Public school administrators hunt high and low for qualified math and technology teachers, who have greater earning power in the private sector. Within a decade, the head hunters may have to scramble even harder as record numbers of teachers reach retirement age.

Who will inspire the Bill Gates and Sally Rides of the future? Who will prepare them for college so they don't become one of the casualties of such do-or-die courses as calculus and thermodynamics?

In hopes of turning a brain drain into a brain bank, Utah State's College of Engineering has partnered with eight other research universities to launch a national center for engineering and technology education.

The center, managed by Utah State and funded by a $10-million, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation, will offer master's and doctoral degrees in technology education at each of the participating schools and provide workshops for teachers already in the classroom. Faculty and graduate student research will test various strategies to determine the most effective means of teaching engineering and technology classes.

"There are only 17 of these centers in the entire country, and ours is the first to focus on engineering technology and education," says Christine Hailey, associate engineering dean and principal investigator for the center. -Maren Cartwright '00