Higher Education for Science and

Engineering

March 1989

NTIS order #PB89-191290
Recommended Citation:

U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Higher Education for Science and

Engineering--A Background Paper, OTA-BP-SET-52 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, March 1989).

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 89-600704

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents

U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402-9325

(order form can be found in the back of this report)
PREFACE

This background paper focuses on the end point of educational preparation for

science and engineering careers — undergraduate and graduate study. It places the issue

of future supply in the broad cultural context of changing demographics, labor market

adjustments, and intervention policies. In a dynamic economy and an increasingly

technological society, planning is essential. But because of that very dynamism, the

flexibility of workers is critical, as is the recognition that some short-term remedies may

create longer-term problems.

The demographic trend of greatest significance is that the school-age population,

beginning in the 1990s, will look unlike any we have ever seen in this Nation. That makes

the future less certain and less predictable. It also warns us to be particularly careful

with the extrapolations of the past that show, for example, a poor representation of

minorities in these fields. The trend further suggest the need to identify and replicate

programs and actions that seem to work, both inside school and out, to bring students

into science and engineering and keep them there through completion of degrees.

History has shown that some students have not been well served by formal public

education. If we are to bring more of these students into the ranks of scientists and

engineers, promising programs are worth trying, even if they are unproven. We need to

revise our methods and models of recruitment, clarify the image of "scientist” and

“engineer,” and rethink the notion of "professional calling" as it relates to the

accessibility of the scientific career.

This paper also represents the last leg of an OTA journey begun in 1984 at the

request of the Science Policy Task Force of the House Committee on Science and

Technology.

Force (December 1985), warned of the perils of trying to project demand for scientists

and engineers.

A followup Staff Paper in January 1987, “Preparing for Science and Engineering

Careers: Field-Level Profiles, "disaggregated 20 years of enrollment and degree data, by

field, sex, and race and ethnicity. This statistical characterization of student flows into

science and engineering underscored the need to analyze the process by which students

bridge educational aspirations to achievements. In a report published in June 1988, OTA

presented such an analysis.
School recast the science and engineering pipeline as a kind of permeable membrane that

accommodates the recruitment and retention of some students who, for the most part,

are undecided about their careers and sensitive to opportunities they perceive in an

everchanging job market. Students are buffeted about an education system that succeeds

for some yet fails so many others.

These “others” are the very segments of the school-age population from which

elementary and secondary education must draw students to interest in, and prepare for,

careers in science and engineering. OTA’s Technical Memorandum, Elementary and

one system” theme while examining both formal and informal education in science and

mathematics. Clearly, curriculum, teaching, textbooks, and testing are components of

schooling. But schools are subject to State and local jurisdictions. Since no one thing

works for all children, research on how students learn and how to affect classroom

practice now complements the development of out-of-school programs anchored in the

community and fortified by a coalition of local business, industry, university, and

government support.

The Federal role is catalytic — some say more symbolic and experimental than

exemplary — but leadership, most agree, must be exercised at the national level. The

purpose of this paper is to analyze, with various data collected in the course of the

assessment reflected in Educating Scientists and Engineers the distinctive and common

characteristics of undergraduate, graduate, and engineering education in the United

States. These three topics are addressed in separate chapters, preceded by an

introduction that offers a perspective on Federal policies for higher education, and

specifically on the processes that transform talented students into productive

researchers, innovators, faculty, and administrators.

It may be an axiom of social change, growth, and progress, but people are our most

precious commodity. Renewing and developing human resources is a vital underpinning

of American society and its competitive position in the world. Whether the goal is an

increasingly science and technology literate public, excellence in research and

development, a robust economy, or an improved quality of life for all citizens of the

Nation, education is arguably the most protracted and therefore powerful experience in

our lives. It demands attention.
HIGHER EDUCATION FOR SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

OTA PROJECT STAFF

John Andelin, Assistant Director, OTA

Science, Information, and Natural Resources Division

Nancy Carson, Program Manager

Science, Education, and Transportation Program

Daryl E. Chubin, Project Director

Lisa Heinz, Analyst

Richard Davies, Analyst

Robert Garfinkle, Research Analyst

Madeline Gross, Administrative Secretary

Kimberley Gilchrist, Secretary
Reviewers

Pamela H. Atkinson

University of California, Berkeley

Alan Fechter

National Research Council

Christopher T. Hill

Congressional Research Service

Alan L. Porter

Georgia Institute of Technology

Richard Rowberg

Congressional Research Service

John W. Sommer

National Science Foundation

Rolf Piekarz

National Science Foundation
Higher Education for Science and Engineering

Advisory Panel

Neal Lane, Chairman

Provost, Rice University, Houston, TX

Amy Buhrig

Specialist Engineer

Artificial Intelligence

Boeing Aerospace Corporation

Seattle, WA

David Goodman

Deputy Director

New Jersey Commission on

Science and Technology

Trenton, NJ

Irma Jarcho

Chairman

Science Department

The New Lincoln School

New York, NY

Hugh Loweth

Consultant

Annandale, VA

James Powell]

President

Franklin and Marsha

Lancaster, PA

Rustum Roy

1 Co lege

Evan Pugh Professor of the Solid State

Materials Research Laboratory

Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA

Bernard Sagik

Vice President for Academic Affairs 2

Drexel University

Philadelphia, PA

William Snyder

Dean, College of Engineering

University of Tennessee

Knoxville, TN

Peter Syverson

Director of Information Services

Council of Graduate Schools in the

United States

Washington, DC

Elizabeth Tidball

Professor of Physiology

School of Medicine

The George Washington University

Washington, DC

Melvin Webb

Biology Department

Clark/Atlanta University

Atlanta, GA

F. Karl Willenbrock

Executive Director

American Society for

Engineering Education

Washington, DC

Hilliard Williams

Director of Central Research

Monsanto Chemical Company

St. Louis, MO

Dorothy Zinberg

Center for Science and

International Affairs

Harvard University

Cambridge, MA

I currently president, Reed College .

2Currently Professor of Bioscience and Biotechnology.
Higher Education for Science and Engineering

Table of Contents

Preface 1

Chapter 1: Diversity of Students and Institutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Chapter 2: Undergraduates in Science ● **0. *o. .*OoOo* **** oe*. .eo. .o. .. o ..,....* . 13

Chapter 3: Graduate Education and the University ● ...........,..,.,.. . 95

Chapter 4: Engineering Education ● .*coo** . . . . 188

Appendix A:

Appendix B:

Appendix C:

Appendix D:

Appendix E:

APPENDIXES

The Mathematics Workshop Project: Intervention With

a Difference at the University of California, Berkeley . .............242

Productivity Ratios for the Leading 100 Undergraduate

Sources of Science and Engineering Ph.Ds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. ..252

Science and Engineering Graduate Study and Credentials

in Other Nations ● . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 

A Chronology of Reports on Engineering Education . ...............262

Contractor Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0...00... 267
Chapter 1

Diversity of Students and Institutions

STUDENTS AND HIGHER EDUCATION . “3

●✓
Chapter 1

Diversity of Students and Institutions

American colleges and universities prepare undergraduate and graduate students to

become the next generation of scientists and engineers. These institutions immense

influence on students’ careers, skills, and attitudes determines the size, composition, and

quality of the future science and engineering work force. To effect any significant

change in this work force will take long-term public policy efforts at all levels of

education, and commitment by families, businesses, and communities. Colleges rely on

elementary and secondary schools; yet without sufficient academic preparation

(particularly in mathematics) and interest in science, children will not be able to succeed

in a college major in science or engineering. 1

Large research universities, small liberal arts colleges, the historically Black

institutions, 2-year institutions, and a mix of special-purpose colleges, universities, and

technical institutes, public and private, make American higher education highly diverse

in size, purpose, and structure. Each type of institution provides a unique environment

for developing ability and encouraging persistence. No one environment is suitable for

all students (although some institutions produce more scientists and engineers than

others). This report looks at these institutions as producers of a future work force, and

provides a perspective on fledging scientists and engineers.

STUDENTS AND HIGHER EDUCATION

The quality and diversity of American higher education in all fields is globally

respected. Enrollments continue to grow, but demographic trends portend a decline in

the number of college-age students in the 1990s, with some increases early in the 21st

century. Since demand for scientists and engineers is expected to increase, many

policy makers worry that the supply of new graduates will fall significantly short.

1. U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, EZernenta~> and Secondar>’

Education for Science and Engineering, OTA-SET-TM-41 (Washington, DC: U.S.

Government Printing Office, December 1988). While action at the elementary and

secondary level will not affect the supply of entry-level and Ph.D. scientists and

engineers in the next few years, long-term improvement and expansion of the pool of

scientists and engineers must be built on the base of a well-prepared, enthusiastic

population of high school graduates.

3
Universities warn that their aging instructional equipment and facilities hamper their

ability to deliver a quality technical education. In addition, as demand for workers in

emerging fields outstrips the availability of new graduates, there are continuing

mismatches between supply and demand in specialized fields, as well as continuing

vexation over the low representation of women and minorities in science and engineering

professions.

A strategy to increase the supply and quality of young scientists and engineers must

be based on an understanding of the unique problems fostered by demographic change.

Such strategies should include recruiting more students into science and engineering

majors, particularly the undertapped resources of women and minorities; retaining more

of these through higher degrees and into technical careers; and bolstering the college and

university infrastructure for instruction and research. Special programs that prepare

students, provide them with academic and social support, and involve them in hands-on

research, help keep students in science.

A robust job market reflects a robust economy, which, in turn, powers Federal and

national research and development (R&D) spending and boosts student recruitment and

retention. 2 Undergraduate financial aid has created a substantial pool of college

students from which science and engineering, among other fields, have drawn talent.

institutions of higher education can do more, as reflected in the many initiatives of

individual colleges and universities, as well as in programs sponsored by industry and

professional societies. 3

Many students come to science and engineering during college, not before. A

national study showed that 20 percent of science/engineering majors had not planned

science or engineering majors during high school. More might enter if they were not

stymied by the relative rigidity of most science and engineering curricula, which demand

early commitment to a sequence of courses, particularly in mathematics. 4 The

2. For an elaboration on these and the policy options summarized below, see U.S.

Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Educating Scientists and Engineers: Grade

SchooZ to Grad School, OTA-SET-377 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing

Office, June 1988), esp. ch. 4.

3. For example, see Elaine E1-Khawas, Campus Trends, 1988, Higher Education Panel

Report Number 77 (Washington, DC: American Council on Education, September 1988).

4. Valerie E. Lee, “Identifying Potential Scientists and Engineers: An Analysis of the

High School-College Transition,” OTA contractor report, 1987. Based on the High School

& Beyond survey, following high school sophomores of 1980 through their college

sophomore year (1984). Many of the findings reported here derive from analyses

4
flexibility of student interest indicates that science and engineering programs could seek

out students as late as their sophomore or even junior years of college, and that colleges

could help by providing administrative and curricular gateways for students to change

majors and “catch up.”

At the graduate level, putting money into U.S. research universities — through

research grants, research and teaching assistantships, fellowships, and traineeships — has

proved a relatively straightforward mechanism for increasing the supply of quality

Ph.D.s. Targeted financial aid, mostly research training subsidies for graduate students,

enables students interested in research careers to pursue the lengthy training required,

and may even attract more students. Upgrading the capacity for graduate education is a

costly and long-term endeavor; even large, elite institutions require continuing support to

maintain the quality of their research and education programs. 5

Unlike elementary and secondary schooling, higher education in the sciences and

engineering is subject to direct Federal influence. About 13 percent of the $60 billion

dollars spent annually by all levels of government on higher education comes from the

Federal Government. Federal funding is particularly important at the graduate level,

where Federal fellowships and other forms of assistance are awarded to support specific

graduate students in specific fields of study, and where the majority of academic

research is supported by Federal funds. Federal R&D programs are also highly influential

in graduate education since they provide employment opportunities for researchers in

universities, industry, and government, and thus heighten the attraction of graduate

research training.

ORGANIZATION OF THIS REPORT

This report is presented in three chapters:

engineering education. This reflects divisions both in

education enterprise and in the policy actions relevant to

undergraduate, graduate, and

the organization of the higher

each. 6

performed in 1987 as part of the assessment that led to Office of Technology

Assessment, op. cit., footnote 2. In some cases, databases have been updated; for most

of OTA% results, the terminal data point is 1986, though some enrollment and degree

data extend to 1987.

5. Arthur M. Hauptman, ‘

tHigher Education May Face an Era of Retrenchment No

Matter Which Candidate Is Elected in November,” The Chronicle of Higher Education,

Oct. 19, 1988, p. A52.

6. This report was neither conceived nor written as a policy document. lt contains no

5
Undergraduate education has traditionally been characterized by diversity, with

several thousand colleges and universities pursuing very different missions and student

bodies. The Federal role has been one of providing financial support to ensure individuals

educational opportunity; a concern for equity has set the policy tone. 7 Federal sciencerelated programs for undergraduate research, faculty, and institutions have been limited

in extent but potent in effect. That is, specific fields have seldom been singled out for

Federal support.

Graduate education has long been an area of direct Federal action, because of the

national need for Ph.D.-trained scientists and engineers. Extensive Federal subsidies of

graduate education and university research have strongly shaped the nature and extent of

graduate education, and the supply of science and engineering Ph.D.s.8

Educating engineers differs from educating research- and academically-oriented

scientists; the vast majority of engineers work in industry, and can seek a relatively highpaying professional job with a bachelor% or master% degree rather than a Ph.D. (A

strong baccalaureate market exists for physicists, chemists, and computer scientists as

well, so the similarities between the entry-level destinations of some scientists and

engineers belies the general differences in their undergraduate preparation. ) The

national attention to manufacturing and technological competitiveness augurs an

increasing Federal interest

Undergraduate Education

in the quality of engineering education.

The Federal Government has been instrumental in expanding access to college.

Financial aid in all forms, including the G.I. Bill, has helped many low- and middlesingle policy section or chapter. Rather, it is an education research report with a

devotion to data and an eye on what they might mean for the members of various

communities, including policy makers. For a recent example of a similar document

written from an academic perspective, see Richard J. Shavelson, “Contributions of

Educational Research to Policy and Practice: Constructing, Challenging, Changing

Cognition,” Educational Researcher, vol. 17, October 1988, pp. 4-11, 22.

7. Kathryn Mohrman, “Unintended Consequences of Federal Student Aid Policies,f

’ The

Z3rookings Review, vol. 5, No. 4, fall 1987, pp. 24-30.

8. For a review of Federal legislation in fiscal years 1988 and 1989 geared to science

and engineering education, see U.S. Congress, Congressional Research Service, Major

Legislation of the Congress, Issue No. 3 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing

Office, August 1988), pp. MLC-021, MLC-102; and U.S. Congress, Congressional

Research Service, ‘

t

Education: The Challenges,” Congressional Research Service Review,

vol. 9, No. 9, October 1988.
income students attend and complete colleges; scholarships have been particularly

effective. Science and engineering undergraduates are similar to other students in their

use of aid, and loan burdens do not seem to affect students' choice of major or decision

to attend graduate school. The vast majority of aid has been given solely on the basis of

need, without regard to the interests of the students or the institution they are going to

attend. Educators have suggested creating a scholarship (based on merit and/or need) for

undergraduates majoring in areas of national need, such as science and engineering.

Although this diverges from conventional policy wisdom, there is precedent in special

scholarships for future teachers. Such a program would likely encourage some students

to pursue targeted fields, although the extent and effect of such a program is uncertain.

The abundance of college-educated students has benefited all professions, including

science and engineering. The level of college enrollments is important to the supply of

scientists and engineers, who have in the aggregate maintained for more than 3 decades a

fairly steady 30 percent share of all baccalaureates (20 percent for natural science and

engineering). However, there have been significant shifts in the distribution of students

among fields within science and engineering, reflecting undergraduates’ changing

interests as well as the job market. The social sciences, and to a lesser extent the

physical and biological sciences, have experienced steady declines, while engineering and

computer science have been rising in popularity (until very

engineering majors continue to attract a high proportion

students. 9

Another perspective on the future supply of scientists and

recently). Science and

of academically able

engineers centers on the

phenomenon of attrition. Fewer than half of freshman science and engineering majors

complete a baccalaureate in science and engineering. However, some peer and academic

support programs have been effective in helping students complete their chosen majors.

Such programs are being widely publicized, expanded, and replicated.10 In the long run,

however, efforts to reduce attrition or attract new talent will collapse unless students

perceive career opportunities in research, teaching, and practice. Unless job markets are

strong, increasing the output of scientists and engineers will result only in

underemployment and frustration. Strong job markets in academic research and

teaching, as well as Federal, State, and industrial R&D initiatives, can elevate

9. Kenneth C. Green, University of California, Los Angeles, personal communication,

1987.

1 o* Edward B.

Education, ’t New

Fiske, ‘

f Accountability Looms as the Watchword of the 90s in Higher

York Times Education, Nov. 16, 1988, p. B8.

7
enrollments, although spot shortages and surpluses at disciplinary and subdisciplinary

levels are to be expected in a dynamic economy.

The quality of undergraduate education is at least as important as the number of

degrees. Of course, quality is notoriously difficult to define or to package in a policy

initiative. Often-cited indicators of quality are well-prepared students committed to

learning and helping each other learn; faculty and teaching assistants who enjoy and are

rewarded for teaching; thoughtful, interactive curricula; well-maintained equipment and

facilities for students to experience “real-life" bench research; and time and money for

students to immerse themselves in full-time study. Experiencing research as an

undergraduate is one of the most effective means of luring students to a career in

science (or helping them discover early that they are not suited for such a career).ll

The National Science Foundation has designed many small but effective programs to

improve quality. Federal mission agencies also have programs; and there is much

scattered activity within individual institutions, industry, local companies, professional

societies, and some States.

Some colleges have particular success in sending their graduates on to Ph.D.s in

science and engineering. These nurturing environments are particularly important for

women and minority students. The characteristics of these environments are individual

attention to student development, undergraduate research participation, and a

commitment to quality teaching. Such characteristics can be replicated. Federal

policies can help institutions improve the quality of instruction with funding and

incentives for undergraduate research, cooperative education, instruction and laboratory

equipment and facilities, and faculty and institutional development. Nevertheless, it

helps to start with bright, motivated students, and then invest in them.

Graduate Education

As students weigh graduate study and a research career, they consider both

economic and noneconomic factors. Salary is one consideration among many in the

career choices of aspiring academic researchers. The expectation of a rewarding

research career is high on a list that includes the traditional rewards of university

research: intellectual freedom, security of tenure, and the creative challenges and social

11. Janet Lanza, ‘fWhys and Hews of Undergraduate Research," Bioscience, vol. 38, No.

2, February 1988, pp. 110-112.

8
pleasures found in the university environment. 12 Even so, a small fraction of

baccalaureate-level scientists and engineers elect to pursue science or engineering

doctorates at more than 330 institutions.

Most fields of study in the sciences, as distinguished from engineering, are oriented

toward the academic job market, even though only one-half of all scientists work in

academic institutions. The Ph.D. is the entry professional degree in these fields. Since

the early 1970s, however, the academic job market in many fields has stagnated, as

growth in undergraduate enrollments has slowed. Graduate enrollments have been

sustained largely by foreign students who have helped compensate for the decline in

enrollments by U.S. citizens.

Strategies to increase the number of American graduate students focus on bringing

more women and minorities into engineering. While the participation of women in

engineering increased rapidly during the late 1970s, it seems to have plateaued. A “chilly

cl i mate” still prevails on campus. Role models are too few, and access to career

opportunities and salaries are still perceived as gender-linked in science and engineering,

perhaps even more so than in business or law. 13

The environment in which graduate study and academic research takes place is

undergoing structural change, which may affect the attractiveness of research as a

potential career. In the past two decades, an emphasis on applied research has

transformed universities’ mission; undergraduate teaching and basic research have

suffered. The faculty turnover expected in the 1990s, as the postwar generation of

faculty retires, may present an opportunity to renew the commitment to teaching as

fundamental to the academic enterprise .14 Unfortunately, the research university does

not seem to value teaching and “community service" as much as research (grant-getting

and publishing). And this reward system seems largely impervious to change.

12. Alan Porter et al., “The Role of the Dissertation in Scientific Careers, ’f American

Scientist, vol. 70, September-October 1982, pp. 475-481.

13. Nadya Aisenberg and Mona Barrington, ‘tA 2-Tier Faculty System Reflects Old

Social Rules That Restrict Women% Professional Develop merit,” The Chronicle of Higher

Education, Oct. 26, 1988, p. A56; and Roberta M. Hall and Bernice R. Sandier, Out of the

CZassroom: A Chilly Climate for Women? (Washington, DC: Association of American

Colleges, Project on the Status and Education of Women, October 1984).

140 Betty M. Vetter, “Replacing Science and Engineering Faculty in the 1990s, ”

presented at the Conference on Undergraduate Research, Carlton College, Northfield,

MN, July 13, 1988.
Engineering Education

The supply of engineers is of widespread concern because of the pivotal role that

engineers play both in research and in bringing new technological developments into

production and the global market. Increasingly rapid technological progress shortens the

half-life of engineering knowledge, as educators struggle to keep apace with the demand

for engineers freshly trained in the latest theories and techniques.

Because students are sensitive to the current job market rather than opportunities

awaiting them when they graduate, the supply of new graduates is often mismatched to

demand. There are shortages in some specialties, which stem from rapid growth in

demand (and lags in supply response). Such transitory shortages seem unavoidable.

Because of these shifts and mismatches, maintaining a strong enrollment base is

important. Overall, the supply of engineers appears adequate. However, student interest

in engineering is declining slightly, reflecting a softening of the job market relative to

the market-driven boom in the late 1970s, as well as what some sense is a deeper

malaise.

15

Options for increasing the supply of engineers include both retraining and upgrading

the education of technicians and technologists. Retraining of engineers in oversubscribed

specialties, and of engineers in nonengineering jobs such as management, can help meet

changing demand. Retraining, like other strategies, however, is not cost-free. New

information education technologies, particularly video and satellite-based systems, which

can cheaply and quickly reach engineers or technicians at their workplace, can help

boost the supply and quality of engineers through retraining. 16

A prominent issue in engineering is the large and growing presence at the graduate

level of foreign students. Over one-half of graduate students are foreign. This is due,

most believe, to the relative lack of interest on the part of American students in

pursuing low-paying graduate study; the costs incurred and salary foregone is not

perceived as worth the entry-level pay in academia. Instead, Americans seek lucrative,

15. ‘tFor Engineers, 4 Years’ College Not Enough, Says MIT Dean,” Engineering Times,

December 1988, p. 5; and “Engineering Curricula to Get NSF-Funded Revamps, ”

Engineering Times, December 1988, p. 5.

16. National Research Council, The Effects on Quality of Adjustments in Engineering

Labor Markets (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1988). Attracting scientists

from nearby disciplines and keeping more active engineers from leaving the profession

are related strategies for ensuring the future supply of engineers.

10
interesting positions in industry working with the latest equipment. About one-half of

these foreign graduate students in engineering stay on in the United States in academia

and industry. They make enormous contributions as graduate students and later as fullfledged engineers and researchers.

Controversy, however, arises in several areas. Although foreign students are

widely regarded as competent researchers, many come with poor English and cultural

biases which detract from their effectiveness as teaching assistants and colleagues. In

response, universities have established English language requirements and courses to help

acculturate foreign graduate students. 17

In the absence of modifications in immigration policy and visa status, the

proportion of foreign graduate students will continue to haunt some employers recruiting

engineers for defense-related projects. Most such projects are open only to U.S.

citizens. Some argue that, given the great benefits of foreign engineers to U.S.

universities and industry, the United States should encourage not only students on

temporary visas but also their eventual permanent immigration. On the other hand,

there is some insecurity in relying on foreign students for critical knowledge (especially

those on temporary visas who might unexpectedly return home). A corollary problem is

the “draining” of highly -educated people from their native countries. Foreign engineers

(and scientists) have been an invaluable source of talent in the past, and encouraging

study and immigration does not preclude trying to increase the interest of U.S. students

in engineering.

The number of U.S. engineering Ph.D.s increased slightly in 1986 and again in 1987,

and graduate enrollments are rising; these figures, however, follow a long decline. Most

proposals to attract more American students start with increasing pay for graduate

students, so that stipends are at least one-half of what a baccalaureate could earn in

industry. During the early 1980s, the years of strongest recent demand for engineers,

some universities created special pay scales to recruit and retain engineering faculty;

these seem to have helped.

The participation of Blacks and Hispanics in engineering, as well as the physical

sciences, shows little sign of substantial increase. (Asian-Americans, on the other hand,

are more likely than whites to major in engineering and go on to graduate study.)

17. National Research Councilj Foreign and Foreign-l?orn Engineers in the United

States: Znfusing Talent, Raising Issues (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1988).

11
Although special programs at all levels of education have spurred extraordinary increases

in Black and Hispanic students' interest in engineering, Blacks are still more than twice

as likely as whites to drop out of an engineering major. Programs such as California's

Minority Engineering Program, which has tripled participants’ likelihood of persisting to a

degree in engineering, succeed in retaining students in the pipeline. 18

While leadership must come from university faculty and administration, external

aid can make a difference. That aid can be money, but it also can be equipment and

staff loans. The Federal Government can also assist by publicizing intervention

programs, as well as sponsoring, evaluating, and replicating successful ones.

Cooperative education and other engineering-related work experience is valuable,

too, but is neither widespread nor well institutionalized. The Federal Government

employs many “co-op" students, and can give students access to unique work

opportunities in Federal laboratories. In the 1970s, Federal funding for cooperative

education expanded university programs; in the wake of decreased funding, new

incentives for business and industry participation will be needed to create opportunities

for students to pursue cooperative education.

Federal programs for engineering faculty, including research and young investigator

support, industry-university exchange programs to bring industry engineers into

academia, and engineering curriculum development, all enhance the quality of faculty

and the education they deliver.

18. Raymond B. Landis, Academic Gamesmanship: Becoming a !tMasterll Engineering

Student (New York, NY: National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, 1987).

12
Chapter 2

Undergraduates in Science

THE IMPORTANCE OF UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION . . . . . . . . . + . .. .. .. .. ......13

The Supply of College-Level Science and Engineering Students ● 14

Student Interest in Science and Engineering . 16

Trends in Degrees: Field Differences ● . 25

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING STUDENTS . . 27

Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans . ... . 28

Asians 33

Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ” 33

Academic Quality of Science and Engineering Undergraduates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ● .36

Retention During College and Career Paths After the Baccalaureate . . . . .......38

FEDERAL ROLES IN UNDERGRADUATE SCIENCE EDUCATION . . .. . . . . . . .. ......38

The Effects of Federal R&D Policies on Undergraduate Education . 42

Trends in the Federal Role . 43

Financial Aid for science and Engineering Students . 45

The Effects of Financial Aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Non-Federal Support of Higher Education ● ..****.**.**.*.*.***************** 53

Targeted Federal Undergraduate Science and Engineering

Education Programs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ● ... . 58

The Future of Undergraduate Science Education ..*. ..** **. .*. .**. *c** e* e***. 66

INSTITUTIONAL SETTINGS AND INFLUENCES ON CAREERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67

A Diversity of Institutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ● ,. ● . . . . . ● . . . ● . . ● ● + ● ● ● + ● ● ● ● 69

Undergraduate Origins of Science and Engineering Ph.D.s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76

2-2

2-3

2-4

2-5

2-6

2-7

2-8

2-9

2-1o

Science/Engineering as Percent of All Baccalaureate Degrees,

1950-86 " 15

Freshmen Planned Majors, by Science/Engineering Field, 1977-87 .. . . .. . .......20

Baccalaureate Degrees, 1950-86 .**. ... 26

Planned Freshmen Majors, by Field and Race/Ethnicity, Fall 1987 . . . . . ● .. ......30

Freshmen Choice of College Major, by Achievement, 1986 . . .. . . . . . . . . . .......37

Retention in College, by Freshman Major, 1982 Freshmen in 1986 . . . . . . . . . ● .. ..40

Career Paths of 1984 and 1985 Science Baccalaureates in 1986 . *..******.***** 41

Sources of Student Aid, in Constant 1980 Dollars, 1976-86 . ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● . ● ● ‘. ● ● * ● 46

Type of Aid Used in College by Science/Engineering Baccalaureates,

by Immediate Postcollege Career Path and College GPA, 1984................50

Education Debt of Recent Baccalaureates, by Field and

Career Path, 1984 ● *.. .*. .*. ... o.*. .*** *.*e. ***. *e.. .... .. .. .. .... ......52

2-1 Factors Affecting Undergraduates’ Choice of a Science or

Engineering Major ... .. 17

2-2 Planned Majors and Careers of Freshmen at All Institutions,

by Sex, Fall 1987 ... ... .e*. *.. ... .*. ... ... ... *.. . o . . * * * * * . . * . * * .*.***.** 22
2-3

2-4

2-5

2-6

2-7

2-8

2-9

2-10

2-11

2-12

2-13

2’14

2-15

 Freshmen's Planned Majors and Careers by Type of

Institution Attended, Fall 1987 . 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Freshmen Interest in Science and Engineering Majors by

Selectivity of University Attended and Sex (in Percent), Fall 1987.............24

B.S. Degrees in Science and Engineering, by Race/Ethnicity, 1984..............29

Planned Majors and Careers of Freshmen at 4-Year Institutions,

by Sex, 1978 and 1986 *.. .*. **. o.*. ... **. ... .*. ... ... .**. +*. ... do..*****. 35

College Student Retention, Entry, and Exit From Natural Science

and Engineering Majors, by Field, 1981 Freshmen Through

1985 Baccalaureates *** . . * . . . . . * * * * * * * * * * * * . . * * . * . * . . . * * * . . . . . * .**.....* 39

State Scholarship Programs, 1986-87 ● **. ... . * e * * * * * . . . * * . . * * * * * . * * **.**..*. 55

Corporate Grants to Higher Education, 1986 ● ....*.****.*..***.*.****..**** 57

Foundation Support for science, by Type of Support, 1985 -86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. ...59

Foundation Support for Science, by Recipient, 1984-86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .59

Current and Past National science Foundation Undergraduate Programs . .......61

Factors Affecting the Quality of Undergraduate Science

and Engineering Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Baccalaureates Awarded to Black Students at HBC Us and All

Institutions, by Field, 1980-81 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Major Federal Science and Engineering Education Programs for

HBCUs and Minority Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Boxes

2-A Handicapped Scientists: The Invisible Minority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

2-B Retaining Hispanics and Blacks in Engineering:

California’s Minority Engineering Program .* ..,.* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

2-C Douglass Project for Rutgers Women in Mathematics and Science . . . . . . . .......86

2-D The Neal Report *.. .*** ***...*******.*.*******.*****..*..*.***.**.****.. 87

2-E Undergraduate Research Participation: U.S. Department of

Energy Student Research Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

2-F Community Colleges: An Alternate Entry Route? ● *..0 ***o ***0 o*O*o 0***..*** 90

2-G Why Blacks Persist to the Baccalaureate at the University

of South Carolina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ● . * * * . . * . .*****... 93
Chapter 2

Undergraduates in Science

THE IMPORTANCE OF UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION

A 4-year college degree is the first step toward a career in science or

engineering. 1 For future scientists, college provides an education in the fundamentals of

science and engineering, as well as experiences that help them to choose an appropriate

career direction.

The undergraduate years are critical in shaping students’ career plans. During

college, most students decide on a particular field of study, and whether to go

immediately to graduate school or look for a job. Students' experiences in and out of the

classroom combine with their perceptions of the job market to steer them toward or

away from particular majors. Many students enter college with broad plans — medicine,

engineering, or biology — but rarely with a commitment to a specific career, such as

academic research in virology. For example, the typical high school graduate interested

in engineering may take some courses in mechanical engineering as a freshman, and then

develop a specific interest in designing satellite steering mechanisms.

The quality of education students receive depends upon the resources, priorities,

curricula, staff, fellow students, and ethos of the college they attend — the entire

institutional environment. Given the preparation of entering students, colleges

determine how many students graduate with science or engineering degrees, and the

quality of their preparation for graduate school and entry to the work force.

1. Nearly all scientists and engineers enter and graduate from 4-year colleges.

However, over one-half of the 3,300 institutions of higher education are 2-year, or

community, colleges. Community colleges fill two major roles related to science and

engineering: training technicians and continuing education. Two-year institutions are an

important source of technicians and technologists, who are a vital part of the research

work force. Another role of community colleges is to help students “catch up” and

transfer to 4-year institutions. Although not a significant source of baccalaureate level

scientists, many 2-year institutions feed talent to engineering colleges. Unless otherwise

noted in this chapter, colleges and universities refer to institutions that award at least

the baccalaureate degree. See Cheryl Fields, "Community Colleges Discover They are at

the Right Place at the Right Time," Governing, February 1988, pp. 30-35.

13
The Supply of College-Level Science and Engineering Students

American higher education attracts and educates an ample supply of potential

scientists and engineers. Over a million new students enter 4-year colleges each year.

Over one-third of these freshmen are interested in science and engineering. And despite

the large proportion of students abandoning technical majors during college, U.S. colleges

and universities graduate large numbers of baccalaureate scientists and engineers each

year. Natural science and engineering (NSE) have maintained a steady share among

baccalaureate

figure 2-l).

Students

engineering as

degrees, around 20 percent (with ups and

respond well to changing demand in the

downs in various fields) (see

labor market, for science or

well as other fields. For instance, the late-1970s’ boom in engineering and

computer science jobs powered a large, rapid increase in engineering enrollments among

new freshmen as well as students already in college. Several disquieting trends, however,

now challenge the assumption that this baccalaureate largess will continue. By far the

most important, the number of college-age youths in America is dropping and will hit its

lowest point around 1996, with modest increases expected early in the next century.

Most observers anticipate that this foreshadows a substantial dip in college enrollments,

with science and engineering suffering a proportionate drop. This decline might be

compensated in part by aggressive college recruiting of women, members of racial and

ethnic minorities, and the physically handicapped, and, in part, by increasing general

interest in science and engineering (see box 2-A). However, rising student interest in

high-paying business careers and the historic low participation of

in science bode ill for this strategy. Equity of access to college in

and engineering majors in particular remain contentious issues

principle. 2

minorities and women

general and to science

in practice, if not in

2. A host of factors — test scores, grades, extracurricular activities, teacher

recommendations, student interviews — are weighed by colleges to predict freshmen

performance and make admission decisions. The use of standardized tests, the SAT and

ACT, has been controversial. Critics claim that these tests, normed to the national

population of college-bound high school seniors, contain systematic biases against all but

white males. The issue is not the test scores themselves but how they are used in

admissions. A recent report, based on interviews and surveys at seven institutions that

no longer require standardized tests for admission, shows that applications have

increased with announcement of the new policies. See National Center for Fair and Open

Testing, Beyond Standardized Tests: Admissions Alternatives That Work (Cambridge,

MA: FairTest, 1987). Also see

Officers Make Better Decisions,

July 27, 1988, p. A20.

Elizabeth Greene, “SAT Scores Fail to Help Admission

Analysts Contend,’f The Chronicle of Higher Education.

14
35

3 0

2 5

2 0

15

10

5

0

Figure 2–1.– Science/Engineering as Percent

of All Baccalaureate Degrees, 1 950–86

“.

All S/E a

“.

I I I I I I I

1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985

KEY: S/E = science/engineering.

NSE = natural science and engineering.

a

lncludes the social sciences.

b

lncludes engineering and the physical, life, mathematical, and

computer sciences, but not social sciences.

SOURCE: Betty M. Vetter and Henry Hertzfeld, “Federal Funding of Science

and Engineering Education: Effect on Output of Scientists and Engineers,

1945– 1985, ” OTA contractor report, 1987, based on U.S. Department of

Education data.

15
The near-term irreversibility of demographic trends and increased “competition"

among careers and curricula for students raise several concerns about the ability of

undergraduate institutions to continue to produce a well-prepared supply of

baccalaureate scientists and engineers. Such concerns include:

● the factors influencing undergraduates’ decisions to major in science or

engineering, and the factors attracting or discouraging them from

pursuing these fields;

● the access to college and to technical majors for students of all

backgrounds, for women and men, for Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians as

well as whites (ensuring a broad enrollment base);

● the ability of colleges and universities to provide a high-quality and

appropriate undergraduate education for students pursuing technical

jobs or graduate study; and

● the effects of the labor market, Federal policies, and college

experiences on students’ decisions to seek careers in science or

engineering.

This chapter looks at each of these areas in turn, focusing on the Federal role in each.

Student Interest

The many

n

in Science and Engineering

motivations underlying the choice of college and major are not well

understood 3

(see table 2-l). Students develop interests early; many science and

engineering students do so before high school. These interests reflect many factors,

including innate aptitude, experiences in and outside of school, and the combined

influences of family, friends, teachers,

In the aggregate, students’ early

declaration of career plans (although

and society. 4

intentions predict actual college enrollments and

individual plans often shift). Students who are

3. See U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Educating Scientists and

Engineers: Grade School to Grad School, OTA-SET-377 (Washington, DC: U.S.

Government Printing Office, June 1988), pp. 23-25, 33-34.

4. Factors affecting the development of students! interest in science and engineering,

and their preparation for college-level science and engineering, are discussed in U.S.

Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Elementary and Secondary Education for

Science and Engineering, SET-TM-41 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office,

December 1988).

16
Table 2-1.-Factors Affecting Undergraduates’ Choice

of a Science or Engineering Major

Most students have decided on a major by the time they enter college. Innate

interest, school experiences, and teacher influences play a large role. Demographic

factors, particularly socioeconomic advantages, parents’ backgrounds, and education and

career values associated with certain ethnic groups, confer preferences that are difficult

to affect through policy. However, there is substantial readjustment during the college

years, as students tackle college-level courses, encounter new subjects, and face the

prospect of earning a living. Many students leave science or engineering altogether;

some shift among the sciences; and a few enter from nontechnical majors. Various

factors during the college years encourage students to enter or stay in science or

engineering.

Factors that attract students:

● Job market for scientists and engineers

● Academic preparation and achievement in high school (particularly including

coursework in mathematics; science and computer coursework are also

important)

Factors that reduce attrition (and improve the chances of college graduation in any field,

not just in science or engineering):

●

●

●

●

●

●

SOURCE:

University attention to student completion (“institutional nurturing”)

Intervention programs and peer support

Research participation

Good teaching

Financial support

Part-time work or cooperative study

Office of Technology Assessment, 1988.

17
interested in science and engineering early on in high school are more likely to stay with

and graduate in science or engineering. 5 Similarly, freshmen plans, in the aggregate,

have foreshadowed the supply of baccalaureate scientists and engineers in various fields

4 years later. 6 Most science and engineering baccalaureates had a serious interest in

these fields by the time they completed high school, although many changed majors

during college. While students still enter the science and engineering pipeline during the

first 2 years of college, the entry gate is closed for most midway through college because

of the need to choose among courses for any given major.

Entering freshmen also take note of the current job market.

opportunity trends are good lead indicators; rapid rises in starting salaries suggest a

shortage, and students usually respond. Since salaries rarely go down, adequate supplies

or surpluses are usually indicated by little or no real growth in salaries. 8

The influence of Federal policies on undergraduate student interest is remote and

indirect, limited mostly to influence on the job market for scientists and engineers and

high-visibility research and development (R&D) initiatives. While Federal student aid is

instrumental in getting students into college, such aid is given irrespective of major and

does not influence students' choice of field.

5. Kathleen G. Sparrow, “A Profile Differentiating Female College Science Majors

From Conscience Majors: A Predictor Set of Variables," presented at the National

Convention of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Washington,

DC, April 1987.

6. Trend data on B.S. awards and freshmen interest illustrate this relationship. One

example is freshmen interest in engineering in the early 1970s. This was a period of

upheaval for technical personnel: in addition to the shutdown of Apollo, Congress had

decided not to fund supersonic transport development, defense contracts were declining,

and large numbers of engineers in areas near major aerospace contractors such as Boeing,

Hughes, and Lockheed were out looking for work. As the job market for engineers began

to recover in the mid-1970s, so too did freshmen interest in engineering majors. The

increase in engineering degree awards in the late 1970s correlates almost perfectly with

the trends in freshmen majors in survey data 4 years earlier (see Kenneth C. Green,

University of California, Los Angeles, personal communication, 1987). The downturn in

freshmen interest in engineering majors and careers that began in 1982 should manifest

itself in the last years of the 1980s (indeed, the most recent data show a slight decrease

in engineering degree awards).

7. U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Demographic Trends and the

Scientific and Engineering Work Force, OTA-TM-SET-35 (Washington, DC: U.S.

Government Printing Office, December 1985), pp. 34-40.

8. Nestor E. Terleckyj, “Employment of Natural Scientists and Engineers: Recent

Trends and Prospects,” presented at the Workshop on the Prospective and Expected

Economic Effects of the Changing Age Structure of the U.S. Population, National

Science Foundation, Washington, DC, July 1987.

18
Changes in social values also affect students’ career plans. According to surveys,

students of the 1980s increasingly value high salaries, career advancement, professional

reputation, and comfortable lifestyles, and place far less importance on community and

environmental activism and self-exploration than did students in the 1960s. 9 Majors

leading to highly-paid, visible careers have grown the fastest. Within the sciences,

engineering and computer science majors have grown, while social science majors have

dwindled.

Information on entering college students, and their eventual college performance

and degrees, can help describe who chooses and stays with science. A large proportion of

entering freshman are interested in science and engineering majors. Among incoming

full-time freshman in 4-year institutions, about one-quarter plan to major in NSE, and

slightly over 30 percent over all science and engineering fields. 10

However, student preferences have shifted away from science. The share of

incoming college freshmen interested in NSE has declined slightly, from 27 percent of

first-time, full-time freshmen in 1978, to 24 percent in 1986. During that same period,

interest in all of science and engineering, including the social sciences, declined from 37

percent to 34 percent.11 Figure 2-2 shows the 1977-87 trend in planned majors among

freshmen at 2- and 4- year institutions.l 2

9. Alexander W. Astin et al., The American Freshman: Twenty Year Trends 1966-

1985 (Los Angeles, CA: University of California at Los Angeles, Cooperative

Institutional Research Program, January 1987), pp. 14-26, 97.

10. The more restrictive definition, natural sciences or engineering, is used throughout

this section, although science and engineering are often defined broadly to include social

and behavioral sciences.

