As a background: I'm a Las Vegas native who lived there for 18 years but moved to California to go to school and find a job as an electrical engineer. My parent

As a background: I'm a Las Vegas native who lived there for 18 years but moved to California to go to school and find a job as an electrical engineer. My parents both moved to Las Vegas when they were young, ended up going to school at UNLV, and they are still working and living in Las Vegas to this day. --- The reason states like California attract the worlds best and brightest engineers is because of its institutions of higher learning. Would Silicon Valley exist as it does today without the Stanfords and the Berkleys, I don't think so. Much of the rest of California benefits in the same way: * San Jose - 5.8% employed are engineers (http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_41940.htm#17-0000) * San Diego - 3.0% employed are engineers (http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_41740.htm#17-0000) * Los Angeles - 1.9% employed are engineers (http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_31100.htm#17-0000) * Reno, NV - 1.3% employed are engineers (http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_39900.htm#17-0000) * Las Vegas, NV - 0.9% employed are engineers (http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_39900.htm#17-0000) At UNLV, less than 5% of all students are engineering majors (https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/university-of-nevada-las-vegas https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search...). Compared to the major California schools (and the University of Nevada: Reno) that is a pitifully small amount of students and it mirrors pretty closely the percentage of the population as a whole: * UCSD - 14% engineering majors (https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/university-of-california-san-diego) * UC Berkeley - 12% engineering majors (https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/university-of-california-berkeley) * UCLA - 8% engineering majors (https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/university-of-california-los-angeles) * UNR - 8% engineering majors (https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/university-of-nevada-reno) For Las Vegas to compete as a technological powerhouse we need to work on retaining local talent from the high schools because as someone who has seen many friends (including myself) leave Las Vegas for a better education (and a better overall experience), I think this is one thing that cannot and should not be ignored. Projects like the Downtown Project will only help retain smart young people in Las Vegas, it then becomes a process that keeps building on itself.