National Academies Workshop “Estimating STEM Workforce Needs Under Future Scenarios” Dr. John Fischer Director, Defense Laboratory Office 1 August 2011

Defense Laboratory Enterprise Size and Scope 62 Service and DoD-owned Laboratories –Overseas locations –100s of individual laboratory facilities >$30B / year in Total Funds Executed (RDT&E, Proc, O&M, MilCon) –>60% Out-of-House: Mix of Partnerships, with industry and academia –<40% In-House: Diverse customers and competencies –Total Revenue would put it in the Fortune 100 >$11B / year in Total Research (BA 1-7) ~37,000 Scientists and Engineers –100,000 total employees – mixed government and contractor personnel –International partnerships and working relationships Diverse S&T capabilities and infrastructure mix –World leading research (Laser, Night Vision,Aero, Energetics, Armor, etc) –Innovative and capable defense engineering work across all warfighting domains –Practical implementation and solutions to legacy and current tech challenges Extended national technical footprint (funding & competencies not assessed here) –21 Department of Energy Labs –10 FFRDC labs (funding & competencies not assessed herein) –14 UARCs / 100s of Universities

Laboratory Workforce As of March 2011, approximately 108,703 S&E’s were in DoD, of whom only one-third (33.7%) are in the DoD labs. From another perspective, approximately 65,771 civilian employees are in the DoD labs, of whom more than half (55.9%) are S&Es. S&Es in DoDDoD Lab Workforce 98,600 35,400 61,400 DoD Lab S&Es S&Es in DoD DoD Lab Workforce 108,703 36,788 65,771 DoD Lab S&Es

Key Occupational Series

Occupational Job Series on the Rise Since 2008, the DoD lab S&E workforce has experienced a recent hiring resurgence in five prominent occupational series: Occupation Inc/Dec%Inc/Dec General Engineering 3,4904, % Mechanical Engineering 5,2925, % Aerospace Engineering 1,9952, % Electrical Engineering 9821, % Chemistry % Operations Research % Electronics Engineering 9,9199, %

S&E Occupational Series by Service 2011 Air ForceArmyNavy OccupationCount% TotalOccupationCount% TotalOccupationCount% Total Electronics Eng %General Eng %Electronics Eng % Aerospace Eng %Electronics Eng %Mechanical Eng % General Eng %Mechanical Eng %Computer Sci % Materials Eng2419.5%Computer Eng9909.5%General Eng % Physics2228.8%Computer Sci8067.7%Aerospace Eng % Computer Sci1736.8%Aerospace Eng6266.0%Computer Eng % Mechanical Eng1556.1%Gen. Physical Sci4033.9%Physics9965.3% Computer Eng1124.4%Chemistry3863.7%Electrical Eng8534.6% Psychology863.4%Chemical Eng3573.4%Mathematics5442.9% Gen. Physical Sci853.4%Civil Eng3193.1%Ops Research5172.8% Total %Total %Total %

Global Technology Trends Cloud Computing Cyber Quantum Computing Smart Grid Technologies/Alternative Energy Metamaterials Synthetic Biology

Workforce Challenges and Potential Solutions Workforce Challenges Retirement induced gaps Identification of new degree type and skill sets Limited resources Potential Solutions Mechanisms for hiring authorities –Direct hire of critical skills (Section 219) –SMART Program Performance based laboratory demonstration projects –Recruitment and retention –Continuing education of the current workforce

Watching Academia What are the educational trends and expected new fields (ex. cybersecurity)? Which fields are expected to lead to the next round of innovation? How should we change to take advantage of the trends? Where should we invest for the future?