11. The absolute numbers have been declining as well. In the fall of 1986, 246,260

students, or 24 percent of first-time, full-time freshmen in the Nationts 4-year colleges

and universities, planned to major in natural science or engineering (NSE). In 1978,

285,557 entering students (27 percent of the freshmen in 4-year institutions) expressed a

preference for NSE majors. Enrollments are surprisingly stable in the Nation’s 4-year

colleges and universities, considering demographic trends and recent reductions in

government-funded student aid. Unless otherwise indicated, all references to student

populations refer to the population of first-time, full-time freshmen entering the

Nationts 4-year colleges and universities each fall, as surveyed by the Cooperative

Institutional Research Program (CIRP), Higher Education Research Institute, University

of California at Los Angeles. Natural sciences and engineering includes premed majors

(in 1986, 3.8 percent of all freshmen). See Green, op. cit., footnote 6. The trend data

cited below on freshmen preferences are derived from this source.

12. The lack of comparability in the population of institutions, more than the change

from 1986 to 1987, accounts for the differences reported here. Nevertheless, the

differences are small.

19
2 0

15

Figure 2–2.–Freshmen Planned Majors,

by Science/Engineering Field, 1 977–87

10 -

. ------s--

--- ---------- -------------- - --------- - --.

Physical sciences/

+

math e m a tics

o

I I

1977 1980 1984 1987

SOURCE: Cooperative Institutional Research Program, The American Freshman

(Los Angeles, CA: University of California, Los Angeles, annually).

20
The decline has not been steady or consistent. Freshman interest in selected

science and technical majors such as computer science and engineering rose fairly

steadily between 1977 and 1983,13 as students seeking recession-proof careers gravitated

toward high-technology fields. The boom in the semiconductor and computer industries

attracted undergraduates while interest in other science fields dropped correspondingly.

Freshman interest in engineering in 4-year institutions rose from 10.2 to 11.4 percent

between 1978 and 1983, while interest in computer science majors tripled from 1.2 to 4.9

percent during the same period. Beginning in 1984, however, both engineering and

computer science declined sharply in popularity, while interest in social sciences began

to rise. Most shifts occur between related fields, as students already interested in

science in general seek a specialty with healthy job prospects.

Freshman interest in careers, as might be expected, parallels interest in majors.

About one-third of NSE majors plan to be engineers, and nearly one-fifth plan medical

careers. Interest in a research career dropped from 9.5 percent in 1978 to under 7

percent in 1986, although this varies by field. Physical science majors are twice as likely

to be interested in a research career as other NSE majors.

Very few NSE students are interested in teaching: in 1986, just over 1 percent of

these freshmen expressed interest in a career in elementary or secondary school

teaching, compared to 10 percent of students in other majors. The already low

proportion of freshman NSE majors planning teaching careers is only likely to decline

further while these students progress through college; in all likelihood many will be

recruited away from education and encouraged to pursue academic, research, or other

“professional" careers by family, friends, and faculty. Role models are very important in

recruiting undergraduates into careers. "Who is to teach mathematics and science?" has

become a more urgent refrain than "who is to do research?"

Freshmen at different types of institutions tend to have different major and career

preferences (see table 2-2 and table 2-3) Students at private institutions are slightly

more likely to be interested in science, and less likely to go into engineering. And

interest in science and engineering majors is much stronger among freshmen at more

select institutions, particularly for women, as shown in table 2-4.14 Freshmen at the

13. Astin et al., op. cit., footnote 9.

14. Ibid., pp. 69-71, 85-86. ‘SelectM is defined as mean SAT scores of freshmen.

21
Table 2-2. — Planned Majors and Careers of Freshmen at

All Institutions, by Sex, Fall 1987

(in percent)

Major

S/E pool

Engineering

Social sciences

Biological sciences

Pre-medicine

Physical sciences

Computer science

Total

29.3

9.4

8.1

5.5

2.5

2.2

1.6

Men

31.7

12.0

5.6

6.4

2.5

2.9

2.3

Women

22.6

2.7

10.5

4.5

2.5

1.5

0.9

Career

Engineer 8.5 15.2 2.6

Scientific researcher 1.5 1.8 1.2

NOTE: Biological sciences includes agriculture and forestry; physical sciences includes

mathematical sciences. Total is first-time, full-time freshmen at all institutions,

including 2-year institutions. Total number of students in the unweighed sample was

209,627; percentages reflect weighted national norms.

SOURCE: Alexander Astin et al., The American Freshman: National Norms for FaZl

1987 (Los Angeles, CA: University of California, Los Angeles, Cooperative Institutional

Research Program, 1988), pp. 21-22, 37-38, 53-54.

22
Major

S/E pool

Table 2-3. — Freshmen’s Planned Majors and Careers by

Type of Institution Attended, Fall 1987

(in percent)

Engineering

Social sciences

Biological sciences

Pre-medicine

Physical sciences

Computer science

All

institutions

(incl. 2-year)

29.3

9.4

8.1

5.5

2.5

2.2

1.6

4-Year

colleges

27.3

6.9

9.8

4.0

2.4

2.4

1.8

All

universities

40.2

13.8

10.4

6.6

4.9

3.1

1.4

Career

Engineer 8.5 5.9 12.6

Scientific researcher 1.5 1.4 2.4

Teacher 8.1 10.9 4.2

NOTE: Biological sciences includes agriculture and forestry; physical sciences includes

mathematical sciences. The total unweighed number of institutions (including 2-year

institutions) in the sample used for calculating national averages was 390, with an

unweighed student population of 209,627. This included 53 universities, with an

unweighed student population of 91,993; and 278 4-year colleges, with an unweighted

student population of 101,221. For sampling and weighting methodology, see source

below, pp. 99-105.

1987 (Los Angeles, CA: University of California, Los Angeles, Cooperative Institutional

Research Program, 1988), pp. 21-22, 37-38, 53-54.

23
Table 2-4. — Freshmen Interest in Science and Engineering Majors

by Selectivity of University Attended and Sex, Fall 1987

(in percent)

Men

Public univ. Private univ.

Least Most

select select

S/E Major 45.7 50.8

Natural science 16.4 18.8

Social science 4.6 9.7

Engineering 24.7 22.3

S/E Career

Sci. researcher 2.0 3.4

Engineer 21.9 22.6

Least Most

select select

37.5 56.1

14.9 17.4

9.6 14.7

13.0 24.0

1.8 4.5

11.3 17.9

Women

Public univ. Private univ.

Least Most Least Most

select select select select

28.6 37.5 29.2 47.1

12.8 17.6 11.7 17.6

11.3 15.9 14.6 20.0

4.5 4.0 2.9 9.5

1.5 2.7 1.3 3.7

4.5 4.3 2.6 7.8

NOTE: The 53 universities in the unweighted survey sample included 27 public universities,

with an unweighed student population of 64,392; and 26 private universities, with an

unweighed student population of 27,601. The percentages reflect weighted national

estimates. Selectivity level of low, medium, or high determined by mean total SAT/ACT

scores of freshmen. See source below, p. 103, for details.

SOURCE: Alexander Astin

Angeles, CA: University

Program, 1988), pp. 69-71.

of California, Los Angeles, Cooperative Institutional Research

24
most select universities are twice as likely as freshmen at the least select universities to

plan careers as scientific researchers.

Trends in Degrees: Field Differences

Baccalaureate awards in science and engineering have tracked overall degree

awards, maintaining a fairly steady 30 to 32 percent share for the past few decades. This

apparent constancy, however, masks substantial changes in individual fields. Natural

sciences and engineering have shown more variation, ranging from about 16 to 21 percent

in the past decade, with slight increases in recent years.

Scientists and engineers work in a variety of places and use different skills.

Astronomy is dominated by Ph.D.-trained basic researchers in universities, while many

B.S.-trained computer scientists and engineers develop products in high-technology

companies. While the sciences are broadly similar — in the kind of students they attract,

the dynamics of enrollments, degree awards, and job markets — there are significant

differences between fields. Analysis of education and employment patterns, and

interaction of job markets and student interest, are instructive when disaggregated by

field. 15 Since shortages and surpluses occur at the level of the specialty rather than for

●

science and engineering as a whole, looking at this finer level of detail is important.

Science and engineering B.S. awards (following the pattern of all B.S. degrees) rose

rapidly in the 1960s, peaked in 1974, and then plateaued with relatively slight increases

in recent years (see figure 2-3). Physics degrees have been relatively steady, dropping

slightly through the 1970s and increasing again since 1980. In the life sciences, degrees

peaked in 1976. The social sciences went through the most rapid increases into the early

1970s, before flattening out for a decade or so. Engineering has followed a different

pattern, with slow increases until the 1970s, when degree-taking took off in response to

burgeoning job offers and salaries. Most chemists work in industry, and have salaries

higher than most other scientists. Bachelor's degree production has been quite steady

since the mid-1960s, with slight declines in recent years.

15. For a recent review that disaggregates data on science and engineering fields, see

U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, “Preparing for Science and Engineering

Careers: Field-Level Profiles,’t

Staff Paper, January 1987. The National Science

Foundation prepares occasional data profiles on individual fields, for example, National

Science Foundation, Profiles — Mechanical Engineering: Human Resources and Funding,

NSF87-309 (Washington, DC: 1987).

25
Figure 2–3.-Baccalaureate Degrees, 1950–86

1,200,000

1,000,000

800,00 0

600,00 0

400,00 0

200,00 0

.

0

KEY:

Total , ’

I 950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985

S/E = science/engineering.

SOURCE: Betty M. Vetter and Henry Hertzfeld, “Federal Funding of Science

and Engineering Education: Effect on Output of Scientists and Engineers,

1945– 1985, ” OTA contractor report, 1987, based on U.S. Department of

Education data.

26
Geological science degrees are closely tied to industrial indicators such as the

world market price of oil. This determines the health, i.e., the hiring and R&D posture,

of principal employers. In the concentrated and cyclical world of natural resources,

there is a surplus of bachelor's- and master’s-level earth scientists who started college

just before the current downturn in the petroleum and mining industries curtailed

exploration and research. As a result, undergraduate enrollments plummeted. B.S.

awards, which had doubled between 1974 and 1984, declined over 20 percent from 1985 to

1986, and 25 percent from 1986 to 1987.16

It is important to look at mathematical and computer sciences degree data

together, since the rapid drop in mathematics degrees during the late 1970s was

accompanied by a boom in computer science degrees (in response to burgeoning industry

demand for computer specialists). By 1983, bachelor% degrees in mathematics had

started rising again. The boom years of computer sciences testify to the ability of

students and universities to respond to market demand; the growth rate in baccalaureate

awards in the late 1970s and early 1980s was 20 and even 35 percent per year (although

many argue this rapid growth stemmed merely from the redesignation of courses,

faculty, and students as “computer science” with little change in actual course content,

faculty expertise, and student preparation).

In the life sciences, the market for physicians influences biological and medical

science undergraduates, since many of them are planning medical rather than scientific

careers. In some sense, medicine and research biology compete for students; when the

market for graduate students is down, more life science graduates go to medical school.

There is a large supply of life scientists, and extended graduate study is necessary to find

a job above the level of technician. But degree awards in the life sciences have been

declining steadily for the past decade and represent a shrinking proportion of science

degrees.

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING STUDENTS

Although science and engineering students differ from the average college

student — they tend to be higher achieving academically and are much more likely to be

white and male — changes in the size and composition of the college student population

16. Earth sciences degree data based on surveys conducted by the American Geological

Institute, cited in Manpower Comments, vol. 23, No. 5, June 1986, p. 18.

27
trickle through to science and engineering. Policies that affect higher education in

general also affect the science and engineering pool, albeit adjusted for the particular

students, universities, and job markets that dominate science and engineering.

Black, Hispanics, and Native Americans

Minorities’ college enrollment and retention to degree in science and engineering

reflects the generally lagging educational success of minorities (see table 2-5). 17 The

continuing social barriers that set minorities apart — language and cultural differences,

poverty, political powerlessness, prejudice, and discrimination— are in many cases

exacerbated by the traditional white male dominance of the science and engineering

professions. 18

There are relatively few Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans in science and

engineering. Asians prefer science and engineering to other majors (see figure 2-4).

Among high-achieving students, according to Cooperative Institutional Research Program

(CIRP), Blacks and Hispanics, as well

majors.

Blacks have made substantial

as Asians, are more interested in NSE than in other

gains in higher education, but their inroads into

science and engineering have been modest, and increases have slowed in recent years.

Those Blacks who do well academically and take many high school mathematics and

science courses are about as likely as their white peers to be interested in science

19 

majors. Blacks earn about 3 percent of science and engineering baccalaureates, and 6

percent of all baccalaureates. Only in the social sciences do Blacks earn more than 5

percent of the B.S. degrees conferred. Interest in the social sciences was inspired by

early Black leaders in education, sociology, and political change; in the rest of the

sciences and engineering, there are few role models and little cultural tradition which

promote research careers. And in science and engineering more so than in other majors,

17. Linda S. Dix (cd.), Minorities:

Engineering Personnel, National Research Council (Washington, DC: National Academy

Participation and Success (Denver, CO: Education Commission of the States and the

State Higher Education Executive Officers, July 1987).

18. Lisbeth B. Schorr, Within Our Reach: Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage (New

York, NY: Anchor Doubleday Press, 1988).

19. Valerie Lee, ~lIdentifying potential Scientists and Engineers: An Analysis of the

High School-College Transition,n OTA contractor report, 1987.

28
Table 2-5. — B.S.

by

Total a

All science/

engineering 293,200

Physical sciences/

computer sciences/

mathematics 62,700

Life/environmental

sciences 54,000

Social sciences/

psychology 96,600

Engineering 79,800

Degrees in Science and Engineering,

Race/Ethnicity, 1984

Percent

minority b Black Hispanic

7.5 9,400 12,300

5.3 1,500 1,700

6.3 1,300 2,000

11.4 5,000 6,000

5.6 1,700 2,700

Native

American

400

100

100

(c)

100

~Includes “other” and no report.

““Percent minority” includes only Black, Hispanic, and Native American.

C Too few cases to ‘eport.

NOTE: Rounded numbers reported in original source.

SOURCE: National Science Foundation,

29
0

. . . . . . . . . .

CD

s c .-. (nIn

a)

L — 0

v.—L

L

a)

-cV

rul

0

0

0

03

0

co 0

, ,, , u

30
Blacks are much more likely to drop out

where women have a stronger showing in

men .

20

Hispanics are the Nation% fastest

than than whites. Blacks are the only group

science, and particularly in engineering, than

growing minority group in the college-age

population. They are only 4.5 percent of undergraduates, and more than one-half of

these students attend community colleges. The Hispanic population — two-thirds

Mexican-American, 12 percent Puerto Rican, 12 percent Central and South American,

and 5 percent Cuban — is concentrated in California, Texas, Florida, and New York. 21

Hispanics! success in education varies with socioeconomic status and values across these

subcultures, and fares better in some States than in others. Their educational difficulties

are complicated because many of them are recent immigrants with little formal

education. High-achieving Hispanic freshman (with an equivalent of “A” or “A-" high

school grade point average (GPA)) are less likely to be interested in science and

engineering majors, and more likely to be interested in business majors, than all Hispanic

freshmen.

22 Hispanic degree-taking in science and engineering fields is low, about 3

percent of baccalaureates. They are more evenly spread among science and engineering

fields than Blacks, with a strong showing in the life sciences.

Native Americans may be the most disadvantaged minority group in the United

States, as measured by their low socioeconomic status and educational and occupational

attainment. They are 0.8 percent of the college-age population, but only 0.2 percent of

20. Another factor is that the armed services compete for minority high school

graduates. The armed forces are attracting a greater share of high school graduates. By

1985, over 90 percent of Blacks who enlisted were high school graduates, a 25 percent

increase in enlistment from 1980. Solomon Arbeiter, ‘f Black Enrollments: The Case of

the Missing Students,” Change, vol. 19, No. 3, May/June 1987, p. 17. Also see Holly

Hexter and Elaine E1-Khawas, Joining Forces: The Militaryts Impact on College

Enrollments (Washington, DC: American Council on Education, October 1988).

21. “Hispanics: Some Basic Facts,t’ The ChronicZe of Higher Education, Sept. 16, 1987,

p. A36. Early in 1987, the newly-founded Hispanic Association of Colleges and

Universities qualified 60 U.S. institutions (mostly community colleges) for membership,

based on a criterion of at least 25 percent Hispanic enrollment. By the year 2000, 100

institutions are expected to qualify. Cheryl M. Fields, ~tDemographic Changes Bring

Large Hispanic Enrollments to Over 60 Institutions,’f

The ChronicZe of Higher Education,

Oct. 7, 1987, p. A40.

22. Green, op. cit., footnote 6.

31
science and engineering baccalaureates. There is little cause for optimism about

increasing their participation in science and engineering. 23

Intentions of minorities may not be as predictive as they are for white students.

Even though minorities, especially Blacks, may enter college with high (and often

unrealistic) expectations, their usually poorer preparation for technical majors may pave

the way for disappointment in ambitious career and degree plans.

The generally poor precollege preparation of most

particularly telling for science and engineering. On average,

fewer advanced mathematics and science courses than whites,

minority exposure to science and mathematics in high school

Blacks and Hispanics is

Blacks and Hispanics take

Educators claim that low

and excessive reliance on

standardized test scores bars many Blacks from college-level science and engineering.

And the paucity of minority role models for minority children is particularly severe in

science and mathematics; over one-quarter of students in public high schools are Black or

Hispanic, but nearly 90 percent of all teachers and about 93 percent of mathematics and

science teachers are white. 24

What gains minorities have made in science and engineering have derived largely

from broad national higher education policies and full-fledged institutional commitment

to increasing minority access to higher education. Two broad policy strategies have been

applied towards that goal: financial aid (student aid for individuals and institutional aid

for historically Black institutions) and special social and academic intervention programs

for minority students of all levels. Student aid has been particularly important in helping

minorities attend college. Well-organized intervention programs can attract students to

science and engineering careers and significantly increase their likelihood of completing

an undergraduate degree in science or engineering (see appendix A and box 2-B).

23.

(Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and

Improvement, Center for Education Statistics, March 1987). The term ‘f American

Indians’t is also used for this group. The small number of Native Americans has precluded

24. See Office of Technology Assessment, op. cit., footnote 4, ch. 3; data from Iris R.

(Research Triangle Park, NC: Research Triangle Institute, November 1987), table 35.

32
Asians

Recent waves of immigrants to the United States, Asians, have spawned a

generation of educational "superachievers” who are especially prominent in science and

engineering at the undergraduate level. Predominantly Chinese, Korean, and

Indochinese, these children of refugees and of the affluent alike distinguish themselves in

mathematics, as reflected by SAT scores, and by other measures, including high school

grades and time spent on homework.25 Dedication, family support, and hard work drive

many Asian students toward the elite research universities for their undergraduate

education. The 1987 freshman classes at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

(MIT), the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and the University of California,

Berkeley, for example, were over 20 percent Asian. They generally have very high

educational aspirations.

Asians are the group most interested

consistently enter science and engineering

group, however, Asians are diverse. While

Asian immigrants include many refugees

in NSE. They also are the only group who

majors while in college. Like any ethnic

many have done well, the newest wave of

from different cultures, often with little

education and few portable skills, and these children have fared more poorly in U.S.

schools. 26

Women

Among freshmen, the proportion of women planning to pursue NSE majors increased

slightly between 1978 and 1986, from 31 to 33.27 However, women are more likely to

drop out of science and engineering majors, and women% degree-taking in science and

engineering overall has plateaued. Although more women start out interested in

scientific majors and careers, their limited career opportunities may be stifling that

interest.

Women planning NSE majors have better high school grades than men. In 1986, 55

percent of these women had "A” to “A-" high school GPAs, compared to 51 percent of the

25. David Brand, “The New Whiz Kids,’t Time, Aug. 31, 1987, pp. 42-51.

26. In short, the %uperachiever” or ttmodel minoritytl image is overstated. see office

of Technology Assessment, op. cit., footnote 3, pp. 55-56.

27. Green, op. cit., footnote 6. The proportional increase masks a fall in absolute

numbers.

33
men. However, freshmen men planning NSE majors are more likely to rate themselves as

“above average” than are the women planning these majors. Reports from college

educators are that women students, particularly those in traditionally male majors such

as engineering and the physical sciences, tend to have less self-confidence and drop out

of a course or major much more easily than do men, even though they are just as capable,

performing just as well, and getting the same grades. 28

Among NSE majors, females are more interested in research or medical careers

than their male counterparts, and less interested in engineering; women tend toward

biology, and less towards mathematics-based science and engineering majors (see table 2-

6 ).

2 9

Although women have made inroads the last two decades into science and

engineering, there are still broad gaps in participation (see box 2-C). Women have higher

unemployment rates than men in every field of science, at every degree level, and at all

levels of experience. They also earn less in every employment sector. So although

women% share of degrees in science has increased markedly in the last 15 years, their

30 Since 1983, the proportion earning degrees ‘n

opportunities for advancement still lag.

computer science, biological science, and the physical sciences in general have leveled

off. A “chilly climate” for women still prevails in many college classrooms. Continued

gains for women in science are far from assured.31

28. William K. LeBold, ‘

tWomen in Engineering and Science: An Undergraduate

Research Perspective,”

Academy Press, 1987). Also see Sheila E. Widnall, ~~AAAS presidenti~ Lecture: VOiCeS

from the Pipeline,f’ Science vol. 241, Sept. 30, 1988, pp. 1740-1745.

29. A related phenomenon is computer phobia among women; even if this fear is

overcome, there is evidence that women relate to the machine differently than men.

See, for example, Sherry Turkle, ‘~ Computational Reticence: Why Women Fear the

Intimate Machine,ft Science for the People, September/October 1988, pp. 6-11.

30.

Press, 1983).

31. Betty M. Vetter, ‘f Women in Science,tt The American Woman 1987-88: A Report in

Depth, D. Shavlik and Judith Touchton (eds.) (Washington, DC: Women% Research and

Educational Institute, 1987); OTA, op. cit., footnote 3, pp. 50-53; and Barbara D.

Webster, I! Opening Doors for Women in Acade ‘1a7“ ~~ ~ioscimce, VOL 39, February 1989)

pp. 96-98.

34
Major

S/E pool

Table 2-6. — Planned Majors and Careers of Freshmen at 4-Year

Institutions, by Sex, 1978 and 1986

(in percent)

Engineering

Social sciences

Biological sciences

Pre-medicine

Physical sciences

Computer science

Total

36.7

10.2

9.2

7.1

4.5

4.2

1.5

1978

Men

45.8

18.0

6.8

8.1

5.4

5.8

1.7

Women

29.8

2.9

11.8

6.1

5.2

2.6

1.2

Total

33.6

10.1

9.4

5.5

3.8

2.9

1.9

1986

Men

41.3

17.8

7.0

5.8

3.9

4.2

2.6

Women

27.1

3.2

11.9

4.9

3.8

2.1

1.2

Career

Engineer 8.9 15.7 2.5 9.0 15.6 3.0

Scientific researcher 2.8 3.4 2.2 1.8 2.2 1.4

Computer programmer 2.8 3.3 2.4 3.0 4.3 1.8

NOTE: Biological sciences includes agriculture and forestry; physical sciences includes

mathematical sciences. Total is freshmen at 4-year institutions only. Total number of

students in the unweighed sample was 209,627; percentages reflect weighted national

norms.

SOURCE: Kenneth C. Green, University of California, Los Angeles, personal

communication, 1987.

35
Academic Quality of Science and Engineering Undergraduates

Apart from sheer numbers, the quality of students going into science and

engineering is of prime concern. Quality is difficult to measure, so analysts use proxies

such as grades, test scores, and surveys of faculty opinion. By all of these measures,

science and engineering have been fortunate in attracting, selecting, and keeping many

of the best students.

Entering science and engineering students tend to be higher achieving

academically, continue to have greater academic self-confidence, and have higher degree

aspirations than conscience and engineering students. Nearly one-half of 1986 freshmen

planning NSE majors reported a high school GPA in the "A" to "A-” range, compared to

one-quarter of freshmen planning other majors. NSE majors generally view themselves

as very talented, ranking their own academic and intellectual skills far higher than

average. NSE students also have had more academic coursework coming into college, in

all subjects.

NSE maintains its share of able students, despite fears that more of the best

students are choosing business and other majors (see figure 2-5). “A” to “A-” students

accounted for a slightly larger proportion of all freshman NSE majors in 1986 (47

32 In the fall of 1986, almost one-fifth of all freshmen percent) than in 1978 (43 percent).

planned to pursue the doctorate, twice the rate among other majors. Nearly one-quarter

hoped to complete some type of medical degree. Roughly equal proportions of men and

women in NSE planned to obtain a doctorate.33 As is true with students in other major%

the most academically able NSE students are less interested, as freshmen, in teaching

careers.

32. Although science and engineering baccalaureates tend to have about the same

college grade point averages as other majors (with biological scientists having slightly

higher and engineers slightly lower grade point averages), much of any difference may be

due to variations in grading practices among courses for different majors. U.S.

Department of Education, unpublished Recent College Graduate Survey data.

33. Although the gap in doctoral aspirations between natural science and engineering

(NSE) and non-NSE fields declines among the high-talent population, academically-able

NSE freshmen in 4-year institutions are still more likely to aspire to the doctorate than

their peers (23 percent v. 14 percent). However, medicine is much more attractive to

academically-able NSE women (38 percent for women v. 20 percent for men).

36
2–5.–Freshmen Choice of College Major, by Achievement, 1986

—

80– 1

II

—

6 0 —

— 47%

4 0

2 0

0

Non–S/E

Pre–medicine

Social sciences

Biological sciences

Computer science

Physical sciences

Engineering

All freshmen High achievers

KEY: S/E = science/engineering.

a Freshmen who report their high school grade point average as “A” or “A-” .

NOTE: Biological sciences include agriculture and forestry. Physical sciences

include mathematics.

SOURCE: Kenneth C. Green, OTA contractor report, 1987, based on data from the

Cooperative Institutional Research Program, University of California,

Los Angeles.

37
Retention During College and Career Paths after the Baccalaureate

Some students enter science and engineering during college, but more than twice as

many leave (see table 2-7). Some part of this field switching can be attributed to the

higher academic ability of students in natural science and engineering. Attrition rates

change substantially over time, reflecting changes in market conditions and

corresponding student shifts in majors. One study found that NSE lost the most students;

only about one-half of freshmen who planned those majors graduated in them (see figure

2-6). In comparison, about 70 percent of business majors stayed the course in business;

about 65 percent of social science students stayed in their field. Among scientific

majors, engineering retained the most students and physical sciences the fewest. 34

Although most science and engineering baccalaureate recipients enter the work

force upon graduation (see figure 2-7), career paths vary greatly by field. A little under

one-quarter of recent natural and social science baccalaureates, and about 10 percent of

35 Among emp l o y ed baccalaureates,

engineers, have gone on to full-time graduate study.

most natural scientists and nearly all engineers take jobs in science and engineering,

compared to less than one-third of social scientists. Unlike liberal arts majors, 80 to 90

percent of B.S. recipients in mathematics, computer science, and other physical sciences

feel that their first job out of college was related to their major.36

FEDERAL ROLES IN UNDERGRADUATE SCIENCE EDUCATION

Federal influence on science and engineering undergraduate education is most clear

in general Federal higher education policies. The large Federal education aid and access

programs, with rare exceptions, are not targeted to particular subjects. Student

financial aid and civil rights legislation make college possible for many young people,

shaping the size and makeup of the entire college student population, regardless of

34. Green, op. cit., footnote 6.

35. National Science Foundation, Characteristics of Recent Science/Engineering

Graduates: 1986, NSF 87-321 (Washington, DC: 1987).

36. Roslyn A. Korb, Occupational and Educational Consequences of a Baccalaureate

Degree (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research

and Improvement, Center for Education Statistics, March 1987), pp. 1, 7. Estimates are

based on the Department of Education% Recent College Graduate Survey of 1983-84,

which surveys students about 1 year after their B.S. A liberal arts major may reflect

indecision, or a hedging of one’s bets, over career directions.

38
Table 2-7. — College Student Retention, Entry, and Exit From Natural Science

and Engineering Majors, by Field, 1981 Freshmen

Through 1985 Baccalaureates

Ratio of defectors

to recruits

in that majora

Biological sciences 1.2

Engineering 2.5

Computer science 1.6

Physical sciences 0.7

NSE 1.5

Non-NSE 0.8

Percent who

stayed with their

original major

24

61

17

35

49

57

a A ratio greater than one indicates that more students “defected" from, or left, that

major during college than entered during college.

KEY: NSE = natural science and engineering.

SOURCE: Lewis C. Solmon, "Factors Determining and Limiting the Supply of New

Natural Science and Engineering Baccalaureates: Past Experiences and Future

Prospects," draft paper presented at the National Science Foundation, July 8, 1986, p. 41,

based on data from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program, University of

California, Los Angeles. Note that attrition is reported as a percent of total students at

a particular time, and therefore does not reflect the overall loss of students from

college.

39
w

J-

(uL

3

0-l

L

n

c.— C.—

0 0

N -

0

40
Figure 2-7. -Career Paths of 1984 and 1985 Science Baccalaureates in 1986

1984 and 1985 science baccalaureates

a in c1 Ud es those not in labor force.

NOTE: Total baccalaureates = 454,000 (1 00?%)

Part–time graduate study = 36,900 (8%)

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, Characteristics of Recent Science

and Engineering Graduates: 1986, NSF 87-321 (Washington, DC: 1987),

pp. 20–22, 50–51 , 54.
major. Institutional aid, particularly for historically Black and land-grant institutions,

improves the ability of institutions to deliver a quality education.

Within this context, R&D policies have spawned some much smaller but potent

science and engineering education programs to address the special needs of

undergraduate science and engineering instruction. Such programs-student research

apprenticeships, faculty development, and equipment and facilities support— enrich

undergraduate education for a few. These supplementary programs are most often

associated with specific R&D goals, and only secondarily affect educational outcomes.

The different goals of education and R&D policies have led to conflicts in

developing and administering the respective programs. Higher education policies embody

broad social goals of improving educational opportunities, particularly for the

underprivileged. Leading-edge R&D has traditionally been a profession of a few highachieving people and institutions, and Federal science education has targeted this elite.

The Effects of Federal R&D Policies on Undergraduate Education

Federal R&D programs affect undergraduate science and engineering education in

four major ways, from indirect to direct:

● Federal R&D spending (defense and civilian) shapes the research

agenda and national demand for scientists and engineers, which

strongly influences undergraduates’ choices of fields and careers;

● academic R&D grants develop infrastructure for science and

engineering research and education, including institutions,

conferences, facilities, equipment, libraries, faculty, and technicians;

● academic research grants and contracts help support and train a very

few undergraduate research assistants (the training component of

research grants, mostly targeted to research universities, focuses on

graduate students); and

● research agencies fund a few special programs for undergraduate

instruction, such as research participation, faculty enrichment, and

equipment.

42
The effects of these research-oriented programs are concentrated at the major research

universities. National R&D spending is a major determinant of the supply of

baccalaureate scientists and engineers.37

Federal influence varies greatly by field. In engineering, where most students can

plan on working in industry with a baccalaureate or master's degree, the health of the

economy and perceptions of the job market shape students’ educational choices. In

scientific fields oriented to basic research, the job outlook for undergraduates is more

sensitive to Federal programs that dominate university research agendas and Ph.D.

training.

While demand for scientists and engineers depends fundamentally on R&D spending,

it is also affected by economic, industrial, environmental, regulatory, energy, defense,

and other policies that shape the national need for technological goods, services, and

workers. The Federal Government also creates incentives, such as tax policies favoring

nonprofit educational institutions, tax-free bond issues, and donations to universities and

colleges. Such indirect incentives are difficult to quantify, but they clearly invigorate

higher education. The government plays a symbolic role, too, in reflecting and

reinforcing social attitudes toward education and science.

The National Science Board estimates total national spending for undergraduate

science and engineering education is about $20 billion annually, encompassing student and

institutional aid as well as special science-related programs. From this pool of money,

science and engineering instruction draws about one-half of all spending on

undergraduate education. 38

Trends in the Federal Role

The Federal Government provides about one-third of all revenues of colleges and

universities, and nearly two-thirds of aid to undergraduates (including guaranteed

37. Lewis C. Solmon, “Factors Determining and Limiting the Supply of New Natural

Science and Engineering Baccalaureates: Past Experiences and Future Prospects,”

presented at a National Science Foundation workshop, July 24, 1986. Solmon found

national R&D spending and natural science and engineering salary advantage to be the

top two demand factors that correlate with the supply of new baccalaureate natural

scientists and engineers.

38. National Science Board, Task Committee on Undergraduate Science and

Engineering Education, Undergraduate Science, Mathematics and Engineering Education,

NSB 86-100 (Washington, DC: National Science Foundation, March 1986).

43
loans).

39 Through the early-1960s and early-1970s, Federal support of higher education

has been increasing and shifting toward direct support of students. Recently, however,

institutional and research-related support has been growing faster than student aid. In

1967, 65 percent of Federal higher education expenditures were for institutional support

(largely R&D-related), with the rest allocated to student aid. By 1975, growing student

aid accounted for 72 percent, and institutional support only 28 percent. In 1987, student

aid has dropped to less than one-half of Federal aid for higher education. 40

Federal policy influence in undergraduate education has been secondary to allpurpose financial support, even where Federal financial support has increased. The

Federal role has been stronger in graduate education, where the links are closest to the

labor market, and weaker in elementary and secondary education, where primary

responsibility remains with the States and localities. States have provided most

institutional "mortar and brick" support, which the Federal Government has adorned with

smaller, targeted “carrot and stick” programs. In science, however, the Federal

Government has had a stronger policy role than in other areas, because of its extensive

support of graduate training and university development in science and engineering.

Early Federal science and engineering education policies were linked to other

Federal concerns: agriculture and other practical trades (the Merrill Act of 1863 and

Hatch Act of 1887); health manpower (the National Cancer Institute Act of 1937 and the

Public Health Service Act of 1944); veterans’ benefits (the G.I. Bill of 1944); postwar

scientific development (the National Science Foundation in 1950); national defense (the

National Defense Education Act of 1958); and economic opportunities (the Economic

Opportunity Act of 1964).41 With the increasing Federal involvement in higher

39. National Center for Education Statistics, Undergraduate Financing of

Postsecondary Education: A Report of the 1987 NationaZ Postsecondary Aid Stud y

(Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, June 1988), pp. 23-27. The total

Federal contribution to higher education revenues includes direct support (about 12

percent of higher education revenues), and indirect support through student aid and

federally guaranteed loans (about 13 percent of revenues) and intergovernmental

transfers through State and local governments (about 10 percent of revenues). These

estimates are based on Lawrence E. Gladieux and Gwendolyn L. Lewis, The Federal

Government and Higher Education: Tradition, Trends, Stakes, and Issues (New York,

NY: College Entrance Examination Board, October 1987), pp. 2-3; U.S. Department of

Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, Digest of Education

Statistics 1987 (Washington, DC: 1987), p. 229. Also see Gwendolyn L. Lewis and Jamie

P. Merisotis, Trends in Student Aid: 1980 to 1987 (New York, NY: College Entrance

Examination Board, 1987).

40. Gladieux and Lewis, op. cit., footnote 39.

41. Kenneth Green, ‘Government Responsibility for Quality and Equality in Higher

44
education, targeted science and engineering education programs have dwindled in

magnitude and political prominence compared to Federal student aid programs.

Financial Aid for Science and Engineering Students

Student aid is the centerpiece of Federal higher education policy. (States, by

keeping tuition low at public institutions, also subsidize access to higher education.) The

Department of Education administers various grant and loan programs, of which science

and engineering students receive a proportionate share. 42

Federal financial aid for college students was about $15 billion in the 1986-87

academic year; nearly $6 billion in grants, veterans aid, and work-study funds, and over

43 Federal aid totals about three- $9 billion in federally financed and guaranteed loans.

quarters of all student aid. The pattern of Federal aid has changed, with loans increasing

in importance (as shown in figure 2-8), and the value of Federal awards relative to

college costs has dropped.44

Periodically there has been discussion of special Federal scholarships for

undergraduates majoring in science and engineering, or in other majors where there is

45 Such aid could be awarded on merit as well as (or in lieu of) financial national need.

need. In the past, the need for such scholarships was not perceived as pressing, given the

large and then-expanding number of college students, and was seen by some as contrary

to the Federal policy of awarding aid based on need. Precedent exists for special Federal

aid for undergraduates planning to teach in areas of national need (and merit-based

Education,’f

Stauffer (eds.) (New York, NY: Greenwood Press, 1986), p. 88.

42. The major research agencies’ smaller, targeted undergraduate and graduate

programs for science and engineering students are discussed separately, and are not part

of the “student aid” package.

430 Arthur M. Hauptman and Charles J. Andersen, “Background Paper on American

Higher Education: Report to the Commission on National Challenges in Higher

Education, t

’ prepared for the Commission on National Challenges in Higher Education,

Washington, DC, Dec. 16, 1987, p. 12.

44.

Research Service, Apr. 22, 1988).

45. Task Force on Women, Minorities, and the Handicapped in Science and Technology,

Changing America:

(Washington, DC: June 16, 1988). During the early years of the National Science

Foundation, an undergraduate research scholars program was discussed but never

implemented.

45
Figure 2-8.–Sources of Student Aid, in Constant 1980 Dollars, 1976–86

900 0

800 0

700 0

600 0

500 0

400 0

300 0

200 0

1000

0

1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986

NOTE: Data for 1977 and 1979 are interpolated.

Data for 1988 are estimated.

SOURCE: Donald A. Gillespie and Nancy Carlson, Trends in Student Aid: 1963

to 1983 (Washington, DC: The Washington Office of the College Board, December

1983), p. 33; and The Washington Office of the College Board, “Update From

Washington” (Washington, DC: The Washington Office of the College Board,

February 1989), p. 7.

1988

46
Federal aid has long been awarded at the graduate level for science and engineering

students). The interest in subsidizing science and engineering graduates may become

more pressing as the college-age population drops. 46

The Effects of Financial Aid

47 indicates that: Research on financial aid

● aid increases students’ access to college, enrollments, their choice

among institutions, and their likelihood of graduating;

● aid helps low-income students much more than it does middle-income

or high-income students;

● low-achieving students (most often measured by GPA) are more

influenced to pursue undergraduate study by the availability of

financial aid than are higher-achieving students; and

● grants (from any source) are slightly more effective than loans and

other forms of tuition reduction in increasing access, choice, and

persistence. College students are more likely to stay in school when

they receive substantial grants or scholarships. Students who receive

grants totaling more than one-half of their tuition are less likely to

drop out than those who receive no grants or Pell grants at all.48

The existence of aid, more than the amount, seems to be the crucial factor in

expanding access and enrollments. The amount of aid offered becomes more significant

46. An undergraduate research scholars program could be administered by the

Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, or jointly among mission

research agencies, and could be leveraged through matching requirements with

institutions or private sponsors.

47. Larry L. Leslie and Paul T. Brinkman, The Economic Value of Higher Education,

(New York, NY: Macmillan, 1988), ch. 8; Julia A. Heath and Howard P. Tuckman, ‘The

Effects of Tuition Level and Financial Aid on the Demand for the Advanced Terminal

Degree,N Economics of Education Rew”ew, vol. 6, No. 3, summer 1987, pp. 227-238. This

literature review indicates that other factors affecting college attendance include

student ability, cost, family income, and parental education. In one study comparing

public and private sources of aid, only public grants were found to be a significant

influence on college attendance, especially for lower income groups.

48. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement

data, cited in Manpower Comments, June 1987, p. 30; Dennis Martin, !’Long-Term

Implications of Student Borrowing,” in College Scholarship Service, Proceedings:

Colloquium on Student Loan Counseling & Debt Management, Denver, CO, Dec. 2-4, 1985

(New York, NY: College Entrance Examination Board, 1986), p. 59.

47
in students’ choice among institutions, and in keeping them in college through a degree.

Financial aid is becoming more important in students’ decision to go to college, and

where to go.

Concerns over the rising costs of education, the ability of families to pay (parents

and students together pay roughly three-quarters of the total bill for college), and rising

dependence on loans relative to grants (loans represent more than half the total financial

assistance to college students), affects all students. Minorities show no clearcut

differences from whites in how their decisions are affected by financial aid, when

socioeconomic status and ability are statistically controlled. (Because minorities are

much more likely to be low-income, college aid is particularly important for them.)49

Increasing Enrollments

The college population has expanded and diversified with the help of Federal aid,

and science and engineering have shared in this expansion. Federal policies that

encourage college enrollments or fuel the job market increase the number of collegeeducated workers, thus expanding the science and engineering talent pool. Programs

specifically aimed at science and engineering training (such as the National Defense

Education Act) or employment (such as the Apollo program) draw students into science

and engineering, although their greatest effect is reallocating talent among some science

and engineering fields.

The Federal program that boosted college attendance the most was the G.I. Bill for

veterans. It increased the number of Americans with college degrees, and as a result

increased the number of those with science and engineering bachelor% degrees. The

education deferment of the draft, legislated in 1951, was also a boon for science and

engineering, again, by increasing enrollments overall. The Vietnam draft gave a much

smaller boost to the male high school graduates entering college during the mid- to late1960s, with small derivative benefits for science and engineering. 50 (The majority

49. A general discussion of college financing is beyond the scope of this report. See

NY: College Entrance Examination Board, May 1988); Hauptman and Andersen, op. cit.,

footnote 43; Cynthia L. Brown et al., ?’High school and Beyond: student Financial

Assistance, Student Loans, ” prepared for MPR Associates, Inc., June 1987; and Roger

Thompson, ‘

t

Student Aid: Year of Uncertainty, ’t Editorial Research Reports, vol. 1, No.

19, May 23, 1986, pp. 371-388.

50. U.S. Department of Corn merce, Bureau of the Census, “School Enrollment — Social

and Economic Characteristics of Students: October 1976, ” Current Population Reports,

48
attended 2-year and vocational schools, an option that did not exist for World War II

veterans.) The sharp dropoff in Vietnam veterans after 1976 coincides with a slight

dropoff in the number of male science and engineering graduates.

However, attempting to increase the number of scientists and engineers by simply

increasing enrollments may be a policy of the past. America has the highest

participation rate in higher education in the world; more than 60 percent of high school

graduates attend some college. Women attend college at the same rate as men.

Minorities (except for Asians) attend at lower rates than Whites, for financial and other

reasons, especially their relatively poorer preparation before college. Such factors

suggest that further expansion of enrollments may be more difficult than in the past.

The bottleneck may now be the preparation children get in the schools rather than

college-level assistance; the need for colleges to do more and more remediation is

evidence of this new problem.

