WASHINGTON – Members of Congress advocated public-private partnerships to increase the number of college graduates with computer expertise during a hearing Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

The congressional committee appeared to be taking a hint from Colorado, which a major media organization named this month as a top destination for the technology industry.

“The demand for cybersecurity professionals is expected to continue to grow to over 1.8 million by 2022,” said Rep. Brett Guthrie, chairman of the House Subcommittee of Higher Education and Workforce Development. “This skills gap is not unique to the cybersecurity sector. Many other industries such as manufacturing and transportation are facing a shortage of skilled workers to fill good-paying jobs.”

Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, is a member of the House subcommittee. He was in Moffat County this week speaking with residents about education and health care issues.

His hometown of Boulder was listed this month as the top city in the United States for attracting the nation’s science and technology workers on the Bloomberg Brain Concentration Index.

The index counts business formations, employment, and education in sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics. Fort Collins and Denver also ranked in the top 10 among cities nationwide.

“Colorado has a booming technology and cyber industry,” Megan McDermott, spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Higher Education, told Colorado Politics. “In the latest Talent Pipeline Report, the Colorado Workforce Development Council found that about 18 percent of Colorado’s top jobs are concentrated in the computer and mathematical sector.”

Despite being well-endowed with high-tech experts, the demand for them continues.

“Colorado faces a challenge because it needs to produce more students in computer-related fields as a fraction of the population than most states,” said Dirk Grunwald, computer science professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Colleges are responding by asking students to take computing courses for a wider variety of majors, he said.

“For example, five or 10 years ago, few students in aerospace engineering took more than an introductory computing methods class,” Grunwald said.

Now, many aerospace engineering students minor in computer science because of the central role of computers within their industry.

Students in law, journalism, finance and marketing also will need to study computing to avoid getting left behind, he said.

The website of the Northern Colorado Economic Alliance described the region as “nerdy and proud of it.” About 35 percent of the population has earned bachelors degrees or higher, according to the Economic Alliance.

At the congressional hearing Tuesday, Douglas Rapp, president of the nonprofit Cyber Leadership Alliance, said adequate computer training can succeed only with public-private partnerships.