The University of Virginia’s Miller Center will hold a conference in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 7 to examine the impact that admission policies for highly skilled immigrants have on the U.S. economy.

The 2012 Mortimer Caplin Conference on the World Economy will bring together officials from government, the private sector and academia to focus on policies that are making it increasingly difficult for highly skilled professionals, such as engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs, to enter and remain in the U.S. Participants will include U.Va. President Teresa A. Sullivan, Sen. Mark Warner and AOL founder Steve Case.

The conference will kick off at 9:30 a.m. in the Miller Center’s Washington office with three panel discussions. It will conclude with a keynote roundtable at 7 p.m. with Sullivan, Warner and Case at the National Press Club. Members of the public who wish to attend should contact Jeff Chidester at 434-924-7330 or jchidester@virginia.edu to register.

Warner is the sponsor of Startup Act 2.0, which includes several steps to jumpstart the economy, including creating new opportunities for American-educated, entrepreneurial immigrants to remain in the U.S. Sullivan is a co-author of “The Dilemma of American Immigration: Beyond the Golden Door.” Case is an advocate for immigration reform.

The Wall Street Journal’s Alan Murray will moderate the roundtable.

Earlier panel discussions will focus on how other countries have worked to attract highly skilled immigrants; the contributions and controversies surrounding the role high-skilled immigration plays in fostering innovation, entrepreneurship and economic prosperity; and U.S. policies governing the admission and retention of highly skilled professionals.

Panelists include Edward Schumacher-Matos, director of Harvard University’s Migration and Integration Research Program; B. Lindsay Lowell, director of policy studies at the Institute for the Study of International Migration; and Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. (Complete agenda.)

The Miller Center’s D.C. office is at 801 17th St. NW, Suite 202. The keynote roundtable will take place in the ballroom at the National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW.

Mortimer Caplin, a founding member of the law firm Caplin & Drysdale, U.Va. alumnus and longtime supporter of the Miller Center, established an endowment in 2008 to support the Caplin conferences. This is the fifth annual conference.