Human Resources committee  I think it's more taking those who already have an interest in science and engineering, those who are already in those programs, and making sure that, through their education—bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D.—they have exposure to more than academic life. It's making sure that they

Human Resources committee  It has to be systematic. There has to be a program around the students to provide the exposure, such as getting people from the private sector to come and meet the students for half a day, or the students going to the company's site to talk to the marketing folks, to talk to the

Human Resources committee  It's my pleasure.

Human Resources committee  I would qualify our mandate as one of providing people who are able to carry out discovery and innovation.

Human Resources committee  Agreed. Those skills come from different types of experiences. There are the academic courses per se, but then there are the other experiences that come with the co-op programs, for instance, that combine study with work placement and experience on the job. Some universities re

Human Resources committee  Well, I think there have been many success stories. Working with the private sector is a contact sport, if you use that analogy. You really need to have very close interaction and to develop a working relationship between academia and industry. It takes time to do that. You start

Human Resources committee  I'm not going to touch upon more about K-12—

Human Resources committee  —because our agency deals with colleges and universities.

Human Resources committee  There's a retention issue. Many jobs now, I think, require more advanced degrees than they did a number of years ago. It's making sure that we retain those who choose to go into physics or engineering 101 and that they continue to 201, 301, and go on to complete their degrees. It

Human Resources committee  Formally we have not, but informally, from our discussions with colleagues in Japan and Taiwan and other countries, part of the answer is K-12 education and making sure that any graduate with a high school degree has the option of going into science and engineering and doesn't op

Human Resources committee  I'm not an expert on K-12.

Human Resources committee  We did a study a number of years ago. The pipeline was small, so we wondered how we could increase the pipeline going from high school to universities. One of the elements, one of the facts we found at that point, was the number of science teachers in high schools who themselves

Human Resources committee  That could be part of it, but this is really not my expertise. I think I'd be making assumptions. Others might have better answers than I have on this specific element.

Human Resources committee  NSERC is a federal agency. Therefore, all our funding comes from the federal government. We will find out tomorrow, when the budget is presented, how much we will have. Like the other agencies and departments, we had to provide possible budget reduction plans. We fulfilled our ob

Human Resources committee  We'll find out tomorrow.