Walk around any defense-industry trade show floor in the last several years, or talk to defense-industry company officials, and one of the most pressing topics is the “gray-hair” issue. Even though new crops of engineers certainly enter the profession every year, statistics do bear out the anecdotal evidence of the aging of the defense-industry workforce. The National Science Foundation (NSF) found in 2021 that nearly 30% of all engineering and science degree holders in the labor force were 50 or over and expected to retire in the following 15 years.
A team of researchers led by the University of Minnesota Twin Cities has addressed a long-standing puzzle about strontium titanate, an odd metal oxide that can function as an insulator, a semiconductor, or a metal.