This editorial was first published in the October 2010 issue of HBCU Digest. Gary S. May is the Steve W. Chaddick School Chair in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Many experts would agree that the technological innovations of the last 50 years have spawned unprecedented productivity in the U.S. workforce and a host of new industries. However, our current level of know-how and prosperity is a precarious one, since this "new economy" is critically dependent on the talents and knowledge of a diverse and available technical workforce. To ensure that the workforce of tomorrow possesses the necessary skills to maintain the nation’s unprecedented leadership in technology, as well as to increase the likelihood that future science and engineering jobs will be filled by a qualified domestic workforce, every U.S. citizen must be given an equal opportunity to gain the skills and knowledge necessary to compete.

To read the full editorial, visit the HBCU Digest web site at http://www.hbcudigest.com/2010/10/editorial-a-house-built-on-sand/