Rising Above the Gathering Storm Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future (2007) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Attracting the Most Able US Students to Science and Engineering
Attracting the Most Able US Students to Science and Engineering
Pages 325-341
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From page 325... ...
Furthermore, as other developed countries encourage international students to come to their countries and developing countries enhance their postsecondary educational capacity, there is increased competition for the best students, which could further reduce the flow of international students to the United States. Therefore, any policies aimed at encouraging student interest in S&E must have a significant component that focuses on domestic talent.
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From page 326... ...
• Provide at least 5,000 portable graduate fellowships, each with a duration of up to 5 years, for training in emerging fields, to encourage US students to pursue S&E graduate studies. • Provide graduate student stipends competitive with opportunities in other venues.
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From page 327... ...
A National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) longitudinal study of first-year S&E students in 1990 found that fewer than 50% of undergraduate students entering college declaring a S&E major had completed S&E degrees within 5 years.3 Indeed, approximately 50% of such undergraduate students changed their major field within the first 2 years.4 Undergraduates who opt out of S&E programs are among the most highly qualified college entrants.5 They are also disproportionately women and nonwhite students, indicating that many potential entrants are discouraged before they can join the S&E workforce.6 2R.
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From page 328... ...
. Growth in the number of S&E doctorates awarded is due primarily to the increased numbers of international students but also to the increasing participation of women and underrepresented minority groups.7 If the primary objective of the US S&E enterprise is to maintain excellence, a major challenge is to determine how to continue to attract the best international students and at the same time encourage the best domestic students to enter S&E undergraduate and graduate programs.
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From page 329... ...
well in engineering: undergraduate student decisions to major in particular fields vary depending on business cycles. Research indicates that large schools, which often foster a competitive "weeding out" environment, have a much higher attrition rate than smaller schools.
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-- each carrying its own set of values and signals, some of which are competing.12 Departments, colleges and universities, and professional societies each have a role in providing a high-quality, engaging learning environment. After a student's determination of an undergraduate major or concen tration, another key transition point is a decision to enter and complete graduate training.13 Major factors to consider include time to degree and economics.14 Unclear job prospects and lost earning potential are major 11V.
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SOURCE: National Science Foundation. Survey of Earned Doctorates.
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From page 332... ...
A large, cross-disciplinary, multi-institutional survey on the experiences of doctoral students indicated that students entering doctoral programs entered their programs "without having a good idea of the time, money, clarity of purpose, and perseverance that doctoral education entails."16 The burden of being informed does not rest solely on the prospective student. While professional schools make a point to inform prospective students of the salary and employment levels of graduates, it 15R.
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From page 333... ...
As a result, more and more researchers languish in temporary positions.18 The fastest-growing employment category since the early 1980s has been "other academic appointments," which is currently increasing at about 4.9% annually.19 These jobs are essentially holding positions filled by young researchers coming from postdoctoral positions who would like to join an academic faculty on a tenure track and are willing to wait. It is an increasingly long wait as institutions are decreasing the number of faculty appointments to decrease the long-term commitments that they entail.
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From page 334... ...
Appendix E 70,000 Number Employed in Academe Total Academics 60,000 50,000 Tenured Faculty 40,000 Tenure Track 30,000 Other Academic 20,000 Academic 10,000 Postdoctorates 0 73 77 81 85 89 93 97 01 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 20 FIGURE TS-3B Number of biomedical academic jobs, by tenure-track status, 19732001.
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From page 335... ...
. INTEREST IN RESEARCH CAREERS BY TOP STUDENTS TRACKS JOB MARKET The current contrast between these options and research is influencing career decisions.
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When it came to careers outside S&E, the researchers found that the fields attracting the largest growth in top GRE scorers were short training programs in health profes 20W. Zumeta and J
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From page 337... ...
on the GRE quantitative scale heading to graduate school in the natural sciences and engineering increased by about 31% compared with 1998, after having declined by 21% in the previous 6 years.23 This recent increase is comparable with the 29% gain in the number of all score levels of examinees who intended to enroll in graduate school in S&E. And the total number of GRE examinees increased by 9% between 1998 and 2001, suggesting that more students in a variety of fields were preparing for graduate school.
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25The National Academies. Policy Implications of International Graduate Students and Post doctoral Scholars in the United States.
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But the MBA graduate would have spent 2 years in school compared with the 10-12 years that students spend as graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The salary differential cumulates to a lifetime difference in earnings, exclusive of stock options, conservatively estimated at $1 million discounted at 3% -- comparable with $62,000 per year of working life.
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From page 340... ...
• Partner with industry to sponsor a series of public-service announcements exalting S&E careers.27 • Provide scholarships to all qualified students majoring in science or mathematics at 4-year colleges who have an economic need and who maintain high levels of academic achievement.28 Financial assistance also should be provided to 2-year colleges and to students at those institutions to pre 27American Electronics Association. Losing the Competitive Challenge?
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From page 341... ...
• Provide graduate-student stipends competitive with opportunities in other venues.30 • Substantially increase the number of undergraduate and graduate S&E students drawn from the "underrepresented majority."31 Today, women, Blacks, Hispanics, American Indians, and persons with disabilities make up two-thirds of the US workforce but only 25% of the technical workforce. • Support a significant number of selective research assistant professorships in the natural sciences and engineering at universities.32 These would be highly competitive positions open to postdoctoral scholars who are US citizens or permanent residents.
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