The United States is endangering its national security by not producing more students with skills in math and science, Sen. Pat Roberts said Friday.

Speaking to the Kansas University School of Engineering’s advisory committee, Roberts, a Kansas Republican, encouraged several students in attendance to explain how they managed to stick with engineering courses, even when they can be particularly challenging.

“You have to tell me how you made it to your sophomore year, instead of falling victim to burnout and other distractions,” he said.

The U.S. Senate recently passed legislation that Roberts hopes will help address the deficiency in the number of students pursuing these careers. Known as the America COMPETES Act, the bill provides an extra $16 billion, spread over four years, to recruit and train tens of thousands of math and science researchers. It also should provide more teachers in those fields.

The bill, which had 70 co-sponsors, passed 88-8. However, its prospects in the House of Representatives are far less certain.

Roberts appeared at KU as part of a broader set of meetings of the engineering school’s advisory committee, which includes current and former corporate leaders, as well as members of government and the military.

In introducing the senator, Stuart Bell, dean of the school, said Roberts is a leader in the effort to encourage math and science work.

“When I had a chance to visit Capitol Hill, we discussed how the STEM fields at KU and across the country can work together to entice and encourage K-12 systems to encourage students to pursue a career in those fields,” Bell said. “Senator Pat Roberts is the leader on these issues.”

So-called STEM fields include science, technology, engineering and mathematics and are considered by some to be the base of an advanced society.

In his speech, Roberts also touched on the importance of safeguarding the national food system against biological terror attacks, an issue that has become even more important in Kansas as the federal government ponders where to construct the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility.

Roberts has been a major advocate of the two Kansas locations for the facility, which is expected to cost $451 million to build and generate as many as 1,500 jobs.

“I think it’s going to be an essential component in protecting the national economy against a bioterror attack on our food supply,” he said. “It’s so easy to do.”

He cited the ease with which mad cow disease moved from Canada to the United States as an example of how simple it would be to disrupt the food system, as well as the economy.

“The United States has been blessed with the most inexpensive food supply with the best quality in the history of the world,” he said. “We can’t jeopardize that.”