The Round Table is a new presentation format for the Journal of Engineering Education. The purpose of the Round Table is to present the comments of several distinguished indi viduals about a topic as well as their responses to the comments offered by their colleagues. For the initial Journal of Engineering Education Round Table we asked for reflections about the Grinter Report, published in September 1955. After a brief introduction to the topic of discussion, the invited participants present their views, and, then, respond to the remarks of their colleagues. The goal is twofold: to pre sent a spectrum of views on the topic, and to provoke a discus sion of the topic by the community.

This is the fourth of four papers prepared for a special panel session of the National Collaborative Task Force on Engineering Graduate Education Reform focusing on new educational approaches and processes that better meet the development needs of the U.S. engineering workforce in industry to enhance global competitiveness. Further graduate development of the U.S. engineering workforce in industry is critical to the continuous improvement, invention, development, and innovation of new technology which is the engine for U.S. economic prosperity and competitiveness. This paper focuses on a unique model for workforce development that represents a significant advancement in professional graduate education extending through the professional masters, professional doctorate and fellow levels of engineering practice. This advancement in professional graduate education forms a new partnership for universityindustry engagement for U.S. engineering workforce development that completes a missing piece of the process to better enable U.S. technological innovation which is long overdue. The impact of project-based learning on industrial innovation is evidenced. This model is designed specifically to support the on-site engineering process for continuous improvement and innovation in industry. It purposefully integrates postgraduate professional education for industry's employed engineers with on-site technology development projects that are chosen to be directly relevant to industry's continuous innovation needs and high-end engineering projects. The returns for enhanced corporate advantage generated through this unique model are measured as a matrix of increasing complexity of economic worth of on-site projects and of increasing human proficiency gained for leadership of technological innovation. The Importance of Developing a World-Class Engineering Workforce: Educating Creative Professionals for Innovation and Leadership in Industry The United States of America must remain preeminent in creating new innovative technologies through engineering to enhance its economic prosperity, quality of life, and national security. Our technical capability is the engine that drives our national economy and provides for our national security. Professional development of the US engineering workforce is the critical to our very way of life. The vast majority of engineering innovations are needs-driven and market-focused (requiring

sadly passed away as we wrote this paper. We will miss him greatly.

Engineering and Technology, and associate dean for the college of applied sciences at Western Carolina University, and program chair of the Graduate Studies Division of the American Society for Engineering Education.