Financial Aid and Field Choice

Does availability or use of financial aid vary by major, and have changing patterns

of financial aid affected students choice of major or career plans? There seems to be no

strong, direct correlation. Availability of aid, and reliance on that aid, generally is

51 Science and engineering unrelated to undergraduates’ choice of major or career.

students are more likely to receive grants of all sorts and other campus-based aid (see

figure 2-9). In part this is due to their higher than average academic ability, since much

of this aid is awarded on the basis of merit. However, even when compared with students

of equivalent achievement, science students are still slightly more likely to receive

grants.

Series P-20, No. 319, Feb. 1978, p. 4.

51.

March 1983), p. i; and Applied Systems

Institute, Inc., ‘

f Financial Assistance, Education Debt and Starting Salaries of Science and

Engineering Graduates: Evidence From the 1985 Survey of Recent College Graduates,t

’

OTA contractor report, 1987, based on Recent College Graduate Survey data. Financial

aid information reported by incoming freshmen in the University of California, Los

Angeles’ Cooperative Institutional Research Program survey, while not especially

reliable, indicates that natural science and engineering (NSE) students are more likely

than students in other majors to receive institutional aid. This is probably due to their

above-average academic performance in high school (as measured by self-reported grade

point average). In general, NSE majors have the same financial aid profile as their peers

in other majors.

49
(na) %3

-01

mL

a)

-c

?5

VIal .—

.-

.—>

E

—QEw

.“—

.—>

+.—

G

1-0z

-1- a

50
There have been recent charges that rising student debt may be steering students

inappropriately towards majors leading to more assured jobs and higher-paying

careers.

5 2

For example, since engineers’ salaries are higher than average, their ability

to repay their debts is also greater; this might encourage some students to major in

engineering or make them more willing to undertake debt. However, there is no

analytical support for these arguments. Certainly, students' preferences in recent years

have shifted towards such majors — business, prelaw, and engineering in particular. But

a survey of students who were repaying loans revealed that few of them thought that

53 And amount of educational debt and their loan debt affected their choice of major.

loan status are not strongly related to students’ areas of study or to their average

achievement. 54 Science majors have about the same average loan debt as do other

undergraduates. Students of applied science (mostly engineering and computer science)

are slightly more likely than humanities students to take out loans and more likely to

have higher debt (see figure 2-10).55

52. Kathryn Mohrman, ‘f Unintended Consequences of Federal Student Aid Policies,’t The

Brooh”ngs Review, vol. 5, No. 4, fall 1987, pp. 26-28; American Council on Education,

‘

t

Student Borrowing Has Implications for Career Choice, ~1 Fact Sheet (Washington> DC:

August 1985); and Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, ‘tThe Price of

College Shaping Studentst Choices,ff Change, May/June 1986, pp. 27-30.

53* National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, The Characteristics

of GSL Borrowers and the Impact of Educational Debt, survey of 600 students repaying

Guaranteed Student Loans in the spring of 1985, reported in Mohrman, op. cit., footnote

52, pp. 27-28; and Martin, op. cit., footnote 48, pp. 45-72.

54. Edward P. St. John and Jay Noell, “Student Loans and Higher Education

Opportunities: Evidence on Access, Persistence, and Choice of Major,ff prepared for the

NASSGP/NCHELP Research Network Conference, Washington University, June 3, 1987,

pp. 17-19, based on High School and Beyond Class of 1980 data; Applied Systems

Institute, op. cit., footnote 51; and Consortium on Financing Higher Education, op. cit.,

footnote 51, pp. i, vii. The Department of Education% National Postsecondary Student

Aid Study, completed in 1988, includes extensive aid data by field of study, but fieldlevel data have not been analyzed.

55. Consortium on Financing Higher Education, op. cit., footnote 51, p. 8; and Applied

Systems Institute, Inc., op. cit., footnote 51 (based on data from the Department of

Education% 1985 Recent College Graduate Survey, or RCG). The RCG results are not

controlled for field differences in socioeconomic status, educational costs, etc. A 1984

Carnegie survey of undergraduate students found differences by field in the use of

loans: social sciences, 42 percent; biological sciences, 42 percent; physical sciences, 33

percent; and engineering, 26 percent. About 35 percent of 1980 college graduates had

some debt at graduation, with a median debt of $2,500. Thetopquartile hada debt of

$3,600 at public institutions, and $5,000 at independent colleges and universities. See

National Center for Education Statistics data cited in National Commission on Student

Financial Assistance, Signs of Trouble and Erosion: A Report on Graduate Education in

America (New York, NY: 1983).

51
Figure 2–10.– Education Debt of Recent Baccalaureates.

by Field and Career Path, 1984

W

M

All S/E

Engineering

Computer science

Physical sciences

Mathematics

Biological sciences

Social sciences

Non–S/E activities

KEY: S/E =

i

o 20 40 60 80 100

Percent of recent bachelor’s graduates with educational debt

science/engineering.

NOTE: Academic-bound are those S/E baccalaureates who

graduate study in S/E.

Employment-bound are those S/E baccalaureates who

employment in S/E.

go on to full

 go on to

–time

fu I I – time

Other’s are part–time students or part–time employees in S/E.

SOURCE: Applied Systems Institute, Inc., “Financial Assistance, Education Debt

and Starting SaIariesof Science and Engineering Graduates: Evidence From

the 1985 Survey of Recent College Graduates, ” OTA contractor report, 1987.
Students do not have to repay loans while they continue in school. Consequently,

more widespread and higher debts might encourage students to go to graduate school —a

desirable outcome from the point of view of science policy. There seems to be some

56 W he th er h ig h a n t

i ci pat ed de b

t

indication, but no good evidence, that this is happening.

is a factor in students’ shift towards higher-paying majors and occupations is impossible

to tell. Many factors are involved in changing student preferences, not only college

financing. 57

Apart from student aid, other Federal education and human resources policies

increase general access and enrollment (e.g., Title IX of the 1972 Education

Amendments) by targeting special populations (women, minorities, the learning disabled,

the foreign-born, or the handicapped). Although these policies have broadened the base

of women and minorities in higher education, their penetration into undergraduate

science and engineering has lagged their entry to the undergraduate population as a

whole.

Non-Federal Support of Higher Education

Government appropriations are much more important to public institutions of

higher education than to private institutions. State and local appropriations supply about

60 percent of public institutions’ revenues, but only about 2 percent of private

institutions’, which rely much more on tuition and somewhat more on private grants and

gifts. Both public and private institutions rely on Federal contracts for 15 to 20 percent

of their revenue.

By far the most important actor in science and engineering higher education is the

university or college itself. For undergraduates, however, institutional aid accounts for

58 Almost all institutional aid is based on under 20 percent of aid from all sources.

financial need. Student aid comes out of the institution's total revenues, and generally is

untraceable to its original source.

56. Jerry S. Davis, Pennsylvania Higher Education Agency, personal communication,

April 1988.

57* Blacks and Hispanics are more likely than whites to report loans as a major source

of funds, but they do not report high levels of debt. The amount of debt is not related to

gender, though women have less support of other types and therefore are more likely to

borrow. Heath and Tuckman, op. cit., footnote 47, pp. 25, 27-28.

58. Gladieux and Lewis, op. cit., footnote 39; and Jacob O. Stampen, Student Aid and

Public Higher Education (Washington, DC: American Association of State Colleges and

Universities, March 1985), p. 82.

53
States

With State and other support, public institutions have had the fastest growing

enrollments, and many have pushed into the top tier of research universities. Their

substantial and rapidly growing enrollments have been the bulwark of the enrollment base

for undergraduate science and engineering. State-subsidized tuition has made education

available to more students, and institutional and other aid has improved the quality of

education.

Much State support for higher education is subsumed under general instructional

budgets.

59 Direct State support targeting science and engineering education is relatively

minor and emphasizes engineering and high technology economic development. Only a

handful of need and/or non-need-based programs target science and engineering; nonneed-based aid includes tuition equalization, scholarships for meritorious students, and

aid for particular fields such as mathematics and science or to particular groups such as

veterans, medical students, or police officers (see table 2-8).

Private Support

Voluntary private support, such as grants and gifts from alumni and other individual

donors, foundations, and corporations ($8.5 billion in 1987), accounts for about 7 percent

of institutional expenditures. Doctorate-granting universities receive about two-thirds

of all gifts (mostly private institutions), and private liberal arts colleges about 20

percent; there are no striking differences in who gives to what kind of institution. Gifts

from individuals are about one-half of all voluntary support; corporations provide for

roughly another one-quarter, and foundations a little less. Voluntary support of higher

education has been increasing (in constant dollars). 60 Tax policies have been

instrumental in encouraging private contributions and product and property donations to

universities and colleges.

59. National Commission on Student Financial Assistance, op. cit., footnote 55, p. 67;

and Kenneth R. Reeher and Jerry S. Davis, ‘18th Annual Survey Report, 1986-87

Academic Year/’ prepared for the National Association of State Scholarship and Grant

Programs, January 1987.

60. Liz McMiHen, ‘28-Percent Surge in Alumni Contributions Lifts Givingto Colleges

to $8.5 Billion,M

The Chronicle of Higher Education, Apr. 13, 1988, pp. 1, A34-A36,

reporting data from the Council for Aidto Education. National estimates are basedon a

Council survey of a sample of 1,174 colleges and universities, together accounting for

about 85 percent of voluntary support to higher education institutions.

54
Table 2-8. —

Need-based

No. of States:

No. of programs:

No. of awards:

Amt. of awards:

Non-need-based (merit)

No. of States:

No. of programs:

No. of awards:

Amt. of awards:

Total amount:

Other

a

State Scholarship

Undergraduate

52

101

1,353,166

$1,399 million

27

76

220,000

$144 million

$1,543 million

42 States

Programs, 1986-87

Graduate/professional

22

37

26,100

$27.4 million

16

29

5,241

$11.8 million

$39.2 million

unknown

lots of awards 6,200 awards

$500 million (est.) $8.9 millionb

a This combines National Association of State Scholarship & Grant programs (NASSGP)

tables 6 and 7, which are partial reporting. In table 6, NASSGP programs listed include

loans (Guaranteed Student Loan (GSL), PLUS, loan forgiveness for prospective teachers

and health services professionals); teacher fellowships; tuition waivers; work-study; and

minority programs. Table 7 lists programs administered by non-NASSGP agencies, such

as loans and scholarships to aid veterans, health services students, and tuition waivers to

special groups (e.g., minorities).

b This figure represents only pro~ams that are exclusively for ~aduate-level ‘tudentse

Almost all monies are reserved for medical and dental students.

NOTE: Undergraduate, combined undergraduate/graduate, and unknown eligibility

programs are combined under undergraduate for this table. The “other” heading is an

underestimate, since there are additional programs listed that are funded by, for

example, bond financing of unreported amounts, and there are several large (e.g., GSL

loan) programs for which amounts are not reported.

SOURCE: Kenneth R. Reeher and Jerry S. Davis, National Association of State

Scholarship & Grant Programs 18th Annual Survey Report, 1986-87 Academic Year

(Harrisburg, PA: NASSGP, January 1987), pp. 11-33.

55
Corporations. Corporations provide more than 20 percent of the support received

by colleges and universities, in 1985-86 giving about $1.7 billion to higher education. 61

Most is geared toward departmental and research grants, augmented by unrestricted gifts

and a relatively small amount of direct support of students (see table 2-9). Corporate

giving is concentrated in the largest companies, in manufacturing and R&D-intensive

industries such as chemicals, computers, petroleum, transportation, telecommunications,

and pharmaceuticals, and insurance companies and banks. Corporate gifts, like research

contracts, are concentrated in the top research universities. Corporate giving has been

rising steadily, accounting for about 25 percent of all private gifts to education. 62

Direct corporate support of individual science and engineering students with

scholarships is sparse, focused rather on graduate students and on select applied fields

such as engineering, computer science, chemistry, and materials science. Indirect

support of universities and colleges includes:

● jobs for students (most at the graduate level) working on industry

research grants and contracts awarded to individual professors,

departments, and joint university-industry research teams;

b employing students for credit or wages in co-op programs (mostly

undergraduate engineering students) and industry-based joint research

projects (mostly graduate students);

● science and engineering education projects (e.g., precollege teacher

training, curricula and software development, equipment trials);

● employee’s continuing education and training;

● surplus products donated as gifts, or access to corporate research or

computing facilities; and

● that portion of unrestricted industry contributions used by the

institution for science and engineering education.

Company-established foundations, which manage and distribute contributions for

most large corporations, have been valuable in insulating the flow of charitable

61. Council for Aid to Education, Corporate Support of Education 1986 (New York,

NY: February 1988); and ibid., p. A34. National estimates are based on a survey sample

of 372 large companies, mostly Fortune 500 companies, which together account for about

37 percent of all corporate charitable contributions.

62. Paul R. Miller, Jr., Council for Aid to Education, Business Week (Special

Advertising Section), June 22, 1987, p. 104.

56
Table 2-9. — Corporate Grants to Higher Education, 1986

Form of corporate

support

Colleges/universities

Departmental grants

Unrestricted operating grants

Project/research grants

Capital grants

Employee matching gifts

Student financial aid

Grants via consortia

Individuals

Scholarships/fellowships

Other

c

Total, 370 companies

National Total (estimate)

% of total

(in millions)

83

18

12

15

15

16

4

3

Amt. of supporta

$499.1

110.4

70.0

88.2

87.2b

98.7

25.6

19.0

6 37.1

10 62.7

99

d

$599.0

$1,600.0 ($ 1.6 billion)

aAt this level of detail, Council for Aid to Education repOrtS data only for the comPanies

actually surveyed, and does not make national estimates. These 370 companies together

encompass about 40 percent of all corporate giving.

b]ncludes single gift of property valued at $40 ‘illiOn*

cOther includes the Council for Aid to Educaton categories of grants to educationrelated organizations, and “other.” Precollege education and economic education (mostly

precollege) are not included (together just over $50 million). Unallocated funds are not

included.

d Does not total 100 percent due to rounding errOrO

NOTE: The data above include charitable gifts and grants only, and do not include

substantial corporate contracts for research and other services. Noncash product and

property gifts account for 25 to 30 percent of the total.

SOURCE: Council for Aid to Education, Corporate Support of Higher Education 1986

(New York, NY: February 1988), p. 5.

57
contributions from the ups and down of profits and

donations of equipment from computer companies

campuses computerize.

business cycles. Tax-encouraged

have been invaluable in helping

Foundations. Foundations gave about $1.5 billion to colleges and universities in

1986-87. 63 Foundation support for science and engineering education is mostly indirect;

such support comes from various sources, including other foundations. They typically

target their support by field or level of interest, e.g., Andrew W. Mellon in the

humanities, Rockefeller in biology, Giles Whiting

dissertations.

Foundations contributed about $280 million for

and Charlotte Newcomb for

natural and social sciences at

colleges and universities in 1985-86, and about $150 million for research institutes (see

64 Graduate and undergraduate student fellowships were $37 table 2-10 and table 2-11).

million, about 6 percent of total foundation spending in the sciences. Much of the other

money went to develop programs and support research. Although foundations play a

small funding role, they can have an impact in specialized areas. The Howard Hughes

Medical Institute in 1987 launched a large program which includes $30 million in awards

to selected undergraduate colleges for programs to attract students, particularly women

and minorities, to scientific research careers.65

Targeted Federal Undergraduate Science and Engineering Education Programs

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has spearheaded Federal undergraduate

science and engineering education activity, as the only agency with this formal

responsibility, under its broader mission in science and engineering education. Several

mission agencies have small programs, usually linked to their research and laboratories. .

The Department of Education strongly supports general undergraduate education but

plays little direct part in science and engineering education.

63. McMillen, op. cit., footnote 60, p. A35.

64. The Foundation Center, The Foundation Directory (New York, NY: 1986).

65. Liz McMillen, ‘~44 Colleges to Share $30-MiUion to Improve Education in Biology, t’

The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 25, 1988, p. A32. The spending is part of a

result of a settlement of a Federal tax dispute. Other Howard Hughes Medical Institute

(HHMI) spending will support postdoctoral fellowships, research experience for medical

students, and a study of high school science education. A second wave of 5-year HHMI

awards, to public and private universities, ranging from $500,000 to $2 million will be

made in spring 1989. See Manpower Comments, vol. 25$ October 1988, p. 26.

58
Table 2-10. — Foundation

Program development

Capital support

Research

Continuing support

General/operating support

Matching/challenge grant

Fellowship/scholarship

Endowment

Unspecified

------------------------------

Support for Science, by Type of Support, 1985-86

Social sciences Natural sciences

(in millions) (in millions)

$167.4 $125.1

16.5 92.8

103.5 77.2

90.9 78.9

50.7 17.3

21.8 19.4

25.5 11.4

24.4 6.7

13.2 7.0

,-------------------------------------------------------------

Total $332.0 $286.0

SOURCE: The Foundation Center, 1987.

Table 2-11. — Foundation Support for Science, by Recipient, 1985-86

Social sciences Natural sciences

(in millions) (in millions)

Higher education $129.8 $151.5

Private coll/univ 63.4 87.7

Public coll/univ 34.0 47.2

Graduate school 32.0 15.3

Community college 0.4 1.3

School 0.7 3.1

Museum/zoo 0.8 38.9

Research institute 106.1 49.0

Professional society 53.9 25.6

Medical facility 1.2 2.4

Library 8.7 14.7

Other* 66.2 33.8

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Total $332.0 $286.0

+Direct service agency, church/temple, community fund, governmental unit, library,

performing arts group, and not specified.

SOURCE: The Foundation Center, 1987.

59
Led by NSF, Federal programs have supported institutional capability (equipment,

facilities instrumentation, and technology), student research, college faculty, and to a

lesser extent curricula and course materials. NSF undergraduate programs, like their

other activities, competitively award limited resources to a select few institutions and

students. Most predominantly undergraduate institutions compete for regular NSF

research grants and get most of their NSF money this way. However, NSF (and the

colleges) have felt the need to create special programs for undergraduates and

undergraduate institutions, designed for their needs (which differ from those of the

research universities — see below).

NSF and Undergraduate Education

NSF undergraduate programs target 4-year colleges that are unlikely to have strong

research infrastructures (research opportunities, equipment, and faculty). Since there

are more undergraduate institutions than full-fledged research universities, this has

allowed NSF to spread its money widely in making research accessible to

undergraduates.

NSF spending on undergraduate science and engineering education generally has

paralleled its total education budget, peaking in 1965 and dropping steadily through the

early 1980s. Through the 1960s and early 1970s, NSF spent about $30 million per year

(over $100 million in 1987 dollars) on undergraduate science education. There is no

observed correlation between spending and the number or proportion of undergraduate

scientists and engineers produced. However, this is not surprising, as NSF programs have

emphasized quality rather than quantity. Some past and current NSF undergraduate

programs are listed in table 2-12.

In addition to NSF’S undergraduate education programs, a portion of its regular

research funds supports undergraduate research assistants. Of particular relevance to

undergraduate education are research funds that go to nondoctoral institutions; in 1987,

$40 million from regular research programs, $14 million under Research in

Undergraduate Institutions, and $1.6 million from Research Opportunity Awards.66

The National Science Board in 1985-86 charged a committee with reviewing needs

and priorities in undergraduate science and engineering education. The committee

66. Richard Quinn and Lola Rogers, National Science Foundation, personal

communications, June 1988.

60
Table 2-12. — Current and Past National Science Foundation Undergraduate Programs

CURRENT PROGRAMS

(coordinated by the

Undergraduate Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Education Division,

Science and Engineering Education Directorate,

National Science Foundation (NSF))

This list includes NSF programs that provide significant resources to predominantly

undergraduate institutions, the undergraduate components of other institutions, and/or

undergraduate studentsIt should be noted that undergraduate institutions and faculty .

get most of their NSF money by competing for funds under general NSF research and

other programs.Regular research support awarded $40 million in 1987 to undergraduate

institutions, and $1.5 million for research opportunity awards.

Equipment

College Science Instrumentation Program (CSIP, 1985+)

● (1 987 awards were $9.5 million)

● 2-year, matching grants for instructional instrumentation.

Instructional and Laboratory Improvement

● The umbrella under which CSIP is included, this effort also contains a

component to support lab equipment for large doctorate-granting institutions

to use in their undergraduate programs.

Research

Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI, 1982+)

● (1987 was $14.3 million)

● Research and research equipment funds for investigators at

undergraduate institutions.About three-quarters goes to

predominantly

bachelor’s and

master’s level institutions, the rest to Ph.D.-level institutions that offer 10 or

less Ph.D.s a year.

Faculty

Undergraduate Faculty Enhancement Program (UFEP, 1988-})

● (1988 budget was $3 million)

● Supports seminars, workshops, etc., to keep current undergraduate faculty

current in their field of instruction.

Student research experience

Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU, 1987+)

● (1 987 was $11.9 million)

● ongoing grant supplements for one or two undergraduate research assistants,

and site awards for developing a research program for 5-10 undergraduates.

● Open to all institutions; about 10%, or approximately $2 million, went to

undergraduate institutions; the rest went to Ph.D.-granting universities.

Curriculum

Undergraduate Curriculum Development Program (1988+)

● Supports efforts to stimulate significant changes in

of undergraduate instruction in engineering and

include extending the program to other disciplines.

Institutional Development —

the content and structure

calculus. Future plans

ACCESS - Career Access Program for Women, Minorities, and the Disabled

● Supports comprehensive regional centers to cover undergraduate an d

precollege educational activities for women and minority students.

61
Table 2-12 (continued)

PAST PROGRAMS

Equipment

College Research Instrumentation Program (1983-1985)

Forerunner to the CSIP (see above).

Instructional Scientific Equipment Program (ISEP, 1961-1981)

● Provided matching funds for instruments for instructional laboratories. Open

to all institutions.

Faculty

College Teacher Workshops and Seminars (1956-1975)

● Supported summer conferences for undergraduate faculty.

Research Participation for College Teachers (1959-1970, and thereafter)

● Supported summer research for college faculty from small colleges.

Science Faculty Fellowships (1957-1981)

● Provided awards to faculty for sabbatical leave-type activity, for study and

for research.

Student research participation

Undergraduate Research Participation Program (URP, 1959-1981)

● Provided full-time summer support plus part-time academic year support for

undergraduates to work with faculty on specially designed research projects.

● At its peak in 1966 URP, supported 6,500 students with $6.8 million ($23

million in 1987 dollars).

Curriculum

Science Curriculum Improvement Program (SCIP, 1958-1972, and thereafter)

Local Course Improvement (LOCI)

● Supported development of specific courses by individual faculty.

Institutional development and planning

College Science Improvement Program (COSIP, 1967-1973)

● Provided institutional planning for predominantly undergraduate colleges and

consortia; one component for consortia of 2-year colleges and universities,

another for minority institutions.

Comprehensive Assistance to Undergraduate Science Education (CAUSE, 1976-

1981)

● Institutional planning; open to all institutions.

Resource Centers for Science and Engineering (1978-1981)

● Four large $2.8 million awards aimed at minorities at all educational levels.

Restructuring Undergraduate Learning Environments (RULE)

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, Undergraduate Science, Mathematics, and

National Science Board, March

1986), pp. 10-12; Lola Rogers and Richard Quinn, National Science Foundation, personal

communication, May 1988; and Robert Watson, National Science Foundation, personal

communication, February 1989.

62
reviewed NSF’S history in this area, and made specific program and budget

recommendations for NSF and other actors.67 The Neal Report was well received by

scientists, employers, and universities, and NSF has taken up many of these

recommendations (see box 2-C).

Since publication of the Neal Report, NSF has created a Division of Undergraduate

Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Education (USEME) in the Science and

Engineering Education Directorate, to manage its own and coordinate other

undergraduate-level activities across NSF’s research directorates. This initiative should

increase the attention and money spent on undergraduate education; since the revival of

NSF education activities in 1982-83, most of the spending has been on precollege and

graduate education, with undergraduate education becoming noticeable only in 1987.68

Although programs have come, gone, and changed frequently, undergraduate-level

spending since NSF’s inception has supported three major activities: undergraduate e

research; faculty research, seminars, and other professional enhancement; and

instrumental ion and institutional development at predominantly undergraduate

institutions. Smaller amounts have been spent on curriculum development, educational

technologies, and educational research.

Student Experiences: Undergraduate Research and Cooperative Education

Undergraduate research experience provides students with invaluable first-hand

appreciation of the skills and interests required to be a researcher — socialization that

cannot be gained from classroom lectures. Such experience improves education and

career preparation, and stimulates interest in science and graduate work.

The schools that are most productive of scientists share an emphasis on individual

attention to students and to undergraduate participation in research: Caltech, Harvey

Mudd, MIT, and the private liberal arts colleges. Close faculty-student interaction helps

to compensate, in many cases, for a lack of extensive research facilities. The “five

colleges" (Amherst, Hampshire, Mt. Holyoke, Smith, and the University of

Massachusetts-Amherst) use their unique proximity to share and coordinate facilities.

67. National Science Board, op. cit., footnote 38.

68. From 1982 through 1984, very little money was spent on undergraduate education

by the National Science Foundation; since 1985, a growing amount has been spent on

programs for undergraduate student research, and for faculty, research, curriculum

development, and instrumentation.

63
This provides students (and faculty) at any one college access to a much broader array of

faculty, classes, equipment, and research opportunities than would be feasible for any

one college operating independently. 69

The Federal Government also has a role in making undergraduate research possible,

directly through NSF and mission agency programs, and indirectly through avenues such

as research assistantships on individual investigator grants and research assistant add-ens

for minority students. Many undergraduates participate in independent research outside

of regular class laboratories (see box 2-D). At MIT and Caltech, nearly every

undergraduate does research and/or a senior thesis.

Another variation on the theme of undergraduate research is cooperative

education, in which students work for pay and college credit. Although less than 2

percent of undergraduates do formal co-ops, this mechanism is particularly important for

students in engineering and business, and to a lesser extent science. Co-op alumni are

more likely to receive job offers and earn higher salaries, and say that co-op education

gave them a head start on workplace skills. 70 The

co-op education with institutional support mandated

Education Amendments. 71

Faculty

Federal Government helped expand

by Titles IV and VIII of the Higher

At all levels of education, and in all sorts of institutions, students need competent,

enthusiastic, accessible teachers. Teachers include faculty and graduate teaching

assistants, and even fellow undergraduate tutors. 72 The quality of teaching in large part

depends on the institutional environment, whether it encourages and rewards

undergraduate teaching via release time for faculty to develop curricula and course

materials, tenure review on teaching as well as publications, awards and recognitions for

teaching, and matching good teachers to lower level courses.

69. ‘tFive Colleges Conference on Cooperation in Undergraduate Science Education, tt

Amherst, MA, Nov. 13-15, 1986.

70. American Chemical Society, Survey of Chemistry Co-op Alumni, winter 1985.

71. John Dromgoole et al., Change Management in Cooperative Education: The

Expansion and Development of Title VIH Comprehensive Large Scale Co-op Programs

(Weston, MA: National Commission for Cooperative Education, n.d.). Co-op engineering

education is discussed in ch. 4.

72. James H. Zumberge, “From Specialist to Generalist: The Role of the Graduate

School in Strengthening Undergraduate Education, ” Vital Speeches of the Day, vol. 52,

No. 10, Mar. 1, 1986, pp. 300-303.

64
NSF’s special faculty programs have concentrated on predominantly undergraduate

institutions. Faculty at undergraduate institutions usually have sparse research resources

in the way of equipment or graduate students to assist in research and teaching; at a

small department with few colleagues, and with most of their time devoted to teaching,

most have little time for research. This is not to say that undergraduate teaching at

research universities is not just as vital and in need of attention, but that some parts are

easier to “fix” — equipment, faculty experiences, and other tangibles — than others.

NSF’s current programs offer stipends for research, conferences, short courses, and

summer professional development activities: Research in Undergraduate Institutions;

research and equipment support for faculty in predominantly undergraduate institutions;

Research Opportunity Awards, which fund undergraduate faculty to work with NSF grant

recipients; and the recently instituted Undergraduate Faculty Enhancement, which funds

seminars and workshops for undergraduate faculty. Other agencies have small, more

informal programs, often as part of the link between laboratories and local colleges and

universities. Faculty also benefit from institutional awards. 73

Institutional Capability

A large part of institutional awards go to equipment, facilities, and libraries.

Currently, equipment and facilities refurbishing, renovation, and replacement are

considered the top priority not only for institutional health, but for the health of

undergraduate and graduate teaching as well. Research and instructional equipment

costs are much higher for science and engineering than for other fields. NSF has had

several versions of equipment programs; its current effort is the Instrumentation and

Laboratory Improvement Program (College Science Instrumentation Program). Such

programs are important because it is very difficult for institutions to purchase large,

high-cost equipment on regular grants or through indirect cost recovery, which goes

mostly to operations and some maintenance.

Many of the formal government science and engineering education programs target

minority institutions, particularly historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs)

73. In the words of one report: ‘

t

Student needs, we believe, should be addressed by NSF

primarily through support for equipment and faculty needs.” American Council on

Education, Towards a National PoZicy for Undergraduate Science Education: With the

Recommendations of the Nationa l Higher Education Associations Task Forc e

(Washington, DC: n.d.), p. 17. Admittedly, their vested interest is institutional, not

students per se.

65
below). Some programs target the few institutions that have mostly Hispanic

enrollments. Most of these programs fund both undergraduate and graduate education,

and many are reserved for HBCUs offering graduate degrees. As with many general

university programs it is difficult to separate out the effects of such programs on

undergraduates.

Minority institutions have needs similar to others, except in many cases the needs

are more pressing. The National Science Board identified the most pressing problems as

scientific equipment, followed by faculty support, development, and recruitment. 74

These institutions also have special difficulties — high dependence on government funds,

relatively poor students who cannot bring in high tuition or alumni donations, and

difficulty recruiting the best Black students and faculty in competition with nationallyknown universities and employers trying to meet minority recruitment goals.

NSF programs include supplements for research assistants on regularly awarded

grants, Research Minority Centers of Excellence, and Research Improvement in Minority

Institutions. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has a sizeable program, supporting

research centers and undergraduate (and graduate) students through its Minority Access

to Research Careers program. In general, mission agencies target minority institutions,

even though they may not have a formal budget to do so (although much of this activity

was spurred by a series of Presidential Executive Orders. ) Such alliances make a unique

contribution to the undergraduate and graduate education of minorities. 75

The Future of Undergraduate Science Education

The structure of “mainstream” higher education has changed little in the past

hundred years: students still congregate on a residential campus, sit in classes taking

notes from lecturers and their assistants, and compete on college sports teams.

However, there have been major changes in the social setting of higher education, and

many have augured significant changes in the structure of universities.

Some particularly substantial changes include mass higher education and the rise of

government student aid, working women and changing family structures, the vast

expansion of knowledge and the questioning of traditional curricula, and new

74. The National Science Board, op. cit., footnote 38, pp. 35-36, 50.

75. National Academy of Sciences, “Alliances: An Expanded View,” Report and

Recommendations, 1987 Symposium, Sept. 23-25, 1987, unpublished manuscript.

66
technologies, particularly computers. The rise of community colleges and proprietary

institutions is a major innovation in education. Such institutions have a growing clientele

and demand for the occupational skills of their graduates. Most colleges and universities

have yet to act on the recognition that these 2-year institutions are a substantial pool of

students for whom they must compete: the labor market is a powerful magnet.

Computer and information technologies have already made an indelible mark on

campus. Powerful multipurpose workstations, stand-alone computers, data networks,

remote access supercomputers, and computerized recording and analysis equipment

pervade classrooms, dormitories, offices, libraries, and laboratories. In the past 10

years, computers have evolved from novelty to a vital part of university life, relied on by

faculty, administrators, and students. 76 Employers expect newly-graduated scientists

and engineers to be facile in modern computing.

INSTITUTIONAL SETTINGS AND INFLUENCES ON CAREERS

Colleges have a hand in turning students on or off to science. There is evidence

that some institutional settings are more effective than others in selecting and preparing

high-quality undergraduates for graduate study and careers in science and engineering:

Factors found in most institutions that graduate large numbers of future scientists and

engineers include: dedicated teaching; a challenging technical curriculum; the

availability of professional apprenticeships as researchers, teaching assistants, or co-op

students; easy access to high-quality instructional and laboratory facilities; and strong

personal and academic support from faculty and other students (see table 2-13). These

characteristics can be replicated at other institutions, and effective institutions that

provide quality education and encourage students to enter research can be supported and

enhanced. 77

76.

on Campus (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1987), esp. ch. 12, on the

experiences of Carnegie-Mellon University, which did early and extensive

computerization of campus, curricula, administration, and student dorms and activities.

77. For example, the legacy of the National Science Foundationfs Engineering Research

Centers and the brand-new Science and Technology Centers may be their socialization of

students into the culture of team research. This would be a positive educational effect

in the guise of “research” and “innovation. ”

67
Factors

Table 2-13. — Factors Affecting the Quality of Undergraduate

Science and Engineering Education

Teaching

● Good faculty

● Good teaching assistants

● Curriculum and materials

Professional apprenticeship

● Research participation

(includes conference presentation, etc.)

● Job or cooperative work experience

● Teaching experience (tutoring,

teaching assistantships)

Institutional setting and resources

● Quality of equipment (including computers)

● Access to equipment

● Teaching and research facilities

● Libraries, conferences

Personal and academic support

● Intervention programs

● Student peers

● Family

Lead actorsa

C/U, NSF

c / u

C/U, NSF

C/U, NSF, R&D

C/U, ED, PRV

C/U

C/U, NSF, R&D

C/U, NSF, R&D

C/U, NSF, PRV

C/U, NSF

C/U, PRV

C/U

a These organizations have the most direct influence 01’ have had significant programs ‘n

the specified area. Colleges and universities clearly shape the kind of undergraduate

education they offer, although their programs are often supported by State, foundation,

or industry grants; and personnel, facilities, equipment, or other resources.

Key: (The most important actors are in boldface.)

C/U - individual college or university

NSF - National Science Foundation

R&D - mission R&D agencies

ED - U.S. Department of Education

PRV - private foundations or industry

SOURCE: Office of Technology Assessment, 1988.

68
A Diversity of Institutions

Policymaking is complicated by the diversity of American colleges and

universities. Diversity is a strength of American higher education, reflecting the breadth

of students and their career aspirations. America’s 1,500 4-year institutions include

small single-sex colleges, large public universities, world-renowned research universities,

technical and engineering institutions, liberal arts colleges, and historically Black

institutions. These vary in size; curricula; level and field of degrees awarded; emphasis

on research, graduate, and undergraduate education; Federal research support; and

selectivity of admissions. Over 40 percent of all students are enrolled in 2-year colleges,

which are not yet a significant source of scientists and engineers (see box 2-l?).

While the top 100 research universities graduate over 70 percent of science and

engineering Ph.D.s, those same institutions graduate less than one-half of the U.S.

baccalaureates who go on for science and engineering Ph.D.s. There is no single model of

the most effective institution for educating future scientists and engineers.

Research Colleges

The terms “research colleges” and “science intensives” have been used to describe a

group of private liberal arts colleges that encourage undergraduate and faculty research

in the sciences

small colleges

relatively small

In 1985, a

as well as a traditional emphasis on teaching. The environment at these

values teaching, student research, and intimate interaction with a

number of high-quality peers and faculty.

consortium of 50 private liberal arts colleges undertook a self-study that

called attention to their special service to the Nation as a feeder of baccalaureate

78 These colleges issued a second report in students to graduate programs in science.

1986.

79 Known as the Oberlin Reports, they presented convincing evidence of these

colleges’ role as “. . . among the most productive centers of high quality [baccalaureate]

education in the sciences. "

80 Most of their alumni proceed into graduate study. The

78.

become a recognizable category of institutions, though the term is not embraced even by

member institutions. Another 50 colleges probably share the characteristics of those

included in the Oberlin Reports. See Office of Technology Assessment, op. cit., footnote

3, pp. 56-58.

79. Sam C. Carrier and David Davis-Van Atta, Maintaining America~s Scientific

Productivity: The Necessity of the Liberal Arts CoZleges, Report of the Second National

Conference on “The Future of Science at Liberal Arts Colleges” at Oberlin College

(Oberlin, OH: Oberlin College, March 1987).

69
research colleges, in short, are competitive with the major research universities in

preparing undergraduate students for careers in science. But that is only part of the

story.

The strength of the research colleges is, first, their selective student body. They

sample from one end of the distribution, competing with (mostly private) research

universities for “the best and the brightest.” Beyond this incoming talent advantage,

peers are instrumental in the quality of education and in social support. Also key is the

college’s small size — typically fewer than 2,500 students, with low faculty-student

ratios. Third, they cultivate the attitude that education is an investment, and students

pay handsomely for this type of education.

The strengths of the research colleges — small size and limited course offerings —

are also weaknesses. They cannot cater to all students. For instance, while strong in the

natural sciences, few liberal arts colleges offer a major in engineering (though many

offer a "3+2” arrangement with affiliated engineering schools).

The teaching-oriented research colleges receive comparatively little Federal

research support, depending more on private gifts and tuition for revenue. Most Federal

funding for academic science is awarded as research grants to Ph.D.-granting universities

with graduate students and extensive research facilities and staff. No Federal programs

target the “research colleges” exclusively; a few small programs, primarily at NSF, focus

on predominantly undergraduate institutions. The research colleges fare well in these

programs, as do some of the larger comprehensive public universities and some of the

smallest doctorate-granting institutions that are allowed to compete in this category. It

should be noted, however, that research colleges (and other undergraduate institutions)

receive the bulk of their Federal funding through regular competitive grants. 81

80. Ibid., p. 26.

81. Recent expansion of undergraduate programs at the National Science Foundation

includes more faculty and institutional support targeted to predominantly undergraduate

institutions, as well as support for undergraduate students and education at all kinds of

institutions. One policy question is whether increased research funding at the research

colleges (as opposed, for example, to honors programs at State universities) would

increase the graduate student population in science and engineering. Rolf Piekarz,

National Science Foundation, personal communication, December 1988. Also see Thomas

E. Hassan and Jane E. Reynolds, ‘f Working Class Students at Selective Colleges: Where

Have They Gone?" College Bored Review, No. 146, winter 1987-88, pp. 4-9, 30-31.

70
Historically Black Institutions

Minority students tend not to be as well prepared as majority students for

undergraduate study. Perhaps more than other students, they need a supportive

academic and social environment to succeed in college, of the sort found at many

historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Many credit a caring, nonracist

social environment, Black faculty role models, and a critical mass of Black students with

the educational success of HBCUS.

82 Federal institutional

and aid high.

One-third of all baccalaureates awarded to Blacks are

they enroll less than 20 percent of Black undergraduates.

aid also has kept tuition low

awarded by HBCUs, although

The HBCUs are particularly

productive of natural science students, granting one-half of the mathematics B.S.

degrees and 40 percent of the biological sciences and physical sciences B.S. degrees

earned by Blacks in the United States (see table 2-14).83 In 1987, however, only six of

the HBCUs offered full engineering curricula.

engineering baccalaureates earned by Blacks.

Some argue that the best investment in

concentrated—HBCUs. However, fewer

HBCUS.

84 Some universities are attempting to

environment for Blacks within their mostly

The Federal Government extensively

support and research-related programs

departments. 8

5 Other Federal programs

82. Howard H. Garrison, “Undergraduate

In 1983-84, they awarded 19 percent of

minority talent is where that talent is

Black college students are attending

develop a supportive social and academic

white campuses (see box 2-F).

supports HBCUs, through general institutional

that target HBCU faculty, students, and

target minority students and faculty in all

Science and Engineering Education for Blacks

and Native Americans, " in Dix, op. cit., footnote 17, pp. 47=50, 53-54.

83. Gail E. Thomas, “Black Students in U.S. Graduate and Professional Schools in the

1980s: A National and Institutional Assessment, f? Harvard Educational Review, vol. 57$

No. 3, August 1987, pp. 269-270.

84. Linda Darling-Hammond, Equality and Excellence: The Educational Status of Black

Americans (New York, NY: College Entrance Examination Board, 1985), p. 14, states

that historically Black colleges and universities enrolled more than one-half of all Black

college students before 1970, but only 27 percent by 1980. Also see Colleen Cordes,

‘

f Colleges Try to Attract Women and Minority Students to the Sciences,’t The Chronicle

of Higher Education, Nov. 16, 1988, pp. A33-34.

85. Executive Order 12320, Sept. 15, 1981, directed agencies (under the supervision of

the Department of Education) to work to increase

colleges and universities in all federally sponsored

development of human potential, to strengthen the

the participation of historically Black

programs “. . . in order to advance the

capacity of historically Black colleges
Table 2-14. — Baccalaureates Awarded to Black Students

At HBCUs and All Institutions, by Field, 1980-81

All Percent of degrees

HBCUs institutions awarded at HBCUs

Natural sciences 2,145 4,923 44

Engineering 848 2,445 35

Social sciencesa3,109 11,423 26

Total S/E 6,012 18,791 32

All B.S. 60,673 34

aIncludes history, archaeology and cultural ‘tudieso

NOTE: In the South (where all the HBCUs are located), 59% of all bachelor’s degrees

awarded to Blacks are from HBCUs, as are 61% of science and engineering bachelor’s

degrees.

Reliable data on degrees granted to minority students at predominantly minority

institutions are difficult to secure. That is one reason for the age of the data presented

here. This is OTA'S best estimate based on data from the U.S. Department of

Education. In recent years, more Blacks have been enrolling in non-HBCUs; however,

their retention rates are still higher at HBCUs.

KEY: HBCUs = historically Black colleges and universities.

S/E = science/engineering.

SOURCE: OTA calculations, based on Linda Darling-Hammond, Equality and

ExceZZence: The Educational Status of 13Zack Americans (New York, NY: College

Entrance Examination Board, 1985), p. 18. Also see William T. Trent, “Equity

Considerations in Higher Education: Race and Sex Differences in Degree Attainment and

Major Field From 1976 Through 1981,11 American Journal of Education, vol. 92, May 1984,

pp. 280-305.

72
institutions (see table 2-15). Institutional support such as Title III of the Higher

Education Act, insofar as it reduces tuition, helps bring college within the reach of

lower-income students.86

State Colleges and Universities

State colleges and universities, more than 550 public 4-year institutions, enroll 4.8

million students and award two-thirds of the Nation's baccalaureates. 87 Most of higher

education enrollment growth has been in public institutions, whose enrollments have gone

from one-half to more than three-quarters of the national total.88

Many State universities were created in the last century as teacher training

institutes or “normal” schools. The baby boom multiplied their enrollments and shifted

their mission, along with State colleges and universities founded in the 1960s and 1970s,

to comprehensive offerings of undergraduate majors, professional programs at the

master’s level, public service, and research. Some have become full-fledged research

universities. These missions today do not always peacefully coexist.

