It is easy to be complacent about US competitiveness and preeminence in science and technology. We have led the world for decades, and we continue to do so in many research fields today. But the world is changing rapidly, and our advantages are no longer unique.  The United States faces an enormous challenge. Science and technology provide the opportunity to overcome that challenge by creating scientists and engineers with the ability to create entire new industries—much as has been done in the past.

• “If you can solve the education problem, you don’t have to do anything else. If you don’t solve it, nothing else is going to matter all that much.” —Alan Greenspan, former Federal Reserve Board chairman