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Research-Doctorate Programs in the Biomedical Sciences Selected Findings from the NRC Assessment (2011) / Chapter Skim
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4 Time to Degree, Funding, and Completion Rates
Pages 23-26

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From page 23...
... Nearly one-third of students in the biomedical sciences receive funding through external fellowships or traineeships after the first year, as compared with a percentage that is less than one-half as large for engineering and the physical sciences. Since funding for the biomedical sciences comes primarily from the National Institutes of Health, NIH can use its influence to encourage program practices in the biomedical sciences in a way that is not available for other fields in science and engineering, where research assistantships on grants to individual investigators are the dominant avenue for funding doctoral students beyond the first year.
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From page 24...
... 24 RESEARCH-DOCTORATE PROGRAMS IN THE BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES TABLE 4-1 Sources of Funding for Ph.D. Students by Year of Enrollment 2005-2006, by Percent YEAR 1 YEAR 2 Physical and Physical and Biomedical Mathematical Biomedical Mathematical Sciences Sciences Engineering Sciences Sciences Engineering External fellowships or traineeships alone or with institutional support 9 10 11 11 25 33 Institutional fellowships and assistantships alone or with institutional support 25 27 17 20 34 18 Research assistantships 14 33 28 46 22 33 Teaching Assistantships 45 15 37 11 12 12 Other or less than full support 2 4 2 4 4 3 Unfunded 5 10 4 7 2 2 YEAR 3 YEAR 4 Physical and Physical and Biomedical Mathematical Biomedical Mathematical Sciences Sciences Engineering Sciences Sciences Engineering External fellowships or traineeships alone or with 35 35 institutional support 13 11 13 10 Institutional fellowships and assistantships alone or with 16 14 institutional support 14 18 14 17 37 40 Research assistantships 38 49 43 51 8 7 Teaching Assistantships 2 10 23 8 Other or less than full support 2 4 2 4 3 3 Unfunded 4 7 4 8 2 2
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From page 25...
... YEAR 5 YEAR 6 Physical and Physical and Biomedical Mathematical Biomedical Mathematical Sciences Sciences Engineering Sciences Sciences Engineering External fellowships or traineeships alone or with institutional support 12 9 11 6 34 32 Institutional fellowships and assistantships alone or with institutional support 14 16 12 12 11 10 Research assistantships 47 53 48 52 43 46 Teaching Assistantships 20 7 18 7 6 6 Other or less than full support 2 4 4 6 4 4 Unfunded 4 8 7 14 2 2 YEAR 6+ Physical and Biomedical Mathematical Sciences Sciences Engineering External fellowships or traineeships alone or with institutional support 7 4 26 Institutional fellowships and assistantships alone or with institutional support 9 9 11 Research assistantships 43 40 42 Teaching Assistantships 15 7 6 Other or less than full support 6 6 7 Unfunded 18 31 7
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From page 26...
... Rate (%) Correlation Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology 5.63 45.9 -0.375 Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering 5.06 46.3 -0.134 Cell and Developmental Biology 5.66 50.1 -0.383 Genetics and Genomics 5.73 41.6 -0.451 Immunology and Infectious Disease 5.36 56.2 -0.071 Integrated Biological and Biomedical Sciences 5.62 47.4 -0.362 Microbiology 5.58 47.1 -0.493 Neuroscience and Neurobiology 5.68 46.2 -0.464 Nutrition 4.88 55.8 -0.165 Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Environmental Health 5.21 56.1 -0.260 Physiology 5.13 50.9 -0.179
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Key Terms

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  • doctoral students
  • mathematical sciences
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  • program practices
  • dominant avenue
  • programs average
  • shorter median
  • comes primarily

  • integrated biological
  • encourage program
  • broad fields
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  • funding doctoral
  • individual investigators
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  • funding patterns
  • sciences comes


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