Public institutions are more dependent on State funds, generally less selective, and

less expensive to attend than private colleges and universities. They also tend to be

larger. Some public institutions, required by State law to admit all resident high school

graduates, reduce classes to manageable sizes by "washing out" large proportions of their

freshman classes. This attrition wastes talent. Evidence suggests that many students,

owing to the sheer size of classes, “fall through the cracks. ,,89 Large introductory

sections of calculus and other gatekeeper courses probably remove science and

and universities to provide quality education, and to overcome the effects of

discriminatory treatment.” See 46 Federal Register 180 (Sept. 17, 1981) (and Executive

Order 12232 of Aug. 8, 1980).

86. James B. Stedman, “Title III of the Higher Education Act: Provisions and Funding,’t

Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, Mar. 31, 1987; Robin Wilson,

“White House Woos Black Colleges, But Critics Question Motives, tt The Chronicle of

Higher Education, Sept. 16, 1987, p. A27.

87. Meredith Ludwig et al., Public, Four-Year Colleges and Universities: A Healthy

Enrollment Environment? (Washington, DC: American Association of State Colleges and

Universities, and National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges,

May 1986), p. iii.

88. Robert S. Eckley, “Liberal Arts Colleges: Can They Compete?ll The Brookings

Review, vol. 5, No. 4, fall 1987, p. 32.

89. Alexander W. Astin, Achieving Educational Excellence: A Critical Assessment of

Priorities in Higher Education (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1985), p. 89.

73
Table 2-15. — Major Federal Science and Engineering Education Programs

for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

and Minority Students

All agencies target HBCUs in their regular programs and have a range of special

HBCU programs (research funding and collaborative research, faculty enhancement,

student internships, guest lectures, equipment access and donations, institutional

development funding) in response to Presidential Executive Orders. At some agencies

these programs are gathered under one umbrella program, such as the Environmental

Protection Agency’s (EPA) Minority Institutions Assistance Program or the Department

of Defense's (DoD) Historically Black Colleges (HBC) Council.

This list includes all higher education, both undergraduate and graduate. Major

agencies are in boldface.

Key to type of program

u - Undergraduate students

G - Graduate students

F - Faculty

I - Institutional

Major Programs Targeting Minority Institutions

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

●

●

DoD

●

●

Minority Biomedical Research Support

Research Centers in Minority Institutions

HBC Council

Navy DANTES (Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support)

National Science Foundation (NSF)

●

●

U.S.

●

U.S.

●

b

●

U.S.

●

●

Research Improvement in Minority Institutions

Minority Research Centers of Excellence

Department of Agriculture

1890 institutionsa

Department of Education (ED)

Minority Institutions Science Improvement Program

Howard University

Strengthening Developing Institutions

(Title III of the Higher Education Amendments of 1965)

(not targeted to science/engineering, but a major program)

Department of Energy (DOE)

Minority Institutions Research Travel Program F

Nuclear Energy Training Program

%l?he 1890 institutions are 16 predominantly

under the 1890 Second Merrill Act to provide

Blacks were denied access to State land-grant

Act of 1862.

U,G, F

Black land-grant universities, established

for land-grant institutions in States where

institutions established by the first Merrill

74
Table 2-15 (continued)

● Laboratory-HBCU joint programs (student internships,

joint research, faculty exchange, facility access)

EPA

● Minority Institutions Assistance Program

includes minority student fellowships

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

(formerly the National Bureau of Standards)

● Graduate Engineering for Minorities G

Major Federal Programs Targeting Minority Students or Faculty

at All Institutions

Minority institutions also win agency support through other competitions. All

Federal agencies, particularly DoD, vigorously recruit and hire at HBCUs, both on their

own initiative and as part of the Federal Equal Opportunity Recruitment Program. Many

regular Federal university, research, and fellowship programs make special efforts and

achieve high minority participation, without formal set-asides or targets for minority

institutions, students, or faculty.

Health and Human Services/NIH

● NIH Minority Access to Research Careers

● National Institute of Mental Health Minority Fellowships

DoD

● Office of Naval Research Minority Research Grants

NSF

● Research Careers for Minority Scholars

● Engineering Supplements

● Minority Graduate Fellowships

● Minority Research Initiation

● ACCESS — Career Access Opportunities for Women, Minorities,

and the Disabled

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

● Graduate Student Researcher Program, minority focus

ED

● Graduate Professional Opportunities Program (Javits Fellowships)

Agency Consortium

National Physical Sciences Consortium for Graduate Degrees

for Women and Minorities (NPSC) (DOE, NIST, NASA)

U,G,F

G

G

u

u

G

F

G

G

G

SOURCE: Office of Technology Assessment, 1988.

75
engineering students from the pipeline prematurely. While not attrition per se, such

experiences dash hopes of a career in science or engineering.

Thus, while the quality of incoming students to State colleges and universities is

diluted, these institutions appear to commit two kinds of errors — flunking out students

who are capable of earning a baccalaureate degree and discouraging students from

pursuing a science or engineering major. These errors are more visible in institutions

that admit large freshman classes that include many students only marginally prepared —

academically and emotionally—to succeed. Data on attrition, by type of institution and

major, would go far to refine or correct such perceptions of "error" in the squandering of

human talent.

Research Universities

One hundred or so research universities house the vast majority of academic

science and engineering research. The superb resources of research universities —many

excellent faculty, graduate students, researchers, facilities, libraries, and equipment —

can be a boon to undergraduates if they have access to them, and if the university

emphasizes undergraduate teaching along with graduate training However, in man . y

universities, the commitment to research and graduate education may divert attention

from undergraduate education ‘ .

0 In a few cases, undergraduates constitute less than

one-half of the students.Despite the preeminence of the top research universities in

academic science and engineering and their dominance of graduate training, little

evaluation has been done of undergraduate education at these elite institutions.

Undergraduate Origins of Science and Engineering Ph.D.s

One way to investigate the effect of undergraduate settings on science and

engineering careers is to look at what types of undergraduate institutions produce the

91 OTA conducted a n most people who go on to get science and engineering Ph.D.s.

90. ‘Research Universities Urged to Upgrade Teaching,

w The Chronicle of Higher

Education, Nov. 4, 1987, p. A19; and Roger L. Geiger, ‘Research Universities: Their

Role in Undergraduate Ed~ation/t Contexts for LearningThe : Major Sectors of

American Higher Education (Washington, DC:National Institute for Education, 1985),

pp. 74-97.

91. Previous studies include:National Research Council, Doctorate Recipients From

United States Universities, Summary Report 1984 (Washington, DC: National Academy

Press, 1986), pp. 10-24; Todd C. Hanson, Baccalaureate Originsof Ph.D.s, 1920-1980: A

New Study (Ashland, VA: Randolph-Macon College, 1986); Carol H. Fuller, An AnaZysisof

Leading Undergraduate Sources of Ph.f).’s, Adjusted for Institutional Size (Ann Arbor,

76
analysis of institutions’ “productivity” of science and engineering Ph.D.s, and also looked

92 Some highlights are Presented at trends in this institutional productivity over time.

below; appendix A contains a fuller discussion of this analysis and various lists of the

productive institutions.

As might be expected, the large degree-granting institutions graduate the largest

numbers of baccalaureates that goon for science or engineering Ph.D.s. However, their

success in undergraduate education fades somewhat when the size of study body is taken

into account. Some small institutions send much higher proportions of their bachelors

graduates on for Ph.D.s. than do many of the largest institutions.93

MI: Great Lakes College Association, August 1986); M. Elizabeth Tidball, “Baccalaureate

Origins of Recent Natural Science Doctorates,ft Journa2 of Higher Education, vol. 57, No.

6, November/December 1986, pp. 606-620; Davis-Van Atta et al., op. cit., footnote 78;

and James N. Spencer and Claude H. Yoder, “Baccalaureate Origins of College and

University Chemistry Faculty in the United States,” Journal of Chemical Education, vol.

61, September 1984, pp. 802-803. An essential element in any such analysis is controlling

statistically for differences in incoming student quality or other relevant

characteristics. Disentangling attributes that predispose individuals to academic

achievement from organizational characteristics that reinforce those predispositions,

however, is far easier said than done.

92. Betty Maxfield, ‘

f Institutional Productivity: The Undergraduate Origins of Science

and Engineering Ph. D.s, ” OTA contractor report, 1987. Baccalaureate degree data for

academic years 1950-51, 1955-56, 1960-61, and 1965-66 (hereafter referred to in tables

as 1950, 1955, 1960, and 1965) were extracted from the National Center for Education

Statistics annual publications, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare,

National Center for Education Statistics, Earned Degrees Conferred (Washington, DC:

U*S. Government Printing Office, 1950-51, 1955-56, 1960-61, and 1965-66).

(Baccalaureate reference points beyond 1975 would have been unreliable because a high

percentage of graduates who pursued doctoral studies would still be in the Ph.D.

pipeline.)

Two other data sources were used: the National Research Council’s Doctorate

Record File (DRF) and the Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR) file. The DRF is based

on the annual Surveys of Earned Doctorate (SED). The SED is done in cooperation with

the graduate departments of Ph.D.-granting institutions for the National Science

Foundation. New Ph.D. recipients complete questionnaires that provide information on

the new doctorate’s demographic characteristics and employment plans. The SDR is a

biennial survey of a sample of Ph.D.s in the sciences, engineering, and humanities. The

sample has been studied longitudinally, and includes information on doctorates from 1930

to 1986. The SDR was designed to follow the employment patterns of Ph.D.s overtime.

The active survey sample includes doctorates for the most recent 42-year time span. For

example, the first SDR, in 1973, included a sample of doctorates from 1930 to 1972. The

1985 survey, however, includes doctorates from 1942 to 1984. The SDR questionnaire

consists of questions on the Ph. D.fs field of employment, type of employment, primary

work activity, and salary.

93. The unknown, of course, is the relative quality of the graduates from these

different undergraduate environments. Their specialization by discipline, research area,

and post-baccalaureate experiences are also of analytical interest.

77
Adjusting for siz esignificantly changesthe list of the most productiv e

institutions. For instance, Harvey Mudd College, a small engineering-intensive liberal

arts college in California, ranked 207th when the number of its graduates who went on to

earn science and engineering Ph.D.s were compared to other baccalaureate granting

institutions, yet its productivity based on the proportion of its graduates who obtained

science and engineering Ph.D.s placed it second overall in rank.

Productivity ratios reflect the emphasis that undergraduate institutions put on

science and engineering among their bachelor’s degrees, as well as the aggregate quality

of the undergraduate population. Institutions such as Harvey Mudd or Caltech, which

focus on science and engineering, could be expected to send much larger proportions of

their baccalaureates on for science and engineering Ph.D.s than could other high-quality

institutions with more diverse curricula.

Most of the more productive baccalaureate institutions (adjusted for size) are

private. Only three women's colleges and none of the traditionally Black institutions

were in the top 100. Fourteen ‘technical institutions" and 31 private liberal arts

research colleges were in the top 100. OTA earmarked several groups of institutions fo

special analysis: technical institutions, liberal arts colleges, women’s colleges, and

historically Black colleges and universities.

Productive Institutions

Among the most productive of all institutions (adjusted for size) are technical

schools with undergraduate curricula focusing on engineering and the physical

sciences. 94 As might be expected from their emphasis on the physical sciences, all but 1

of a group of 15 of these selected for analysis were among the 100 undergraduate

institutions most productive of students who earned science and engineering Ph.Ds. Two

institutions stood out as particularly productive: Caltech and MIT. During the years

94. The institutions were: California Institute of Technology, Carnegie-Mellon, Case

Western Reserve, Colorado School of Mines, Illinois Institute of Technology, Lehigh,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology,

Polytechnic Institute of New York, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rose-Hulman

Institute of Technology, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Stevens Institute

of Technology, Webb Institute of Naval Architecture, and Worcester Polytechnic

Institute. See Fuller, op. cit., footnote 91.

78
selected for analysis, 44 percent of Caltech and 21 percent of MIT baccalaureates went

on to earn science and engineering Ph.D.s.

Institutions that serve special populations do not provide a large proportion of

science and engineering Ph.D.s. For example, only 34 of the 120 women’s colleges

analyzed had more than 1 percent of baccalaureates obtain doctorates. Three (Radcliffe,

Bryn Mawr, and Wellesley) were in the top 100 baccalaureate sources of science and

engineering Ph.D.s. For most of these 120 colleges, an average of five graduates per

95 Similarly, Black colleges and year went on to earn science and engineering Ph.D.s.

universities, in general, had very few graduates who went on to complete science and

engineering Ph.D.s. 96 Two percent of the baccalaureates from the top-ranked Black

colleges went on to earn Ph.D.s in these fields.

Trends in Institutional Productivity

Trends in students' propensity to complete sciences and engineering Ph.D.s

indicates a link to Federal fellowship and traineeship dollars, and to Federal R&D

spending. OTA analyzed trends in institutional productivity of baccalaureates (adjusted

for size) for six time points between 1950 and 1975. The proportion of students going on

for science and engineering Ph.D.s peaked in 1965. Although the analysis was limited to

selected years, this peak generally corresponds to the rise and fall of generous Federal

fellowship support for graduate students. Appendix B provides data on the productivity

ratios of the top 100 undergraduate sources of science and engineering Ph.D.sever time.

During the rapid rise in productivity between 1955 and 1960, nearly 90 percent of

institutions increased or remained stable in their productivity ratios. The most

noteworthy change occurred from 1965 to 1970, when 89 percent of the top 100

institutions had a decrease in their productivity ratios.

95. For comparison, see Tidball, op. cit., footnote 91.

96. While historically Black colleges enroll 20 percent of Black students, 40 percent of

Blacks who pursue graduate study come from the historically Black institutions. See

Willie Pearson, Jr., and LaRue C. Pearson, !!Baccalaureate origins of Black American

Scientists: ACohort Analysis$l JournaZ of Negro Education, vol. 54,N0. 1, 1985,pp.24-

34; and Willie Pearson, Jr., flThe Role of colleges and Universities in Increasing Black

Representation in the Scientific Profession,M

Toward Black Undergraduate Student

Equality in American Higher Education, M. Nettles and A.R. Theony (eds.) (Greenwich,

CT: Greenwood Press, 1988), ch.6.

79
The same pattern was exhibited by all types of institutions. However, the 10 most

productive and the technical institutions exhibited the strongest rise and fall in

productivity; the liberal arts, women's, and Black colleges a more modest peak. While

not mirroring the pattern of distribution of Federal funds, the magnitude of differences

in productivity among institutional types is not surprising. Most Federal R&D and

fellowship dollars go to the elite research universities and doctorate-granting technical

institutions.

Baccalaureate Origins of Research Scientists and Engineers

Only some science and engineering Ph.D.s go on to become productive

researchers. What factors influence the decisions and preparation of those few who do

continue in research careers? To understand the educational path for successful research

scientists and engineers, it is important to look not just at Ph.D. production but to

identify institutional settings that encourage students who continue beyond the Ph.D. to

become active researchers.

The OTA analysis identified the undergraduate origins of Ph.D.s who join the

science and engineering work force, looking at science and engineering Ph.D.s working in

any science and engineering-related job, and at a more select group engaged in

research.

97

Looking beyond the Ph.D. to employment in science or engineering generates

different information about productive educational environments than measures of Ph.D.

productivity. Some key differences result from comparing institutions’ “researcher

productivity” rather than ‘f Ph.D. productivity”:

● Ph.D. recipients from highly-productive undergraduate institutions are

likely to stay in science and engineering.

97. Maxfield, op. cit., footnote 92. Those surveyed in 1985 had received their Ph.D.s

from 1 to more than 20 years previously. The analysis was limited to categories of

undergraduate institutions (top 100, liberal arts, technical, women’s, historically Black)

rather than individual institutions. To identify science and engineering Ph.D.s working in

research, and trace their educational history, a group of Ph.D.s was identified from the

National Research Council’s (NCR’s) Survey of Doctorate Recipients file. These were

then matched with the NRC% Doctorate Records file, which follows a weighted sample

of Ph.D. recipients and contains information on work. The two surveys are based on

different data sets and are not completely comparable. Methodological information is

available in the contractor report.

80
● About 30 percent of Ph.D.s from these highly-productive

undergraduate institutions stayed in basic or applied research.

● Baccalaureate graduates from technical institutions were more likely

than graduates from other types of undergraduate institutions to

pursue research careers after completing their Ph.D. degrees. Alumni

of liberal arts colleges and the top 100 were comparable.

● Ph.D.s from women’s and Black undergraduate institutions were much

less likely to select research careers.

Tracing the educational paths of successful Ph.D. researchers from highlyproductive undergraduate institutions reveals that active researchers come from

graduate study at a small number of top research universities. These elite research

universities, however, draw on a broader base— the successful graduates of highlyproductive undergraduate institutions. The career decisions made by Ph.D. recipients are

influenced as much by their college experiences as by their graduate schools.

81
Box 2-A. — Handicapped Scientists: The Invisible Minority

The physically handicapped — for example, deaf, blind, and those

wheelchair — are an invisible minority in science and engineering.

confined to a

In 1984 they

represented a work force of 92,000, or 2.2 percent of U.S. scientists and engineers. 1 In

the view of some: “Progress has been made in the cases where the package is ‘different, ’

women and minorities, but much remains to be done . . . when the package is ‘faulty ’.” 2

The problem of underutilized talent is also a problem of low expectations of

teachers and stereotypical views of what a disabled person can and cannot do.3

Individuals without any knowledge of what it means to be disabled

make major decisions for us in the light of what they think a handicapped

person is capable of doing. It starts in precollege education where some

teachers discourage the disabled from attempting a career in science and

continues and continues and continues. We, the handicapped, wind up in a

box, the dimensions of which are not set by the inherent limitations in the

vision and understanding of influential and not-so-influential educators. This

squandering of human resources is an injustice second only to the

concomitant exclusion of capable and competent individuals from full

participation in the academic field of their choice. 4

Since 1975, colleges and universities that receive Federal funding must make

science and other courses available to handicapped undergraduates. Under the National

Science Foundation's program on Research Experiences for Undergraduates, various

campuses around the United States provide disabled students with summer introductions

to research, encouraging them to pursue careers in science.

Programs such as that hosted by the Science Institute for the Disabled at East

Carolina University, in Greenville, NC, have succeeded in improving educational

opportunities, access to laboratories, and employment in science and technology for

1. This estimate is from a National Science Foundation survey, cited by John J. Gavin,

Engineering and Economics Research, Inc., testimony, Subcommittee on science,

Research, and Technology, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of

Representatives, Women, Minorities, und the Disabled in Science and Technology

(Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, June 28, 1988), p. 131.

2. Ibid., p. 132.

3. Virginia Stern, Project on Science, Technology and Disability, Office of

Opportunities in Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science,

testimony, in Subcommittee on Science, Research, and Technology, op. cit., footnote 1,

pp. 92-93.

4. Gavin, op. cit., footnote 1, p. 133. Later in his testimony he observes the irony

that: ‘fMany universities appear to

somewhat slow academically, but

physically limited.”

exploit the physical abilities of athletes who may b~

not the mental capabilities of those who may be

82
handicapped students. The emphasis has been on raising the awareness of teachers and

counselors and linking handicapped students and educators through various networks. a

Out-of-school “informal” education programs based in science centers and museums

augment campus-based programs of formal instruction sensitive to the needs of the

handicapped. For example, the Disabled Access program of the Exploratorium in San

Francisco, begun in 1986, has been expanded through partnership with the San Francisco

Volunteer Center’s Youth Quest Internship Program. Youth Quest is an experimental

education and community service project for middle school adolescents. An internship

program trains volunteers on how to make 600 Exploratorium exhibits accessible to

visitors with mobility, hearing, and vision impairments. Disabled mentors and students

speak with the interns, heightening their awareness that disabilities do not diminish

curiosity. 6

Programs that bring handicapped students (of all ages) together in educational

settings with scientists (disabled and others) are needed to erase stereotypes and present

opportunities that create and sustain interest in research careers. Such programs bring

new meaning to the familiar words “recruitment" and “retention."

5. Michael Heylin, ‘

tHands-On Research for Disabled Students,” Chemica2 &

Engineering News, Aug. 15, 1988, p. 25.

6. Ellen Lieber, ‘

tYouth Quest Interns Assess Exploratorium Exhibits for

Accessibility,” ASTC Newsletter, November/December 1988, pp. 9-10.

83
Box 2-B. — Retaining Hispanics and Blacks in Engineering:

California’s Minority Engineering Program

The California Minority Engineering Program (MEP) has dramatically improved the

retention of Black and Hispanic students in engineering majors in California public

.

universities and colleges. 1 Not only are MEP students much more likely to stay with

engineering than are minorities students not in MEP, but they even outperform majority

engineering students (see table below). MEP began at one institution in 1973. In 1982,

the State funded the expansion of MEP to most other California university campuses. In

1986-87, about 2,500 students were in MEP.

Crucial elements of MEP — and crucial to most intervention programs — are:

● peer support, tutoring, and community building among minority

students;

● academic support through science and mathematics workshops; and

● professional and personal support through

organizations, summer jobs, internships,

activities.

participation in student

and career awareness

The founder of MEP, Raymond B. Landis, emphasizes the particular importance of

helping students through the freshman year, usually the most difficult phase of academic

and social adjustment for minorities. His relatively low-cost programs includes in-depth,

formal university and academic orientation, clustering MEP students in the same classes

so they can work together on the same assignments, upper-class mentors, and a 24-hour

student study center. Regular classes are supplemented with both prefreshmen bridge

programs and workshops. MEP also facilitates employment and career development

through summer jobs, internships, and career presentations.

1. California Postsecondary Education Commission, “Retention of Students in

Engineering: A Report to the Legislature in Response to Senate Concurrent Resolution

16 (1985 ),” unpublished draft, December 15, 1986; Raymond B. Landis, ‘f The Case for

Minority Engineering Programs,” Engineering Education, vol. 78, No. 8, May 1988, pp.

756-761; and Cheryl M. Fields, ‘tWhat Works: California’s Minority Engineering

Program, ’t The ChronicZe of Higher Education, Sept. 30, 1987, p. A33. See also National

Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Improving the Retention and Graduation of

Minorities in Engineering (New York, NY: 1985).

In 1984-85, 19 California public institutions enrolled over 31,000 engineering

undergraduates and awarded 5,391 engineering baccalaureates, about 7 percent of

national enrollments and degree awards.

84
Three-Year Retention Rates of Fall 1982 Engineering Freshmen,

Students in and Not in the Minority Engineering Program (MEP)

(as percent of entering freshmen)

All Blacks Blacks Hispanics Hispanics

Students in MEP not in MEP in MEP not in MEP

University of

California 47 64 23 57 21

California State

University 67 79 30 88 41

85
Box 2-c. — Douglass Project for Rutgers Women in Mathematics and Science

The Douglass Project at Rutgers University’s Douglass College was launched in

September of 1986 to increase the number of female students in mathematics and

science. The project is open to all women on the New Brunswick campus. 1

The project sponsors peer study groups, career planning workshops, and a mentor

program that includes seminars with presentations by role models in academia and

industry. Target audiences are high school students, teachers, and parents. Grants are

also sought for an on-campus summer institute. Douglass coordinators consider this

outreach component to be the most crucial of the project because of the 9th and 10th

grade science and mathematics "gatekeeper" function. Director Ellen Mappan is working

with Arlene Chasek at Futures Unlimited, a support program targeting female high

school students interested in science and mathematics, in developing the precollege

program.

Although the

enthusiastic. Over

suggested ideas for

Douglass Project is relatively new, the response has been

100 students participated in the first-semester activities and

future Douglass Project components. Thematic study groups are

especially popular. The interest generated by the project literature has even resulted in

the establishment of a residence house for undergraduates. The Douglass Project is

funded by a 3-year, $123,500 grant from the New Jersey Department of Higher

Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Higher Education. Contributions have also

come from the Associate Alumnae of Douglass, the Ellis and Adrienne Anderson Science

Enrichment Fund, the Provost's Excellence Fund, and the Joe and Emily Lowe

Foundation.

1. Doris Kulman, “DC Project Encouraging Women in Math, Science," Rutgers

Newsletter, Dec. 5, 1986.

86
Box 2-D. — The Neal Report

In 1986 the National Science Board concluded an in-depth study of undergraduate

.

science and engineering education. 1 The report of the Task Committee identified three

areas of undergraduate science and engineering education needing particular attention:

● • equipping laboratories and making laboratory instruction and research

an important and vibrant part of undergraduate education;

● Ž upgrading the qualifications of faculty; and

● improving courses, curricula, and the quality of instruction.

The committee called upon all major actors — universities and colleges, States,

corporations and foundations, and mission agencies — to do their part in each of these

three areas. The special roles and needs of 2-year and minority institutions, and the

importance of institutional diversity, were also noted. The committee recommended

that the National Science Foundation (NSF) spend an additional $100 million each year on

laboratory instruction, faculty enhancement, curriculum development (particularly in

mathematics and engineering), research participation, instructional equipment, and

minority institutions. 2 These funds and programs could be highly leveraged through

matching as well as by “setting examples” for universities, States, and industry. Noting

that Federal agencies and corporations focused their attention and spending on research

and research-linked graduate education, the committee recommended that NSF, mission

agencies, and other research sponsors find new ways to involve undergraduates and

undergraduate faculty in research.

1. National Science Board, Task Committee on Undergraduate Science and

Engineering Education, Undergraduate Science, Mathematics and Engineering Education,

NSB 86-100 (Washington, DC: National Science Foundation, March 1986), known as the

Neal Report after the chair of the Task Committee.

2. Since the publication of the report, continuing deterioration of conditions has

increased cost estimates. National Science Foundation Director Bloch secured a promise

to double the budget of his Agency by 1992. While congressional appropriations in fiscal

years 1988 and 1989 were disappointing, in the context of a $2.2 to $3.0 billion budget,

the Task Corn mittee’s price tag attached to their recommendations seems modest.

87
Box 2-E.— Undergraduate Research Participation:

U.S. Department of Energy Student Research Program

The Department of Energy (DOE), as part of its mission to develop scientists and

engineers in fields relevant to DOE’s mission, supports undergraduate student research.

The Student Research Participation program (SRP) each year provides about 1,200

talented college juniors and seniors the opportunity to do summer research at DOE

laboratories. This mentored research provides students a unique opportunity for hands-on

experience as part of a research team at sophisticated facilities.

The SRP program is effective; its alumni go on to higher degrees, do research, and

excel in science, engineering, and medicine. Students gain not only a professional

.

understanding of research and career paths, but self-confidence as well. 1

Some

representative comments reflect the enthusiasm of SRP students for the experience, and

the lasting impact it had on their careers:

“My participation in research efforts in immunology at Argonne was

pivotal in my choice of career and contributed greatly to subsequent

research efforts. ”

“My appointment resulted in my attending grad school rather than

becoming a medical technologist — which was my original career plan. ”

“To date, I still feel that my summer with Brookhaven was the most

exciting, and perhaps, most important event in my professional career.”

1. Frank M. Vivio and Wayne Stevenson, U.S. Department of Energy Student Research

Participutkm Program: Profile und Survey of J979-1982 Participants (Washington, DC:

U.S. Department of Energy, January 1988). In 1987 the Department of Energy (DOE)

evaluated the Student Research Participation program, looking particularly at the longterm impact on students’ choice of fields and decision to go on for a graduate degree and

work in research. The evaluation also investigated to what extent students’ choice of

degrees and research areas supported DOE’S mission research. The evaluation surveyed a

sample of students who had been in the program between 1979 and 1982, thus allowing 5

or more years for long-term effects to be seen, and for transitory effects to disappear.

As with all such “people development” programs, it is difficult to tell how much of the

success of alumni is due to their high ability and interest coming into the program, and

how much is due to the additional boost the program may give them. What is clear,

however, is that the whole program, from selection of students to the research

experience itself, generates a cadre of research-oriented, high-caliber scientists and

engineers.

88
Women’s decisions about the attractiveness of graduate school and their degree

aspirations were much more affected by SRP than were those of men. However, the SRP

group still reflects national patterns: women are much less likely than their male

counterparts to plan a Ph. D., and less likely to work in the physical sciences or

engineering or at a university. The SRP program also has a high proportion of minority

participants, particularly Blacks.

89
Box 2-F. — Community Colleges: An Alternate Entry Route?

The 1,300 U.S. community colleges enroll over one-half of first-time freshman — 2

million in 1985. They fill several niches in science and engineering education. First,

they provide an alternate educational route into the science and engineering pipeline for

4

some students, by preparing them for transfer to B. S.-granting colleges.1 Second, and

most important to the overall research and development effort, they train technicians

and technologists. Third, a growing part of community college services is customized

retraining, primarily for industry technicians. Many community colleges have a regular

contract training agreement with local companies; over one-quarter of students receive

employer-subsidized job-related training. 2 In some cases State funding is prorated to

provide more money for students in vocational courses, in the interest of economic

development and work force training. Another, smaller role of community colleges is

providing high school students with courses unavailable in their schools.

One estimate is that 5 to 15 percent of all community college students transfer to

3 About 40 percent of community college graduates transfer. 4

4-year institutions.

Transfer of students into engineering from community colleges almost compensates for

attrition of freshmen and sophomores at baccalaureate-granting institutions. It is

unclear, however, whether students who transfer in as sophomores or juniors from

community colleges are more likely to complete a B.S. than are students who entered as

freshmen.

1. G.R. Kissler, ‘tThe Decline of the Transfer Function,” Improving Articulation and

Transfer Relationships, F.C. Kintzer (cd.) (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1982);

Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, Improving the

Articulation/Transfer Process Between Two- and Four-Year Institutions (Boulder, CO:

1985); and Arthur M. Cohen and Florence B. Brawer, The Collegiate Function of

Community Colleges (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1987).

2. Cheryl M. Fields, “Many Aggressive Community Colleges Focusing on Training

Workers for Fast-Growing Fields,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, Feb. 25, 1987, p.

21.

3. Richard C. Richardson, Jr. and Louis W. Bender, Students in Urban Setting:

Achieving the Baccalaureate Degree, Association for the Study of Higher Education,

cited in “Vocational Focus of 2-Year Colleges in Urban Areas Helps to Perpetuate Social

Inequality, Report Says,l’ The Chronicle of Higher Education, Apr. 2, 1986, p. 15. (If the

30 percent rule — of all B.S. degrees earned, 30 percent are in science and engineering —

holds for transfers in, a 10 percent transfer rate means that about 60,000 (20 percent) of

baccalaureate scientists and engineers each year hail from community college origins.

This estimate seems high, or optimistic, depending on one’s perspective.

40 Daviel D. Savage, IICOM Munity Colleges open Door to EducationSt’ New York

Times, Feb. 2, 1987, letter.

90
This transfer opportunity is particularly important for minorities, since those

Blacks and Hispanics who continue their education beyond high school are much more

likely than whites to enter community colleges. The disproportionately large number of

minority students who begin their collegiate careers at community colleges makes the

5 However, in a national perspective community transfer function socially imperative.

colleges are not "helping" the educationally disadvantaged towards 4-year degrees.

Blacks and Hispanics are much less likely to transfer out of community colleges than are

whites.

A key policy question is how to help make community colleges a

environment for minorities. States with large minority populations,

fertile educational

such as California

and Florida, have established student assessment and placement programs in cooperation

with 4-year institutions to prepare those who wish to transfer in pursuit of the

baccalaureate. 6

Community colleges provide an alternate, "late entry" route to the main education

pipeline. Given the high percentage of minority students in community colleges and the

dearth of minorities in science and engineering, this alternate route to a science or

engineering degree, and therefore teaching as well as research, must be explored. 7

States and Congress in recent years have paid increasing attention to the role of

community colleges in high-technology training. Congress directed the National Science

Foundation (NSF) to expand eligibility for several college assistance programs to

community colleges. Legislation has proposed that NSF support and guide technician

training. 8 However, programs to encourage the use of community colleges as a steppingstone to higher degrees are much rarer.

5. J.G. Avilaet al., Petition to Increase Minority Transfer From Community Colleges

to State Four-Year Schools (San Francisco, CA: Mexican American Legal Defense and

Educational Fund, Inc.; and Public Advocates, Inc., 1983L

6. See, for example, Cheryl Fields, ~lcommunity Colleges Discover They Are at the

Right Place at the Right Time/t Governing, February 1988, pp. 30-35.

7. For example, see Martin Haberman, I!Alliances Between 4-Year Institutions and 2-

Year Colleges Can Help Recruit More Minority Students into Teaching,n The Chronicleof

Higher Education, July27, 1988, p.A28.

8. H.R. 2134, introduced in April 1987 by Rep. Doug Walgren, requires the directorof

the National Science Foundation to carry out an advanced technician training program,

making matching grants to community and technical colleges to provide training in

strategic fields. The bill was referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor.

91
The success of transfer programs is difficult to assess, in large part because of lack

of information. Data that trace the educational paths taken by community college

students would be useful to determine whether funding mechanisms might be put into

place to reward community colleges for transferring students to 4-year institutions. 9

9. Jim Palmer, “Bolstering the Community College Transfer Function:’ An ERIC

Review,’t Community College Review, vol. 14, No. 3, winter 1986/1987, pp. 58-60.

92
Box 2--G. — Why Blacks Persist to the Baccalaureate

at the University of South Carolina

The University of South Carolina has the largest percentage (14 percent) of Black

.

students of any major, predominantly white campus in the United States. 1The

University has not only successfully recruited, but more importantly, has retained and

graduated Black students. z Although entering Blacks had lower SAT scores and predicted

grade point average, the retention and graduation rates for Black students entering in

1976-78 actually exceeded the rates for white students. This contrasts starkly with the

national average, where Blacks are twice as likely to drop out. While there is no surefire

recipe for success in higher education, the reasons for this uncommon occurrence at this

one university are instructive:

● student involvement, including holding leadership positions in campus

organizations;

● Black faculty serving as advisors to organizations in which Black

students participate;

● housing arrangements that put Blacks together on campus; and

● a “critical mass” of Black students, 2,500 in this case, ensuring the

opportunity for a good social life.

A poll of Black students yielded the following reasons, in order of their importance,

for the University’s high Black student retention rates:

1. individual perserverance;

2. family pressure and support;

3. helpful Black students;

4. helpful Black faculty and staff; and

5. special programs and the superior quality of Black student academic

preparation.

1. A.W. Astin, Minorities in American Higher Education (San Francisco, CA: Jossey -

Bass, 1982).

2. Michael F. Welch et al., University of South Carolina, ‘f Factors Contributing to

Black Student Retention at the University of South Carolina,’f report of research

completed under a grant from the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education,

August 1987. Three Black women for every two Black men enroll at the University.

Total undergraduate enrollment is 18,000.

93
A study concluded that Blacks enjoy a campus climate of acceptance that is

relatively free of racial discrimination, especially in the classroom. They also

participate in a special freshman orientation course to help them adjust to campus

life.

3

3. Ibid., p. 39. This course has led to the establishment of the National Center for the

Study of the Freshman Year Experience on Campus. Elizabeth Greene, ‘tSouth Carolinats

Gardner: Self-Appointed Spokesman for the ‘Largest Educational Minorityt — Freshmen,tt

The Chronicle of Higher Education, Oct. 7, 1987, pp. A41-43. For an evaluation of the

course, see Mark G. Shanley, University of South Carolina, “An Exploratory Longitudinal

Study of Retention, Persistence, and Graduate Rates of

Participants and Non-Participants at the University of South

1979 -1986,” doctoral dissertation, 1987.

94

Freshman Se-minar- Course

Carolina During the Period
Chapter 3

Graduate Education and the University

WHAT IS GRADUATE STUDY? ● *******..**************************+*”****”*”** 96

The Master’s Degree ... O**. .** O**** . * * *Q.***... ● .***.***.***.************ 96

Doctoral Study. . . . **0* a ....**. .** **************@*****""*"****""*""*" 98

THE MARKETS FOR PH.D.s .. ......*.*......*.*...***.****...*.*.*.****.****** 99

The Transition From College to Graduate Study ● .***..********.**.**.****** 101

Attrition From Graduate Study ● ..*.*******.***.*.****.**************”  103

FINANCING GRADUATE EDUCATION # ** **.***..*********. .** ************ 105

Sources of Graduate Student Support ● ..**.******..**.**.****************** 107

Federal Support for Graduate Study ● ********e.*********..**+************** 110

TRENDS IN FEDERAL SUPPORT OF GRADUATE EDUCATION ● ***** **. ******a*** 126

The Boom: 1959-1971 . *.*.0....**..**.*********.*********************** 126

After the Boom ... ..*. *.....*.********. .** .***.******************** 128

Effects of Federal Support ● *******.*****.*******. .** **************** 129

Foreign Graduate Students . *.*****... .** **************************** 139

Institutional Support of the Infrastructure for Graduate Education . ...........144

Postdoctoral Appointments . ******...*....*..*****...******************** 150

Field Differences: The Pluralism of Ph.D.s .*, .*** *. ***********o*********** 152

Engineering Doctorate Education . .**. ... *.*. *.*** O *****o***************** 153

THE FUTURE OF THE UNIVERSITY: A STEADY STATE ERA? ● **.*************** 154

Federal Leadership and the Research Enterprise ● .*. .**. . **O**************** 157

The Future Supply of Ph.D.s ● .**e*** *. ****w*****.************************ 160

Lessons From the Golden Age ●   ** ** . **0*****************...**********. 162

Figures

3-1 Ph.D.-Master's Degree Ratio, by Field, 1986 ● ***....************************ 97

3-2 Sources of Support for Graduate Physics Students,

by Number of Years of Study, 1986-87 Students ● *.*********. .** ******** 108

3-3 Paths of Support for Graduate Education . . . . . . .**.*******.**************** 109

3-4 Percent of Graduate Students With Major Support by

Research Assistantships, Federal and Non-Federal, 1976-86 .. ...............112

3-5 Federal Support of Full-Time Graduate Students in

Ph.D.-Granting Institutions by Type, 1976-86 ● ***.   0. ** **00*0*********** 114

3-6 Percent of Graduate Students With Federal Support,

by Field, 1966-84 eo*. **. o.*** ***. ..*. *.. *.. .*. .*** **** *.*. **** Q* ****0* * 115

3-7 Percent of Federally Supported Graduate Students by Field,

1980 and 1986 ***.   .** ***.**...*.***.******..********.*********.  117

3-8 Full-Time Graduate Students With Research Assistantships in

Doctorate-Granting Institutions, by Field, 1986 ● ** ************************+ 119

3-9 Self-Supporting Full-Time Graduate Students in

Doctorate-Granting Institutions, by Field, 1986 .  ** ** *o ****o************ 124

3-10 Elapsed Time Between B.S. and Ph. D., by Field, 1960 -87 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .....131

3-11 Science/Engineering Ph.D. Awards by Visa Status, 1960-85 .. .................142
3-12 Academic Science/Engineering Facilities Expenditures,

by Source of Funds ***. *..*..*..*.*********.*.******.**************"*"*" 146

3-13 Science and Engineering Postdoctoral Students in Degree-Granting

Institutions, Total and Federally Supported, 1965-86 ● . . ● . . ● ● ● ● . ● ● ● . ● + ● ● ● ● . ● .151

Tables

3-1 Reasons for Leaving Graduate School: A Survey of 25

 Ex-Graduate Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... ...= -.....s ● C” OOOQ=1O4

3-2 Graduate Students’ Primary Support, by Source of Support

and Field, 1986 ● ..*.** ● ******* ● .*..*** ● O***. ● ******* ● ******O* ● ******** ● 111

3-3 Primary Source of Support of Ph.D.s, by Field, 1986 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. ....113

3-4 Federal Fellowships and Traineeships, by Agency and Field, 1985 . ............133

3-5 Science/Engineering Ph.D.s by Sex, Citizenship, and Field, 1987 ● ****.* ● ’.**.* 135

3-6 Selected Forms of Support for Ph.D.s, by Sex, 1986 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136

3-7 Science/Engineering Ph.D.s’ Major Source of Support During

Graduate Study, by Field and Sex, 1986 ● ***.*. ● .*.*.*. ,......, ● *..*.** ● *** 137

3-8 Science and Engineering Graduate Students’ Primary Source of

Support, by Field and Sex, 1986 ● ...0.. .00..0.0 ● *.***** ● **..O** ● *.***** ● *O 138

3-9 U.S. Science/Engineering Ph.D.s, by Race/Ethnicity and Field, 1987...........140

3-10 University R&D Support and Ph.D. Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... ..+ ...148

3-11 Distribution of Graduate Student Primary Support and Federal

R&D Among Top 100 Research Universities, 1986 ● ****** . .**  ● ****O*. ● ** 149

3-12 Factors Limiting Engineering Ph.D. Production:

A Survey of Engineering Departments, 1986 . . . . ● ..*,** ● ....**. ●  .**  .*.* 155

Boxes

3-A

3-B

3-c

3-D

3-E

3-F

3-G

3-H

3-I

Letters From Graduate Students . . . . . . . . . . . ....*..* ...00... ● . . .. .........164

National Defense Education Act Trainees ● ...**. ● *....** ● **..*** ● *.*.*.* ● * . 166

Women in Science and Engineering: Graduate Study and Financial Aid.... .. ...168

Women in Higher Education: Making an Institutional

and Societal Commitment ● .*.*.* .*.**.*. ...*.**. ● 0.000.0 ● *..**** ● ****** 170

Institutional Support and Graduate Education .**...* .,....00 ● ****..* ● Q***.* 172

Academic Marginals ,.... ● ...,**. ....*..* . . . . . . . . .0.0.0.0 ● *.***.* .0000 175

Impact of a Federal Research Mission: The Apollo Program . . . . . . . ...........178

Industrial Research on Campus: Effects on Biotechnology Students . ..........181

Preserving Young Science and Engineering Talent in Universities:

Two European Programs .0,.... ..**...* ● ****.** ● **O*... . . . . . . . . ..*.**.* ● 185
Chapter 3

Graduate Education and the

The United States has a globally respected

University

tradition of graduate student as

research apprentice, intimately linking research and education. The graduate student

earns an advanced degree by acquiring specialized knowledge, research skills, and

experience working in the laboratory with a faculty mentor.

The centerpiece of basic research training in the United States is the research

university, the public and private institutions that grant most science and engineering

Ph.D.s and receive the lion’s share of Federal and non-Federal academic research and

development (R&D) funds.1

The top 100 research universities represent less than 3

percent of all U.S. institutions of higher education but about one-third of all science and

engineering Ph.D.-granting universities. Collectively, they receive 82 percent of Federal

academic science and engineering obligations and house nearly two-thirds of full-time

science and engineering graduate students. 2

The resources and capabilities concentrated in

mainstay of basic research and graduate education in

health of the national research work force and the

Federal Government a twofold interest in graduate

these universities have been the

the United States. Interest in the

universities themselves gives the

education at universities. David

Hamburg cautions about considering the universities too narrowly as a ‘manpower

machine" for producing scientists and engineers for specific needs: "I would urge taking

a broader view of the ‘state of health’ of the national science and technology enterprise

of which academic R&D is a unique and vital part."

