Becoming American: Why Immigration Is Good for Our Nation's Future (20 page)

With this newfound energy source, we need scientists and engineers to develop the safest ways to draw the gas and oil out of the ground as well as to develop efficient ways in which the energy can be stored and used. Yet we are currently turning away some of the world’s energy experts as a result of our H-1B limits. Last year, I met a bright, young expert in the area of shale oil and gas named Mohammed, who questioned remaining in the United States because of visa difficulties. That was one of the moments during which I realized just how great the opportunity cost of our immigration laws is.

Now, let me share with you the story of Mohammed.

NOTES

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3. William Booth, “Mexico Is Now a Top Producer of Engineers, But Where Are Jobs?”
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4. Vera Erdmann and Tanja Schumann, “European Engineering Report,”
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5. Thomas J. Sugrue, “Motor City: The Story of Detroit,”
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6. “Transcript: Henry Ford,”
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7. Sugrue, “Motor City: The Story of Detroit.”

8. Sugrue, “Motor City: The Story of Detroit.”

9. William La Jeunesse, “Silicon Valley Banks on Immigration Bill for Access to Foreign Workers,”
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10. La Jeunesse, “Silicon Valley Banks on Immigration Bill.”

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12. Wadhwa, Saxenian, Freeman, Gereffi, and Salkever, “America’s Loss Is the World’s Gain.”

13. Wadhwa, Saxenian, Freeman, Gereffi, and Salkever, “America’s Loss Is the World’s Gain.”

14. Wadhwa, Saxenian, Freeman, Gereffi, and Salkever, “America’s Loss Is the World’s Gain.”

15. Fariborz Ghadar and Erik Peterson,
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(University Park, PA: The Penn State Center for Global Business Studies, 2008).

16. ManpowerGroup, “ManpowerGroup Annual Survey Reveals U.S. Talent Shortages Persist in Skilled Trades, Engineers and IT Staff,” Manpower US Pressroom,
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(accessed July 9, 2013).

17. “Rebuilding Local Economies,” Immigration Policy Center,
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18. Erika Check Hayden, “Nanopore Genome Sequencer Makes Its Debut,”
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19. Fariborz Ghadar, John Sviokla, and Dietrich A Stephan, “Why Life Science Needs Its Own Silicon Valley,”
Harvard Business Review Magazine
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20. Ghadar, Sviokla, and Stephan, “Why Life Science Needs Its Own Silicon Valley.”

21. Audrey Singer, “Immigrant Workers in the U.S. Labor Force,”
Brookings.com
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22. Singer, “Immigrant Workers in the U.S. Labor Force.”

23. M. C. Roco, C. A. Mirkin, and M. C. Hersam,
Nanotechnology Research Directions for Societal Needs in 2020
, September 2010,
http://www.wtec.org/nano2/Nanotechnology_Research_Directions_to_2020
/ (accessed October 28, 2013).

24. Brian Dodson, “Metamaterials Breakthrough Could Lead to the First Wide-Spectrum Optical Invisibility Cloak,”
Gizmag
, June 12, 2013,
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/ (accessed July 9, 2013).

25. Sebastian Anthony, “The First Flexible, Fiber-Optic Solar Cell That Can Be Woven into Clothes,”
ExtremeTech.com
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(accessed July 9, 2013).

26. Mihail C. Roco, Chad A. Mirkin, and Mark C. Hersam. “Chapter 13 Innovative and Responsible Governance,” In Nanotechnology Research Directions for Societal Needs in 2020, WTEC, 2010, www.wtec.org/nano2/Nanotechnology_Research_Directions_to_2020/Nano_Resarch_Directions_to_2020.pdf (accessed December 15, 2013).

27. “Global Nanotechnology Industry Output Expected to Reach $2.4 Trillion by 2015,” Yahoo! Finance, http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Global-Nanotechnology-iw-3399006244.html (accessed December 15, 2013).

28. Andrea Schiffauerova and Catherine Beaudry, “Canadian Nanotechnology Innovation Networks: Intra-Cluster, Inter-Cluster and Foreign Collaboration,”
Cairn.info
,
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29. Tim Harper, “Global Funding of Nanotechnologies and Its Impact,” July 2011,
cientifica
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(accessed July 1, 2013).

30. Harper, “Global Funding of Nanotechnologies and Its Impact.”

31. Noela Invernizzi, “Nanotechnology between the Lab and the Shop Floor: What Are the Effects on Labor?”
Journal of Nanoparticle Research
13 (2011),
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32. Anup Shah, “World Military Spending,”
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33. Shah, “World Military Spending.”

34. “New SIPRI Data on Military Expenditure—World Military Spending Falls, but China, Russia’s Spending Rises,”
SIPRI Fact Sheet 2013
,
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35. Edward McAllister and Timothy Gardner, “UPDATE 3-Rise in Shale Oil Boosts Global Crude Supply Estimate—U.S. EIA,”
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36. “How Dependent Are We on Foreign Oil?”
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37. David Blackmon, “The Texas Shale Oil and Gas Revolution—Leading the Way to Enhanced Energy Security,”
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14

A Day in the Life

T
he airline allows me priority boarding due to my frequent business flyer status, so while waiting for them to process and to start loading the rest of the passengers, I open my iPad to check my email before the flight crew clamps down on electronic devices. Even with being “randomly” searched on all three legs of my trip so far, I congratulate myself on having anticipatively arrived with more than enough time before take off.

It has been an awful week. The stock market dropped yet again, sending my investments into a tailspin, and I had to correct fifty-four exams for my graduate course Global Strategy Formulation and Implementation (although I have to admit that receiving the school’s Best Teacher Award ameliorates the tedium). And now I have a new worry: my board meeting with Nason Medical Centers revealed we are being investigated by Medicare and the Justice Department.

As the passengers start to file in, I quickly flip over my computer bag embellished with the Pennsylvania State University logo. I dread having to discuss Jerry Sandusky and his sentence on forty-five counts of serial pedophilia with yet another person.

Fortunately for me, across the aisle two thirty-something-year-old women, who are much more likely to be interested in reading their fashion magazines than in having a discussion with a global business consultant, are stowing their carry-on bags.

People-watching has become an occupational hazard in my traveling lifestyle, and so I continue to let my eyes scan the oncoming trail of people, some of whom are frequently cross-referencing their paper tickets to find their designated seats. The typical assortment of business travelers wind their way down the aisle, some, like me, carrying their suit jackets so they do not get wrinkled, others neatly dressed in polo shirts with cell phone holders attached onto their belts. A few young families stumble along, trying to corral their youngsters to the dreaded glances of other passengers.

The line filing onto the plane goes in stops and starts, as the dexterity of each passenger to heave his or her belongings up into the closest available overhead bin is challenged. During one such lull in the procession, the two women across the aisle from me take particular notice of one individual passenger. The straightening of their spines and subtle nudging between them alert me to the fact that a man of some attraction is approaching our row. Looking down the line, I notice the person of their attention, a thirty-something-year-old man who is the prerequisite tall, dark, and handsome.

The sigh of regret is almost audible when he stops at our row and instead of filling the empty seat next to them, turns toward me and motions that he is to occupy the seat on my right. I smugly stand to allow him to pass into my row. After he slides past me, I buckle myself in and say “hello” to him with a smile. He returns my greeting with an audible reply and similarly busies himself with his seat belt.