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Adviser, Teacher, Role Model, Friend On Being a Mentor to Students in Science and Engineering (1997) / Chapter Skim
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Report Brief: Reshaping the Graduate Education of Scientists and Engineers
Pages 79-84

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 79...
... At the same time, the PhD should retain the features, including an original research experience, that have made it a world model. The result of these changes, writes the Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy in its report Reshaping the Graduate Education of Scientists and Engineers, would be a new kind of PhD, one that emphasizes adaptability and versatility as well as technical proficiency.
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From page 80...
... And as the country responds to expanded economic competition, urgent public health needs, environmental degradation, new national security challenges, and other pressing issues, a widening variety of professions and organizations are hiring the approximately 25,000 people who receive a PhD each year (up from about 18,000 a decade ago)
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From page 81...
... Graduate programs, especially at the departmental level, should provide options that allow students to gain a wider variety of academic and career skills. Students who intend to seek a career in basic research should have a grounding in the broad fundamentals of their fields and should have some personal familiarity with several subfields.
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From page 82...
... The lack of accurate, timely, and accessible data on employment trends, careers, and sources of student support is a serious flaw in the graduate education system. A national database that covers such issues as financial aid, time to degree, and placement rates including information gathered and disseminated through the Internet could help students and their advisers make informed decisions about professional careers.
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From page 83...
... Greater flexibility and more information in graduate programs will enhance the system's ability to mesh with the job market. And these changes, combined with better precollege education, will attract more American students to graduate education particularly women and minorities, who remain seriously underrepresented in some fields of science and engineering.
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From page 84...
... To contribute most effectively to the need for highly trained scientists and engineers, graduate schools need to review their missions and consider new approaches. If they do so, graduate education could play an even more important role in society than it has played in the past.
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Key Terms

  • career skills
  • student support
  • foreign students
  • awarded competitively
  • american students

  • help develop
  • typically acquire
  • specialized research
  • sustain locally
  • graduate student

  • environmental degradation
  • allow students
  • recommend limits
  • security challenges
  • original research

  • heavy reliance
  • nonacademic employers
  • experiences desired
  • employment trends
  • emphasizes adaptability

  • professional careers
  • decade ago
  • financial aid
  • country responds
  • favor students

  • highly specialized
  • teaching assistants
  • national database
  • wider variety
  • departmental level


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