3

1. “Science and engineering includes the social sciences as well as the physical and

biological sciences, mathematical and computer sciences, and engineering.

2. The top 100 research universities are defined here in terms of amount of Federal

R&D funds received. This group correlates well with ‘high-quality H universities as

determined by surveys of scientists and academics. See National Science Foundation,

Federal Support to Universities, CoZZeges, and Selected Nonprofit Institutions, Fiscal

Year: 1986, NSF 87-318 (Washington, DC: 1987); U.S. Congress, General Accounting

Office, University Funding: Patterns of Distribution of Federal Research Funds to

Universities, RCED-87-67B-R (Washington, DC: February 1987).

3. David A. Hamburg, Carnegie Foundation, testimony before the

House Committee on Science and Technology, Task Force on Science

1985,p. 13.

U.S. Congress,

Policy, July 9,

95
WHAT IS GRADUATE STUDY?

College gives students a basic education in fundamental science and engineering

knowledge. Becoming an independent research worker demands the advanced specialized

learning and hands-on apprenticeship of graduate study. Upon completion of the

baccalaureate degree, the educational system offers science and engineering students

two further degree goals: the master’s and the doctorate. Both degrees are awarded

following a term of apprenticeship in graduate school, but there is a considerable

difference between them. The short course is the master’s degree, usually 1 or 2 years of

study, mostly in the classroom. The specialized knowledge of the master’s recipient

brings enhanced earning power and professional responsibility. The long course is the

Ph.D., 4 to 6 (if not more) years of low-paid apprenticeship, which gives the survivor full

professional standing.

The Master’s Degree

The master’s degree serves many purposes — professional credential, way station to

the Ph.D., and consolation prize for leaving doctorate study.4 The master’s has long been

an important final degree for many professions, including engineering and the applied

sciences, but is a less significant credential for the research work force. Master’s

programs are usually focused more on practical knowledge than on research or academic

enrichment. Over three times as many people receive science and engineering master’s

degrees each year as Ph.D.s (see figure 3-l). The master’s is most valued in the applied

sciences; engineering accounts for one-third of science and engineering master’s

recipients.

Most engineering schools have two tracks for their graduate degree programs. One

track is for those wishing to do research; it is typically comprised of a l-year master’s of

science program, which leads into a Ph.D. program. The other track is the master’s of

engineering (M.E.), usually a 2-year program that may lead into a doctorate of

engineering program. Both of the programs in this track are applications-oriented.5

4. Judith S. Glazer, The Master’s Degree: Tradition, Diversity, Innovation, ASHEERIC Higher Education Report No. 6 (Washington, DC: Association for the Study of

Higher Education, 1986), p. xiii. Here the word ‘master’sV

encompasses all first

professional degrees.

5. Engineering disciplines, even within the same institution, differ in

accord the M.E. degree. At the University of California, Berkeley, for

quarter of its civil engineering master’s level students earn the M.E.;

96

the value they

example, onein mechanical
Figure 3-1. - Ph.D.-Master’s Degree Ratio, by Field, 1986

Physical

sciences

Life sciences

Social sciences

ALL S/E

Mathematical

sciences

Engineering

Computer

sciences

Key: S/E = science/engineering.

SOURCE: Office of Technology Assessment, 1988, from National

Science Foundation data.

97
The proportion of entering graduate students planning to complete the master’s

degree only is difficult to estimate, but it lies somewhere between 35 and 85 percent. 6

About 30 percent of graduate students are in departments that grant only master’s. A

few of these continue for Ph.D.s elsewhere. But many additional master’s-planning

students are in doctorate-granting departments, and many Ph.D. students will drop out

with only a master’s, so a higher proportion of all graduate students, perhaps as high as

65 percent, actually end up with a master's.

The attractiveness of a master’s degree in science or engineering varies with the

demand and supply of those with higher credentials. In fields with generous supplies of

Ph.D.s, as in most life sciences, the holder of a master’s degree may work as a laboratory

technician. (There are differences, however, by employment sector as well as field: in

industry, the M.S. scientist is frequently a fully independent researcher. ) A robust job

market is likely to lure students away from school with only a master’s degree and to

discourage students from continuing to the doctorate.

The doctorate, however, is a sine qua non for an academic faculty or research post,

and increasingly important for professional research positions in industry. This chapter

focuses on students pursuing the doctorate.

Doctoral Study

Doctoral programs in science and engineering are not only the final formal stage of

education, but also initiation into the research community. Doctoral study in the

sciences or engineering usually takes 4 or more years (assuming the student does not

already have a relevant master’s degree). The first year or two is often spent in

advanced classes, and preparing for oral and written qualifying examinations that most

universities require new graduate students to pass before they can continue their

studies. The beginning graduate student often also teaches undergraduates as a teaching

assistant, or may do research. Some entering students have already arranged to work

engineering, this proportion is only 10 percent; and the Department of Electrical

Engineering awards barely 1 or 2 a year (Pamela Atkinson, University of California,

Berkeley, personal communication, November 1988).

6. Information is not regularly collected on “Ph.D. candidates. ” Rather, the National

Science Foundation collects data on all graduate students by part-time and full-time

status, and by whether they are in doctorate-granting or master’ s-granting institutions.

About 60 percent of science and engineering graduate students are attending full time in

institutions that grant Ph.D.s. Few research Ph.D.s come from outside this core

population.

98
with a certain faculty member, and may have a research agenda planned out. Most new

graduate students, however, spend no more than a year learning about various research

activities at their university.

The choice of a research project and thesis advisor depends on a constellation of

factors: what positions are available in various laboratories, the student’s interest,

funding opportunities, a mentor’s perceptions of what constitutes a significant research

problem (i.e., potential thesis topic), and luck (timing and serendipity). Postdoctoral

students are doing research nearly full-time after a few years. The graduate student is

not only a scientist in training, but a productive researchers well. The uncertainty of

basic research means that research projects change during the course of thesis

research. To earn a Ph. D., the graduate student must make a significant contribution to

knowledge in his or her field, complete a written thesis, and pass an oral examination.

The U.S. model is not the only model. Appendix C discusses approaches by other

nations to graduate study. Those few who embark on doctoral study in the United States

are highly selected. The average quality of science and engineering graduate students is

higher than that of baccalaureates, and no evidence suggests any substantial decline. 7

THE MARKETS FOR PH.D.s

Graduate students

markets: a “Pregraduate"

dominant “postgraduate”

respond to two different science and engineering labor

market for university teaching and research assistants, and a

market for academic and other research scientists and

engineers. Federal policies and programs affect both of these markets.8

7. This conclusion is based both on qualitative assessments and test scores. Office of

Technology Assessment data, 1987; National Commission on Student Financial

Assistance, Signs of Trouble and Erosion: A Report on Graduate Education in America

(Washington, DC: 1983), pp. 73-74; and Thomas Hilton, Trends in the GRE Scores

Reported to the NSF and to Selected Graduate Schools: 1974-1980 (Princeton, NJ:

Educational Testing Service, January 1982). Several recent studies are reviewed in

Arthur M. Hauptman, Students in Graduate and Professional Education: What We Know

and Need to Know (Washington, DC: Association of American Universities, 1986), pp. 40-

44.

8. This section on pregraduate and postgraduate markets is paraphrased from Robert

G. Snyder, ~’The Effectiveness of Federal Graduate Education policy and programs in

Promoting an Adequate Supply of Scientific Personnel, ” OTA contractor report, June

1985, p. 4. A third, conscience and engineering market would bethat for baccalaureates

who seek MBA or law degrees.

99
Graduate education has a long history of “work-study” in the form of research and

teaching assistantships. This serves the dual purposes of providing training in research

and teaching and at the same time assisting faculty in their research and teaching

responsibilities. The demand for graduate student enrollments increases as

undergraduate enrollments rise or academic R&D support increases. By funding

academic research, the Federal Government affects demand for research assistants.

Policies that change college enrollments also change the demand for undergraduate (and

graduate) teaching, and thus the demand for graduate teaching assistants.

The postgraduate market for doctorates in some respects resembles the traditional

market for other occupations— as the economy and research enterprise expand,

increased job openings and higher salaries attract more students and produce more

graduates. Two key dissimilarities, however, exist — the time lag created by protracted

educational preparation and the strongly academic market.

The time lag needed to attain a doctorate is considerably longer than for most

occupations. Not only is a college degree needed, but 4 to 8 years of doctoral study.

(And in some fields, the professional career is not launched with receipt of the doctorate,

but after 2 to 3 years of postdoctoral study.) Hence, the market response is very long,

which brings with it significant, and sometimes disruptive, oscillations between shortages

and surpluses.

A second distinctive feature of the market for doctorates is its dependence on

employment in academia itself. Academia is a nontraditional market in its use of tenure

and its emphasis on externally-funded research, both of which provide stability and

insulation from some, though certainly not all, economic incentives that drive other labor

markets. Many Ph.D.s who plan an academic career also accept a temporary

postdoctoral research appointment following their degree (in 1987, about one-third of

science and engineering Ph.D.s, mostly in the life sciences). This is often a valuable time

for new Ph.D.s to immerse themselves in research, free from teaching responsibilities,

and prove themselves as full-fledged independent researchers. The postdoctorate is also

a labor market buffer, a holding tank for young researchers during a tight market with

few tenure-track academic posts and plentiful research dollars.

The level of Federal academic research funding, and the distribution of that

funding among fields and research problems, affect both the pregraduate and

postgraduate markets. Overall Federal R&D support influences the postgraduate

100
employment outlook for both academic and nonacademic sectors. In addition, Federal

policies affecting the economy, e.g., tax policy relating to high-technology industry or

industry R&D, also influence the relative growth of employment for doctorates in the

private sectors.

The Transition From College to Graduate Study

The transition from college to graduate school dilutes the science and engineering

pipeline. Only a few percent of science and engineering baccalaureates continue on for

further study.9 A minority of these enter Ph.D. programs. 10 There are two

complementary ways to enhance the supply of Ph.D.s: one is to increase the number of

students entering graduate study, the second is to reduce attrition among graduate

students and increase the proportion that attain Ph.D.s. Because the Ph.D. population is

so small, any small increase in the proportion of college graduates who go on to graduate

study would significantly increase the number of Ph.D.s. From the standpoint of the

supply of scientists, the most pertinent programs are those that not only encourage

graduate school attendance, but also foster graduate study through completion of the

Ph.D. Programs to affect Ph.D. productivity must target students contemplating and

entering graduate study as well as those already enrolled in graduate school.

Research is still considered by many to be a calling, with modest pay a financial

sacrifice that is compensated by other attractive aspects of the research lifestyle. The

choice to undertake graduate study is driven by students’ career aspirations, their

academic performance and confidence, perceptions of the size and stability of the

salaries

and the

natural

worried

and demand for Ph.D.s, willingness to continue in school another 4 or more years,

embedded influences of parents, mentors, and peers. One study suggests that

science students have placed less importance on their financial futures, and

less about current financial concerns, in their decisions to pursue graduate study

than engineering or conscience students.ll

9. National Science Foundation, The Science and

87-2 (Washington, DC: April 1987), pp. 3-4 (basedon

Engineering Pipeline, PRA Report

U.S. Department of Education data

from the National Longitudinal Survey and High School& Beyond survey).

10. And among the cadre to make this important transition are few members of racial

and ethnic minorities. For a comparative perspective, by field and race/ethnicity, on the

attenuation of talent at this crucial juncture and its implications for the teaching and

research work force, see Shirley Vining Brown, Minorities in the Graduate Education

PipeZine: A Research Report of the Minority Graduate Education Project

NJ: Educational Testing Service, 1987), pp. 8-16.

11. Consortium on Financing Higher Education, Beyond

Seniors’ Post-CoZZege PZans at Selected Institutions, With

Iol

the Baccalaureate:

Particular Focus on

(Princeton,

AStudyo f

the Effects
Nevertheless, when extensive money was available for graduate study and the

academic job market was booming, a much greater proportion of B.S. graduates went on

for Ph.D.s. Long-term concerns over anticipated earnings and stability of a research

career may also affect students’ decisions. Many observers also believe that the current

generation of students, with higher and more widespread educational debt, may be more

12 Although most strongly deterred from graduate study than previous generations.

graduate education is subsidized, especially at the major research universities, graduate

study is still a financial struggle and sacrifice, even for students on the most generous

fellowships (see box 3-A).

The importance of nonfinancial criteria also shows up in students’ choice among

Ph.D. programs. Once students have decided to go to graduate school and have been

accepted, the research reputation of a department and its faculty as well as financial aid

offered determines where they attend. Short-term financial considerations, including

anticipated expenses and small differences in financial aid packages offered by different

schools, are not decisive in influencing students’ choice among graduate schools to which

they have been accepted. 13

During and immediately after the Vietnam War, several economic factors

discouraged students from attending graduate school. The two most important were the

reduction in stipend support (which increased reliance on loans and lengthened the time

to degree, and thus increased foregone income); and a poor labor market, particularly in

academia.

14 But graduate enrollments did not decline in the 1970s and 1980s as much as

of Financial Considerations on Graduate School Attendance (Cambridge, MA: March

1983), pp. 17, 24; and Jerry Davis, Pennsylvania Higher Education Agency, personal

communication, April 1988. The small, nonrepresentative survey population was 4,409

seniors at eight Consortium on Financing Higher Education (COFHE) institutions, and

1,910 seniors at three public institutions. Two of the eight COFHE institutions were

women’s colleges, which skews the results away from a “national average.”

12. Janet S. Hansen, “Student Loans: Are They Overburdening a Generation?” Report

for the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, mimeo, December 1986, pp. 35-

37; and College Scholarship Service, Proceedings: College Scholarship Service Colloquium

on Student Loan Counseling & Debt Management, Dec. 2-4, 1985 (New York, NY:

College Entrance Examination Board, 1986).

13. Margaret E. Boeckmann and Alan L. Porter, “The Doctoral Dissertation in the

Biosciences,” Bioscience, vol. 32, No. 4, April 1982, p. 273.

14. David W. Breneman, Graduate School Adjustments to the “New Depression” in

Higher Education (Washington, DC: National Board on Graduate Education, February

1975). It is important to remember throughout this discussion that selective service and

the brooding presence of a military draft has had profound effects on educational

aspirations and the realization of career plans.

102
expected, for several reasons: students attended graduate school to improve their

chances in an uncertain job market, slowed but still rising undergraduate enrollments

fueled continuing university demand for Ph.D.-trained faculty and for graduate students

to help with teaching and research, more women attended, and many students attended

either part time or for nonfinancial reasons, such as the desire to pursue a research

career and an academic lifestyle. 15

Attrition From Graduate Study

Those who embark on doctoral study are highly selected through the formal hurdles

of undergraduate study — testing, admission to graduate school, the allocation of

financial support, and the personal assessments of faculty who have taught and worked

with students as undergraduates. However, attrition is still disturbingly high. Nearly

one-half of science and engineering graduate students fail to complete their doctorates.

Over the course of years, some find that they do not like research, or go to more

16 Some succumb to the rigor of a financially or socially rewarding or secure work.

challenging course of study and research. And the time required to earn a Ph.D. ensures

some attrition. Many of those who leave have the potential and interest to become

scientists and are in that sense a “real” loss to the research work force (see table 3-1).

Yet those who leave use their scientific training in other fields. Many who leave without

Ph.D.s stay in the scientific work force as researchers or teachers.

Attrition is surprisingly unpredictable on the basis of typical measures of student

quality. 17 It is clear that universities can moderate attrition, not only by helping provide .

financial support throughout graduate study, but

from housing and child care through academic

different approaches to “producing the best.”

graduate students and work hard to see them all

15. Synder, op. cit, footnote 8.

in shaping the rest of the environment,

support and advice. Universities have

Some universities accept only a few

through. Others take pride in “washing

16. Penelope Jacks et al., “The ABCS of ABDs: A Study of Incomplete Doctorates, ’t

Zmproving College und University Teaching, vol. 31, No. 2, 1982, pp. 74-81. In a survey

of students who had left after completing all their work except their dissertation, the

authors found that financial difficulties were an important but not dominant reason for

leaving. Typically a combination of reasons prompted the decision.

17. Warren W. Willingham, “Predicting Success in Graduate Education,” Science, vol.

183, Jan. 25, 1974, pp. 273-278. Hereviewed several predictors: undergraduate grade

point average (GPA), graduate record examinations (GRE) scores, college faculty

recommendations, graduate GPA, performance on departmental examinations, and

graduate faculty assessment. The only predictor of success in earning the Ph.D. was

performance on the GRE advanced test.

103
Table 3-1. — Reasons for Leaving Graduate School:

A Survey of 25 Ex-Graduate Students

No. responses

Reasons for leaving doctoral program Percentage (N=70)

Financial 39 27

(financial problems, good job offer,

paid job interfered with thesis work)

Academic 36 25

(problems with adviser, thesis

research, peers)

Personal 27 19

(personal or emotional problems,

family demands, loss of interest)

NOTE: Very little study has been made of “failed” graduate students. This telephone

survey was made of 25 advanced graduate students who never completed their

dissertation. The students were Ph.D. candidates around 1970 and came from various

universities. Their median age when interviewed was 39. Since each of the 25

respondents gave several reasons for leaving, the total number of responses was 70.

Financial difficulties were especially cited by married students.

SOURCE: Penelope Jacks et al., “The ABCs of ABDs: A Study of Incomplete

Doctorates,” Improving College and University Teaching, vol. 31, 1982, pp. 74-81.

104
out” lots of students along the way. Attrition seems to be lower at the top research

universities, although it is difficult to say whether that is because these universities get

most of the best students, or because they have advantageous financial support and

research programs.

Disadvantaged students — minorities,

income students — are affected differently

graduate school. Blacks are significantly

and to a lesser extent women

by finances in their decisions

more likely to report current

and lowto attend

financial

considerations (the need to improve finances and high debts) as major reasons for not

going to graduate school. Minorities unfamiliar with the academic world, particularly

Hispanics, may be unaware that graduate education is usually subsidized. Asians, many

of whom go on to other professional education, worry less about the appropriateness of

advanced education and the cost of graduate study. 18

FINANCING GRADUATE EDUCATION

Since World War II the demonstrated national importance of R&D scientists and

engineers has encouraged national investment in a small and select cadre of highlyeducated, mobile graduate students. External support overcomes high costs and

economic deterrents to advanced study. The Federal Government, universities, States,

foundations, corporations, and other private groups have subsidized science and

engineering graduate study not only through support of individual students, but through

support for research institutions and important research problems.

Diverse and multiple sources of support are a strength of American graduate

education. Each of these providers has different reasons for investing in graduate

education, and different criteria and mechanisms for allocating funds. Together, they

support a richer variety of students and research problems than any one source would

support on its own. Diversity of support also enhances the financial stability of graduate

programs.

Graduate education is expensive, including not only tuition, fees, and living

expenses, but a student's share of research costs over 4 or more years. It is impossible to

calculate exactly the cost of a single student’s graduate education, but an estimate of

18. Consortium on Financing Higher Education, op. cit., footnote ll,p. 22; Howard G.

Adams, "Advanced Degrees for Minority Students in Engineering/’ Engineering Education,

vol. 78, No. 8, May 1988, pp. 775-776.

105
$100,000 is not unreasonable. The tuition and fees charged to graduate students fall

short of compensating for the actual burden incurred by the university. But universities

and society receive many benefits from graduate students — e.g., immediate and future

work as teaching and research assistants. Allocating costs of graduate education

between research and instruction is a matter of judgment, not measurement.

Federal and other support at the graduate level has two major purposes: to

cultivate a new generation of scientists and engineers to meet national R&D needs, and

to buy research and teaching help at the universities. The central tools of this support —

fellowships, traineeships, and research assistantships —are usually considered necessary

reinvestment and maintenance for research and have very different characteristics from

Federal undergraduate aid programs. Graduate support is usually awarded according to

merit, and is linked to particular universities, departments, and/or fields and research

topics. Most support requires research or teaching labor of graduate students in return

for tuition subsidies and stipends.

Funding data show different patterns of support for graduate students in general,

19 About one-half of graduate students and for those who eventually earn Ph.D.s.

intending to get a doctorate never earn a Ph.D. Some will earn Ph.D.s, returning

research service for the investment of Federal and other external support during their

apprenticeship. Because graduate students need support during their training, it is

impossible to fund Ph.Ds.; we can only fund prospective Ph.D.s. Certainly some students

19. Information on support of graduate students and of Ph.D.s is collected in different

ways and is not completely comparable. Some differences in patterns of support for

graduate students and Ph.D.s would be expected, since one measures support for all

graduate students (by full time, part time, and type of institution), while the other looks

only at that subset of graduate students who make it through to a Ph.D. (About 75,000

new full-time graduate students, only some intending a Ph.D., entered doctorate-granting

institutions annually in the late-1970s, and about 19,000 Ph.D.s graduated about 6 to 7

years later.) The most obvious explanation of differences in patterns of graduate student

and Ph.D. support would be that successful graduate students (i.e., Ph.D.s) have a certain

pattern of support, and unsuccessful ones another. Differences in methodology might

account for some differences in the two databases. Graduate student support

information is provided by the student’s host department in response to National Science

Foundation surveys: Ph.D. data are provided by the Ph.D. recipients themselves in the

National Research Council’s Survey of Earned Doctorates (conducted for the National

Science Foundation). It would be helpful to have reliable financial aid information about

graduate students through the course of their doctoral study, from Ph.D. recipients and

those who drop out. The Department of Education is conducting an in-depth study of

undergraduate and graduate student financing; the results on graduate education are

forthcoming.

106
show outstanding promise; indeed, fellowships are designed to find and support these

students. Others, however, do not blossom until later in their careers.

Sources of Graduate Student Support

Graduate students obtain support from many sources. Most use several sources at

one time, including personal funds and spouse’s salary, since one form of aid rarely covers

tuition, fees, living expenses, and research costs. 20 In addition, the major sources of

support often change during the period of graduate study; as most awards are only made

for one or a few years, there is an intrinsic instability to the life of a graduate student

(see figure 3-2). Most students work during the first 1 or 2 years (or more) as teaching

assistants, fulfilling the university’s need for undergraduate teaching, while taking

classes and developing a thesis topic. Then they may receive a research assistantship or

fellowship, which allows them to work in the laboratory full time on thesis-related

research. During the early, less focused years of graduate study, the student may not be

prepared to benefit from that sort of freedom. Family support and loans are widely used

as supplements to primary institutional or Federal support.

The university department is the gatekeeper for nearly

funds, including external Federal or corporate funds (see

all graduate student support

figure 3-3). For example,

Federal training grants are awarded to departments, which in turn select the students

who will receive traineeships under that large grant. Research support usually goes to

individual faculty, or to departments, who then hire graduate students as research

assistants. Very few dollars go directly from the funding source to the student without

passing through the guiding hands of departmental administrators and faculty, who must

evaluate student potential and needs as part of the delivery of graduate education.

Direct Federal support is not the dominant source of funds for graduate students.

Institutional support (mostly teaching assistantships (TAs) awarded by the university) and

self-support are more common. In 1986, 71 percent of science and engineering graduate

students received substantial external support; 41 percent received their primary support

from institutions and States, 20 percent from the Federal Government. Other sources of

stipends, including corporations and foundations, supported 7 percent of science and

engineering students, and foreign sources supported 3 percent (mostly foreign students)

20. Moonlighting may be an important supplementary source of support. Nothing is

known about how much science and engineering graduate students work outside of their

graduate programs, but some surely do.

107
Figure 3–2.–Sources of Support for Graduate Physics Students,

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

by Number of Years of Study, 1986-87 Students

Research assistantships

Fellowships

I I I I I I

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 +

Years of graduate study in physics

SOURCE: American Institute of Physics, 1986-1987 Graduate Student Survey,

Pub. No. R–207-20 (New York, NY: American Institute of Physics, 1988).

108
I

Figure 3-3.-Paths of

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

N S F

R&D Agencies

i

Dept. of

. . . . .

Education

Support

Loans

for Graduate Education

Tuition

I

Research

assistantships

Trainee ships

University

1

I

Teaching assistantships

States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Graduate

students

I

SOURCE: Office of Technology Assessment, 1988.
(see table 3-2). Twenty-nine percent supported themselves. 21 In the past decade,

institutional support, including local and State funding, has grown while Federal support

has declined (see figure 3-4).22 Corporate support has grown slightly; it is the primary

source of support for only 1 percent of science and engineering Ph.D.s (see table 3-3).

The availability and type of funding affect successful completion of a Ph.D. There

are significant variations, however, by field, gender, and race and ethnicity in the

relationship between graduate student funding and completion of science and engineering

Ph.D.s. These are explored below.

Federal Support for Graduate Study

About 50,000 science and engineering graduate students depend primarily on

Federal support, mostly in the form of fellowships and research assistantships (RAs).23

This number has fluctuated slightly since the late-1960s, declining to a low of 41,000 in

1973, then climbing slowly to 53,000 in 1980, and receding slightly thereafter (see figure

3-5). Enrollments have risen substantially since then, however, so that despite steady

Federal support in numbers of students, the proportion of graduate students with Federal

support has declined. This decline has occurred in all fields (see figure 3-6). In 1986,

about 20 percent of full-time science and engineering graduate students received the

bulk of their support from the Federal Government. (At the peak of Federal support, in

1966, 40 percent received Federal support.)

21. National Science Foundation, Academics cience/Engineering: Graduate Enrollment

and Support, Fall 1986, NSF 88-307 (Washington, DC: 1988), p. 138. This is basedon

full-time graduate students in doctorate-granting institutions. (The distribution is about

the same for full-time students in master’s-granting institutions, with less Federal and

more institutional, self, and other support.) Federal support is focused on the “core”

Ph.D.-bound population, full-time students in doctorate-granting institutions. The data

are for ‘primary support,~ which masks the fact that most students receive support from

several sources; many of those who are getting the bulk of their support from Federal

sources also may be using family funds, loans, or university aid to make ends meet.

22. Ibid., p. 138. National Research Council, unpublished data from the Survey of

Earned Doctorates. The data are reported by Ph.D.s themselves rather than the

department, as is the case with National Science Foundation data on graduate student

support. This accounting may lead to understating the extent of Federal support and

overstating institutional support.

23. Ibid., p. 152. Full-time graduate students in doctorate-granting institutions. In

1986, 51,367 (20 percent) received their primary support from the Federal Government.

Among full-time students in all institutions, 52,748 (19 percent) were federally

supported. Federal support usually is confined to students working full-time fora Ph.D.

110
Table 3-2. — Graduate Students’ Primary Support,

of Support and Field, 1986

(in percent)

Natural Sci/Eng (n=190,384)

Science/Engineering (n=259,980)

Engineering

Computer science

Mathematics

Physical sciences

Earth sciences

Life sciences

social sciences

Psychology

Institutional a

40

41

33

32

70

52

38

39

44

45

Federal

24

20

21

13

8

35

28

28

7

9

by Source

Personal b

24

29

29

44

17

6

23

24

42

40

a lnclude s State support.

bIncludes loans. cIncludes corporate and foreign SUPPOrtO

NOTE: Full-time graduate students in doctorate-granting institutions.

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, Academic Science/Engineering:

Enrollment and Support, Fall 1986, NSF 88-307 (Washington. DC: 1988). D. 49.

Other

c

11

10

17

11

5

7

11

9

7

6

Graduate

. . . . . *

111
Figure 3–4.–Percent of Graduate Students with Major Support by

Research Assistantships, Federal and Non-Federal, 1976-86

25

2 0

Non – Federal

15

10

I

Fed era I

1

0

1

1976 1980 1986

NOTE: Data for 1978 are interpolated.

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, Academ ic Sc ience/Fng in ee ri na:

Graduate Enrollment and Sup Dort. Fall 1986, NSF 88-307 (Washington,

DC: 1988), pp. 128, 160- 161; and National Science Foundation,

Academic Science/Enqinee rinq : Graduate Enrollment and SUP port, Fall

I%5L3, NSF 85–300 (Washington, DC: 1985), p. 129.

112
Table 3-3. — Primary Source of Support of Ph.D.s, by Field, 1986

(in percent)

All fields (26,232)d

Science/engineering (16,388)

Engineering (2,754)

Computer science (340)

Mathematics (600)

Physical sciences (3,076)

Life sciences (4,829)

Social sciences (4,789)

Institutionala

45

32

68

58

74

81

50

38

Federal

7

10

6

4

5

5

19

7

Personal b

42

28

16

26

14

11

24

50

Other

c

6

16

10

12

7

4

7

5

aIncludes state support.

b

Includes loans.

elnclude s corporate and foreign support.

‘Number of Ph.D.s reporting source of support (not total Ph.D.s); includes foreign

citizens.

SOURCE: National Research Council, unpublished data.

113
Figure 3-5.-Federal Support of Full-Time Graduate Students in Ph.D.–Granting

Institutions by Type, 1976–86

60,00 0

50,000 -

40,00 0

30,00 0

20,00 0

10,000

1976 1978 1980 1982 1984

NOTE: Data for 1978 are interpolated.

SOURCE: National Science Foundation,

~’

.0

JF JJ7 (~”~~i”~~”~’

Academ c Scle ce!E Y e

DC: 1988), p. 152; and National Science Foundation,

Academic Science /Enaineerina : Graduate Enrollment and Support. Fall

m, NSF 85-300 (Washington, DC: 1985), p. 129.

Fellowships

Trainee ships

Other

Research

assistantships

1986

114
lfl

+’

\

I

115
Federal support varies by field (see figure 3-7). In the physical sciences, over onethird of graduate students are federally supported. A high proportion of life science

students also benefit from Federal support, reflecting long-standing Federal interest in

basic biomedical research. In mathematics and social sciences only about 10 percent of

graduate students are supported by Federal funds, although for different reasons.

Mathematics departments provide a great deal of service teaching, so most graduate

students are supported by institutional teaching assistantships.

Mechanisms of Support for Graduate Study

Direct support for graduate students in science and engineering takes four primary

forms:

● fellowships awarded, on merit, to individual graduate students by the

Federal Government, the university, or private sources;

● traineeships, awarded by departments who have received Federal or

other training grants;

● RAs, tied to research grants and contracts awarded to principal

investigators in university departments; and

● TAs, awarded by the university in exchange for teaching duties.

Indirect funding comes from private and government grants to support the research

and education infrastructure and are awarded to universities, departments, and centers.

Another form of indirect funding is State subsidies of public universities. Both types are

used for faculty salaries, equipment, facilities, and overhead. Private and federally

guaranteed loans provide a supplementary source of assistance to graduate students.

Research Assistantships. RAs linked to research grants are the most important

form of support for science and engineering graduate students. RAs typify the

apprenticeship model of graduate study: they put students into the laboratory with

faculty mentors, placing them on the fast track toward thesis research, a Ph. D., and

publications. Although often not considered part of science and engineering education

budgets and policies, RAs are the primary support of one-quarter of graduate students

24 and have been used by over one-half of science and engineering Ph.D.s. RAs ar e

24. National Science Foundation, op. cit., footnote 21, p. 151 (full-time graduate

students in Ph.D.-granting departments); and National Research Council, Summary

Report 1986: Doctorate Recipients From United States Universities (Washington, DC:

116
Figure 3–7.-Percent of Federally Supported Graduate Students

ALL SCIENCE/

ENGINEERING

Engineering

PhysicaI

sciences

Environ mental

sciences

Mathematical I

sciences

Computer

science

AgricuIturaI

sciences

Biological

sciences

Health

sciences

Psychology

SociaI

sciences

by Field, 1980 and 1986

0 1 0 2 0 3 0 4 0

Percent of graduate students Federally supported

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, Academic Science/Engineering:

Graduate Enrollment and Support, Fall 1986, NSF 88-307 (Washington,

DC: 1988), pp. 128, 147.

117
dependent on their mentor to obtain and maintain research funding. Some argue that

overreliance on RAs and the reduction of academic research support may channel

graduate students’ training to those faculty with strong research support; others see no

problem, and in any case the current level does not seem to impose undue restrictions.

With the decline in fellowships and traineeships,

important. Non-Federal RAs have been growing much

for the first time in recent decades, more RAs were

RAs have become relatively more

faster than Federal RAs. In 1986,

supported by non-Federal sources

than by the Federal Government. About one-half of RAs are federally funded, although

this proportion varies greatly by field. In fields with a strong Federal R&D presence and

a research and graduate rather than a teaching and undergraduate orientation, such as

physics, more RAs are federally funded. The rest of RAs come, through the department

and faculty, from nonfederally funded research projects or institutional funds (see figure

3-8).

Nearly 30,000 science and engineering graduate students work as RAs on Federal

funds. National Science Foundation (NSF) research grants support about

each year, compared to about 1,500 per year on NSF fellowships. 25 Even

Institutes of Health (NIH) with its extensive training grant program,

widespread than fellowships and traineeships.

10,000 students

at the National

RAs are more

Since the decline in

have by default become a

worry that overreliance on

Federal fellowships and traineeships beginning in 1970, RAs

relatively more important source of Federal support. Some

RAs may reduce opportunities for young graduate students to

experiment with different courses and faculty, and may lead to premature specialization,

although there is no solid evidence that this is happening. 26

RAs are disproportionately concentrated in the top doctorate-awarding institutions,

which is not surprising given the similar concentration of research funds: 50 universities

have one-half of all full-time graduate students and 60 percent of all RA-supported

graduate students.27 As Federal R&D dollars hasten the development of new fields,

graduate students and Ph.D.s will follow.28 However, rising overhead rates at

National Academy Press, 1987), p. 54.

25. National Science Foundation, Comptroller’s Office, unpublished data, 1988.

26. Snyder, op. cit., footnote 8, p. 36.

27. National Science Foundation, op. cit., footnote 21.

28. Susan E. Cozzens (cd.), “Theme Section: Funding and Knowledge Growth, ” Socia2

Studi~ of Science, vol. 16, No. 1, February 1986, pp. 3-150.

118
Figure 3-8.-Full-Time Graduate Students With Research Assistantships i n

Doctorate-Granting Institutions, by Field, 1986

0

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, Academic Science /Enqineerin Q:

Grad u ate Enrollment and SuDp ort. Fall 1986, NSF 88–307 (Washington,

DC: 1988), pp. 128, 159–1 60.

119
universities may dilute the benefits to graduate education of increased Federal research

support, even though universities protect graduate students as much as possible against

the ill effects of constrained research budgets.29

Fellowships, Training Grants, and Teaching Assistantships. Fellowships and

traineeships, with their generous stipends and few strings, are especially important to

give students flexibility and time for independent work.

Fellowships are designed as elite mechanisms, to give a few of the "best" generous

support and inspire the rest. Federal and private fellowships are awarded directly to the

best students, regardless of the institutions they attend, though these students tend to

migrate to the major research universities. Fellowship recipients earn their degrees

faster and are more likely to join the science and engineering work force than those

without such support. Federal fellowships in particular have been a quick and easy way

to "buy" new Ph.D.s.30

Less than 10 percent of graduate students, however, enjoy fellowship support. The

prestige of these awards makes them disproportionately important in providing quality

education and in luring students into fellowship areas of study. Fellowships are portable,

and require no formal service. Recipients of portable fellowships gravitate to the major

research universities, so fellowships tend to enrich the richest institutions. Awards

include a generous stipend ($10,000-$20,000) and an institutional allotment.

Most fellowships are awarded for 3 years; the money can usually be used over a

longer period of up to 5 years. Some agencies have special dissertation support

fellowships, usually awarded for 1 year. Many also have programs that encourage

graduate students to spend a summer doing research at a government laboratory. Most

agencies also have postdoctoral fellowships and/or research associateships.

29. Graduate students benefit more from individual investigator grants than any other

form of support. About 5 to 15 percent of the average research grant to an individual

investigator goes to graduate research assistantships (RAs), though the proportion varies

by field and by funding agency. National Science Foundation grants support more, and

the Department of Defense fewer, RAs per research grant dollar. Information based on

personal communications with agency program officers.

30. See U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Educating Scientists and

Engineers: Grade School to Grad School, OTA-SET-377 (Washington, DC: U.S.

Government Printing Office, June 1988), pp. 78-80.

120
The Federal Government supported about 4,500 graduate fellows in 1986, about 20

percent of all graduate fellows.3

1 The number has been increasing in the past few years,

although it is still below the annual level of 5,000 in the late-1970s, and the peak of

nearly 12,000 in 1969. Federal fellowships constitute only a tiny amount of all Federal

support, and reach less than 2 percent of graduate students. Many

recently increased their fellowship stipends to attract more students, and

for recent moves to tax fellowships.

agencies have

to compensate

Training grants are awarded, through national competition on the basis of merit, to

institutions or departments for training in specific areas. They are usually multiyear

packages covering faculty salaries, seminars, supplies, equipment, and predoctoral and

postdoctoral student stipends. The institutions select the graduate students who receive

traineeships. The Federal Government supports about 60 percent of them.32

The life sciences rely heavily on training grants, which NIH uses as its major

mechanism of support. About 18 percent of life science Ph.D.s received NIH training

grants.

3 3

Such grants, however, offer lower than average stipends. A payback provision

in NIH’s National Research Service Awards is designed to keep supported Ph.D.s in

research.

34

An NIH-sponsored study of training grants emphasize their multiple benefits for

training as well as departmental and institutional development:35

● They support the research training environment for students, including

research supplies and guest faculty seminars.

31. National Science Foundation, op. cit., footnote 21, p. 152. The numbers refer to

full-time graduate students in Ph.D.-granting institutions with Federal fellowships as

their primary source of support. (Because of their size, fellowships are always the

primary source of support.)

32. Ibid., pp. 156-157.

33. National Research Council, unpublished data from the 1987 Survey of Earned

Doctorates. This has been fairly stable over the past 5 years.

34. National Science Foundation (NSF) training grants assisted institutional

development and expansion in the 1960s, but no longer exist. From 1964 to 1973, NSF

training grants supported over 8,000 students. U.S. Congress, General Accounting

Office, University Funding Mechanisms: Federal Funding Mechanisms in Support of

University Research, GAO/RCED-86-53 (Washington, DC: February 1986), p. 110.

35. Commission on Human Resources, National Research Council, Committee on a

Study of National Needs for Biomedical and Behavioral Research Personnel, Persomel

Needs and Training for Biomedical and Behavioral Research, 1981 Report (Washington,

DC: National Academy Press, 1981), pp. 7-10, 74-76.

121
●

●

●

According

co replete

recipients

They permit a high degree of student choice in sampling courses and

faculty, more so than RAs tied to individual research projects.

They foster broad basic training rather than premature specialization.

They create institutional continuity and a focus on graduate training.

to this study, recipients of traineeships were more apt than nontrainees to

36 Although the grant their degrees, enter research careers, and publish.

studied were a select group of NIH trainees and thus might be expected to

perform above average with any support, it does show that the traineeship system—the

nature of the training grant and the selection process used to identify recipient

institutions and students — succeeds in training highly able researchers. 3 7

Teaching assistantships are awarded by the university in direct exchange for a

student’s help in teaching one or more undergraduate courses. TAs are the primary

source of support for a little over 20 percent of full-time graduate students. They are

used quite widely; over one-half of science and engineering Ph.D.s report that they held a

TA during their studies. Mathematics graduate students are particularly heavy users of

TAs because of the heavy demand on mathematics departments to provide "service"

instruction for undergraduate and graduate students in almost every field of study.

Mathematics graduate students receive fewer RAs and fellowships. The Federal

Government awards less than 1 percent of TAs, about 500 annually, most in the life and

social sciences. The number of federally funded TAs has declined, while overall TAs

have risen. 38

Although widely used, especially during the early years of graduate school, TAs are

less desired by students than RAs or fellowships. Students do not get as much ‘career

credit" for TAs even though they may gain useful experience and provide valuable service

in the classroom and laboratory. Teaching takes time away from the graduate student’s

36. Porter Coggeshall and Prudence W. Brown, The Career Achievements of NIH

Predoctorai Trainees and Fellows (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1984). A

similar study was conducted on National Institutes of Health postdoctoral trainees:

Howard H. Garrison and Prudence W. Brown, The Career Achievements of NIH

Postdoctoral Trainees and FeZZows (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1986).

37. The same study reported that cutbacks in institutional training grants result in

reduced opportunities for seminars and travel to professional meetings, and a narrowing

of students’ choices of mentors to those who have research grant support, thus

eliminating from consideration young faculty who have yet to receive such awards.

Coggeshall and Brown, op. cit., footnote 36.

38. National Science Foundation, op. cit, footnote 21, p. 163.

122
research, and graduate students may not be able to teach a subject directly related to

their work. At worst, they indenture students, prolong graduate study, and highlight the

tension between research and teaching on campus. However, TAs provide valuable

teacher training for the student. Too little is made of the value of apprentice teaching:

well-supported TAs can draw attention to teaching as part of graduate training,

encourage good service teaching at universities, and provide female or minority role

models for undergraduates.

About 30 percent of graduate students are primarily self-supporting, mostly with

their own earnings and family savings, supplemented by loans. This is up from about 20

percent in 1969. Borrowing is a subsidiary source of support for most graduate science

students. Graduate students tend to borrow in the first 3 years of their study, then turn

to research support, while students in the professions (i.e., medicine and law) borrow

consistently through their periods of study. Most borrowing is done by full-time

students.

39

Loan

recipients,

borrowing

number of

Guaranteed Student Loan program tripled from 1977 to 1983, and their average total

indebtedness rose from $4,882 to $10,244,41

use has risen substantially. Loans were used by about one-third of 1987 Ph.D.

compared to 12 percent in 1972. There is no good data on the extent of

40 Overall, the

and the amount of debt incurred during graduate school.

graduate and professional postbaccalaureate students who borrowed under the

Reliance on self-support varies greatly by field, from only a few percent in the

physical sciences to over 40 percent in computer sciences and the social sciences (see

figure 3-9). In particular, the extent of borrowing and amount of debt incurred vary by

field, being lowest in the physical sciences and highest in the social sciences, and

reflecting the greater availability of stipend support in the natural sciences. 42

39. National Council on Student Financial Assistance, op. cit., footnote 7, p. 69.

Students in historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are much more likely to

support themselves; among full-time students in HBCUs, 44 percent are self-supporting

v. 31 percent of full-time students in all institutions (National Science Foundation, op.

cit., footnote 21, pp. 42, 64).

40. Analysis of data from the Department of Education survey on graduate student

financing are forthcoming. By comparison, a 1965 National Center for Education

Statistics survey indicated that loans accounted for only 3.5 percent of full-time

graduate student budgets (in all fields).

41. Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, unpublished data, 1987.

42. Hauptman, op. cit., footnote 7, pp. 74-83; National Science Foundation, op. cit.,

footnote 21; and Herbert J. Flamer et al., Talented and Needy Graduate and Professional

123
Figure 3–9.–Self-Supportinq Full-Time Graduate Students in

Doctorate-Granting Institutions, by Field, 1986

5 0 ,

4 0

3 0

2 0

10

0

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, Academic Science/En aineeri nq:

G adua e Enrollment and r t &JDD o rt. Fall 1986, NSF 88–307 (Washington,

DC: 1 988), pp. 138-140.

124
The Leading Federal Role

The Federal Government plays a leading role in supporting graduate education and

influencing the supply of science and engineering Ph.D.s. This is accomplished most

directly through support for graduate students via fellowships, traineeships, RAs, and

loans.

Federal R&D spending has a twofold pull on graduate education and is overall the

most important influence on the size of the future science and engineering work force.

It both creates a job market and provides direct support for graduate students in the

form of RAs. Graduate enrollments and Ph.D. awards follow large changes in Federal

R&D spending, although it is not clear how closely they track small changes.43 Many

other Federal research and higher education programs affect the demand for and quality

of graduate education, and are therefore part of graduate education policy. And many

other Federal tax, industry, and research policies, as well as immigration and civil rights

legislation, have indirect influence by affecting the health and demographics of higher

education and private investments in university research, graduate education, and Ph.D.

employment.

Students: A National Survey of People Who Applied for Need-Based Financial Aid to

Attend Graduate or Professional School in 1980-81 (Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing

Service, April 1982). What do such field differences suggest: greater commitment by

students whose salary prospects are lower though their incurred debt is higher, or merely

lower expectations for remuneration? And is field-switching from baccalaureate to

doctorate an indicator of flagged commitment? John W. Sommer, National Science

Foundation, personal communication, November 1988.

43. Betty M. Vetter and Henry Hertzfeld, “Federal Funding of Science and Engineering

Education: Effect on Output of Scientists and Engineers, 1945-1985,V OTA contractor

report, 1987. In the early 1960s, under the pro-science administrations of Kennedy and

Johnson, the White House and the Bureauof the Budget applied arule ofthumb forR&D

budgets that a 1 percent increase in graduate enrollments implieda 1 percent increase in

academic research, plus an additional budget boost for ‘increased sophistication of

research.~ In those days (the reverse of the current situation), the push of expanding

higher education enrollments, rather than the pull of national demand for R&D,

dominated research training and academic support policy. Harvey A. Averch, A

Strategic AnaZysis of Science & Techno20gy Po2icy (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins

Univesity Press, 1985), p.80.

125
TRENDS IN FEDERAL SUPPORT OF GRADUATE EDUCATION

The makeup of the Federal portfolio of graduate student support has changed over

the decades. In the past 15 years, Federal support of graduate education has shifted

from direct fellowship and traineeship support to indirect support to RAs through

academic research grants.

Federal aid, like all financial aid, encourages graduate school application,

acceptance, and attendance. 4 4 Past increases in Federal support boosted graduate

school enrollment and Ph.D. production. Pulled into the university by the Vietnam War

push, college graduates of the mid-1960s were more likely to go on to graduate study in

general, and doctorate programs in particular. This pattern holds for the best students as

well.

45

Graduate study has expanded greatly since World War II, in

industry and academia for Ph.D. researchers and faculty, and

response to the pull of

the pressure of more

college graduates seeking further education. As Federal R&D increased, so did the

number of graduate students supported on Federal research assistantships, fellowships,

and traineeships.

The Boom: 1959-1971

Graduate enrollments and

rapidly during the 1960s, as they

doctorate production in science and engineering rose

did in all fields. Graduate enrollments in all fields more

than doubled between 1958 and 1968, and Ph.D. awards tripled; one-fifth of

44. C. Ethington and J. Smart, ‘Persistence to Graduate Education, M Research in

Higher Education, vol. 24, 1986, pp. 287-303; and Vetterand Hertzfeld, op. cit., footnote

43.

45. Frank Goldberg and Roy A. Koenigsknecht, The Highest Achiaers: PostBaccalaureate Enrollment of Four Classes Between 1956 and 1981 (Evanston, IL:

Northwestern University, Consortium on Financing Higher Education, January 1985), p.

17. The survey encompassed several hundred ”high-achieving” students (the top3 to 5

percent) and acontrol group from eight selective institutions. In this studyof the boom

and bust in Federal support for graduate education, doctoral enrollments rose

significantly from 1956 to 1966, then droppedby 1976. Among the high achievers, all the

increase in 1966 was in doctoral enrollments; master’s enrollments actually declined,

suggesting that students were more likely to go on not only to postbaccalaureate study,

but also to doctoral programs. Doctoral enrollments rose the fastest, and fell the

fastest. The control group, on the other hand, slightly increased its postbaccalaureate

enrollment, but the increase was all in master’s programs.

126
baccalaureates went on to graduate school in 1955, compared to one-third in the peak

years of 1967-68.

Graduate enrollments increased faster than simple demographic changes alone

would account for. Healthy academic and industrial demand accounts for some of this

increase, but the greater availability of stipends certainly enhanced the attractiveness of

graduate school. Rapidly increasing Federal support pulled doctorate production along

with it.4 6

This growth in education and research was launched with Sputnik, fueled by the

Apollo program, and driven later by social goals such as equitable access. During this

“golden era" of academic research and graduate education, Federal R&D spending

doubled (in constant dollars). The National Defense Education Act of 1958 training

grants program supported several thousand Ph.D.s who went on to productive careers in

research and technical management (see box 3-B). Until the Apollo program was scaled

down in 1967, Federal support of academic R&D increased by about 20 percent a year (in

constant dollars), and the number of graduate students (in all fields) on Federal

fellowships and traineeships rose from under 10,000 to over 50,000.

While Federal support for graduate study fueled this expansion, it was made

possible by the swelling postwar pool of college-educated people. Ph. D. awards declined

after Federal fellowships were cut back in 1969, despite continued high undergraduate

enrollments. This suggests that the Ph.D. job market booms created by Federal and

other research and education funding drove science and engineering graduate study more

than did the sheer number of available students. Demand for Ph.D.s rose much faster

than the rest of the labor market. Ph.D. production is indeed tied not to demographic

trends but to the labor market for researchers. 47 Both the decline in R&D demand and

the decline in Federal graduate support contributed to the slowdown in graduate study

and Ph.D. production, although it is difficult to quantify the relative effect of the two.

46. Snyder, op. cit., footnote 8, p. 20.

47. U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Demographic Trends and the

Scientific and Engineering Work Force, OTA-SET-TM-35 (Washington, DC: U.S.

Government Printing Office, December 1985), p. 41.

127
After the Boom

The boom, of course, had to end. Social and political priorities shifted away from

Cold War-inspired science. In addition, many of the goals of the buildup — increased

graduate enrollment and Ph.D.s, university development, faculty expansion, and

increased R&D— had been achieved. From 1968 to 1974, the number of Federal

Government fellowships and traineeships (in all fields) plummeted 85 percent 48 The

number of Federal RAs dropped slightly, owing to a decline in Federal R&D support (in

constant dollars). In the first years of the 1970s, first-year graduate enrollments

plateaued after a decade of substantial annual increases.

By 1974 the proportion of graduate students relying on Federal support had dropped

to 25 percent from the 1969 peak of nearly 40 percent. Infrastructure support was

severely curtailed and science development programs were eliminated. Federal support

retrenched to a more modest, though still substantial, level.49

The cutbacks differed among fields:

● Engineering and physical science were the most affected. Fellowships

and traineeships dropped 90 percent, from 13,600 in 1969 to 1,500 in

1975, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA),

Department of Defense (DoD), and Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)

research funds dropped 45 percent in real terms. Graduate

enrollments and then Ph.D. production declined steadily for 6 years.

● The life sciences were less affected. Fellowships and traineeships

declined by nearly 45 percent, but NIH and NSF research funds

increased in real terms, mitigating the effects of the fellowship

decline. Graduate enrollments and Ph.D.s held steady.

● Least affected were the social sciences. Although fellowship and

traineeship support declined by two-thirds, graduate enrollments and

Ph.D.s continued to increase slowly .50

48. Richard B. Freeman and David W. Breneman, ‘tForecasting the Ph.D. Labor

Market: Pitfalls for Policy,” A Technical Report presented to the National Board on

Graduate Education, Washington, DC, April 1974, pp. 12-13.

49. Snyder, op. cit., footnote 8, p. 16.

50. Ibid., pp. 31-32.

128
As Federal research spending picked up again in the 1970s, demand for research

assistants went up and science and engineering graduate enrollments followed suit, but by

varying degrees. Nearly all the early increases were in fields affected by funding for the

War on Cancer. In the late-1970s, graduate science and engineering enrollments grew

moderately and steadily. In the lively computer, semiconductor, and energy markets of

the late-1970s and early-1980s, engineering became the fastest growing field.

Enrollments in general grew in response to the job market, even though the numbers of

graduate students with Federal support declined.

Increasing women’s participation helped maintain graduate enrollments in the life

and social sciences during this time. Universities resisted cutting faculty, departments,

programs, or students in the face of budget cuts. Continued high undergraduate

enrollments maintained demand for graduate students as teaching assistants.

Effects of Federal Support

Since to a great extent the ultimate source offending is "invisible" to the graduate

student, whether their time and research supplies are paid for by the Federal

Government or a corporation, the effects of a Federal fellowship or assistantship are to

some extent similar to a fellowship or assistantship from any source. (And it must be

remembered that most Federal support is distributed by the university.) However,

Federal support often provides unique value insofar as it

● targets different or unique research problems that other funding does

not support;

● provides more (or less) freedom in the recipient's activities and in

choosing a research problem, although this freedom may be curbed by

work on the research program of the student’s mentor;

● targets a category of students or faculty (such as NSF’s minority

fellowships and program for women recentering the research work

force);

● targets an underserved region or type of institution (such as the

historically Black colleges and universities);

● is attended by particular national or scientific prestige (such as the

few and prized NSF fellowships); and

● includes access to Federal researchers, equipment, or facilities, such

as the national laboratories or NASA facilities.

129
Federal support has several positive effects on science and engineering graduate

students. First, it increases the number of science and engineering Ph.D.s. 51 Graduat e

science and engineering enrollment and Ph.D.s follow the pattern of Federal support for

R&D and students. Graduate enrollments, then Ph.D.s conferred, rose during the 1960s,

then turned down abruptly around 1970. During the 1970s, a comparable pattern

emerged: the proportion of graduate students with Federal support declined beginning in

1971, and the number of Ph.D. awards declined beginning in 1974.

Second, Federal support encourages full-time study and shortens the time from B.S.

to Ph.D. 5 2 During the boom in Federal fellowship/traineeship/RA support in the late1960s, the average time from B.S. to Ph.D. declined, and the proportion of graduate

students attending full time rose substantially. Since 1970 the time to Ph.D. has been

steadily rising, from 6.6 years in 1970, to an all-time high of 8.6 years in 1987,53 and the

proportion of part-time graduate students rose (see figure 3-10). Although it is hard to

say which is cause and which effect, as Federal support declined, graduate students were

more likely to attend part time and on average took longer to get their Ph.D.s.

Fellowships and traineeships, with minimal service requirements, provide students the

financial freedom to concentrate on studies full time and the intellectual freedom to

immerse themselves in the study and research that earns a Ph.D. Social science

students, with the longest time to Ph.D., have the highest dependence on

support, and the fewest RAs.

The close links between direct support and Ph.D. awards suggest

TAs and selfthat Federal

support is vitally important to completion of a Ph.D. It is possible that a large portion of

the increase in graduate enrollment, in some sense excessive in light of the much smaller

increase in Ph.D. awards, is driven by the increase in baccalaureates awarded. The

increase in graduate enrollments that began in 1974 follow an increase in science and

51. Vetter and Hertzfeld, op. cit., footnote 43, p. 34.

52. Ibid; and Richard Freeman, The Market for CoZZege Trained Manpower (Cambridge,

MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), developed a model which related a 1 percent

increase in the availability of fellowships to a 7.5 percent decrease in B.S. to Ph.D. time

lapse. Also see Snyder, op. cit., footnote 8,p. 21.

53. National Research Council, Survey of Earned Doctorates, unpublished 1987 data.

Registered time, 6.4 years for 1987 science and engineering Ph.D.s, has also been

increasing.

130
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131
engineering bachelor’s graduates up to that time. The greatest increase in bachelor’s

graduates was among women and minorities; this same shift showed up in increased

graduate enrollments.

Third, Federal support appears especially effective in helping women complete

graduate study. Financial support is especially important for women, although a

supportive environment may be more instrumental to success. Females completing

Ph.D.s are more likely to have received Federal support, and female graduate students

less likely, than their male counterparts (see box 3-C).54

Several studies further indicate that fellowships attract graduate students that

might otherwise go to professional school, and that a decline in fellowships diverts

55 The Consortium on Financing Higher students from Ph.D. study to professional school.

Education survey of eight selective institutions supports this conclusion: from 1956 to

1976, high-achieving students (in all fields) enrolled in postbaccalaureate education in

steady proportions (85 percent), but there was a large shift from graduate school to

professional school between survey dates 1966 to 1976 (as graduate school enrollment

dropped from 54 percent to 35 percent, professional school enrollment rose from 33

percent to 53 percent) .56

The mission research agencies play a major role in supporting graduate students;

four out of five federally funded graduate students are supported by the mission agencies

rather than NSF (see table 3-4). Mission agency prominence is due to RAs from agency

university research grants. The NIH traineeship program is by far the single largest

Federal graduate support program. Department of Education fellowships, though smaller

in amount than most mission agency fellowships and not restricted to science and

engineering, are used by many women and minority graduate students in science and

engineering, particularly in the social sciences.

The largest Federal traineeship or fellowship program is NIH’s National Research

Service Awards training grants; the approximately $100 million spent on about 5,000 to

6,000 graduate trainees within that program is about 3 percent of NIH's research

budget. Among the most prestigious Federal awards are NSF fellowships, which support

54. Vetter and Hertzfeld, op. cit., footnote 43, p. 33.

55. Julia A. Heath and Howard P. Tuckman, ~~The Effects of Tuition Level and

Financial Aid on the Demand for Undergraduate and Advanced Terminal Degrees,”

Economics of Education Review, vol. 6, No. 3, 1987, pp. 227-238.

56. Consortium on Financing Higher Education, op. cit., footnote 11.

132
NIH/HHS

NSF

Defense

NASA

EPA

Energy

Agriculture

Other

Total Federal

Field

Table 3-4. — Federal Fellowships and Traineeships,

by Agency and Field, 1986

Life sciences

Psychology

Engineering

Social Sciences

Mathematics

Chemistry

Environmental sciences

Physics

Computer sciences

Other

Total Science/engineering

$

$204,339

25,152

518

7,920

2,809

550

4,679

229

$246,196

$

$192,038

13,795

10,797

10,501

4,069

3,500

2,438

3,707

500

4,851

$246,196

Full-time

students, 1986

3,074

13,332

Full-time

students, 1986

8,923

622

1,005

1,630

146

326

263

253

164

13,332

aAgency total is included in “Other.”

Key: NIH/HHS = National Institutes of Health/Health and Human Services

NSF = National Science Foundation

NASA = National Aeronautics and Space Administration

EPA = Environmental Protection Agency

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, Academic Science/Engineering: Graduate

Enrollment and Support, FaZl 1986, NSF 88-307 (Washington, DC: 1988), pp. 154, 157; and

National Science Foundation, Federal Support to Universities, Colleges, and Selected

Nonprofit Institutions, Fiscal Year 1986, NSF 87-318 (Washington, DC 1987), pp. 17, 23.

133
1,400 graduate students. Among other agencies, DoD, NASA, and the Department of

Energy (DOE) are notable for their smaller fellowship and research support programs

which bring students into agency and national laboratories. Several agencies, notably

NIH and NSF, have special fellowships for minority students.

A consortium of universities, large companies, and government agencies (including

DOE, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and NASA) has started a new

program, the National Physical Sciences Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Women

and Minorities, to encourage women and minorities to complete Ph.D.s in science or

engineering. Program sponsors each contribute something: universities cover tuition and

fees, and companies and agencies provide student stipends and research opportunities.

Effects on Women

Women received about 27 percent of science and engineering Ph.D.s in 1987, but

this varies greatly by field, from less than 10 percent in engineering to nearly one-half in

the social sciences (see table 3-5).57 The pattern of women’s financial support is shaped

by their choice of fields. Within any given field, the distribution of graduate student

support varies little by sex (see table 3-6). But since women tend to concentrate in fields

such as the social and life sciences, where RAs are less common than in other fields,

women are substantially less likely to receive RAs. 5 8

Women who earn Ph.D.s are actually more likely than men to have received NSF

fellowships, NIH traineeships, and other Federal support in graduate school (see table 3-

7). But full-time female graduate students are less likely to have Federal support (table

3-8). This may indicate that Federal support is particularly important for women to

complete graduate study, although comparing data from two different surveys is risky.

Women’s propensity to attend part time further constrains their access to support.

Improving the participation of women in science and engineering demands effort on

all fronts (see box 3-D). Programs dedicated to female science and engineering students

include NSF’s Research Opportunities for Women, which supports women scientists and

engineers who have not yet been principal investigators or who are reentering the

57. National Research Council, Survey of Doctorate Recipients, unpublished 1987 data;

U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, l~preparing for Science and Engineering

Careers: Field-Level Profiles,’t Staff Paper, January 1987.

58. National Research Council, Summury Report 1984: Doctorate Recipients From

United States Universities (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1986), p. 40.

134
Table 3-5. — Science/Engineering Ph-D.s by Sex, Citizenship, and Field, 1987

Women as percent U.S. women as percent

of all Ph.D.s of U.S. Ph.D.sa

Science/engineering 27 32

Engineering 7 10

Computer science 14 22

Life sciences 35 40

Social sciences 43 51

a~~uos.~~ includes both U.S. citizens and foreign citizens on permanent visas (6 Percent)?

and unknown citizenship (about 7 percent) of total.

SOURCE: National Research Council, Survey of Doctorate Recipients, unpublished 1987

data.

135
Table 3-6. — Selected Forms of Support for Ph.D.s, By Sex, 1986

(in percent)

NIH traineeship/ Research Teaching Own

NSF Fellowship assistantship assistantship earnings

Men Women Men Women Men Women Wome Men n

All Science/engineering 10 16 61 48 53 52 46 55

Natural science/

engineering 10 22 67 57 51 49 39 43

Physical sciences 6 7 72 71 70 72 34 32

Life sciences 21 29 56 50 39 40 45 48

Social sciences 8 10 38 37 58 54 67 69

Engineering 4 9 74 71 42 47 38 38

-

w

* NOTE: Type of support not exclusive. Includes foreign citizens, most of whom are male.

Key: NIH = National Institutes of Health

NSF = National Science Foundation

University

fellowships

Men Women

21 24

20 23

22 22

20 23

26 24

17 29

SOURCE: National Research Council, Summary Report 1986, Doctorate Recipients From United States Universities

(Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1988), p. 54.
Table 3-7. — Science/Engineering Ph.D.s’ Major Source of Support

During Graduate Study, by Field and Sex, 1986

(in percent)

Federal Institutional Other Self

a

Men Women Men Women Men Women Men Women

engineering 8 6 61 69 7 8 23 17

Physical sciences 6 8 77 73 3 4 14 15

Life sciences 21 24 55 45 2 2 22 29

Social sciences 8 9 35 35 2 2 55 54

‘Includes loans, which are primary support for less than 1 percent of Ph.D.s., except in the

social sciences, where loans are primary support for about 7 percent of Ph.D.s.

NOTE: Financing data are self-reported This may lead to understating Federal and

overstating institutional support, because some students may not know of the original

source of department-distributed money. Percentages may not sum to 100 because of

rounding.

;OU RCE: National Research Council, Surnmury Report 1986, Doctorate Recipients From

Jnited States Universities (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1988), p. 25, and

republished data.

137
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138
research community. Many professional societies have established special committees on

women.

Effects on Minorities

The participation of Blacks and Hispanics in doctoral science and engineering

degree-taking has increased very slowly in the past 10 years, despite several programs

dedicated to minority students. (See table 3-9 for the proportion of Ph.D.s earned in

science and engineering fields by U.S. minorities in 1987.)

Although the same proportion of minority as white Ph.D. recipients received their

primary student support from stipends, Blacks are more likely than whites to use loans,

59 Some Federal programs include: and less likely to hold RAs.

● The Graduate Professional Opportunities Program of the Department

of Education (now known as Javits Fellowships) which supports about

800 minority students in natural sciences, engineering, and law.

● NSF Minority Graduate Fellowships.

● NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Minority

Biomedical Research Support Program (initially called the Minority

Biomedical Support program), started in 1972 and closely affiliated

with the NIH Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) program.

● NIH/NIGMS MARC predoctoral training program. (MARC also

includes programs for honors undergraduate research training, faculty

fellowships, and visiting scientists.)

● Special programs for Indian education administered by the Bureau of

Indian Affairs and the Department of Education’s Indian Education

Programs, although these do not focus on science and engineering per

se.

Foreign Graduate Students

Foreign students are increasingly visible and important in American graduate

programs in science and engineering. The United States benefits from this flow of

59. Michael Nettles, FinanciaZAidancl Minority Pczrticipation in Graduate Education, A

Research Report of the Minority Graduate Education Project (Princeton, NJ:

Educational Testing Service, 1987), p. 5.

139
Table 3-9. — U.S. Science/Engineering Ph. D=, by Race/Ethnicity

and Field, 1987

U.S. Minorities as percent of U.S. PhD.s

All Science/engineering

Engineering

Physical sciences

Physics

Chemistry

Environmental

Mathematics

Computer science

Life sciences

Biological

Agricultural

Health

Social sciences

Psychology

Economics

U.S. minorities as percent

of all science/engineering

Ph.D.s, including

foreign citizens

Blacks

2.1 (n=335)

1.3

1.0

0.9a

0.9b

0.4a

2.8 0.7a

2.4

1.9

2.3

4.9

3.7

3.3

2.9b

1.7

Hispanics

2.3 (n=359)

1.8

3.0

1.1a

2.8

1.5a

2.0

2.0

2.4

1.7b

3.5

3.5 2.7b

1.8

Asians

6.0 (n=946)

17.1

6.8

4.6

7.4

4.0

10.4

9.5

5.6

5.4

6.3

5.5

3.1

1.7

8.7

4.7

an<l 5

bn<l O

CNon-ue Sa citizens on temporary ‘isas” Included as U.S. citizens are non-U. S. citizens on

permanent visas (6% of U.S. science/engineering Ph. D.s) and those of unknown

citizenship (7% of U.S. science/engineering Ph. D.s). Non-U.S. citizens on permanent

visas almost always stay in the United States.

SOURCE: National Research Council, Survey of Earned Doctorates, unpublished 1987

data.

140
talent; many of these students stay, acquire permanent visas, and add to the scientific

vitality of the Nation. Less than one-half of foreign science and engineering Ph.D.

recipients remain in this country for at least a few years; the percentage is slightly

higher, about 60 percent, for engineering and computer science. About 80 percent of the

increase in foreign-origin scientists and engineers in the U.S. work force between 1972

and 1982 was due to students who stayed on after earning the doctorate. 60

The overall share of science and engineering Ph.D.s awarded to foreign students is

increasing, 22 percent in 1987.61 Foreign graduate students concentrate in high-growth,

high-payoff fields, and in technical areas rather than humanities and social sciences:

one-half are in engineering and 25 percent in the sciences. They account for 3 percent of

U.S. higher education enrollment overall, 5 percent of B.S. degrees in science and

engineering, and 25 percent of full-time science and engineering graduate students in

Ph.D. institutions.

Foreign students go on to fill many faculty positions. Nearly one-half of young

engineering faculty are foreign. Among those under age 36, the proportion of foreign

nationals rose from 11 percent in 1975 to 47 percent in 1985 (see figure 3-11).62

Foreign students generally are ineligible for direct Federal support (fellowships and

traineeships) and thus tend to rely on university TAs and RAs and support from home. 63

There also are limitations on having them as research assistants on defense-sponsored

research grants. While foreign students are required by the Immigration and

Naturalization Service to demonstrate that they will be funded for at least 1 year of

study, once enrolled in graduate schools they can seek the same institutional fellowships

and assistantships as Americans. Not surprisingly, foreign Ph.D. recipients are more

likely than Americans initially to have support from their families or home countries, and

to receive institutional support such as TAs and RAs.64

60. Michael G. Finn, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, ‘Foreign National Scientists

and Engineers in the U.S. Labor Force, 1972-1982,” June 1985.

61. The growth of foreign students in engineering is discussed further inch. 4.

62. National Research Council data, cited in Manpower Comments, July-August 1987,

p.27.

63. Annual fellowship stipends range between $10,000 and $18,000 (paid directly to the

student) and, in addition, usually cover tuition and fees (paid to the university, usually

about $6,000). One wonders whether the growth of foreign students in U.S. graduate

schools has expanded the use of research assistantships (for which all students are

eligible), or vice versa. Christopher Hill, Congressional Research Service, personal

communication, November 1988.

64. National Science Foundation, Foreign Citizens in U.S. Science and Engineering:

141
Figure 3-11 .- Science/Engineering Ph.D. Awards by Visa Status, 1960-85

(t-l n.

2

16,000

14,000

12,000

10,000

8,00 0

6,00 0

4,00 0

2,00 0

0

U.S. citizens

1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984

NOTE: U.S. citizens include unknown citizenship.

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, Foreign Citizens in U. S. Science and

. . . neenna. Istorv. Status. and Outlook 9 NSF 86-305 revised (Washington, DC:

1986), p. 91.

142
Luring student talent has overtaken mid-career immigration as the way the United

States acquires qualified foreign scientists and engineers. Admissions of scientists and

engineers as permanent immigrants have been between 7,000 and 13,000 a year (less than

2 percent of all immigrants), with fluctuations in part reflecting Federal immigration

quotas tied to U.S. labor market conditions. By comparison, foreign nonimmigrant

enrollment in higher education is 344,000, in science and engineering about 166,000, and

in science and engineering graduate study about 75,000. In addition, another few

thousand scientists and engineers enter on temporary and exchange visitor visas. Many

graduating foreign students enter the work force, usually exchanging their student visas

for other temporary visas.65 In 1985, 21,000 students (about 8 percent of that year’s

entry) and 8,000 temporary workers (11 percent) were adjusted to permanent

residence. 66

Visa, naturalization, and employment policies affect the entry of foreign scientists

and engineers into the work force. To attract and rebuild a base of U.S. citizens in

science and engineering, most Federal student support programs require U.S. citizenship

(usually a permanent visa insufficient). There have always been restrictions, for national

security reasons, on DoD and DOE support. Restrictions are most likely in fields of

obvious and pressing importance to national military or economic security and in fields in

which the concentrations of foreign students are highest. These two areas tend to be one

and the same. Another bone of contention is that perhaps 10 times as many foreign

students are trained in the United States as U.S. students are trained in other countries.

But foreign students are not uneconomic drain on institutions or the U.S. economy. 67

Immigration policies have affected the numbers and the national origins of students

in science and engineering. Immigration quotas do not apply to entry on temporary visas,

including student visas. Such temporary entry is generally unrestricted. Entry through

the student route, switching from temporary student visa to temporary worker status and

then immigration, is the dominant route of entry for scientists and engineers. 68 The

History, Status, ancf OutZook, Special Report NSF 86-305 revised (Washington, DC: 1987),

pp.29, 105.

65. Immigration and Naturalization Service, Statistical Abstract 1987 (Washington,

DC: 1987)p. 12.

66. Immigration and Naturalization Service estimates.

67. Elinor G. Barber (cd.), Foreign Student FZOWS, Report on a Conference, Apr. 13-15,

1984, IIE Research Report No. 7 (New York, NY: Institute for International Education,

1985), p. 12.

68. Office of Technology Assessment, op.cit9 footnote 30, pp. 63-65.

143
student route has become more important since changes in immigration policy made it

more difficult for workers to obtain a visa unless they were already employed by a U.S.

firm.

Economic and political conditions in the countries of origin dominate foreign

student flows. A sevenfold increase in students from the 13 0PEC countries in the 1970s

was responsible for one-half of the total increase; in the late-1970s and early-1980s, nonOPEC countries increased emigration on student visas. Ten countries contribute nearly

one-half of the foreign students studying in the United States. Because of this

concentration, foreign enrollments are sensitive to changes in host country policies.

Continued high inflow of foreign students could help keep academic demand for

faculty high through the demographic trough, until the expected upswing in faculty

demand in the mid-1990s. They may also ease fluctuating enrollments in particular

fields, such as petroleum engineering, although generally they and U.S. students gravitate

to the same fields.

Institutional Support of the Infrastructure for Graduate Education

A high-quality infrastructure — equipment, facilities, and libraries— is vital to

high-quality graduate training. Institutional support is one pillar of the foundation of the

Nation’s capability for graduate education and scientific research (see box 3-E). Since

the late-1970s there has been increasing concern within the academic community over

the deterioration of equipment and facilities. A 1987 Congressional Research Service

report summarized the academic consensus: ". . . current conditions of research

facilities may have serious implications for the quality of future scientists and engineers

produced by the Nation’s universities.,,69

Most concern over deteriorating infrastructure centers on research capability; it is

important also to ensure that policies attend to training capability. Some argue that

obsolescent facilities and equipment lead to teaching of outmoded methodologies. 70

69. U.S. Congress, Congressional Research Service, Bricks and Mortar: A Summary and

Analysis of ProposaZs to Meet Research Facilities Needs on CoHege Campuses, a report

prepared for the Subcommittee on Science, Research and Technology, House Committee

on Science, Space, and Technology, (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office,

September 1987), p. 23.

70. Ibid., pp. 157-158; and U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, “Scientific

Equipment for Undergraduates: Is It Adequate?” Staff Paper, September 1986.

144
Universities that lack state-of-the-art equipment and facilities report difficulty

attracting and keeping the best graduate students and faculty. 71

Spending on equipment and facilities is about 15 percent of academic science and

engineering expenditures, with facilities taking the major share. This rate is lower than

it was in the mid-1960s (when it peaked at about 20 percent), but has been increasing

slowly from a low of about 9 percent in 1970, in response to widely voiced concerns.

Most infrastructure funds come from non-Federal sources (see figure 3-12). Donations

from individuals, foundations, and industry have been fostered by Federal tax policy. The

Federal Government supports about 65 percent of equipment expenditures; the Federal

share for facilities is now below 10 percent and is declining. 72 However, Federal support

has been more stable than other sources. Private universities have been particularly

dependent on Federal funds and private contributions; public universities benefit from

State support. All universities also rely heavily on issuing tax-exempt bonds.

Federal institutional development programs were stimulated by rapid post-Sputnik

and baby-boom growth in graduate education and research. Concern over capacity drove

expansion of university infrastructure. At the peak of Federal programs in 1965, direct

Federal contributions supported about one-third of university spending on all types of

science and engineering facilities, and one-half of spending on research facilities.

Federal programs declined 85 percent (in real terms) between 1965 and 1984.

Special institutional support should be distinguished from another major vehicle of

Federal support for university infrastructure, namely indirect costs or overhead— the

light bulbs, heating and air conditioning, libraries, copy machines, sewer hookups, and, of

course, support staff, which are necessary to all departments. Support for overhead is

built into most research and training grants, and is now 25 to 30 percent of R&D

support. Infrastructure — building operation and maintenance, building depreciation, and

73 In 1986, the Federal Government spent libraries— is about 42 percent of overhead.

71. Association of American Universities, The Nationls Deteriorating University

Research Facilities (Washington, DC: July 1981), p. 11.

72. National Science Foundation, “Academic Expenditures for Science and

Engineering: Past, Present, Future,w PRA Working Draft, April 1988, p.6.

73. National Science Foundation, Future Costs of Academic Science/Engineering

(Washington, DC: April 1988). Based on a survey of top research universities, these

estimates should be reasonably representative. Administrative costs are the largest and

fastest rising component, over one-half of overhead. Student services are about 1

percent.

145
. (Aa)

Q

G

Ul

3

CD

L

* in m *

146
about $350 to $400 million for equipment. In addition, smaller equipment and supplies

are funded through regular research grants.

There is disagreement over how best to provide infrastructure support and the

74 Should the role of the extent of the burden the Federal Government should shoulder.

Federal Government be simply to award research and training money, on a negotiated

overhead rate, and let universities apportion that money among immediate operating

needs of students, supplies, and faculty, and longer-term capital needs for

chromatography, computers, and laboratories? Or should the Federal Government take a

more substantial role by directly funding equipment, facilities, and other institutional

underpinnings?

As growth slowed, special institutional development was curtailed, leaving a base

of Federal institutional support, primarily through overhead on research and training

grants. This baseline has usually favored the best. In times of slow or no growth in

education and research, R&D and training programs have usually concentrated in a small

number of well-funded, well-equipped departments, with awards based on quality,

efficiency, and the importance of a "critical mass" of people and research projects (see

table 3-10). Equipment and facilities are concentrated in the top research universities

(table 3-11).

However, facilities and large equipment cannot be funded by either small individual

investigator awards or by indirect cost recovery. The large capital outlays needed for

construction, major renovation, and large equipment demand big chunks of money. NSF

estimates that $1 to $3 billion in equipment

needed to compensate for underfunding in the

Equipment and facility needs varies

and $1.5 billion for facilities are urgently

past.

7 5

greatly by field and research problem.

Manufacturing engineering, for instance, may rely on automated equipment costing

74. See Congressional Research Service, op. cit., footnote 69. The history of Federal

programs for facilities funding is discussed in ch. 4 of the Congressional Research

Service report; impacts on education are summarized on pp. 151-160; policy options are

discussed in chs. 5 and 7. The report reviews and integrates studies by the Association of

American Universities, the National Science Foundation, the General Accounting Office,

and others. See also, Stephen J. Fitzsimmons et al., The Capacity of American Colleges

and Universities to Train Science and Engineering Talent: A SurVey of Universities,

Scientists, Foundations, and the Private Sector, a report to the National Science

Foundation Division of Policy Research and Analysis (Cambridge, MA: Abt Associates,

Inc., Jan. 15$ 1985), pp. 24-26, 65-69.

75. National Science Foundation, op. cit., footnote 72, pp. ii-iii.

147
Table 3-10. — University R&D Support and Ph.D. Production, 1986

Univ. (ranked Number (& rank) Fed. acad. S/E Federal f/t

by Fed. R&D $) 1986 NSE Ph.D.s support, 1986 support, 1986

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

Johns Hopkins

MIT

Stanford

U. of Washington

UCSD

Columbia

UCLA

U. Wise-Madison

Cornell

Yale

U. Michigan

Harvard

UCSF

U. Pennsylvania

U. Minnesota

UC-Berkeley

U. Ill-Urbana

Penn State

USC

U. Texas-Austin

141 (41)

436 (2)

392 (4)

246 (13)

140 (44)

211 (20)

281 (12)

406 (3)

360 (7)

150 (36)

340 (8)

234 (14)

46 (112)

181 (26)

371 (6)

557 (1)

379 (5)

230 (16)

176 (28)

296 (10)

$457,525

207,867

195,454

157,154

140,878

142,430

133,150

138,827

149,599

123,849

120,168

125,127

113,828

112,305

114,473

104,958

103,091

99,665

80,145

76,288

10,075

7,260

9,866

7,745

5,147

5,575

5,255

4,793

4,425

9,143

5,950

11,919

7,525

6,926

3,746

6,996

1,509

1,009

1,518

935

(2)

(7)

(3)

(5)

(15)

(13)

(14)

(17)

(18)

(4)

(12)

(1)

(6)

(lo)

(21)

(9)

(40)

(51)

(38)

(52)

NOTE: There is about a 70 percent overlap; 14 of the top 20 Federal R&D recipients are

in the top 20 natural science and engineering (NSE) Ph.D. producers. The other 6

institutions are listed below.

Other High NSE Ph.D.-Producers

Purdue 316 (9) 57,424 871 (57)

Ohio State 294 (11) 78,746 715 (65)

Michigan State 233 (15) 59,788 653 (69)

UC-Davis 230 (17) 45,798 1,520 (37)

Texas A & M 226 (18) 53,341 394 (98)

U. Maryland 212 (19) 59,098 523 (84)

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, Federal Support ot Universities, Colleges, and

Selected Nonprofit Institutions, FiscaZ Year: 1986, NSF 87-318 (Washington, DC: 1987),

pp. 19-24; and National Science Foundation, Science and Engineering Doctorates: 1960-

86, NSF 88-309 (Washington, DC: 1988), pp. 153-156.

148
Table 3-11. — Distribution of Graduate Student Primary Support and Federal R&D

Among Top 100 Research Universities, 1986

(in percent)

Full-time All research All All All teaching self/ Federal

grad students assistantships fellows trainees assistantships other

a

academic

Top 10b

12 15 15 17 8 9 26

Top 20 25 30 32 34 20 22 40

Top 50 46 52 56 56 40 37 75

Top 100 67 86

aoverall, self-support is about 77 percent of self/other support.

buniversities ranked in order of receipt of Federal academic R&D funds (out of 325 total doctorate-granting institutions)*

u

z

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, Academic Science/Engineering: Graduate Enrollment and Support, FaZZ 1986, NSF

88-307 (Washington, DC: 1988), pp. 329-342; and FederaZ Support to Universities, Colleges, and Selected Nonprofit

Institutions, Fiscal Year: 1986, NSF 87-318 (Washington, DC: 1987), pp. 21-22.
hundreds of thousands of dollars. Mathematics research may demand multi million dollar

supercomputers or simply chalk and blackboard. The Federal Government cannot

underwrite these costs, but it can recognize their magnitude and act as a kind of

investment counselor.

Postdoctoral Appointments

The postdoctoral appointment, as noted earlier, is a holding tank for talented

Ph.D.s who cannot land the “right” job. Thus, it is seen by many as both a means of

augmenting one’s skills and as a proving ground, particularly in the life sciences.

Postgraduates establish credentials as independent researchers, carving out their own

research programs as distinct from those of their mentors and demonstrating the

productivity that will earn them permanent faculty positions. Postdoctoral students are

much more likely than graduate students to be supported by the Federal Government.

Two-thirds are in the life sciences; 70 percent of life sciences Ph.D.s take postdoctoral

appointments, compared with about one-half of Ph.D.s in the physical sciences.

Urgent national needs can be met most quickly by shifting postdoctoral support.76

The number of postdoctoral appointments have increased steadily, from 6,100 to over

24,000 between 1965 and 1986. Approximately three-quarters of these appointments are

supported by Federal funds, a proportion that has remained stable since data were first

collected in the early-1970s (see figure 3-13). Unlike support of graduate students,

Federal postdoctoral support has remained stable, increasing in the number of awards as

the number of candidates increase.

With the current scarcity of science faculty positions in universities, more recent

Ph.D.s are entering nontraditional academic jobs as nonfaculty research staff (see box 3-

F). There are about 5,000 nonfaculty research staff, compared to over 20,000

postdoctoral students, in universities, according to NSF. Compared to postdoctoral

researchers, nonfaculty research staff are less likely to be in life sciences, and more

likely to be in engineering and social sciences.

76. William Zumeta, llAnatomy of the Boom in postdoctoral Appointments During ‘he

1970s: Troubling Implications for Quality Science?” Science, Technology, & Human

Values, vol. 9, No. 2, spring 1984, pp. 23-37. For example, the mobilization of biomedical

specialists to accelerate basic research on AIDS should soon be apparent sheerly in the

size of the postdoctoral pool of intra- and extramural scientists supported by the

National Institutes of Health.

150
Figure 3–13. – Science and Engineering Postdoctoral Students in DegreeGranting Institutions, Total and Federally Supported, 1965-8 6

25,00 0

20,00 0

15,000

10,000

5,00 0

0

I 1 1 1 I

1965 1970 1975 1980 1985

NOTE: 1978 data are interpolated.

SOURCE: Betty M. Vetter and Henry Hertzfeld, “Federal Funding of Science

and Engineering Education: Effect on Output of Scientists and Engineers,

1945– 1985, ” OTA contractor report, 1987, based on National Science

Foundation data.

151
Field Differences: The Pluralism of Ph.D.s

While this chapter has focused on broad field differences, disaggregated analysis is

necessary to assess the quantity and quality of new Ph.D.s. However, the smaller and

more specialized the scientific field being studied, the less predictable are changes in the

factors that affect graduate enrollments and doctoral degrees awarded. Small changes in

the total supply of scientists and engineers can mask significant adjustments within and

among fields.77

For example, research physicists and astronomers depend mainly on Federal

research funds awarded to universities and national laboratories. In chemistry, university

research is overshadowed by industrial R&D, which employs large numbers of R&D

chemists at all degree levels, particularly Ph.D.s. Environmental sciences (earth,

atmospheric, and ocean sciences) is a small field, with a

the health of the oil and mining industries and a

researchers responding to environmental R&D priorities.

core of geologists dependent on

collection of interdisciplinary

Within fields, shortages and surpluses occur in specific research specialties. Thus,

there are now surpluses of new graduates in particle physics and petroleum geology, and

at the same time shortages in optical physics, condensed matter physics, and

geochemistry. In some instances, there are continuing mismatches between supply and

demand, as in the continuing overproduction of particle physicists and theoretical

physicists relative to research opportunities. Many earth scientists are employed in the

petroleum and mining industries, which are buffeted by business cycles and resource

policies. Mathematics is a key field of research that depends largely on academic

employment, not only for research but for service teaching.

The life sciences are big and diverse, including the biological sciences, the health

and medical sciences, and the agricultural sciences. Sophisticated new instrumentation

and the accelerating pace of discovery have blurred the boundaries between these

fields. The Federal Government has long had a substantial stake in research and training

in these fields, because of the high national priority vested in health-related basic and

clinical research. Agriculture has been the longest standing federally supported research

and training area, but funding is much lower than in the health and biological sciences.

77. Office of Technology Assessment, op. cit., footnote 57. For an example of subfield

specialization in physics, see Roman Czujko et al., Society Membership Profile: The

Pattern of Subfieki Associations (New York, NY: American Institute of Physics,

Manpower Statistics Division, 1986), pp. 9-16.

152
Much of the growth and relative stability in the employment of agricultural scientists is

in the extensive nationwide network of U.S. Department of Agriculture research

facilities and the State agricultural experiment stations associated with the land-grant

universities.

