Study Predicting Shortage of Engineers Called Flawed

By Peter West

WASHINGTON--A frequently cited study by the National Science Foundation claiming that the nation will experience severe shortages of scientists and engineers until early in the next century was pronounced "seriously flawed'' and misleading last week by a panel of experts.

The shortage--which was expected to have begun in the late 1980's and to have produced a "shortfall'' of 675,000 scientists and engineers by the year 2010--"has never materialized.'' Indeed, the panel said, many fields currently have a...