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If you mean R&D by defense research that is done by engineers, then you are correct. In terms of any other scientific research, you couldn’t be anymore wrong. More and more scientists are losing grant money and can no longer fund their research. As American R&D continues its obsession with engineers, there is no opportunities in industry for scientists to pursue a research career.</p>
<p>Engineers have it the best when it comes to R&D these days. Hell, even jobs that belong to physicists are going to engineers. I’ve heard of some chemical engineers being hired as “researchers” in superconducitivity, which was a major failure. Unfortunately, most companies involved in R&D still haven’t learned their lesson in hiring engineers and that engineers are not trained to research nor do they have the brains to research a field as intellectually demanding as superconductivity and other great mysteries in physics.</p>
<p>I guess they think it gives them a credibility of sorts, since engineering is a professionally recognized field while physics is not.</p>