Social sciences are different from natural science and engineering. Psychology is

the largest field in the social and behavioral sciences, accounting for one-half of

Ph.D.s. Over one-half of recent Ph.D.s in psychology have been awarded in clinical

subfields, and new Ph.D.s increasingly enter private or public clinical practice instead of

pursuing traditional academic careers. 7 8

Engineering Doctorate Education

Engineering doctorate education differs from science doctorate education in

several ways. Generally, graduate education in engineering is dominated by master’s

students oriented to the industrial labor market (see chapter 4). For those who complete

doctorates, attractive industry jobs and salaries also lure new Ph.D.s away from faculty

jobs. Unemployment among Ph.D. engineers is nil.

Because of this and the great interest of foreign students in studying engineering,

less than one-half of engineering graduate students are American. The problem is

accentuated by the strong demand of defense-related employers for American

engineers. The end result is that there has been a continuing, and at sometimes critical,

shortage of young American Ph.D.s interested in faculty positions (the primary source of

new faculty).

What can be done? Some

pay scale for faculty in areas

universities have responded by creating a separate, higher

where there is strong competition with industry, such as

engineering and business. This has worked to some extent. Many have proposed

attracting more graduate students by increasing stipends, using as a rule of thumb that

stipends should be at least one-half starting salaries for college graduates. (Some faculty

salaries may begin to pale in comparison.)

78. Georgine M. Pion and Mark W. Lipsey, ‘Psychology and Society: The Challenge of

Change/l Americcm Psychologist, vol. 39, No. 7, July 1984, pp. 739-754; and Ann Howard

et al., American Psychological Association, ‘The Changing Face of American

Psychology: A Report From the Committee on Employment and Human Resources,H

unpublished manuscript, 1986.

153
In 1986, a time when faculty shortages were still widespread/high but easing,

engineering departments were asked to identify the main factors limiting Ph.D.

 The one response cited by nearly all production in engineering (see table 3-12).79

respondents was “insufficient funding for graduate student support.” Nearly 40 percent

of department chairs ranked this as the most important factor.

THE FUTURE OF THE UNIVERSITY: A STEADY STATE ERA?

Graduate education is embedded in the research community and the research

university infrastructure. External trends in the global economy, national defense, and

competitiveness are changing the Nation’s posture toward R&D and the missions of the

research universities. In turn, this is affecting graduate education. The changing

environment of the research university not only affects supply and demand, but also has

reduced the appeal of a university research and teaching career for young scientists or

engineers.

Despite the Federal Government’s vigorous commitment to basic research, support

for defense projects and industrial R&D has grown at the research universities.

Economic pressures are forging new research links between university and industry. 80

Many States have devised programs to leverage universities as pivotal actors in researchfueled regional development. And expansion of students, faculty, and research has

plateaued.

University research and graduate training can be characterized as a transition to a

steady state of Federal funding, increasing competition for resources, and restructuring

in the search for new sources of support and new missions. Grant competition and

pressures for accountability are increasing the administrative burden on scientists in

universities while diverting them from research. The upshot is that the attractiveness of

an academic research career has waned from its peak of two decades ago. 81

79. Paul Doigan and Mack Gilkeson, 1!ASEE Survey of Engineering Faculty & Graduate

Students: Fall 1985,” Engineering Education, October 1986, pp. 54-55. The survey of 180

major engineering departments was one in a series of regular surveys conducted by the

American Society for Engineering Education.

80. Dorothy Nelkin and Richard Nelson, “Commentary: University-Industry Alliances,”

Science, Technology, & Human Values, vol. 12, winter 1987, pp. 65-74. Such alliances,

however, have along history. See Roger L. Geiger, 1lMilking the sacred COW: Research

and the Quest for Useful Knowledge in the American University Since 1920, ” Science,

Technology, & Human Values, vol. 13, summer & autumn 1988, pp. 332-348.

81. John Ziman, Science in a %teady State~: The Research System in Transition

154
Table 3-12. — Factors Limiting Engineering Ph.D. Production:

A Survey of Engineering Departments, 1986

Percent of faculty citing that factor

as 1st or 2nd most important

1st 2nd

Insufficient funding for graduate student support 38 35

Insufficient number of qualified students 33 16

Limitation on size of graduate stipends 14 28

Insufficient facilities and space 14 16

Insufficient qualified faculty o 4

Other 1 1

SOURCE: American Society for Engineering Education Survey of Engineering Faculty

and Graduate Students, fall 1985, reported in Engineering Education, October 1986, p. 55.

155
Writing in 1977 about the physical and intellectual infrastructure of the research

university, Smith and Karlesky observed that:

● ✎ ✎ young investigators must work in a far less encouraging research

environment than the expansive one enjoyed by their counterparts a decade

ago. Flexible funds are not so readily available; in the physical sciences

fewer graduate students are around to assist in research; universities are

less able to provide start-up funds; and the competition for external grants

has intensified. More demanding tenure standards have created obvious

pressures of their own. It is unquestionably much more difficult for the

young to establish themselves now than it was 10 years ago, but this is a

result of the steady state environment for research. . . . 82

In 1968 Harvey Brooks warned of the implications of the impending slowdown in

exponentially growing Federal academic support:

If academic research budgets continue to level off, grave questions of policy

will be posed. The vigor of a scientific field seems to depend on a

continuing injection of new investigators with fresh ideas and on sufficient

funds to exploit new ideas and replace outmoded equipment. . . . In the

absence of new funding, it will be necessary to invent new mechanisms of

funding which will permit greater concentration and specialization of effort.

. . . To spread the same funds more and more thinly over a growing number

of investigators, institutions, and students would be a prescription for the

slow strangulation of science in the United States. 83

82. Bruce L.R. Smith and Joseph J. Karlesky, The State of Academic Science: The

Universities in the Nation’s Research Effort (New York, NY: Change Magazine Press,

1977), p. 183. Also see John Ziman’s review of this book, ‘Bounded Science,M Minerva,

vol. 16, 1978. pp. 327-339. With the benefit of another decade of hindsight, one might

observe that the thunderous Federal support of universities in the 1960s was an

aberration. ‘Current university practices, orientation, and leadership were all formed

during the 60s. The current challenge is to put academic science and engineering backon

a realistic slow growth path.~ Christopher Hill, Congressional Research Service, personal

communication, November 1988.

83. Harvey Brooks, ‘The Future Growthof Academic Research: Criteria and Needs,M

Science Policy and the University, Harold Orlans (cd.) (Washington, DC: Brookings

Institution, 1968), pp. 75-76.

156
Federal Leadership and the Research Enterprise

Universities are searching for ways to maintain the viability of the research

enterprise. 84 Brooks’ prescience reveals in two ways the dilemma of science in the

steady state: the growing uncertainties and fluctuations of Federal patronage that

created a research system it can no longer sustain, and a selective infusion of industrial

and State patronage and congressional earmarking on campus that, in the absence of a

system for establishing research priorities, fortifies certain research agendas while

starving others. 85

No matter what the research

attainable without a qualified human

objectives for the 1990s are, they will not be

resource base for doing science and technology.

The difficulty of the Federal Government and institutions of higher education in ensuring

long-term research support creates instabilities in the supply of science and engineering

Ph.D.s.

86 David Hamburg has observed that:

● ☛ ☛ the Federal Government was a major actor in the creation of the “bulge”

in academic R&D in the 1960s whose effects persist to this day. Federal

84. Don I. Phillips and Benjamin S.P. Shen (eds.), Research in the Age of the SteacfyState University, American Association for the Advancement of Science Selected

Symposium 60 (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1982).

85. Some observers bemoan this as a problem of selecting between big (superconducting

supercollider, space station, human genome mapping) and little science; others see the

problem as defense v. civilian R&D; and still others warn of “fashionable” research that

is either profitable or vital for U.S. economic competitiveness (biotechnology,

superconductivity, advanced materials). A framework for weighing alternatives, making

choices, and plugging them into the political process has been lacking. Lacking as well,

however, is the discretionary budget for supporting all intellectually and economically

promising R&D. For recent attempts to construct a framework, see National Academy

of Sciences, FederaZ Science and Technology Budget Priorities: New Perspectives and

Procedures (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1988); Frank H.T. Rhodes, “A

System to Set Science Priorities,” Technology Review, November/December 1988, pp.

21-22, 25; and John A. Dutton and Lawson Crowe, “setting Priorities Among Scientific

Initiatives,” American Scientist, vol. 76, November-December 1988, pp. 599-603. For an

approach that favors the proclivities of a sitting president (and a strong science advisor),

see Edwin Diamond and Norman Sandier, “Science, Technology, and the Next President, ”

Issues in Science & Technology, vol. 4, fall 1988, pp. 56-61.

86. Lewis C. Solmon and William Zumeta, “U.S. Science Manpower and R&D

Capacity: New Problems on the Horizon,ff Policy Controversies in Higher Education,

Samuel K. Gove and Thomas M. Stauffer (eds.) (New York, NY: Greenwood Press, 1986),

p. 208. For a European perspective, see R.J. Cavanagh, Workshop on Assessing the

Availability and Need for Research Manpower: Activities in OECD Countries —

Preliminary Report (Paris, France: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and

Development, Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry, Sept. 2, 1988).

157
policy can and does have major shaping effects, positive and negative. . . .

It seems reasonable that since the Federal Government has been a major

beneficiary of the build-up it should also share in attempting to ameliorate

the negative effects of the build-up distortions. 87

In this transition era, graduate institutions that sustain the dual missions of

graduate teaching and research must confront numerous questions, or become

beleaguered by unyielding demands and insufficient resources. 88 How does the financing

of research affect the environment in which the next generation of researchers is being

trained? How do the pressures and perquisites of sponsors alter the relations between

faculty and students, between research and teaching, between career expectations and

opportunities? If faculty roles now include entrepreneurship, does this imply that

apprentice-researchers to these faculty-mentors tend to be oriented to nonacademic

employment?

There is currently great pressure for industry collaborative and center-based work

at universities. There is also a great deal of concern about such relationships from those

who fear that education would wither under the pressures of capitalism and that students

would be exploited for financial gain. 89

The

industry,

university

with U.S.

pressure for increased collaboration emanates from government leaders, big

NSF, and the management of large research universities who feel that

and industry competencies are diverging, given the "evidence" of problems

manufacturing, the growing prowess of Japan, and the perceived need for

researchers and curriculum to be more "relevant." A more subtle pressure derives from

suspicions — inside universities and out — that the traditional disciplines are no longer

fertile and should give way to interdisciplinary R&D and more "real-world" work.

87. Hamburg, op. cit., footnote 3, pp. 29-30.

88. “[W]e are creating two faculties: one devoted to bringing in research grants and

publishing as many papers as possible, and the other relegated to handling the teaching

load. . . . Many professors will retire in the next decade or so. And when this happens,

replacements of quality and dedication will be tough to find as their mission becomes

even less prestigious.” Douglas E. Kelly, "We are Eroding the Vital Link Between

Academic Research and Education/l The Scientist, Oct. 17, 1988, pp. 9-10.

89. For example, Martin Kenney, Biotechnology: The University-Industrial Complex

(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1986). Survey responses from graduate and

postdoctoral students (who of necessity tend to minimize professional cognitive

dissonance) suggest that this concern is overstated. See Michael E. Gluck et al.,

University-Industry Relationships in the Life Sciences: Implications for Students and

Post-Doctoral Fellows,n Reseczrch Po2icy, vol. 16, 1987, pp. 327-336.

158
Little is as yet known about the educational impacts of large research centers and

more pervasive university-industry collaborations. All accounts stress the educational

function of centers, but few specifics are available. For example, the Semiconductor

Research Corp. is developing a curriculum in microelectronics manufacturing for

engineering students with Florida State University and Florida A&M University. 90 Given

the uncertainty surrounding the impacts of collaborations, perhaps the best policy is to

emphasize concern for education, and continued monitoring.

Some hoped-for benefits of closer industry-university contacts are:

● the ability of industry to find the best talent as soon as possible;

● more “relevant” and “real-world” education in those areas that need

more relevant engineering (e.g., combustion);

● the ability for students to work in a multidisciplinary center that cuts

across departments;

● the opportunity to work with people in teams (this must be something

of a myth, because faculty-based work often has several investigators

and, in any case, always contains some teamwork);

● a reduction in the government and university burden of support of

students; and

● more undergraduate participation in research.

Some feared impacts are:

● the siphoning off of students who would continue on for the Ph. D.;

● the increased secrecy and “ownership” of information; and

● the arrival of the profit ethic on campus, changing the ethos of

university education.

Evidence from historical and contemporary case studies, while not conclusive,

suggests that specific fields and the research university as a whole cope well with new

research missions (see boxes 3-G and 3-H).

90. Ralph K. Cavin III and D. Howard Phillips, "SRC: A Model of Industry-University

Cooperation,’ f Engineering Education, vol. 78, January 1988, p. 227.

159
The Future Supply of Ph.D.s

The future supply of Ph.D.s is a matter of quality as well as of numbers. Many fear

that higher-paying occupations will attract more of the most talented students, as

graduate study and academic careers, salaries, and lifestyle become relatively less

91 Assistant professorships at colleges and universities Continue to Provide attractive.

the lowest salaries. 92

The job market for Ph.D.s is unusual. While it responds to demand (in particular,

national R&D funding) and to immediate research and training support, the supply is

93 As for quality, at the margins talent can be particularly sensitive to Federal policies.

lured or discouraged to relieve shortages and surpluses. The well-documented elasticity

at the baccalaureate level does not hold as readily at the doctoral level. 94

The academic job market is not as attractive as it used to be, even in the postgolden age of the 1970s. Faculty-investigators weaned on “safe” Federal funding must

seek new strategies to ensure continuity in their research programs and teams. Timeconsuming and relentless competition for research funds coupled with uncertainty over

future funding deter students from pursuing Ph.D.s, and then deter new Ph.D.s from

seeking academic careers. 95 Well-funded, well-salaried, stable positions in wellequipped industry research laboratories appear more and more attractive. As more

industry goes “high-tech, " researchers are attracted by good equipment and working

conditions, and the advantages of university life dwindle. 96

91. Solmon and Zumeta, op. cit., footnote 86, pp. 193-194.

92. Eleanor L. Babco, Salaries of Scientists, Engineers mdTechicians: A Summary of

Salary Surveys, 13th ed. (Washington, DC: Commission on Professionals in Science and

Technology, 1987).

93. Allan M. Cartter, *’Scientific Manpower for 1970 -1985,” Science, vol. 172, Apr. 9,

1971, p. 139.

94. Richard Freeman, ‘

f Supply and Salary Adjustments to the Changing Science

Manpower Market: Physics, 1948-1973,1

’ American Economic Review, vol. 65, March

1975, pp. 27-39.

95. National Science Foundation, ‘

tRecent Doctorate Faculty More Actively Seeking

Research Support,” Mosaic, vol. 18, winter 1987/88, back page.

96. Hill offers an alternative “autonomy” hypothesis: In the “golden age,” university

faculty positions offered the greatest autonomy; in this new era of venture capital, a

more lucrative (and risky) route to autonomy is the small, start-up high-technology

firm. There, he says, “you’ll find the ‘lost faculty’.” Christopher Hill, Congressional

Research Service, personal communication, November 1988.

160
Universities are in a vulnerable position. Faculty retirements are expected to rise

significantly in the 1990s. Foreign citizens are routinely recruited to faculty

appointments in engineering and mathematics. So, too, are racial and ethnic minority

Ph.D.s. But their numbers in the pipeline are still small, so academic departments

compete for a scarce resource. 97 The current tenure glut that forced universities to

create nontenure track positions will be relieved somewhat by faculty retirement. 98

Universities are avoiding swelling their permanent faculty ranks, mimicking a trend

toward temporary and contract hiring in corporations. Instead of filling vacated

positions with new full-time tenured and tenurable faculty, a dual-track ladder of

temporary full- and part-time researchers and teachers may develop. This new set of

positions would reflect employers’ demand for an elastic academic work force, one that

expands and contracts with the

priorities.

One way universities cope

research universities, 50 to 100

waxing and waning of

is by specializing and

according to different

Federal and industrial research

concentrating resources. Few

criteria, have the resources to

maintain a breadth of research programs across the spectrum of science and engineering

fields. For 250 other Ph.D.-granting institutions to try to emulate the formula and

success of the 100 would be challenging and costly. The Federal Government is the

dominant source of revenue for research universities. There is a sense that, since R&D

funding and good faculty are limited, improving one university must to some extent come

at the expense of another (unless an infusion of industrial or other expenditures occurs).

This tradeoff was perceived almost two decades ago:

● ☛☛ it is urgently necessary for the Federal Government to identify a

category of "national universities)” perhaps 75 to 100 in number, and

guarantee certain minimum support levels for graduate education, research,

and student aid. If the task of identifying institutions is too difficult, or too

97. Shirley Vining Brown, Increasing Minority Faculty: An EZusive GoaZ, A Research

Report of the Minority Graduate Education Project (Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing

Service, 1988). The obvious long-term goal is to expand the resource; trading scarce

talent — regardless of sex, race, ethnicity, or physical handicap — across sectors and

fields will not satisfy the need. The ‘%ewdemographicsf’ make this painfully clear. See

Office of Technology Assessment, op. cit., footnote 30, pp. 7-13; and Manpower

Comments, October 1988, pp. 14-21.

98. The “relief,” according to some, will be profound and problematic. See Carol Boyd

Leon, “Good-bye, Mr. Chips: Get Ready for a Shortage of College Professors,t

’ American

Demographics, October 1988, pp. 332-35.

161
politically explosive, then a workable alternative might be to select 50 to 75

departments from each of the major disciplines, with Federal support going

only to the most eminent or promising fields of the study in any single

institution. . . . [T]he failure to develop a more effective and rational

system of support of graduate and professional education is likely to

dangerously erode the greatest achievements of American higher

education. 99

The vast majority of scientists in a recent national survey disagreed with a policy

100 Targeting the most Ph.D.-productive of spreading cuts evenly across all universities.

research universities for sustained support is the surest way of ensuring the flow of fresh

talent into the research work force. 101

One approach to creating academic posts and making academic life more appealing

is the U.S. Presidential Young Investigator program, which bestows prestige and several

years of generous funding upon young faculty. Several European nations, facing the same

situation, have implemented similar programs (see box 3-I).

Lessons From the Golden Age

The energetic Federal build-up of graduate education in the golden age of the 1960s

enhanced research, education, and the research work force, but left a legacy of

99. Cartter, op. cit., footnote 93, p. 139.

100. Sigma Xi, A New Agenda for Science (New Haven, CT: 1987), pp. 22-24. Seventy

percent disagreed with the statement: I t Du r

i ng periods of retrenchment of ‘eder~

support of research a desirable policy is to distribute the cuts across the board on a flat

percentage basis, thereby to spread the pain evenly.” The survey was of Sigma Xi

members — a selective, rather than representative, sample of U.S. university faculty.

For an historical perspective, see David W. Breneman, Graduate School Adjustments to

the ‘rNew Depression t! in Higher E~cation, Technical Report No. 3 (Washington> ‘c :

National Board on Graduate Education, February 1975), pp. 24-27, 30-35.

101. Harvey Brooks, “The Research University: Doing Good, and Doing It Better, ’’Issues

in Science and Technology, vol. 4, winter 1988, pp. 49-55. A 5-year national Projector

Research on Doctoral Education, in progress at the University of Rochester, is examining

student financing methods, among other aspects of graduate education. The project is

conducted under the auspices of the Association of Graduate Schools in the Association

of American Universities and sponsored by the 46 participating institutions and grants

from the Pew, Mellon and Lilly foundations. Findings of this project may inform the

perspectives of the two camps and the higher education investment strategy of the

Federal Government.

162
overexpanded departments, and abruptly curtailed careers as young Ph.D.s and graduate

students adjusted to the unanticipated and severe cutback in Federal support.

Snyder offers several lessons from this Federal build-up and its ramifications.l02

Many echo the themes of this chapter:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Federal policies should take into account market forces and their

synergistic interaction with Federal programs; State, institutional,

industry, and Federal R&D spending changes all increase education and

research support.

It takes at least 4 and, on average, closer to 7 years to produce a

Ph.D. Therefore, the effects of graduate education policies may not

be evident for several years; in the 1960s, by the time a Ph.D. surplus

became apparent, Ph.D. production was still increasing rapidly and

there were still large numbers of unsuspecting graduate students in the

pipeline. Earlier tapering off of support would have been better.

Heed demographic trends; in the 1960s, there was a demographically

driven slowdown in undergraduate enrollments and a federally

mandated acceleration of opportunities to acquire a higher education.

Supply and demand projections are easy to overinterpret and use

improperly, but keep working at them.

Federal agencies should take the level of RAs into account in setting

levels of fellowship and traineeship support.

If programs are supposed to provide long-term support for core

institutions and core talent, ensure that those programs are long term

and stable.

Carefully consider optimal roles for agencies in institutional, and

research and student support. Coordinate programs. System upgrading

and institutional development might be more appropriate for NSF, and

maybe NIH, while more targeted, research-related programs seem best

for the narrower mission agencies such as DOE and NASA.

The legacy of the golden age can be stated as: the science base is only as strong as the

investment in people — first and foremost.

102. Snyder, op. cit., footnote 8, pp. 42-44.

163
Box 3-A. — Letters From Graduate Students

Lloyd Whitman, “Consider Graduate-Student Life,"

Physics Today, June 1986, p. 41

“The lack of concern for graduate-student life is manifested in many ways . . . an

unmarried graduate student supported solely by a teaching or research assistantship lives

frugally — after basic living expenses there is little money left over for repairs or

extraordinary expenses. Students are particularly concerned that they lack the resources

to cope with medical emergencies not fully covered by the nominal student health

insurance. Most students agree that graduate school is not the place to start a family,

especially considering the fiscal constraints imposed by current stipends. As it typically

requires five or six years to complete a Ph. D., most students will be 26-30 years old

before having the resources (not to mention the time) to start a family. The sacrifice is

greatest for women, who will have spent their safest childbearing years in graduate

school only to then have to choose between starting a family and embarking on a career.

.**

“What are the implications of these conditions? For instance, to what extent are

qualified undergraduates discouraged from continuing with graduate work in physics?

And for those who do continue, do the prospects of financial success influence the choice

of research fields? At institutions where support for every student is not readily

available, graduate students will be lured to fields that are currently well funded.

Similarly, job prospects vary widely by subfield, creating an incentive for students to

pursue the ‘hot’ new areas of research. This situation creates the danger that we will end

up with a plethora of experts in currently active research areas, though these will not

necessarily be of primary importance in years to come. . . . It may be that students

under financial pressure will choose projects that will enable them to finish quickly

rather than undertaking the projects for which they have the most enthusiasm. Lastly,

one might consider whether the conditions of graduate life are conducive to the most

productive graduate work. One hopes that students do not become so discouraged that

their work is affected. ”

164
V. Chandrasekhar"A Foreign Graduate Student ,

Speaks Out," Engineering Education, April 1988, p.

666.

"First, some faculty are clearly looking for bargains in their research assistants

(much like a coach in a “revenue sport” may look at an incoming student athlete). These

faculty let the work aspect of the relationship (i.e., the fact that they pay about

$350/month to their graduate assistants) completely corrupt the educational aspects. . . .

“The faculty members’ desire to get the best bang for their buck results in their

making inordinate demands in terms of the amount and quality of research work required,

the rate of results, and the amount of support work expected . . . forgetting that a novice

is at work, they may make demands for rapid results, as is done in industry when

professionals do the work.They may ask graduate students to “live their thesis” — learn

on their own and perform with little help the countless tasks necessary for typical

engineering research work (computer programming, glassblowing, machine shop work,

electroplating). . . .

"The result is that research assistants are forced to go into a crisis mode of living

(similar to what happens in medical residencies). This is an important reason why not

many qualified American students are interested in graduate study.”

165
Box 3-B.— National Defense Education Act Trainees

From 1964 to 1973, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

supported several thousand predoctoral trainees in

of the National Defense Education Act (NDEA)l

rapid space build-up, NASA’S projected personnel

NASA support of Ph.D. training. A 1961 report

times:

NASA’S needs in research appear certain

a broad array of fields under Title IV

At that time, with Sputnik and the

needs were great and spurred direct

reflects the policy mentality of the

to build up to a significant

percentage of the total scientific research of the U.S. . . . The most direct

way for NASA to assure itself of an adequate supply of Ph.D.s for its own

position in research and administration, and for its contractors both in the

universities and industry, would be to provide traineeships and fellowships

for advanced students in the space-science fields and closely related

sciences. 2

So the NDEA traineeship program was born.

A study of the careers of NASA trainees who earned Ph.D.s is currently being

conducted, looking at how trainees’ careers developed and diverged for the 20-odd years

following their traineeship. 3 Results from a pilot survey indicate that most trainees had

been interested in science or engineering from an early age, and had chosen their field in

high school or college. For these scientists the NDEA traineeships were more an

1. The main purpose of the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) Title IV was “. . .

to alleviate an existing and projected shortage of qualified college teachers.” The

National Aeronautics and Space Administration-supported fellows were but a portion of

the NDEA program. The early history of NDEA is discussed in Clarence B. Lindquist,

NDEA Fellowships for Co22ege Teaching, OE-55058 (Washington, DC: U.S. Department

of Health, Education, and Welfare, 1971); and Laure M. Sharp, Study of NZ)EA Title IV

Fellowship Program, Phase I (Washington, DC: Bureau of Social Science Research, Inc.,

March 1968).

2. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Working Group Report on

NASA-University Relations (Washington, DC: August 1961).

3. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is supporting a survey

of National Defense Education Act (NDEA) fellows, conducted out of the Space Policy

Institute and Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program of the George Washington

University, Washington, DC. About 4,000 NDEA/NASA-sponsored Ph.D. recipients will

be surveyed in fall 1988. Most trainees were in the physical sciences or engineering. The

survey is looking at influences on career choice, impacts of NDEA fellowships, and

career patterns. See Jeffrey D. Rosendhal and Thomas Dietz,

University, “The NASA Predoctoral Trainees of the 1960s: Where

What Are They Doing?t

’ unpublished interim report, June 1988.

166

George Washington

Are They Now and
additional and welcome source of money rather than a direct and immediate career

lure. However, the NDEA program was part of a broad national endeavor in space,

science, and higher education. Its impacts reached deep into the school system; many

children were “turned on” to science by Sputnik and the widely-publicized NASA missions

of the day.

Nearly all the Ph.D.s trained under the NDEA traineeships remained in science and

engineering, and a surprisingly large fraction, over two-thirds, work in their Ph.D. field

today. NDEA also supported students in broad areas of science only vaguely related to

space. While it is impossible to compare the effects of NDEA training grants to other

training grants or other forms of support, the preliminary conclusion of the study is that

NDEA traineeships helped create a scientifically productive cadre of career scientists

and engineers of great and lasting value to society (although not focused, as was

intended, on space science).

NASA successfully spread training grants throughout all 50 States, and to

institutions that had not been big recipients or Ph.D.-producers. Justification was that

the top 20 were “saturated” in Ph.D. production. With this policy, the NDEA programs

successfully broadened the university base for Ph.D. production.

Little long-term information is available on NDEA trainees who did not complete a

Ph.D. One study of all 45,000 NDEA fellows showed that about 60 percent of the early

fellows had achieved Ph.D.s. by 1974.4

4. Lindsey R. Harmon, Commission on Human Resources, National Research Council,

Career Achievements of NDEA (Title IV) Fellows of 1959-1973, Report to the U.S. Office

of Education (Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences, 1977), pp. 6-7, 10, 14-

15. Fellows in the natural sciences and education had higher completion rates than social

sciences and humanities fellows. In all fields, NDEA fellows completed their degree

much faster than the average Ph. D., in some fields several years faster (based on elapsed

time from receipt of B.S. to receipt of Ph.D.).

167
Box 3-c. — Women in Science and Engineering: Graduate Study

and Financial Aid

Are women science or engineering students less likely to receive financial aid than

men? The answer is yes. Several factors, however, cloud the situation.

First, women cluster in different fields of study than men; they are more likely to

be in the social and biological sciences, and less likely to be in engineering and the

physical sciences. Many forms of aid, particularly research assistantships, fellowships,

and traineeships, are linked to field of study. As women tend to major in fields where

less of such aid is available, they are less likely than men — averaging across all science

and engineering fields — to receive financial aid.

So a better question is: Are women in, for example, physics or economics, less

likely to receive aid than men in the same field? The answer is still yes. The reasons are

even more subtle and complex, however, at this level of analysis. Many factors

contribute

●

●

●

to women getting less aid:

They are more likely to be attending graduate school part time, both

overall and compared to men in the same field. For some this may in

part be due to family responsibilities, such as the need to care for

young children or help support a husband.

They do not fare as well as men in receiving the more desirable forms

of financial aid, such as fellowships, traineeships, and research

assistantships (RAs). Within any given field, women are less likely to

receive RAs.

They are likely to be supporting themselves. This continues a pattern

observed in undergraduates: Women are less likely to receive grants,

loans, or earnings from part-time jobs. The pattern continues when

they enter the work force.1

1. The National Science Foundation 1986 New Entrants survey of recent college

graduates shows that women employed full time in science or engineering earn 20

percent less than their male counterparts. Salary differentials vary by field; in

engineering, men and women take home the same paycheck, while in the social sciences

the salary differential is more than 20 percent. National Science Foundation,

Characteristics of Recent Science/Engineering

(Washington, DC: 1987), p. 82.

A similar message comes from a different

168

Graduates: 1986, NSF 87-321

source. The U.S. Department of
Finally, while some financial aid is better than none, some forms are more

valuable, in the sense of professional culture and career, than others:

A research assistantship contributes to the quality of graduate education. It

serves to integrate the student into the profession. It serves to teach him or

her the sort of nontechnical elements of the profession. You learn how the

grant mechanisms work. You become in the sciences, in a very important

way, integrated into research groups, which no other form of support

provides. So we see rather gradually, insidiously, differentiation taking

place where women are expected to do a disproportionately higher share of

undergraduate teaching, which takes them away from the company of their

colleagues and faculty and puts them into a different environment with

young students, while male students are working with faculty and regarded

as colleagues. . . . They are likely to have more opportunities to publish

before they actually finish their Ph.D.s. They are likely to have subsidized

travel, attend meetings, have opportunities to be introduced to people in

other institutions. . . .2

Education 1985 Recent College Graduate (RCG) Survey shows an overall 14 percent

salary advantage for men employed full time in science and engineering about 1 year

after graduation (3 percent in engineering, 16 percent in computer specialties, 23 percent

in the natural sciences, and 43 percent in the social sciences). (For all professional

occupations, RCG data show men to have a 35 percent salary advantage. Some of the

salary difference may be due to the kinds of jobs women take, which is related to the

jobs they are of fered.) U.S. Department of Education, unpublished data.

2. Lilli Hornig, Wellesley College, testimony, 1983, cited in Mary Moran, Student

Financial Aid and Women: Equity Dilemma? (Washington, DC: ASHE-ERIC Higher

Education Reports, 1986), pp. 27-28. Also see Fred M. Hechinger, “About Education:

When Motherhood Interferes With the Training of Young Female Scientists,” New York

Times, Nov. 9, 1988, p. B1l.

169
Box 3-D. — Women in Higher Education:

Making an Institutional and Societal Commitment

The issues facing women studying and considering scientific careers derive mainly

from the larger social and economic situation for women. Improving the participation of

women in science and engineering requires addressing some of the larger issues about

treatment of women in education, the workplace, and society at large.

Although women have made a great deal of progress, they still face many

barriers. There is no one magic fix. Vigorous action on many fronts is required,

supported by broad, sustained national commitment to equitable education and

employment opportunities for all. A special report of the American Council on

Education suggested that colleges and universities:l

● Seek strong commitment from the leadership of the institutions to

understand and address the concerns of women students, faculty, staff,

and administrators;

● Correct inequities in hiring, promotion, tenure, and salary of women

faculty, administrators, and staff;

● Provide a supportive campus climate for women;

● Make a permanent institutional commitment to women’s studies;

● Review all policies for effect on majority and minority women;

● Integrate impact studies into planning;

● Give specific attention to sexual harassment;

● Prepare an annual status report;

1. American Council on Education, The New Agenda of Women for Higher Education:

A Report of the ACE Commission on Women in Higher Education (Washington, DC: n.d.).

170
● Initiate a campus values inventory;

● Develop an institution-wide concern for children and families;

● Appreciate the value of diversity;

● Make leadership development, and commitment to fostering women’s

leadership, joint priorities;

● Establisher reaffirm the commitment to a Commission on Women;

● Appoint a high-level person whose formal responsibilities include

advocacy for women on campus; and

● Create a center for the exploration of community and personal

relationships.

171
The rapid

brought with it

Box 3-E. — Institutional Support and Graduate Education

growth in Federal support of R&D and graduate education in the 1960s

concern over the ability of U.S. universities to provide quality research

.

and training during this expansion. 1 In response, Federal programs were established to

improve and expand university infrastructure, apart from support of academic research

and students. These institutional development programs had two broad aims: to improve

the quality and capacity of well-established departments, with flexible funding for

equipment, facilities, libraries, faculty, and other personnel; and to expand the number of

high-quality departments by investing in “second-tier” institutions.

During this period, the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded three major

institutional support and development programs, providing money for equipment,

facilities, and faculty:

Total $

NSF Institutional Support Programs millions No. Instit.

(current dollars)

Graduate Science Facilities (1960-1970) $188 182

Science Development (1965-1972) $233 104

Institutional Grants for Science (1961-1972) $120 939

TOTAL $541 (or $1,760 in 1987)

constant dollars)

According to one evaluation, these programs achieved their goals, with modest

improvement of many departments and substantial, lasting improvement at a few

institutions. 2

1. Another significant portion of Federal support of educational institutions has been

targeted to undergraduate education, to a large extent historically Black institutions and

to a lesser extent predominantly undergraduate institutions. They are not discussed here,

but they continue to figure significantly in Federal priorities. Federal institutional

support of land-grant institutions, under the Merrill Acts of 1862 and 1890, by ensuring

wide geographical distribution of resources, has also influenced science and engineering

education.

2. National Science Foundation, “Institutional Support Programs at the National

Science Foundation, 1960 -1972,” PRA Issue Paper 84-26, May 21, 1984. ‘

172
Graduate Science Facilities provided funds for facility renovation, repair, and

construction at universities offering doctorate or master’s degrees. Its 50 percent

matching requirement successfully brought in State and private contributions for

facilities. The goal of Institutional Grants for Science was to strengthen the research

capability of existing high-quality institutions by providing discretionary funds, which

universities spent on equipment, supplies, facilities, and personnel. Science Development

was designed to increase the number of top-flight research universities. The Science

Development program was the only one of these three NSF programs that was evaluated

formally.

The NSF Science Development Program (SD) provided generous institutional

development funds in the late 1960s to strong "second-tier" universities to nurture new

centers of research excellence. 3

It was the first large-scale Federal venture into

institutional development. The program began in 1965 and was terminated in 1972.

While the

percent) on top

was University

amount of SD money was large, it was still a small increment (15 to 20

of a larger base of Federal funding to those institutions. The core of SD

Science Development (USD), which awarded $177 million in flexible

institutional grants to 31 public and private universities over 6 years (a little over $500

million in 1987 dollars). Typically four to five departments were built into each grant

proposal. The grants ran for 3 years, with a potential 2-year supplement. NSF’s decision

process included site visits and peer review by university administration experts as well

as scientists. Recipients were selected in part for geographic equity; USD money helped

start Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. The average grant was about $6 million,

spread over several years. Matching of State, private, and institutional funds was not

mandated but was an important part of the program.

SD funds were described by recipients as catalytic, accelerating improvement and

expansion and making possible ventures and facilities that otherwise would not have been

3. This summary is based on a National Science Foundation-commissioned evaluation

of the Science Development program: David E. Drew, Science Development: An

Evacuation Study, a technical report presented to the National Board on Graduate

Education (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, June 1975); and National Board on

Graduate Education, Science Development, University Development, and the Federal

Government, Report Number Four (Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences,

June 1975).

173
possible. SD succeeded at its two major goals, lasting improvement in institutions and

widened geographic distribution of funds. NSF was lauded for making good selections and

for hands-off administration.

The effect of USD was more apparent at public than at private institutions. Drew

hypothesized that private institutions used the money to maintain all departments rather

than expand in the financial retrenchment of the early 1970s. In terms of increasing

faculty publication productivity and Ph.D. production, SD funds also had the greatest

effect on less affluent institutions, where they represented a greater share of the budget.

174
Box 3-F. — Academic Marginals

In recent years the number of available faculty positions in universities has been

far smaller than the number of new doctoral scientists.l Slowly growing faculty

employment is not enough to take up the slack. Part of the surplus was once absorbed

into postdoctoral fellowships that were extended until more suitable jobs became

available. In the basic biomedical sciences, for example, the number of postdoctoral

grew rapidly from 1974 through 1982, then leveled off, although the number of Ph.D.s

awarded in those years grew very slightly.2

Many of these Ph.D.s have been directed into positions at the margin of the

university. Variously termed "the unfaculty,” ‘unequal peers;" and "the nonfaculty,"3

these scientists populate an academic "never-never land” made possible by and especially

vulnerable to the availability of research support. Bearing such titles as ‘Assistant

Research Anatomist," "Research Associate," or "Research Fellow," these scientists

typically do not share the academic rights and privileges of their counterparts on the

regular tenure-track faculty and typically earn lower salaries. In a few institutions,

there is a well-defined career track outside the usual academic ranks for these people, so

it is possible to attain the rank of full professor (or its equivalent), although usually

without tenure. 4 Many are employed not by university departments, but by quasiindependent research units.

The number of marginal scientists has grown rapidly in recent years. According to

National Research Council data, academic employment for doctoral scientists in

nonfaculty positions (other than postdoctorates) grew at an annual rate of 7.8 percent

between 1973 and 1979; in contrast, faculty employment grew 4.1 percent during that

period. 5 Growth in nonfaculty positions has continued at an annual 7 percent ‘ate into

1. National Research Council, Postdoctoral Appointments and Disappointments

(Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1981); and Don Phillips and Benjamin Shen

(eds.), Research in the Age of the Steady-State University (Boulder, CO: Westview,

1982).

2. Institute of Medicine, Personnel Needs and Training for Biomedical and Behavioral

Research (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1985), p. 56.

3. Clark Kerr, The Uses of the University (New York, NY: Harper and RO W, 1963);

Carlos Kruytbosch and Sheldon Messinger, “Unequal Peers: The Situation of Researchers

at Berkeley,” American Behavioral Scientist, VOL 11, May-June 1968, pp. 33-44; and

Albert H. Teich, “Research Centers and Non-Faculty Researchers: A New Academic

Role,” Phillips and Shen, op. cit., footnote 1, pp. 91-108.

4. Kruytbosch and Messinger, op. cit., footnote 3; Teich, op. cit., footnote 3.

5. National Research Council, op. cit., footnote 1, p. 69.

175
the 1980s, although it has slowed in 1986 (the last year for which there is published

data). 6

The growth of marginal positions (and the organized research units that often

employ them) signals a change in university structure driven by environmental

uncertainties, new obligations to industrial patrons, and tension between educational and

research values. Just the sheer capital investment in research and development requires

highly-skilled full-time staff to maintain operations. Universities’ initial responses to

reductions in research support have been to reduce costs, operate more efficiently, and

secure as much flexibility as possible so that shrinkage, if necessary, will be both possible

and less painful. Marginal positions and research units give universities flexibility in

personnel and administration that traditional faculty positions and department structures

do not permit. Simply put, marginal positions are more readily emptied and reallocated

than are tenured and tenure-track faculty, and research units are easier to dissolve than

departments. This buffer of temporary workers follows a trend in the private sector

toward hiring more in-house contractors and short-term employees. Universities are also

building bridges to alternate sources of funding, such as industry and State government,

in particular by targeting research projects and centers to industry and State interests.

Despite the apparently sound reasons for increasing the ranks of marginal

scientists, these positions affect the career prospects of incumbents, the scientific

research that they do, and ultimately the academic work force. Marginal scientists are a

significant scientific resource. The importance of their research can be documented

from their publication and citation records. Moreover, the work done in these marginal

positions also contributes to the productivity of other scientists and indirectly assists

academic search committees by providing a longer “track record” with which to evaluate

job candidates. But their time in these marginal positions also has costs.7

For example, there is no job security: employment usually ends when a project

ends. Such positions have limited academic “rights,” such as claims on laboratory and

office space or access to seed money and equipment. Within the university, marginal

scientists are dependent on others to provide part-time teaching or research employment

to complete their salaries, to gain access to equipment, and thus are indebted to those

who bestow such favors. In relations with the larger scientific community, occupants of

6. National Science Foundation, Academic Science/Engineering: Graduate Enrollment

and Support, Fall 1986, NSF 88-307 (Washington, DC: 1988), p. 188.

7. Edward J. Hackett, ~~~ience in the Steady State: The Changing Research

University and Federal Funding,f

’ OTA contractor report, 1987.

176
marginal positions are at a competitive disadvantage because they do not have an

established laboratory. Overall, such positions have relatively poor career prospects.

Some who choose to remain are driven out as “too senior” to occupy such posts.

Marginal positions are an extension of the scientific apprenticeship system. But

the appeal of flexible graduate education and postdoctoral training may lose its charm as

a “Permanent” marginal role. As a hybrid of the German privatdocent and the English

fellowship, the marginal position encourages scientists to acquire new skills, prove

themselves, and seek faculty openings. As a creature of Federal research support,

marginal positions redirect scientists’ careers in ways that diminish both professional

autonomy and rewards. From both an institutional and Federal perspective, however,

marginals represent a convenient hedge against both the squeeze of faculty tenure and

retirements. Better understanding of this journeyman Ph.D. talent pool is needed.

177
Box 3-G. — Impact of a Federal Research Mission:

The Apollo Program

The Apollo program is a widely acknowledged example of a Federal research

mission that succeeded in quickly marshaling and developing the scientific and

engineering resources needed to achieve a national goal. During the early-1960s National

Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recruited staff for the agency; pressured

its contractors to recruit the technical people who would prove indispensable as systems

engineers, project managers, and support personnel; and through a well-publicized grant

.

program, supported university research in all 50 States.l

But NASA did not—and probably could not—have anticipated all the long-term

consequences of its recruitment policies. NASA officials accepted the conclusion of the

Gilliland Report (so named for its chairman) that the Nation faced a shortage of

scientists and engineers by 1970, only to discover 4 years later that they were

contributing to a surplus of technical people that the economy could no longer absorb.

