RIT Professor to Testify before the House of Representatives on Offshore Outsourcing

Ron Hira, assistant professor of public policy at Rochester Institute of Technology, will testify before the House of Representative’s Committee on Small Business on Monday, Oct. 20. He is invited to speak at the invitation of committee chair Rep. Donald Manzullo (R-Ill.).

Hira, an expert on engineering workforce issues, will testify on offshore outsourcing of high-skilled jobs. He last testified before the House Small Business Committee in June on behalf of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-USA. Hira is the chair of IEEE-USA’s research and development policy committee.

Prior to joining RIT this fall, Hira completed a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University’s Center for Science, Policy and Outcomes.

Hira works primarily on technology policy and industrial policy issues. His recent work has been on the development of the Indian software industry, policy implications of offshore outsourcing, and new methods for measuring the linkage between research priority setting and social outcomes.

Hira holds a doctoral degree in public policy from George Mason University. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and George Mason University, respectively.

On Wednesday, Nov. 5, Hira will discuss offshore outsourcing in his talk, “Globalization of the Engineering Workforce,” at the annual Western New York IEEE conference at RIT in the Xerox Auditorium of the James E. Gleason Building. Registration is required to attend this free event. To register, go to www.microe.rit.edu/eds.html.

Hira’s written testimony will be available for download on Tuesday at www.rit.edu/news/misc/docs/testimony.pdf.