Trends in the Early Careers of Life Scientists (1998) / Chapter Skim
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Chapter 2 Education and Research Training of Life-Science PhDs
Chapter 2 Education and Research Training of Life-Science PhDs
Pages 21-32
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From page 21... ...
Most of the data in this chapter come from two National Research Council surveys: the annual Survey of Earned Degrees, which collects biographic information (including postdoctoral plans) from all persons receiving research doctorates from US universities, and the biennial Survey of Doctorate Recipients, which compiles current employment information from a 5- ~ 0% sample of US-educated PhD scientists and engineers.
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From page 22... ...
1 . 1996 total includes five recipients of unknown sex.
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From page 23... ...
That is almost certainly an artifact attributable to the passage of the Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992, which permitted Chinese nationals temporarily residing in the United States to change to permanent-resident status; many Chinese students who have earned PhDs since 1992 have been counted in the US citizen and permanent-resident category. Figure 2.3 shows that when the number of temporary residents receiving PhDs dipped after 1993, the number of permanent residents increased sharply and that the sum of these two classes of foreign nationals rose at a steady pace from 1989 to 1996.
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From page 24... ...
Figure 2.4 Number of US life-science PhDs awarded annually to temporary residents and number and percentage of temporary residents planning to remain in the United States, 1963-1996 2000 1750 1500 1250 4 ° 1000 750 500 250 Data Tom table E
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From page 25... ...
There has also been a change in the means of financial support of graduate students-an increase in the fraction of graduate students receiving federal and institutional support and a large increase in the fraction supported as research assistants. As shown in figure 2.5 and table 2.l, the fraction of life-science graduate students receiving federal funds rose from 28.3% in 1975 to 28.7% in 1985 and to 34.~% in 199S.
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From page 26... ...
Group Total Federal support Research assistant Trainee/fellow Teaching assistant Other Total federal Institutional support Research assistant Trainee/fellow Teaching assistant Other Total Institutional Other Self-supported 465341.7 -- 692858.6 -- 1196366.5 599453.7 -- 428536.2 -- 539130.0 1181.1 -- 960.8 -- 1550.9 4043.6 -- 5124.3 -- 4712.6 11169100.1 28.31182199.9 28.717980100.0 34.8 387625.3 -- 567831.2 -- 848938.2 204013.3 -- 289115.9 -- 401718.1 849555.5 -- 864747.5 -- 858938.6 9015.9 -- 9785.4 -- 11365.1 15312100.0 38.718194100.0 44.222231100.0 43.
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From page 27... ...
had longer doctoral training periods than disciplines that focus on laboratory-based research. Nevertheless, in every life-science discipline, the median time to complete the PhD is longer now than it was 2 decades ago.
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From page 28... ...
No compelling academic reason exists, inasmuch as coursework typically is completed within 2 years and research usually begins at the end of the first year. Some argue that faculty use graduate students as a source of labor to conduct faculty members' research.
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.... 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1985 1990 1995 Source: NSF/SRS Selected Data on Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering, Fall 1993, Selected Data Tables, J
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From page 30... ...
On the basis of data and discussion above, it is evident that over the last 2 decades life-science PhDs have been spending increasing amounts of time preparing for research careers-a consequence mainly of the longer period in graduate training and the larger fraction that take postdoctoral fellowships of long durations. Most students pursuing a biomedical science career, for example, can now expect to spend 6 or more years in graduate school, and many spend another 4 years or more in postdoctoral work.
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From page 31... ...
· The federal government financially supports the education and research training of about one-third of all life-science graduate students. The almost 12,000 graduate students supported by federal research grants represent the largest support mechanism among all categories of support-federal, institutional, or self.
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From page 32... ...
1995. Survey of graduate students and postdoctorates in science and engineering.
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