Ominous Statistics Foretell Drastic Shortage Of Scientists. . .

[Editor's note: The National Science Foundation predicts that if American college and university students continue to spurn science as their primary field of study, demand for scientists will outstrip supply by almost 400,000 in the year 2000. This estimate may even be somewhat conservative, according to Richard Atkinson, president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), who is recommending a broad range of actions - including a government-sponsored program for 3,000 new four-year fellowships for Ph.D. candidates in science and engineering - to encourage more young people to pursue doctorates in the two fields. Atkinson says government intervention is necessary if the country is to produce enough scientists to meet the projected future increase in demand by both industry and academia. Leaving market mechanisms to solve the problem as employers compete for the dwindling supply of Ph.D.'s would be a slow and ineffective solution, Atkinson said at ...