Leadership in innovation is essential to U.S. prosperity and security. In a global, knowledge-driven economy, technological innovation "the transformation of new knowledge into products, processes, and services of value to society "is critical to competitiveness, long-term productivity growth, and an improved quality of life. Preeminence in technological innovation depends on a wide array of factors, one of which is leadership in engineering research, education, and practice. A threedecade- long decline in the share of federal investment in research and development devoted to engineering and a perceived erosion of basic, long-term engineering research capability in U.S. industry and federal laboratories have raised serious questions about |