The United States is losing its place among countries producing the most engineers, according to engineering research agencies. Evidence of this trend can be seen everywhere from Pacific Rim nations to Milwaukee and Marquette.

Engineering Trends, a research consulting firm, recently conducted a survey that found countries in the Pacific Rim are issuing more undergraduate engineering degrees than the United States. And while the number of engineering graduates here are decreasing, other countries are seeing increases.

"They are graduating more students," said Richard Heckel, founder and technical director of Engineering Trends. "Pacific Rim countries are not only producing a lot of engineering bachelor's degrees, but their growth rates are phenomenal."

Heckel said the Pacific Rim includes countries around Japan, China, the Koreas and Taiwan.

The United States currently ranks third behind China and Japan, respectively, in the number of engineering bachelor's degrees distributed each year, according to Heckel. In the 2003-'04 school year, 76,000 undergraduates in the United States earned engineering degrees. China produced three times as many, and Japan saw 25-30 percent more, Heckel said.

Given the population differences between various Pacific Rim countries and the United States, what is significant is the rate at which engineering is growing overseas while it is slowing down here, Heckel said.

"The peak year in the United States was 1985-1986, when we graduated some 78,000 engingeers," he said. "In terms of total number of output, we may be moving into fourth or fifth place behind South Korea and Taiwan in about two years."

Foreign nationals are receiving many of the engineering degrees granted in the United States as well, according to the Engineering Workforce Commission. The commission is an arm of the American Association of Engineering Societies and tracks engineering job data.

Dan Bateson, spokesman with the commission, said the proportion of undergraduate engineering degrees granted to foreign nationals has remained constant at about 7.6 percent during the past 10 years.

But Bateson noted an increase in the number of foreign nationals obtaining doctoral engineering degrees in the United States. In 2004, foreign nationals received 58 percent of those degrees, up from 49 percent in 1995.

At Marquette, there are currently 12 international students enrolled in the College of Engineering. Barbara Silver-Thorn, associate dean for academic affairs in the college, did not know how this number compares to previous years, but said some of the international engineering students are from Pacific Rim countries.

Mark Polczynski, an adjunct associate professor of engineering, said he sees the potential for engineering jobs to shift to Pacific Rim countries where the field seems to be growing in popularity. He said he has seen his former places of work transfer some jobs to other states and eventually overseas.

"There's no doubt about it, it's a significant trend," he said. "If you look at the five companies I've worked for, they are all now either totally gone from Milwaukee or are merely shadows of their former selves."

Heckel agreed that outsourcing of engineering jobs is happening.

"Companies are teaming up with organizations where there is a tremendous supply of engineering talent," he said.

But Greg Novak, a junior in the College of Engineering, said he is not worried about finding a job upon graduation. He has a co-op with General Electric, and hopes to have work lined up in a few years.

Polczynski stressed that engineering trends are developing so rapidly that no one knows exactly what will happen.

"The real questions are where our graduates will work, who they will work for and how long," he said. "And nobody knows the answers."

This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on September 1, 2005.