About a dozen university presidents and public school officials held their sixth strategy session to hal;t the phenomenon known as brain drain.
Recent Case graduate Adam Sorkin from Dayton is exactly the kind of
student the group is hoping to keep around.
Sorkin: "as soon as I graduated high school I had a pretty good idea that I wanted to get into the biomedical field, and also had a pretty good idea at the time that it probably wasn't going to be in Ohio. So, I found myself on the first plane out."
A post graduate program brought Sorkin back to Ohio -- and to Case. But what kept him here was an internship program that eventually helped him land a position with a local company.
Sorkin: "Fortunately I've been able to stay on here full time and plan to be here for certainly a very long time. "
Educators at the forum are hoping the economic stimulus plan promised by President Elect Barack Obama will provide funds for more higher education initiatives.
Lorain County Community College President Roy Church said he'd like to see more federal dollars to help fledgling companies get up and running.
Church:" The original research helps develop the new ideas, but unless you have a way to commercialize those, it becomes a wasted opportunity.
The reality is, if we have an infrastructure in place, we will eventually create the new industries of the 21st century."
And it's those new industries that will keep young people from seeking jobs elsewhere.
However, Church said, state educators also need to focus on ways to increase the level of education of most Ohioans.
Church: We are 39th out of 50 states in the rates of participation. We're closer to Mississippi and Alabama than we are to Pennsylvania, Michigan and Illinois.
Church said an educated workforce is the top reason companies choose to relocate to one state over another.
Kymberli Hagelberg, 90.3