Bert Caldwell: By degrees, state is losing edge in research

University research has been the fountainhead of most major high-tech industries in the United States. The fundamentals of the Internet, speech recognition and database creation and data mining were developed on college campuses, with IBM, Yahoo and Microsoft among the eventual beneficiaries.

The University of Washington was a pioneer in Very Large Scale Integrated circuit design.

But a prominent UW educator says the state may no longer be providing the financial and intellectual capital to keep Washington among the nation’s leaders in information technology. Ed Lazowska says direct state contributions to research are minimal, support for higher education is eroding, and too many high school students are not being properly prepared for the jobs of the future.

Altogether remarkable in a state that prides itself on the large numbers of college graduate and post-graduates among its residents, and the technological leadership of companies like Boeing and Microsoft.

Lazowska’s explanation? “We’re hiring other people’s kids.”

While Washington officials talk endlessly about the importance of exports to the state’s economy, Lazowska says we hear much less about another cornerstone; intellectual firepower from outside the state.

Others have made many of the same observations, but few from Lazowska’s lofty perspective. Lazowska holds the Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science at the University of Washington. Until 2001, he headed the university’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering. It seems impossible one man could have filled all the academic and public service positions on his resume, or collected so much professional recognition.

UW computer graduates are high achievers, as well. Microsoft, Google, Intel and IBM snap them up before the ink on their anachronistic paper diplomas has dried.

They also fill top faculty positions, too many elsewhere. Lazowska says so many have gravitated to the University of California-Davis, he refers to it as UW South. “This is not where the state ought to be,” he says.

Why would UW grads be attracted to UC Davis? Lazowska notes state and local support for the campus exceeds $18,000 per student. The average for all UW campuses is barely half that amount; $9,223. While state funding for state universities comparable to UW have increased 5 percent during the 1990s, per capita dollars for UW slumped 16 percent. State support for Washington State University peers rose 7.8 percent, while that for WSU fell 7.7 percent.

Fortunately, state support increased during the 2005-2007 budget biennium after years of decreases.

Meanwhile, although it may come as a surprise to parents, tuition increases at Washington campuses have been more modest in recent years than adjustments made at public universities in other states. Still, tuition now represents more than half the cost of a college diploma, up from only one-third in the early 1990s.

Washington, near the bottom among all states in number of students per capita enrolled in four-year colleges, does not need more barriers to entry into higher education.

“Our education system is not working at all levels,” says Lazowska.

At Eastern Washington University, Ray Hamel, chairman of the Computer Science department, says the state has responded to the need for more computer science and technology instruction by funding a new faculty position, and another for a graduate teaching assistant. The school moved into a new building last fall.

But enrollment has slipped, despite the near certainty students will get a job once they graduate. The dot.com bomb a few years ago, and constant talk of outsourcing, has confused students about the number of job opportunities.

That’s crazy, says Lazowska. “Computing is where the jobs are.”

Maybe the slight uptick in state higher education funding, and formation of a $350 million Life Sciences Discovery Fund last year, indicate Washington lawmakers and officials are coming to their senses. The projected deficit for the next budget biennium will test their dedication.