Keep Industrial and Systems Engineering at FIU Alive TODAY to Secure The Future of All The Engineering Programs at FIU

To:  Florida Governor

We the undersigned petition the Florida Governor to Save the profitable Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) program at Florida International University (FIU) and continue promoting Engineering in the State of Florida.

Statement:
Our Community; Our Industry; and Most Importantly Our Nation Needs Engineering to Survive and Grow In This New Globalized World.

Objectives:
1. Reject the plan to close the Industrial and Systems Engineering programs at FIU
2. Work with the alternative budget cut plan being propose by the ISE Department of FIU
3. Keep the Profitable ISE program at FIU alive for the future of engineering in the US

Florida International University (FIU) is facing an $11 million budget cut for 2008-2009 fiscal year. Due to the need for these budget cuts on May 15, 2008, Dean Mirmiran announces a recommendation to close all Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) programs.

If we continue down this path TODAY we will close down ISE, and TOMORROW we will slowly close down other Engineering programs at FIU.

STOP the CLOSING of the ISE program at FIU. Budget cuts DO NOT MEAN close down valuable academic programs at FIU. There are alternatives. One alternative being the ISE budget cut proposal that would NOT require the closing of the ISE program.

FIU CANNOT be interested in a SHORT-TERM MISGUIDED SOLUTION what FIU should NEED/WANT is a LONG-TERM SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION a solution with a future.

Disadvantages for our Nation (USA):
• The National Science Board (NSB) monitors a science and engineering indicators which in 2004 informed of the troubling trend, a decline in the number of US citizens who are training to become engineers. The NSB claims that these trends “threaten the economic well fair and security of our country”.

• The NSB report found that the number of Americans 18- 24 years old enrolled in a science and engineering degree is falling. The US ranked 3rd a few decades ago and today we have fallen to 17th in the world.

• Of the 2.8 million Bachelors Degrees in Science and Engineering granted world wide in 2003 only 400 thousand are from the USA:
• Asian: 1.2 million were eared by Asian students in Asian Universities
• European: 830 thousand
• US: 400 thousand

• In engineering Asian countries now produce 8 TIMES as many bachelors’ degrees as the United States does.

• In 2002 the number of Americans graduating with engineering degrees is 5% compared to 25% in Russia and 46% in China.

• NASA, a 2003 government accounting office study concluded that NASA was having difficulty hiring people with the sufficient engineering and information technology skills that are critical to its operations.

Disadvantages for our industry
• If local industry cannot hire engineers locally they will be forced to take their business (tax dollars, infrastructure, high wages, investment, etc….) to other cities or states who do offer a labor pool of highly demanded engineers. FIU industrial engineering alumni have been highly employable; you find them in the following companies:
oGE, Motorola, FPL, Beckman Coulter, Boeing, IBM, Procter & Gamble, NASA, Homeland Security, USPS, DHL, UPS, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Boston Scientific, JMH, Mercy Hospital. Baptist Hospital, Cordis among others

Disadvantages for our community
• Impact to FIU Alumni
o The degrees FIU Alumni worked so hard for will DIMINISH in value.
• Impact to Current FIU Students
o Students currently in the program will be affected negatively as they will be faced with working on a degree that will not have the same value as when they enrolled.
• Impact the FIU name
o Start to tarnish the image FIU has created over the years.


Closing ISE at FIU will is not only hurting students, our local community and industry but it is also putting our nation’s well being in jeopardy over time. At a time were need to be creative in coming up with ways to attract more engineering students and grow the engineering program we are doing the opposite (not very strategic).

Alternatives Solution for the budget cut (No permanent harm to FIU or Engineering):

The plan proposed by the ISE department would have significant savings that would easily meet budget goals:
• Hiring FREEZE,
• Dean‘s Office budget REDUCTION
• Other monetarily significant cuts that will not permanently damage FIU

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Keep Industrial and Systems Engineering at FIU Alive TODAY to Secure The Future of All The Engineering Programs at FIU Petition to Florida Governor was created by and written by Nathan Contreras (contrerasnathan@yahoo.de).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.