Consultant: High tech needed

Jeffrey Libby

Friday, Dec. 1, 2000 | 10:05 a.m.

Gray-haired Lou Tornatzky called himself the kid who dropped out of the sky from Orange County. His message Thursday for the Board of Regents: prevent "brain drain" through high-tech economic diversification.

Tornatzky is an economist with the Ohio-based Battelle Memorial Institute who was hired by Nevada Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt to produce a study on how the state could better diversify its economy.

The consultant's central theme is that greater diversification will come in proportion to the state's commitment to high technology.

The University and Community College System of Nevada will have to play a central role if young, well-educated Nevadans are to find career fulfillment in state, he said. Too many Nevadans, he said, are moving to California to find good careers.

Tornatsky said the state should make every effort to retain its brightest students by expanding the new Millennium Scholarship program and devoting more resources to their educational needs.

The study will be done in four weeks, Tornatzky said.

Next month, university officials expect the results of a similar study by the New York-based Rand Institute. Officials at the state and university level plan to use the two studies in creating long-term state strategies for economic growth.

Tornatsky spoke positively of the economic climate in Nevada. He gave high marks for the state economy, the low cost-of-living and the low cost of doing business.

But workforce development remains an exception, he said, blaming that missing link for the "brain drain," which he did not quantify. He suggested that the Board of Regents work with other state officials to create programs for high achieving students.

Several regents complained that would require funding that is not currently available.

Regent Dorothy Gallagher, however, said rather than letting the study "gather dust," she wanted to take action immediately.