Measuring the Science and Engineering Enterprise Priorities for the Division of Science Resources Studies (2000) / Chapter Skim
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4 Science and Engineering Human Resources
4 Science and Engineering Human Resources
Pages 59-78
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From page 59... ...
has written, "has been to attract high-ability youth into science and engineering careers by providing significant multi-year financial support that is competitively allocated and based on the student's past achievement and future promise" (USE 19971. Much of the federal funding for graduate students is a by-product of federal support for academic science and engineering research, but it nevertheless remains substantial and has served as the vehicle for integrating graduate education and research in science and engineering.
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From page 60... ...
released a report on graduate education that noted the common criticisms of graduate education in the 1990s: overproduction of Ph.D.s; narrow training; emphasis on research over teaching; use of students to meet institutional needs at the expense of sound education; and insufficient mentoring, career advising, and job placement assistance. However, this report reached different conclusions about the nature and extent of these problems, and in the end, different recommendations (AAU 19981.
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From page 61... ...
SRS may collect data on graduate students, their educational experiences, and their financial support at three points in time: during graduate school, at the completion of a graduate degree, and retrospectively through personnel surveys. Currently, SRS administers a Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering (GSPSE)
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From page 62... ...
However, SRS has done very little to exploit the longitudinal nature of the personnel surveys they already administer. Financial Support for Graduate Students The National Science Board asked in ~997 for an exploration of "improved policy data to assess the effectiveness of current Federal support for graduate education" (NSB 1997~.
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From page 63... ...
, selectivity of bachelor's institution, or GRE scores, and indicators of career outcomes so that student potential, graduate financial support, and career outcomes could be analyzed as a package. if it were possible and cost-effective to obtain data on student potential and graduate school through a longitudinal survey of graduate students and link it to career data, this would provide the most complete picture of how financial support is packaged and how it relates to graduate school and career outcomes.
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From page 64... ...
Questions posed in such a survey could be fielded to students at the beginning of graduate studies, at formal entrance into a doctoral program, at the completion of all requirements but the dissertation, and at degree receipt. Retrospective questions about career expectations and overall satisfaction with the respondent's Ph.D.
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From page 65... ...
Researchers would also like to be able to link student scores on the GRE to data from the Survey of Earned Doctorates and the Survey of Doctorate Recipients to examine further the predictive power of the GRE with regard to career outcomes. Issues in the Science and Engineering Labor Market Even before the difficulties in the labor market in the 1 990s raised questions about the transition to employment of new and recent Ph.D.s, the 1989 NRC report Surveying the Nation 's Scientists and Engineers argued that NSF needed to improve the data it provides on career paths and work of scientists and engineers.
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From page 66... ...
Obtaining Improved Data on Science and Engineering Careers The most comprehensive source of data on the science and engineering workforce is SRS's human resources surveys. Its three personnel surveys- the National Survey of College Graduates, the National Survey of Recent College Graduates, and the Survey of Doctorate Recipients plus the integrated Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT)
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From page 67... ...
that issued a report in 1989 entitled Surveying the Nation 's Scientists and Engineers: A Data System for the 1990s. Appendix C provides an overview of recommendations from this report that urged SRS to restructure, expand, and better integrate its three personnel surveys-the National Survey of College Graduates, the National Survey of Recent College Graduates, and the Survey of Doctorate Recipients to meet the inflation needs of policymakers, planners, and researchers on the population of scientists and engineers in the United States.
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From page 68... ...
We would like to re-emphasize the 1989 recommendation that "NSF should increase the research utility of the science and engineering personnel data base by enriching the content of its surveys" by exploring three content areas that required monitoring then and still do today. First, SRS needs to modify or add content to provide greater understanding of"the career paths that scientists follow and the factors that influence key transitions, including initial entry into the labor force, mobility across fields and sectors, and retirement." Likewise, SRS should revise its personnel surveys to improve data on "the kinds of work that scientists do and how their work is changing in response to changes in technology, organizational structure, and other factors." Further, we recommend that SRS increase the research utility of the personnel data system by developing better estimates of the international flows of scientists and engineers the estimates of immigration and emigration that the 1989 pane} urged SRS to pursue.
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From page 69... ...
In light of job market problems such as these, COSEPUP undertook its study of graduate education. COSEPUP, the NSB, AAU, and others have raised the following kinds of questions about the transition of recent Ph.D.s to science and engineering employment and have called for additional data to address these questions: What are the labor market needs and opportunities for Ph.D.s, by sector, industry, and field?
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From page 70... ...
The NRC report Trends in the Early Careers of Life Scientists released last year has added further to the enumeration of problems facing recent Ph.D.s as they negotiate a changing labor market. The following passage from the report provides an overview of the problems facing recent Ph.D.s in the life sciences in particular: The training and career prospects of a graduate student or postdoctoral fellow in the life sciences in 1998 are very different from what they were in the 1960s and 1 970s.
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To provide its users with data that allow broader and deeper analysis of career paths SRS should take a number of steps. First, SRS should strive to fully support longitudinal and time series analyses with its personnel data especially data from the SDR.
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Often important trends in the labor market are field or sub-field specific. Thus, in order to properly analyze a labor market issue and reach conclusions as to what, if any, policy adjustments need to be made, analyses need to be carried out at this sub-field level.
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From page 73... ...
As shown in Table 4-2, this labor market indicator first fell below 50 percent in the 1990s. Since it did so in the midst of job market difficulties for new Ph.D.s, this trend was finally given the level of attention it had deserved for some time.
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From page 74... ...
scientists and engineers work outside of academia, and thus called for more information on the career paths of these Ph.D.s both inside and outside of colleges and universities. SRS could better describe the kinds of careers pursued by Ph.D.s outside of academia by adding to the SDR questions that solicit the following kinds of detail to flesh out these careers: Data on compensation of scientists and engineers, particularly in the private sector.
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From page 75... ...
In the 1997 survey cycle, the personnel surveys include a special module on alternative or temporary work arrangements, such as contracting or consultancies. SRS, in concert with its data users, should continue to examine how all three of its personnel surveys answer these questions today and revise or add content items as needed to better describe the current work arrangements of scientists and engineers educated at the bachelor's degree level and above.
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Some indicators of increased international flow in the science and engineering labor market include the following: .
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Data Users and External Researchers The Pane} that wrote Surveying the Nation 's Scientists and Engineers argued that the personnel data system in the 1 990s should "provide a research base for improved analysis of relevant labor markets and of flows into, out of, and within the science and engineering labor force that can pinpoint trouble spots and provide early warnings of future problems, and .
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From page 78... ...
These researchers should also be involved in writing the research statements that will guide SESTAT as SRS revises this survey for the next decade and specifies the kinds of analyses that will be performed utilizing data from the personnel surveys. Finally, SRS should monitor and summarize research conducted by others using data from the NSCG, NSRCG, and the SDR.
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