In a roomful of employers and education and workforce professionals convened by the Tulsa Regional Chamber, Oklahoma State University’s Dr. Hanchen Huang provided the following tidbits. 

“The state of Oklahoma every year creates about 3,000 engineering jobs,” said Huang, dean of OSU’s College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology. “All the universities combined graduate only about 1,500 engineers. Out of the 1,500, about half leave the state...That’s a major problem we all need to think about.” 

And think about it, he and others did Thursday. 

More than 100 people attended the Chamber’s Engineering Talent Solutions Forum at Zeeco’s world headquarters in Tulsa. 

They rolled up their sleeves over lunch and tackled how to increase the number of engineers in the region. 

The United States faces an annual shortage of 18,000 engineers, according to research from the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC). The crisis threatens the nation’s ability to modernize critical infrastructure. 

“We’re here today because engineering is important to each and every one of you,” said Kim Wilmes, senior vice president of economic development for the Chamber. “What we continue to hear from local employers all throughout the region is how do we get kids more excited about the engineering career path? How do we get kids prepared for this track? 

“What experiences should they have? How do we retain them here? How do we attract them here? A lot of our employers need engineers right now.” 

Jeff Wilkie, principal at HoganTaylor, served as facilitator of the event, and Chamber staffers moderated the roundtable discussions, scribbling the feedback on flip charts. 

Wilmes said her team would later share all the collected information with the audience, which, when asked by Wilmes, seemed eager to meet again. 

 “Our goal (Thursday) is not really just to have a conversation,” she said. “We want you all to know each other. We want you to get comfortable working together. But we really want to come away with some good potential solutions that you in this room can be a part of. 

“...You each have a perspective to share. A lot of times we don’t know why things are happening or why things are happening the way they are. We have you at the tables to have those hard, honest conversations because without that, there’s no way for us to move forward.”