In 2014, during my tenure at a prominent company in Bangladesh, my daily routine involved rising at 5am to catch a bus for a two-hour commute to my workplace in Gazipur. After enduring a full day at work, coupled with navigating through heavy traffic, I typically reached home between 9 and 10pm. This left me with just six to seven hours for essential activities like showering, dinner, family time, rest, and preparing for the upcoming day. As an industrial engineer in a challenging job market with limited perks, I increasingly felt unprepared for the demanding pace of life.
Despite making an attempt at the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) exam, I did not progress past the preliminary stage. Many engineers, including myself, faced challenges in finding practical outlets for their skills. Following conversations with mentors and peers from Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, I made the decision to leave the country. In 2015, I relocated to the United States to pursue studies at Lamar University.
The transition brought about a starkly different experience. The absence of student politics and noise pollution, coupled with a clean environment and cooperative people, made a significant impact. As a graduate student in the U.S., I benefited from a system that contrasted greatly with that of Bangladesh. American universities offered substantial funding opportunities through teaching and research assistantships (TAs and RAs), covering tuition, providing living stipends, and health insurance—opportunities that were scarce in Bangladesh where higher education largely relied on self-funding with minimal scholarships. U.S. universities also provided access to cutting-edge laboratories, advanced technologies such as high-performance computing clusters, and collaborations with esteemed faculty from prestigious institutions. Moreover, international students could utilize Optional Practical Training (OPT) and Curricular Practical Training (CPT) to gain paid work experience and pathways to H-1B visas or green cards. In contrast, Bangladesh’s education system grappled with limited resources, overcrowded classrooms, and political disruptions.
The resources available in the U.S. played a pivotal role in my achievements. While at Lamar University, I focused on developing a facial recognition system for unmanned aerial vehicles using machine learning techniques, gaining valuable experience in computer vision and AI domains. Access to state-of-the-art tools and a supportive academic environment facilitated my attainment of a fully-funded scholarship for a Ph.D. program at the University of Oklahoma. Without the advanced facilities and funding, building a portfolio that led to publications, collaborations, and prestigious positions might have been unattainable.
In Bangladesh, graduate and Ph.D. programs often faced challenges such as insufficient funding, outdated facilities, and a gap between academic teachings and industry requirements. Issues like political instability, frequent strikes, and economic constraints, such as low salaries that often fell below living standards for skilled professionals, exacerbated the situation, leading to a nearly 10 percent increase in educated unemployed individuals over the past decade. The phenomenon of brain drain was prevalent, with Bangladesh’s brain drain index at 6.7 out of 10 (higher than the global average of 4.98-5.55), resulting in a significant annual emigration of skilled professionals seeking greater opportunities abroad, causing economic losses and skill shortages hindering national progress.
To counteract brain drain, targeted strategies could be implemented in Bangladesh. These include augmenting government investment in education by expanding scholarships and upgrading university infrastructure to meet global benchmarks, aligning academic programs with industry requisites through collaborations, providing internships and vocational training to enhance employability, enhancing economic incentives like competitive salaries, tax exemptions for returning professionals, and dual citizenship policies to encourage “brain gain,” promoting political stability and anti-corruption measures to create a more secure and attractive environment, and fostering entrepreneurship through low-interest loans and startup incubators to transform potential emigrants into local innovators. Adoption of these measures could help curtail the outward flow of skilled individuals and cultivate a thriving knowledge-based economy.
My journey from navigating the challenges in Bangladesh to embracing the opportunities in the U.S. has been transformative. Presently at the University of Oklahoma, I am engaged in developing AI-driven digital twins for metal additive manufacturing at the Sooner Advanced Manufacturing Lab, aiming to reduce costs and waste. Reflecting on my experiences, the supportive ecosystem in the U.S. has been instrumental in my accomplishments, yet with reforms, Bangladesh has the potential to nurture its own talents and reverse the trend.