The America’s Talent Strategy: Building the Workforce for the Golden Age report, published last year by the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Education, and Labor, identified a significant engineering and skills gap. The 27-page report concluded that the shortage of talent in essential areas—including advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and cybersecurity—poses significant risks to U.S. economic and technological leadership. To help attract talent in those fields, the Labor Department last month introduced incentives for apprenticeships, including a US $145 million “pay for performance” grant program. The funding aims to develop registered apprenticeships in high-demand fields including artificial intelligence and information technology. Reacting to the urgent national need for targeted workforce development were members of IEEE Young Professionals, led by Alok Tibrewala, an IEEE senior member. He is a cochair of the IEEE North Jersey Section’s Young Professionals group.…