January 17, 2006 :: No. 111

Cal State Fullerton is partnering with Assemblywoman Lynn Daucher (R-Brea) Friday, Jan. 20 , for a Cal State Fullerton Technology Summit, where educators and industry leaders will help engineer the future of technology education and workforce development in Orange County.

The Thales-Raytheon Systems Conference Room in the university's Engineering Building is the setting for the 1:30-3:30 p.m. summit.  

The participants are intent on bolstering Orange County's and California's competitiveness in technology. Among the questions to be addressed: What are the key recruitment challenges in engineering and technology for local industry? What are the skill sets that engineering graduates need to be equipped with in the future?

“California has been the world's leader of technology for more than a generation, and to keep our competitive edge, our students need the math and science skills required to compete effectively,” said Daucher. “The Cal State Fullerton Technology Summit is an excellent opportunity for industry leaders, educators and legislators to find ways to keep California and the U.S. on top.”

Joining Daucher; Raman Unnikrishnan, dean of the CSUF College of Engineering and Computer Science; and Associate Dean Dorota Huizinga at the summit will be presidents, CEOs and other Southland business leaders, including Cal State Fullerton graduates (noted below). Scheduled to attend are:

• John Britigan, senior program manager/site director for General Dynamics-Advanced Information Systems in Anaheim Hills (B.S. physics '76)

• Kevin M. Carnino, president and CEO of KOR Electronics in Cypress

• Amir Dabirian , chief information technology officer at Cal State Fullerton (B.S. engineering-electrical '85, M.S. engineering-electrical '88)

• Patrick Fuscoe , president of Fuscoe Engineering in Irvine

• Darrell F. Jodoin , director of design and engineering for the Disneyland Resort (B.S. engineering-mechanical '85)

• Raymond Hemann , president of Advanced Systems Research Inc. of Pasadena (M.S. engineering-systems engineering '70, M.A. economics '72)

• Kim Kerry , CEO, Thales-Raytheon Systems in Fullerton

• Sean Peasley , principal, Enterprise Risk Services, Deloitte & Touche LLP (B.S. computer science and business administration-accounting '88)

• Joyce Robinson , director of technology development and integration for Boeing Integrated Defense Systems in Anaheim

• Albert Wong , co-founder of AST Research and founder of AMKLY Systems, is president of EMI Asia Limited (B.S. engineering-electrical '75).

“Innovation is the key to competitiveness,” noted Unnikrishnan. “As one of the inventors of Smalltalk, a programming language that greatly influenced the development of Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows, once said, 'The best way to predict the future is to invent it.' To do that we need to address two fundamental issues: pipeline – increasing the number of scientists, engineers and mathematicians entering the workforce, and infrastructure – those things that contribute to the quality of education in math, science and engineering, at all levels.”

The California State University system awards more than half of the state's baccalaureate degrees in engineering and produces 41 percent of the state's information technology graduates.

Still, some 14,000 California jobs requiring bachelor's degrees in science or engineering go unfilled each year, noted Unnikrishnan. “More needs to be done to stock the innovation pool, especially in Orange County,” he said.

At Cal State Fullerton, a variety of programs serve to attract junior and senior high school students to and enrich their experiences in math, science and engineering. Among them are:

• MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement ) , which serves educationally disadvantaged students in grades 7-12 at eight junior high schools and five high schools in Orange County. The program provides academic development assistance to help students excel in math and science and prepare them for success in college. [ view MESA's website ]

• Project MISS (Mathematics Intensive Summer Session), provides summer programs in algebra and precalculus for 10th- and 11th-grade girls. Since the program's launch in 1990, 98 percent of its participants have completed high school and entered college – 20 percent of them majoring in science, technology, engineering or math.

• The Mathematics Diagnostic Testing Project assists local middle and high school teachers in testing students for their math abilities in prealgebra through precalculus by diagnosing areas of strength and weakness. [ view Mathematics Diagnostiv Testing Project website ]

• GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program) provides Saturday math workshops, a summer math academy, parent workshops, counselor training and professional development for math teachers in its partnerships with middle and high schools in low-income communities to help raise expectations and ensure college entry for students. [ view GEAR UP website ]

• Teachers Assisting Students to Excel in Learning Mathematics uses collaborative professional development to improve students' achievement in math at four high schools, seven middle schools and three continuation high schools.

The College of Engineering and Computer Science is seeking to become one of three sites in California to pilot a Johns Hopkins University-created introductory summer course, “What Is Engineering?,” for MESA high school students. In the 56-hour course that would be taught by CSUF faculty members, students would explore the different fields of engineering through a series of lectures, laboratories and hands-on projects.

The Cal State Fullerton Technology Summit comes at a time when statistics compiled by the state's Department of Education indicate that the percentage of Orange County high school students enrolled in upper-level math and science courses is less than 16 percent. Still, OC enrollments exceed statewide averages that range from five percent in first-year physics to 12 percent in advanced math.

The Orange County Business Council in its 2005 Orange County Workforce State of County Report tied education to the county's economic health: “Having a great percentage of high school students taking upper-level math, science and computer courses is essential for continuing economic success for Orange County businesses hoping to hire local workers. If Orange County high school students do not enroll in upper-level sciences and math courses, they will not be prepared to obtain college degrees in the sciences or technology, which form the foundation of high-tech industries.”

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