Unemployment is going up in the U.S., but nearly a quarter of employers are struggling to find talent, at least when it comes to employees in the engineering fields.  Fewer than ten percent of graduating college students in the U.S. are studying engineering.

In order to increase interest in the science and engineering fields, the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge was created in 1999 for  students in grades five through eight. Ten finalists receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. with the winner receiving the grand prize of a fifty-thousand dollar savings bond. Dr. Alex Cirillo from 3M talks about the specifics of this competition.