the authors of the influential 2005 report Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future and the recently released update Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Revisited: Rapidly Approaching Category Five, testified today before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology. The hearing focused on how investments in science and education can boost the competitive position of the U.S. in the global economy. Watch the hearing and see testimony here.

The new report, which was requested by the presidents of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine and presented to Congress last week, says that America’s ability to compete for quality jobs in the global economy has continued to deteriorate in the last five years, and the nation needs a sustained investment in education and basic research to spur innovation and keep its competitive position from slipping further. The four NAE members who testified are ‘Gathering Storm’ Committee Chair Norman R. Augustine, former chairman and CEO, Lockheed Martin Corp.; Craig R. Barrett, former chairman and CEO, Intel Corp.; Charles O. Holliday Jr., current chairman of Bank of America and former chairman and CEO, DuPont; and C.D. (Dan) Mote Jr., president emeritus and Glenn L. Martin Institute Professor of Engineering, University of Maryland.

At today’s hearing Mote also discussed another recent National Research Council report, S&T Strategies of Six Countries: Implications for the United States, which analyzed science and technology strategies in Japan, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and Singapore and their potential impact on U.S. national security; Mote chaired the committee that authored the report. Holliday focused part of his testimony on the recommendations of A Business Plan for America’s Energy Future, a recent report by the American Energy Innovation Council, of which he and Augustine are members.

• Watch the hearing and see testimony here