As engineering programs report low retention rates and baby boomers reach the retirement age, companies like Lockheed Martin are being forced to take notice.

As a company that employs more than 70,000 engineers, technologists and scientists, Lockheed Martin decided to get involved in their own future. Their response was to help improve engineering education below the college level.

To this end, Lockheed has partnered with Project Lead The Way, a nonprofit group that has previously worked with large corporations like Northrop Grumman, local government and foundations to train teachers and implement pre-engineering curricula.

The program has created two sets of courses for middle and high school students, Gateway To Technology and Pathway to Engineering respectively, to provide a technology and engineering background to supplement existing math and science programs.

The Pathway to Engineering program offers more in-depth material that is more career-oriented. It includes foundation, specialization and capstone courses, each with separate topics. Foundation courses include an introduction to engineering design, principles of engineering, and digital electronics, while specialization courses offer aerospace engineering, biotechnical engineering, civil engineering and architecture, and computer integrated manufacturing, followed by the capstone course, engineering design and development. Excluding the capstone course, college credits can be earned based on certain qualifications.

Lockheed Martin has become involved in the program’s “Engineers in the Classroom” initiative, which has partnered with eight schools, and plans to expand into 25 high schools and their respective middle schools in the near future.

Engineers from Lockheed Martin have volunteered their own time to participate in the program by giving class lectures, and training teachers and volunteers to lead extracurricular programs at schools in California, Colorado, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, and Texas.

As demand continues to grow for new engineers, education reform initiated by programs like Project Lead the Way and Engineering is Elementary should help spark interest in an industry looking for a new generation of workers and may even help produce a more prepared workforce to increase American innovation.