It is time that we in the US stop outsourcing research. By this, I refer to the overwhelming dependence we have on research talent brought here from overseas. This is true in the universities in all the physical sciences and engineering. It is increasingly true at corporations, and apparently at government labs and agencies.
The current NASA lapse in the news appears very similar to the series of such breaches we witnessed in Los Alamos.
So isn't it about time we pay whatever stipends are needed to induce Americans to study the physical sciences and engineering in our graduate schools and pursue advanced degrees? We currently use taxpayers to support smart but foreign graduate students in our research teams. Many of these students will go back to their native countries and form the basis of our industrial competition in the future.
This plan can be phased in over a period of sufficient duration to disseminate incentives to students currently in junior and senior high schools. It's about time.
