Newswise — September 21, 2015 - Warrendale, PA (USA): How can the United States increase the quality of its STEM workforce and stay competitive in a global market? The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) addressed this issue for more than 40 attendees from U.S. Senate and House Congressional offices at a Materials Information Luncheon: Building the STEM Workforce for a Robust Economy on Wednesday, September 16.

Held at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., this educational event featured introductory comments from U.S. Congressman Keith Rothfus (PA-12), a member of the bipartisan STEM Education Caucus, and was moderated by TMS Member Iver Anderson, U.S. Department of Energy Ames Laboratory and Iowa State University.

"I'm grateful to TMS and other organizations that encourage our young people to seriously consider pursuing STEM education and careers and to stick to their goals," said Rothfus. "If our country is going to continue to be an innovation leader, we need all the help we can get from people who are passionate about getting our future workforce engaged and trained."

The event looked at issues surrounding the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) debate—such as how to build a more diverse, better equipped workforce to draw from and how the U.S. can compete in the global market for STEM professionals—as well as at innovative ways to attract young people to STEM careers, with a particular focus on materials science and engineering.

"Our TMS Materials Information Luncheon clearly communicated that STEM education is vital to U.S. innovation and competitiveness, especially for refreshing and reinforcing our aging workforce in current and emerging high tech jobs," said Anderson. "We also made the case that it is critical for our new STEM-trained innovators to include many more women and under-represented minorities, pulling these new engineers, skilled technologists, and scientists from our full population pool into successful careers."

The event featured presentations by Ernest Levert, Lockheed Martin Corporation, and Suveen Mathaudhu, University of California, Riverside—two professionals who not only have extensive technical expertise and successful careers, but also a proven history of and a passion for communicating science and engineering to the next generation.

Ernest Levert, Lockheed Martin Fellow at Lockheed Martin Corporation, travels the globe sharing his expertise in laser and electron beam welding processes and sees the STEM challenge firsthand from the industry perspective. Levert makes it a priority to inspire the next generation of STEM professionals through the Boy Scouts and many other venues for students and young people. He has received multiple awards, including the Lockheed Martin NOVA Award for Outstanding Leadership and the 2015 Black Engineer of the Year Award.

TMS Member Suveen Mathaudhu, is an assistant professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department and Materials Science and Engineering Program at the University of California, Riverside, a former staff scientist at the U.S. Army Research Office, and an expert on the science of superheroes as depicted in comic books and movies. He is the 2015 recipient of the American Association for Engineering Societies' Norm Augustine Award for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Communications for his compelling and innovative approach for engaging children, young people, and the general public with a better understanding of real science and technology by use of pop culture and other nontraditional means of communicating excitement about STEM. Mathaudhu was an instrumental part of developing TMS's Comic-tanium™: The Super Materials of the Superheroes exhibit, which was also featured as part of the luncheon.

The Materials Information Luncheon is one of many ways that TMS works to promote good science and engineering in government policy. For more information on TMS's government outreach initiatives, visit http://www.tms.org/PGA/PGAHome.aspx. About TMS The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) is a member-driven international professional society dedicated to fostering the exchange of learning and ideas across the entire range of materials science and engineering, from minerals processing and primary metals production, to basic research and the advanced applications of materials. Included among its nearly 13,000 professional and student members are metallurgical and materials engineers, scientists, researchers, educators, and administrators from more than 70 countries on six continents. For more information on TMS, visit www.tms.org.