Tickle College of Engineering Professor Tony Schmitz is well known within the world of advanced manufacturing, both for the advancements he has made in the field as well as for the leadership he has shown in various labs and centers, including through his joint appointment with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, with the Southeastern Advanced Machine Tools Network, and with IACMI—The Composites Institute.

Schmitz, who works out of the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering at UT, recently shared his expertise in a piece written for The Conversation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing academic expertise to the news topics of the day.

In his article, Schmitz detailed the decline of American manufacturing and the necessity of producing new, highly skilled workers to meet demands if the country is to maintain economic advantages and retain national security.

To highlight the problem, he talked about how the building of a dozen new nuclear submarines for use by the US Navy has been approved, but that there is a severe shortfall in the nearly 50,000 workers with high manufacturing capabilities that will be needed to see the project through to completion.

One of the advantages of The Conversation is that stories it publishes can be picked up by a wide variety of outlets around the world, and Schmitz’s article was no exception.

Although framing the story through different headlines tailored to a particular audience occurred—as is often the case—Schmitz’s story was picked up by outlets ranging from titans of media to those located in areas with a large naval or submarine presence, including:

• Fortune: ­­ The Next Generation of Machines Has Arrived But America May Not Have the Workers to Operate Them
• Yahoo: These Are Not Your Mother’s Machines
• Market Watch: The Next Generation of American Manufacturing is High-Tech, and Skilled Workers Are Needed to Operate These Advanced Tools
• Asia Times: US Workers Not Ready for Next-Gen High-Tech Jobs

The New Haven Register in Connecticut and the Skagit Valley Herald in Washington state also published the article, both areas that are deeply connected to the Navy and supporting industries.