When it comes to innovation, the United States could be falling behind.

In a keynote address yesterday morning, National Academy of Engineering President Charles M. Vest discussed the country’s dwindling number of engineering students.

The speech at Penny and Roe Stamps Auditorium on North Campus was part of an event called Assuring Michigan’s Knowledge-Based Workforce: A Summit on Diversity & Opportunity in K-16+ Engineering Education.

Vest, a former University of Michigan provost and president emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, compared the state of engineering studies in the United States to those of Japan and China.

According to Vest, in the early 1980s, the United States, Japan and China were equal in the number of graduating engineers, atabout 75,000 people. However, he said, in 2002, the figures for Japan and China had risen to 100,000 and 250,000 graduates respectively, while the number of graduates in the United States fell to about 60,000.

In particular, Vest emphasized the need for a more diverse student population in the field of engineering.

“Our nation is facing tectonic economic and global changes and challenges,” Vest said. “We are seeing some backsliding in the participation of women and underrepresented minorities in our engineering.”

Vest said that in his earlier years of teaching, women and underrepresented minorities were few in number, but they were among the best in the class. He said he wants to give more opportunity for success to every young person.

“The time really has come to slay the dragon of complacency,” he said. “There’s little slack left. Other nations are not biding their time.

“I’m really worried, and in fact,” he continued, “I’m frightened, but nonetheless, deep inside me, there’s still a spark of optimism.”

Vest argued that K-12 education in America should do more to encourage young people to pursue engineering.

He said a majority of engineering students in the state of Michigan is from other countries. Since many of them return home after graduation, he said, they cannot be relied on so heavily to contribute to innovation in America.

“This requires two things: inspiration and improvement in education,” Vest said.

Vest suggested giving AP exams in math, science and English at a younger age and an incentive: a cash payment for good marks.

Additionally, Vest cited a National Math and Science Initiative program that will graduate 10,000 K-12 teachers, appropriately disciplined in particular subjects, as a move in the right direction.

Vest said the purpose of the summit was “to help others see the future. And to give them a sense that the future need not simply happen to them, something they respond to, but they, to a large extent, can make the future happen, they can shape it, not just respond to it.”