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Current and projected manpower shortages in high technology areas are examined with respect to the region served by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB). Many of the problems associated with the shortfall of trained individuals are viewed as connected to decreasing numbers of students taking advanced mathematics, and a lack of concerted efforts and strategies to reverse this trend. Sections presented include: (1) Wanted: High Technology Graduates; (2) Limited Supply of High Technology Graduates; (3) Constraint on Supply: High School Mathematics; (4) Women and Minorities: A Potential Source; (5) Mathematical Achievement: A General Decline; (6) The Shortage of Mathematics Teachers; (7) Supply and Demand Projections, Southern Region; (8) Mathematics and Computer Science; (9) The Outlook for Engineers; (10) How High Can Engineering Enrollments Go; (11) Supply and Demand for Engineers in the South; (12) Engineering Doctorates Sharply Down; (13) New Priorities and Changing Demands for High Technology Graduates; and (14) Conclusions. (MP)

Shortfalls in the number of doctoral-level natural scientists and engineers are expected to grow rapidly by the year 2000. Tables show the number of master's and doctoral degrees awarded in engineering, mathematics, physical sciences, and computer and information sciences in 1980 and 1985 by public universities in the United States, in the southern region, and in 15 individual southern states. Factors contributing to the shortfalls in the southern region are outlined, such as limited incentives in luring young scientists and engineers into graduate work, mobility of graduate degree-holding scientists and engineers, and growing demand. Efforts to encourage more people to seek graduate degrees in these fields focus on industry-based programs, special financial aid programs, improving student achievement in these fields in the earlier grades, and building students' confidence in their abilities. A 21-item bibliography concludes the paper. (JDD)