By then, NASA was faced with the need to start trimming its own work force. And here

the agency failed to make the orderly transition to the post-Apollo period that Director

Webb and his associates anticipated.2

The long-term effects of these separations affected NASA’s ability to carry on

much of its research, or to plan new flight projects. It was not that the proportion of

NASA scientists and engineers to total agency employment declined. Quite the

contrary. As a single category, they constituted just over one-half of NASA permanent

employees. But there were fewer scientists and engineers engaged in hands-on

research. There no longer were as many technicians available to support professional

staff; the sharpest decrease in the number of bench-level scientists and engineers was in

the age range from 30 to 39—precisely those whose research ideas were most likely to

lead to flight projects a decade or more down the road.3

1. Arnold S. Levine, “The Apollo Program: Science and Engineering Personnel

Demand Created by a Federal Research Mission,’t

OTA contractor report, 1986; and W.

Henry Lambright, Launching NASA’S Sustaining University Program, Limited Advance

Edition (Inter-University Case Program, Inc., 1969).

2. Arnold S. Levine, Managing NASA in the Apo2to Era (Washington, DC: National

Aeronautics and Space Administration, Scientific & Technical Information Branch, 1982),

p. 136.

3. This discussion is based on Hans Mark and Arnold Levine, The Management of

Research Institutions — A Look at Government Laboratories (Washington, DC: National

Aeronautics and Space Administration, Scientific & Technical Information Branch, 1984)$

178
Yet Apollo did create research capabilities that outlasted the program that created

them. Because Apollo drew on all of NASA’s resources, it compelled each center’s

managers to think of themselves as parts of a much larger organization. During the

1960s the “research” and the "development” centers tended to become more like each

other; centers like the Ames and Langley Research Centers, with a mixture of smaller

projects, weathered the budget cuts at the end of the decade better than those, like

Marshall, with enormous development projects that were winding down. The older

National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics centers found themselves with a broad

range of

conferred

The

was even

skills in aeronautics, life sciences, and spacecraft design, many of them

by Apollo.

impact of Apollo on scientists and engineers employed by NASA contractors

more complex.

comparable work in the

forth between executive

balance, NASA played a

Some remained in space-related programs; other moved on to

aircraft industry; managers at higher levels moved back and

positions in industry, NASA, and the Defense Department. On

stabilizing role in the aerospace industry; as employment on

Apollo declined, professionals became available for commercial or defense-related work

elsewhere. As for those who were laid off when NASA contracts were completed, the

majority soon found comparable work, except among older

market, the needs of employers may change by the time

This describes rather well what happened to many of the

sponsored in the 1960s. Although the unemployment rates

the early-1970s was relatively low, they were much higher

4 "In a fast-moving engineers.

entering students graduate."5

graduate students that NASA

for scientists and engineers in

than they had been only 3 to 4

years earlier — four-and-one-half times as high for engineers.6

What are the longer-term implications of Apollo for the management of Federal

research missions? Three observations can be made. First, Apollo embodied a certain

approach to the management of large-scale endeavors that became very influential. As

Webb put it, “. . . it is the new and different way of doing things — of organizing the use

of knowledge and technology and human and material resources — rather than the new

things themselves that is of most importance. . . . "

7 This implies that projects of such

pp. 140, 142.

4. Levine, op. cit., footnote 1, 1986.

5. U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Demographic Trends and the

Scientific and Engineering Work Force (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing

Office, December 1985), p. 25.

6. National Science Foundation, 1972 Manpower Report of the President (Washington,

DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, March 1972), p. 121.

179
complexity require a new kind of manager: someone with a profound knowledge of the

science and technology that the mission demands, with the ability to motivate the

government and contractor workers involved. Of necessity, such people are rare.

Problems arise when a style or discipline appropriate to one kind of program is

transferred to another. The same management approach — and even many of the same

managers — that worked for Apollo was applied to the development of the Space

Shuttle. It could certainly be argued that Apollo and the Shuttle were comparable as

projects of inordinate complexity and technical difficulty. But for all its sophistication,

Apollo was simple and its principles were well understood. No new technology was

required in most instances. The Shuttle is far more complex and, until the Challenger

tragedy, brought with it problems more like those of a commercial enterprise than of a

government agency program. This suggests a second conclusion. Precisely because

endeavors such as Apollo, the Space Shuttle, the War on Cancer, and the Strategic

Defensive Initiative (SDI) are not routine, it is seldom possible to specify in advance the

personnel needs of each one. Apollo was an exceptionally discrete, well-defined program

with one main objective and many secondary ones. This is less true of the Space Shuttle

or SDI and holds least of all for the War on Cancer. 8 NASA knew when it had achieved

the goals of Apollo; comparable criteria of success are still lacking for these other

programs.

7. James E. Webb, Space Age Management: The La~e-ScaZe Approach (New York,

NY: McGraw-Hill, 1969), p. 61.

8. Kenneth E. Studer and Daryl E. Chubin, The Cancer Mission: Social Contexts of

Biomedical Research (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1980), ch. 3.

180
Box 3-H. — Industrial Research on Campus:

Effects on Biotechnology Students

One aspect of the “steady state” of academic science is the growing importance of

industrial research support. With waning growth in Federal support, industrial values and

practices associated with industry funding would seem to portend change in the academic

milieu. While changes do occur, they are less dramatic than some have feared. 1

Industry-sponsored research has grown more important on many American

campuses in the past two decades, and particularly during the 1980s. However, industry

funds are still a relatively small part of the university research budget. In real dollars,

Federal research funding at universities rose 700 percent between 1953 and 1968, and by

less than 20 percent in the subsequent 15 years. Meanwhile, beginning in the mid-1970s,

American industry entered an expansive phase of research and development. In some

cases — notably that of biotechnology — increased industry support included new

institutional arrangements with universities, such as the establishment of entire industryfunded laboratories. Today, about 6 percent of university research is paid for by industry

(and more in some fields), and this proportion is growing.

This reversal of the longstanding trend in increasing Federal support has disrupted

scientists. Some laud the introduction of real-world priorities into academic research

and the training of future researchers, particularly in engineering. They believe that

subsidized academic scientists and students should tackle the current problems of society

and industry.

Others see dangers in

imbibing new, short-term,

these new relationships. They cite risks of graduate students

commercial values. The success of science, this line of

argument maintains, involves the pursuit of research topics solely on their scientific

merits; a student who is constrained by industrial support may not develop the judgment

to identify truly important topics. In addition, some think, industry’s emphasis on applied

research may damage the traditional academic strength of basic research, and

1. Michael E. Gluck, ~tIndustri~ Support of University Training and Research:

Implications for Scientific Training in the ‘Steady State’,” OTA contractor report, 1987.

181
proprietary secrecy may inhibit the free exchange of information on which science is

thought to thrive.

A survey of 693 life science graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at 6

research universities suggests that the influence of biotechnology firms on graduate

students is substantial, but not much more constraining than any other funding

influence. 2 The survey indicated that 19 percent of students and fellows surveyed

received funds — research or training grants, salaries, or scholarships — directly from

industry. Another 15 percent received no direct industry support, but worked under

faculty advisors whose research was supported by industry. About 14 percent said their

faculty advisors owned stock in biotechnology companies, but only a few of these

students received funds from these companies. A separate survey indicated that only 5

percent of biotechnology faculty received more than 60 percent of their research support

from industry (a somewhat smaller proportion of faculty than in chemistry or

engineering). 3

The conditions attached to such support are important in determining the influence

of industry on the socialization of scientists. Just what is required in return for the

funds? Industry funding may restrict research topics, or require students and fellows to

work for the firm that supports them. In the extreme, such restrictions could result in a

narrower education, with less room for initiative, than is typical in governmentsupported education.

In practice, some conditions are attached to most funding. There maybe slightly

stronger conditions on industry money than those attached to Federal grants, but there is

no evidence that such conditions affect the ability of students to do independent

research. Of 43 students and fellows with industry training grants or scholarships, 3

reported that they were expected to work on prescribed research problems, 3 must work

for the supporting firms in the summer, and 9 must perform other activities for the

2. Michael Gluck et al., ‘University-Industry Relationships in the Life Sciences:

Implications for Students and Post-Doctoral Fellows," Research PoZicy, Vol. 16, 1987, pp.

327-336. The authors warn that the data in their study come from the largest research

universities in the country, and that risks could well be greater at the smaller

institutions. They caution also against generalizing the results of this study to

chemistry, engineering, or other fields with large industrial involvements, since their

resources and research opportunities may differ substantia.lly.

3. David Blumenthal et al., ‘Industry support Of university Research in

Biotechnology: An Industry Perspective,~ Science, vol. 231, June 13, 1986, pp. 1361-

1366.

182
firms' benefit. (It is not clear how much Federal support — particularly training grants —

is given with similar strings attached, but Federal basic research funding generally does

not restrict recipients’ research topics. ) Of the six universities involved in the student

and faculty survey, two (Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology) forbid firms

from requiring trainees to perform such services.4

Some have expressed the concern that faculty may be distracted by their industry

work from normal academic activities, and that students’ socialization could thereby

suffer. The process of socialization is at the heart of graduate education. The traditions

and values of science are transmitted — largely by the faculty advisor’s example — along

with its methods. However, surveyed professors receiving research support from industry

report significantly more university and professional activities than their colleagues

without such support. They also report spending more time with students. Even faculty

members holding equity in biotechnology companies show no neglect of their academic

duties. (These results probably reflect the fact that companies form relationships with

the more productive faculty members.)

Another aspect of socialization is the kind of career expectations transmitted.

Here the survey finds no correlation with industry support; students and fellows with such

support are no more or less likely than others to desire academic careers, for example.

Finally, for a very small percentage of students, who are supported by companies in

which their faculty advisors own stock, there is the risk of conflict of interest; the

advisor might direct students’ research for the benefit of the company rather than that

of the students.

The data suggest some changes associated with industry support. In a few cases

industrial training grants and scholarships may be associated with increased trade

secrecy, delayed publication, and inhibited scholarly discussion; data, however are only

suggestive, not conclusive, on this point. The survey also indicates that trainees with

industrial support publish significantly less than others; the evidence shows, however,

that this pattern reflects individual predilections rather than effects of industry

funding. (Faculty with industry research support, for example, publish more than their

peers without such support.)

4. Gluck, op. cit., footnote 1.

183
These risks of industry funding are tempered by several conditions: 1) they are

infrequent, 2) industry funds are outweighed overwhelmingly in university training efforts

by Federal funds, and 3) they are subject to safeguards by university policies, which may

provide guidelines for the industry involvement with students and fellows. Many

institutions have already adopted guidelines promoting open communication of research,

for example, and some have limited the conditions that may be attached to industry

support.

It is important to recognize that academic research agendas and students’ research

and career interests are steered by many external factors, as well as their own

predilections. The interests of faculty advisers, Federal funding availability, and the

opportunities and limitations offered by available equipment and facilities all guide

students. The as-yet unresolved fear is that industry may guide academic research in the

United States more strongly and disruptively than other influences.

184
Box 3-I. — Preserving Young Science and Engineering Talent in Universities:

Two European Programs

In western Europe, as in the United States, the problem of recruiting and retaining

new research talent in universities has become a matter of concern. Stagnant demand

for university faculty and high industrial salaries have drawn many bright young

researchers away from universities. Several countries established programs to counter

this trend. 1 The following examples are cited as innovations that could be adapted to the

U.S. system of higher education and employment of scientists and engineers.

Federal Republic of Germany: Heisenberg Fellowships and the Fiebinger Plan

In West Germany, heavy faculty recruitments in the 1970s, in response to that

decade’s rising enrollments, left universities with little demand for additional faculty;

budget cuts in the early-1980s further depressed demand. At the same time, growing

enrollments produced many talented young researchers, some of whom have pursued the

Habilitation, a postdoctoral degree considered a necessary qualification for appointment

to a full chairholder post in a German university. To retain this pool of specialized

talent in universities, where they may be ready to assume professorial positions when the

1990s bring retirements of many current faculty members, the government in 1978

established the Heisenberg Fellowships.

The holder of the Habilitation is considered to be prepared solely for the academic

labor market, with a research training too inflexible for industrial research positions. In

addition, the average recipient of this degree is over 38 years old, too old for entry into

industry. Surveys show that only about 20 percent of the recently qualified Habilitierten

have obtained the tenured professorships traditionally associated with the degree.

The Heisenberg program, run jointly by federal and provincial authorities, provides

Habilitierten and others holding specialized academic degrees with university research

1. Based on a review of European programs by Guy Neave, “Science and Engineering

Work Force Policies: Western Europe,” OTA contractor report, 1987.

185
positions for up to 6 years. The program thus retains these highly-trained and talented

people within the orbit of the university, holding them in reserve.

The Heisenberg Fellowships were considered a temporary measure, to bridge a

short-term slump in academic demand. By 1983, however, it had become obvious that

most of the first group of recipients would not find academic positions before their

fellowships expired and that the faculty job market was unlikely to improve substantially

before the 1990s.

The Federal Government responded by mandating artificial improvements in the job

market. Under the Fiebinger Plan (named after the university president who proposed

it), all 11 provincial governments are called on to increase the number of academic posts

by 1 percent each year from 1985 to 1990. This measure will provide 200 additional jobs

annually (at a cost of DM200,000 per job). The jobs in each province will be distributed

by field according to assessments of needs for scientific and engineering research.

The Fiebinger Plan is large enough to maintain only one-fifth of new Habilitierten

in universities. With faculty retirements not expected to turn upward until the 1990s,

young researchers may still feel insecure about their futures. Some provinces, with this

fact in mind, have encouraged early retirement of full professors, so that they may be

replaced by younger staff (who, besides being young and creative, are at the bottom of

the salary scale).

The United Kingdom: "New Blood"

Like the Federal Republic of Germany, the United Kingdom cut university budgets

in the early-1980s. As in Germany, this step reduced opportunities to hire younger

faculty; about 3,500 posts were abolished. Without new faculty, it was feared, British

universities would fail to establish research programs in emerging fields — especially

those considered important to the nation’s high-technology future.

In response, the University Grants Committee in 1982 established a “New Blood”

program to bring bright young researchers onto university staffs. A secondary aim was

to shift the distribution of academic posts away from the humanities and toward the

natural and applied sciences considered critical to the nation’s scientific and economic

future.

186
The program bears certain similarities to the German Fiebinger Plan. It funded

academic research posts at universities, emphasizing new research lines of high promise,

such as engineering, physics, the biological sciences, and information technology.

University proposals for particular appointments were evaluated according to their

potential impacts on the universities’ research programs, and on the age distribution of

academic staffs. The program was limited to researchers under the age of 35.

In the 3 academic years beginning with 1983-84, the program approved 792 posts at

a total cost of about 22 million pounds. The average grant was £22,000 in the natural

sciences, medicine, and technology, and f 16,000 in the humanities. Physics accounted

for 25 percent of the posts established, engineering 18 percent, medicine 16 percent, the

biological sciences 11 percent, the social sciences 9 percent, the humanities 8 percent,

mathematics 8 percent, agriculture and veterinary studies 3 percent, and education 1

percent. Funding covers not only salaries, but also research expenses. Universities

assume responsibility for financing after the initial grants are made.

187
Chapter 4

Engineering Education

STUDENTS AND INSTITUTIONS: AGENTS OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND . ...........188

Perennial Themes: Quantity and Quality . 191

Trends in Enrollments and Degree . . 195

Recruitment to the Undergraduate Pool ..*. *.. *.. .*. *o*o. *.*. o.. **be*@*@** 198

Expanding and Diversifying the Pool of Engineers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .202

THE QUALITY ISSUE IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION .. 211

Faculty . 212

Access to Equipment and Facilities ,*. 213

Computers and Communications Technologies ● ...* 214

Cooperative Education 216

UTILIZING AND UPGRADING THE ENGINEERING WORK FORCE . ...............219

Continuing Education ** 219

Engineering Technicians and Technologists ● ***.   ** **   .** * . *******e*** 221

ROLES OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT .,. **** *.*. .*** ***.   ** ** *e *****0** 224

Graduate Education . 225

CONCLUSION 230

Figures

4-1 Where Engineers Work, 1985 and 1988 ● 189

4-2 Career Paths of 1984 and 1985 Engineering Baccalaureates in 1986............190

4-3 B.S. Degrees in Engineering, by Subfield, 1975-85 ● 192

4-4 Engineering Degrees, by Sex and Level, 1960-86 . 196

4-5 Engineering Baccalaureates as a Percentage of all

B. A./B. S. Degrees . . . 197

4-6 Freshman Interest in Engineering and Computer Careers,

by Sex, 1977-87 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

4-7 Retention Rates of Engineering Freshmen, 1973/77-1982/86 . .................203

4-8 Women in Engineering, 1972-87 ● * 205

4-9 Engineering Ph.D. Awards by Visa Status, 1960-86 . 210

4-10 Cooperative Education Programs, 1960-86 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............218

4-1 Growth Rates of Engineering B.S. Awards, by Specialty, 1977 -87 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193

4-2 Engineering Degrees, by Level and Race/Ethnicity, 1987 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. ...207

4-3 Primary Source of Support, 1986 Engineering Ph.D.s ● ***..****.*.**.*.****** 227

4-4 Primary Sources and Types of Support of Engineering and

Science Graduate Students, 1986 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Boxes

4-A Perennial Issues in Engineering Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .............232

4-B Expanding the Engineering Pool: Recommendations of the

Engineering Deans Council . ...**.******.*.**.*.**..*..***.************.* 235

4-C The Minority Introduction to Engineering Program (MITE). . . . . . . . . . ..........237

4-D The National Technological University .oo. *.*. *.. **. *.. .*** **. *.*. e..*,... 239

4-E National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for

Minorities in Engineering, Inc. (GEM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Chapter 4

Engineering Education

Engineering education reflects a labor market oriented to production and design,

and is sensitive to technological change. About 80 percent of all engineers and most

engineering Ph.D.s are employed by industry (see figure 4-l). Engineering enrollments

strongly reflect the health and research and development (R&D) activity of relevant

industries (often linked to Federal R&D priorities). Engineers can enter the professional

R&D work force with baccalaureate or master’s degrees, earning more than other new

college graduates, and almost as much as Ph.D. engineers. Three of every four new

engineering baccalaureate recipients go immediately to industry jobs (see figure 4-2),

STUDENTS AND INSTITUTIONS: AGENTS OF SUPPLY

The demand for engineers is variable and, in the

AND

long

DEMAND

term, unpredictable. Most

adjustment occurs within the existing work force. Rapidly growing industries sometimes

boost demand temporarily beyond the ability of work force reserves and academic

institutions to produce engineers. However, employers, the work force, and students

adapt well to changing markets. The supply of engineers is augmented and buffered by

auxiliary supplies that can be drawn on in times of shortages and transition: engineers

and scientists in related fields, technicians and technologists, recent retirees, and

engineering managers.

Despite this elasticity in supply, spot shortages and surpluses always occur, and

shortages may continue over the longer term. Rapid demand growth usually creates

transitory shortages, as seen recently in electronics and computer engineering. Likewise,

rapid cutbacks create surpluses, as happened in the early-1980s in petroleum and

chemical engineering. Continuing shortages in some areas, such as manufacturing and

nuclear engineering, may reflect not only strong demand but also continuing lack of

student interest and university ability or commitment to training students in those

areas. While the shortages of the early-1980s have eased, employers report shortages in

computer and aerospace engineering. 1

1. According to National Science Foundation surveys of employers and other

indicators (the Deutsch, Shea & Evans High Technology Recruitment Index; the Job

Offers Index of the College Placement Council; and starting salaries as reported by the

College Placement Council, the Recent College Graduate Survey, and the Engineering

Manpower Commission). National Science Board, Science and Engineering Indicators —

188
Figure 4-1. -Where Engineers Work, 1985 and 1988

All engineers, 1988

NOTE: n(all engineers) = 2,849,800

Ph. D. engineers, 1985

Other 3.7%

Fed era I

Government

onal

5.8%

Institutions 32.9%

NOTE: n(Ph.D. engineers) = 65,900

Reflects latest available data.

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, U.S. Scientists and Engineers: 1988,

Estimates, NSF 88-322 (Washington, DC: 1988), pp. 8-9; and National

Science Foundation, Doctoral Scientists and Engineers: A Decade of Change,

NSF 88-302 (Washington, DC: 1988), pp. 50-51.

189
Figure 4–2.– Career Paths of 1984 and 1985 Engineering Baccalaureates in 1986

I 1984 and 1985 Engineering baccalaureates

I

Unemployed*

2.8%

*includes those not in Iabor force.

NOTE: Total graduates = 164,500

Part-time graduate study = 23,000 ( 14%)

Employed in industry = 110,900 (67%)

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, Characte ristics of Rece nt Sc ience

and Enqineerinq Graduates: 1986, NSF 87–321 (Washington, DC: 1987),

pp. 1 3–15, 43–44, 47.

190
The supply of baccalaureate-level engineers does not distribute evenly, in numbers

of students or talent, among engineering fields and specialties (see figure 4-3 and table

4-1 ). Students oversubscribe highly-visible, highly-paid fields such as electrical

engineering and shun important but lower profile areas such as chemical and mining

engineering. Electrical engineering has grown 250 percent and has been responsible for

nearly one-half of the growth in engineering between 1977 and 1987, while civil and

nuclear engineering have stagnated.

Many argue that the United States could better utilize and support its engineers,

particularly with well-trained technicians and improved engineering management.

Because engineering knowledge becomes outmoded, it is important to have a steady

influx of newly-trained engineers and to refresh the knowledge of mid-career engineers

through continuing education. Industry and the engineering community have a strong

interest in lifelong education and retraining, as well as in undergraduate engineering

education.

Perennial Themes: Quantity and Quality

The strength of the next generation of engineers depends on two things:

● students in the engineering pipeline, who shape the size and diversity

of the supply of new engineers; and

● engineering institutions, whose capacity, facilities, faculty, and

attitude determine the quality of engineering education.

The quality of engineering education deserves at least as much attention as the

number of students. Quality depends on the structure of the curriculum, the academic

preparation of students, and the capability of engineering institutions to provide

effective faculty, facilities, equipment, and ties with industry. 2 Continuing concerns

over the quality of engineering education, and its appropriateness for employers,

students, and society as a whole have fueled longstanding issues over the structure and

content of engineering education (see box 4-A and appendix D).

~987, NSB 87-1 (Washington, DC: National Science Foundation, 1987), pp. 64-65.

2. National Research Council, The Effects on Quality of Adjustments in Engineering

Labor Markets (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1988). J.F. Coates, inc.,

Forces Shaping the Future of Engineering Education (Washington, DC: American Society

of Mechanical Engineers, June 1987); Charles E. Hutchinson and Carol B. Muller,

“Educating Engineers: In Praise of Diversity, 1~ Issues in Science Cmd Techno Zogy$ vol. 4?

summer 1988, pp. 71-74.

191
Figure 4-3. -B.S. Degrees in Engineering, by Subfield, 1975-85

80000

7000 0

6000 0

5000 0

4000 0

3000 0

2000 0

10000

0

Electrical

Mechanical

Chemical

Other

1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985

Year

*~/~ = Aeronautical/astronautical

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, Women and Minorities in Science

and Engineering, NSF 88-301 (Washington, DC: 1988), p. 197.

192
Table 4-1. — Growth Rate of Engineering B.S. Awards, by Specialty, 1977-87

Growth rate

1977-87

(in percent)

Computer 292

Aerospace

Electrical

Industrial

Mechanical

ALL ENGINEERING

Chemical

Mining

Civil

Nuclear

217

156

153

113

89

43

15

2

-34

Number of BS degrees

awarded, 1987

5,012

2,845

25,198

4,572

16,056

75,735

5,129

628

8,388

324

Growth rate

1985-87

(in percent)

18

7

14

6

-6

-3

-29

-32

-11

-24

SOURCE: Engineering Manpower Commission.

193
Universities report continuing, significant shortages of Ph.D. engineers for

academic posts, due primarily to the strong industry demand (and accompanying high

salaries) for engineers at all levels. Compared to the sciences, engineering has relatively

few Ph.D.s; doctorate engineers make up only 3 percent of working engineers. Unlike

Ph.D. scientists, they work mainly in industry. Ensuring an adequate, qualified supply of

Ph.D. engineers is more problematic than sustaining undergraduates. Academia must

compete with the high salaries, state-of-the-art equipment, and good working conditions

of industry. 3 Substantial financial sacrifices usually must be made to undertake a Ph.D.,

in return for very modest financial gains in increased lifetime salary. The prestige of a

Ph.D. in engineering is less than in the sciences. Overall, the rewards of obtaining an

engineering Ph.D. are seen as small by many young U.S. citizens, so that foreign citizens

have come to dominate U.S. graduate engineering programs and junior faculties.

Computer science, a hybrid of mathematics and engineering, is an applied science

that in many aspects is closely allied with engineering. Much of the industry demand for

computer scientists has been interchangeable with demand for electrical engineers.

Other computer scientists do theoretical research. The newly-formed field of computer

engineering is the fastest growing of all engineering specialties. As in engineering

generally, over three-quarters of baccalaureate computer scientists go directly into

industry, where salary offers are almost as high as those in engineering.

The Federal Government influences the demand for engineers through R&D

initiatives, general R&D spending, and economic and fiscal policies which affect industry

R&D spending and manufacturing. Policies in technology transfer, innovation, and

university-industry relations affect engineers because of their crosscutting role in

industrial R&D and developing new technologies into products and services.

As in science, the Federal Government has much greater influence on graduate

education than on undergraduate education. Many engineering students, like students in

all areas, depend on the Federal Government for financial support. Likewise, there is

demand on the Federal Government to help bolster the capacity of colleges and

universities to prepare engineers, particularly in terms of maintaining quality equipment,

3. The National Science Foundation reports that in 1986 the median annual salaries of

recent engineering baccalaureates (1984 and 1985 graduates) are $30,000 in industry and

$19,600 in educational institutions — not including full-time graduate students. National

Science Foundation, Characteristics of Recent Science/Engineering Graduates: 1986,

NSF 87-321 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1987), p. 83.

194
facilities, and faculty. The skewed demography of engineering — few women and

minorities, but growing numbers of foreign students — has spurred calls for Federal

action.

This chapter focuses on the many components of undergraduate engineering

education. In addition to trends in enrollments and degrees, it is important to look at

how the pool is formed and constrained by the curriculum, employer needs, and changes

both in the engineering community and the wider culture.

Trends in Enrollments and Degrees

Engineering and computer science were the fastest growing areas of study in

universities from the early-1970s to the mid-1980s. The largest increase has been in

bachelor’s engineering awards, which rose from 38,000 to over 77,000 between 1975 and

1985, 4 while baccalaureates in all fields grew less than 20 percent (see figure 4-4).

During this boom, engineering bachelor’s degrees went from 4.5 percent to 8 percent of

all bachelor’s degrees (see figure 4-5).

The surge in engineering baccalaureates ended in 1985, reflecting the downturn in

the job market, particularly in the electronics and computer industries. Current

undergraduate enrollments, coupled with the declining college-age population, indicate a

substantial decline in conferred engineering baccalaureates through the 1990s.5 Master’s

degrees continue their steady climb.

Engineering Ph.D.s, like those in the sciences, peaked in 1970-72 and then declined

rapidly. The continuing decline in engineering Ph.D. awards relative to bachelor’s awards

in the 1970s testifies to the attractive job market for bachelor's- and master's-level

engineers. Over the past 3 years, engineering doctorate awards have increased and

regained their 1975 level. About 4,000 engineering Ph.D.s were awarded in 1987.6

4. Engineering Manpower Commission, Engineering and Technology Degrees

(Washington, DC: American Association of Engineering Societies, published annually).

Unless otherwise noted, engineering degree data are from the Engineering Manpower

Corn mission. The commission estimates at all degree levels tend to be slightly higher

than numbers reported by the National Research Council and the U.S. Department of

Education’s National Center for Statistics, but follow a similar pattern.

5. Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology, Washington, DC,

unpublished data. Enrollment and degree data are from the U.S. Department of

Education, National Center for Statistics; freshmen intentions from Cooperative

Institutional Research Program, University of California, Los Angeles, The American

Freshman: NationaZ Norms for Fall, 1985 (Los Angeles, CA: Higher Education Research

Institute, December 1985).

195
Cn

1 I I I I I I I I I

- J- I I I 1 I I I I , I 1 000

d0

a)

o
Figure 4–5.–Engineering

1 5

1 4

13

Baccalaureates as a Percentage of Al I B. A./B. S. Degrees

3

2

1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985

SOURCE: Betty M. Vetter and Henry Hertzfeld, “Federal Funding of Science

and Engineering Education: Effect on Output of Scientists and Engineers,

1945– 1985, ” OTA contractor report, 1987, based on U.S. Department of

Education data.

197
Graduate enrollments have been rising since 1978, signaling slight increases in

engineering Ph.D. awards at least into the early-1990s. Although much of the recent

increase has been due to foreign students on temporary visas, who now receive over 40

percent of engineering Ph.D.s, graduate enrollments of U.S. students have been rising as

well, albeit very slowly. 7

In 1986, over 41,000 B.S. degrees were awarded in computer science. 8 The field

has boomed since the late 1970s. Similarly, between 1977 and 1985, the number of

computer science graduate students rose more than 15 percent per year, from 9,000 to

nearly 30,000.9

In 1986, about 400 computer science Ph.D.s were awarded, compared to

10 With a declining supply of mathematics Ph.D.s and a a few dozen 10 years before.

growing pool of computer science and computer engineering Ph.D.s, this growth may

dwindle as the field matures. 11 Just under one-half of recent computer science Ph.D.s

work in universities and colleges, with equal numbers in industry. Academic demand is

still high and should continue to increase, though it has eased significantly from the nearcrisis of the 1970s, when existing and potential faculty and graduate students flocked to

lucrative jobs in industry.

Recruitment to the Undergraduate Pool

The size of the engineering pool is set early in the educational pipeline, more so

than in other majors. A hierarchical and sequential curriculum, designed around the

early-committed student, makes it difficult to enter from other majors. The gatekeeping

function of high school mathematics preparation and college mathematics performance

excludes most students. This intensive approach means that high school science and

6. Engineering Manpower Commission data. However, about 40 percent of these are

foreign students on temporary visas; this proportion has been increasing steadily.

7. National Science Foundation, Academic Science/Engineering: Graduate

Enrollments and Support, FalZ 1986, NSF 88-307 (Washington, DC: 1988), p. 81.

8. U.S. Department of Education, Center for Education Statistics data.

9. All graduate students in all institutions. National Science Foundation, op. cit.,

footnote 7, p. 74. In the past few years, full-time enrollments have been rising faster

than part-time enrollments. Among full-time students, foreign enrollments are

continuing to rise faster than U.S. enrollments. Foreign students, including those on

permanent visas, are now about 40 percent of full-time computer science enrollments.

10. National Research Council, Doctorate Recipients From UOS. universities

(Washington, DC: 1986). Twenty percent were awarded to foreign citizens, but most of

those were on permanent visas.

11. The Computer Science Board, Committee on Research Funding in Computer

Science, Imbalance Between Growth anal Funding in Academic Computer Science: TW O

Trends CoZliding (Washington, DC: April 1986), pp. 8-9.

198
mathematics preparation strongly governs first the choice of engineering and then the

persistence of those students who choose engineering majors.

Most freshman engineers choose engineering during the junior and senior years in

high school.12 While mathematics and science are taught in high school as “foundation”

courses for technical careers, there are very few “pre-engineering” programs — and they

are often vocationally-oriented. Most are targeted to minorities or the gifted. 1 3

Students plan engineering majors on the basis of other influences, such as relatives,

parents of friends, movies, television programs, books, imagination,

(accurate or not) of a job market that offers attractive starting

influences are poorly understood. 14

and perceptions

salaries. These

Freshman interest in engineering reflects trends in the job market, and anticipates

the supply of baccalaureates a few years down the road. Interest in engineering peaked

in 1982, when over 12 percent of all college freshman planned to major in engineering

(B.S. degrees peaked in 1985-86). Among 1987 freshman, fewer than 10 percent were

15 Freshman interest in computer sciences followed a interested in engineering majors.

12. Report of the Task Force on the Engineering Student Pipeline, “Findings and

Recoin mendations,f’ Engineering Education, vol. 78, May 1988, pp. 778-780.

13. See Gillian F. Clark, “Pre-College Programs Key to Minority Engineering Efforts,”

IHack Issues in Higher Education, Oct. 15, 1987, pp. 9-10; and National Action Council on

Minorities in Engineering, Pre-CoZZege Program Directory( New York, NY: 1985). Two

examples: Philadelphia Regional Introduction for Minorities to Engineering (PRIME)

offers enrichment, student internships, counseling, field trips, industry programs, and

publicizes educational success stories for junior high and high school minority students in

southeastern Pennsylvania. Alexander Tobin and Richard Woodring, “PRIME: A Model

Precollege Minority Program,” Engineering Education, May 1988, pp. 747-749. The

Department of Energy’s Prefreshman Engineering Program (PREP) awards money to

colleges and universities for sum mer research and instruction in mathematics, science,

and engineering for junior high school girls and minorities. There is extensive costsharing with local industry; the 1985 budget was $280,000. In 1985 this program reached

over 2,700 students. Students are selected by school teachers and counselors, primarily

on the basis of interest and ability. About two-thirds of students who participate in

PREP go on to pursue science or engineering in college. U.S. Department of Energy,

University Research & Scientific Education Programs of the U.S. Department of Energy,

DOE/ER-0296 (Washington, DC: September 1986), p. 9.

14. See U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Elementary and Secondary

Education for Science and Engineering, OTA-SET-TM-41 (Washington, DC: U.S.

Government Printing Office, December 1988), chs. 1, 5. Engineering-related programs in

and outside of school might augment the pool of students interested in and prepared for

engineering majors in college.

15. Cooperative Institutional Research Program, University of California-Los Angeles,

The American Freshman (Los Angeles, CA: Higher Education Research Programs,

published annually).

199
similar, but more exaggerated, rise and fall. Both trends show pronounced differences

when students are disaggregate by sex (see figure 4-6).

The Relation Between Salaries and Supply

As with other fields, engineering attracts students for a combination of reasons,

ranging from innate interest and family pressures to a desire for a stable job and good

pay. Many cite the high salaries for engineers as a leading reason for many students’

interest. Engineers receive higher starting salaries than any other baccalaureate-level

specialist, about $29,000 (compared to $21,000 for the average college graduate). 16 T h e

substantial salary advantage for engineers has been longstanding and has been unchanged

in real terms. For a decade beginning in 1973, real salaries rose faster than average, but

have since declined. The stability of starting salaries over the long term suggests that,

despite temporary variations, supply and demand are relatively well matched within the 4

to 5 years it takes to produce a B.S. "generation."

Generally the financial profile of undergraduate engineers resembles that of other

students. Engineering students are slightly more likely than science students to have

loans, and less likely to use grants only. Engineering students who borrow tend to acquire

slightly higher than average debt, possibly in part because they anticipate higher than

average salaries. The difference in loan burdens is not great, however (especially taking

into account the higher salaries of engineers), and debt does not affect the choice of

undergraduate major. There is no good evidence that higher loan burdens are driving

students to choose higher-salaried fields such as engineering. 17

To the extent that money figures into students’ goals, higher and more stable pay

for engineers, whether in academia, government, or industry, influences their career

choice. 18 Freshmen planning to major in electrical engineering, chemical engineering> ‘r

.

16. Manpower Comments, January/February 1988, p.25.

17. Edward P. St. John and Jay Noell, ‘Student Loans and Higher Education

Opportunities: Evidence on Access, Persistence, and Choice of Major,” prepared for the

Fourth Annual NASSGAP/NCHELP Research Network Conference, June 3, 1987; and

Applied Systems Institute, Inc., ‘Financial Assistance, Education Debt and Starting

Salaries of Science and Engineering Graduates: Evidence From the 1985 Survey of

Recent College Graduates,v OTA contractor report, 1987, based on Recent College

Graduate Survey data. As long as B.S. engineering salaries remain strong, students

respond well without additional financial incentives. While engineering students are

more likely than others to do cooperative work-study during college, such programs are

not a significant source of funds for most students.

18. Kenneth C. Green, personal communication, 1987. Data are from the Cooperative

Institutional Research Program.

200
m

o

Figure 4–6.– Freshman Interest in

by Sex,

Engineering and Computing Careers,

1977-8 7

20

Men

15

’77 ’78 ’79 ’80 ’81 ’82 ’83 ’84 ’85 ’86 ’87

10

8

6

4

2

Women

0 ! I I 1 1 1 1 1 1 I f

’77 ’78 ’79 ’80 ’81 ’82 ’83 ’84 ’85 ’86 ’87

SOURCE: Cooperative Institutional Research Program, The American Freshman:

National Norms for Fall 1987 (Los Angeles, CA: University of California,

Los Angeles, December 1987), p.6.
computer science are more job- and money-oriented in their college plans than other

freshmen, including other science/engineering majors, and are more likely to cite job

opportunities and high salaries as

Attrition

Attrition of undergraduate

(around 20 to 30 percent), but

very important reasons for attending college.

engineering majors, like science majors, is significant

varies greatly by campus, and with trends in the job

market.

1 9 During the engineering boom of the late-1970s, transfers into engineering

compensated for attrition. Attrition is substantially lower for Asians, higher for women

and Hispanics, and even higher for Blacks (see figure 4-7). Attrition is compounded when

students need 4.5 or 5 years, a not uncommon period, to complete the baccalaureate in

engineering.

Attrition, however, can be reduced. Effective preparation and retention programs

have been demonstrated with women and minorities, and it is likely that such programs

can be applied to the majority of the population. Few universities and colleges have

recruitment and retention programs for students wishing to choose engineering majors

after the freshman year. Transfers into engineering from 2-year institutions seem to

provide a quick response to ups and downs in the job market, but national data on this

phenomenon are lacking. 20

Expanding and Diversifying the Pool of Engineers

Engineering is a large and diverse profession. Educators concerned about bolstering

the supply of young engineers look to both talented white male students entering other

fields, and to women and minorities, groups that have so far been poorly represented in

engineering. Recruitment strategies can generally be applied to all students; minorities

and women must, however, be reached early and given stronger academic preparation,

particularly in mathematics. Recommendations to expand and diversify the pool of

engineering students are listed in box 4-B.

19. Betty M. Vetter, ‘Demographics of the Engineering Student Pipeline," Engineering

Education, vol. 78, No. 8, May 1988, pp. 737-739, based on Engineering Manpower

Commission data.

20. The growth of ‘3+2” programs, which funnel students from liberal arts colleges into

engineering programs, also highlights the transfer function. Again, however, national

data are elusive.

202
Figure 4-7.-Retention Rates of Engineering Freshmen, 1973/77– 1982/86

140

130

120

110

100

90

50

40

30

20

10

0

--i I

I

A

I I 1 1 I 1 I I

1973/77 1974/78 1975/79 1976/80 1977/81 1978/82 1979/83 1980/84 1981/85 1982/86

NOTE: Asian student retention rates greater than 100% reflect the

fact that the drop-out rate among freshmen and sophomores is less

than the input at the junior year from two-year institutions.

SOURCE: Betty M. Vetter, “Demographics of the Engineering Student Pipeline,”

Engineering Education, vol. 78, No. 8, May 1988, p. 739.
Women

Women have made much faster gains in engineering than in any other field, largely

because their historic participation rate was miniscule (see figure 4-8). Women earn

about 15 percent of engineering baccalaureates, up from less than 1 percent in 1970.

Engineering and computer science have gained popularity at the expense of the life and

social sciences. Gains have also been significant at the master’s level and, to a lesser

extent, at the Ph.D. level, where women earn about 7 percent of science and engineering

Ph.D.s. Gains vary by field; female engineers tend to concentrate in chemical,

petroleum, and industrial engineering, and are less likely to choose, for example,

electrical engineering.

Current trends suggest a slowing of these gains. Freshman engineering enrollments

of women have leveled off at about 16 percent. Despite the plateau, the rapid gains

were unprecedented. Understanding this change could well illuminate the mechanisms of

career selection at work in the vast population of college students who ignore or are not

welcomed by certain fields. 21 This was the case for

1970s.

Gains for women have been slow in engineering

women in engineering before the

employment, especially in faculty

jobs. The small number of women in tenure-track engineering faculty positions, between

100 and 200 nationwide, indicates the persistence of barriers. 22 At nearly all levels of

education and experience, there is a salary bias against women. For the most recent

graduates, however, women and men receive equivalent starting salaries, in part probably

due to sustained years of strong demand for engineers. 23

21. Carolyn M. Jagacinski et al., ‘Factors Influencing the Choice of an Engineering

Career/’ IEEE Transactions on Education, vol. E-28, N0. l, February 1985, pp. 36-42.

22* Attitudes of male engineers — especially those with 5 or more years of work

experience, no Ph.D., and little daily contact with female engineers — toward female

engineers in the nonacademic workplace tend to be negative. Anil Saigal, “Women

Engineers: An Insight Into Their Problems,” Engineering Education, December 1987, pp.

194-195; William K. LeBold, “Women in Engineering and Science: An Undergraduate

Research Perspective, ” Women: Their Underrepresentation and Career Differentials in

Science and Engineering, Proceedings of a Workshop, Office of Scientific and Engineering

Personnel, National Research Council (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1987),

pp. 49-98.

23. The National Science Foundation reports that among recent engineering

baccalaureates (1984 and 1985 graduates who were employed full time, not including fulltime graduate students) men and women had identical annual salaries. By comparison, in

all scientific fields, men receive salaries several thousand dollars greater than those

women receive. National Science Foundation, op. cit., footnote, 3 p. 82. An industry

204
Figure 4-8.-Women in Engineering, 1 972–87

2 0

15

10

5

0

1972 1980 1987

SOURCE: Engineering Manpower Commission data.

205
Computer science has become an increasingly common field of graduate study and

employment for women. Nine percent of employed computer science Ph.D.s are women,

the highest proportion outside the social and biological sciences. In science and

engineering, women earned 16 percent of U.S.-earned Ph.D.s and one-third of the

bachelor’s degrees in 1986.24 One in five full-time graduate

States is a woman (the percentage is higher, perhaps one-third,

most foreign students are male). 25

Minorities

students in the United

for U.S. students, since

Blacks and Hispanics have made slow inroads into engineering. Although minorities

are interested in engineering majors, they are generally poorly prepared academically

and often lack the study habits needed to succeed in the unfamiliar environment of

college. Their attrition is much higher than that of whites or Asians; about one-half of

Hispanic, and one-third of Black engineering freshmen complete undergraduate

engineering programs, compared with an average for all freshmen of 70 percent.

Together, Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans are about 5 percent of engineers.

Asian-Americans are an additional 7 percent. The small increase in the Blacks’ and

Hispanics' share of engineering degrees dwindles when compared to the concurrent rise in

the proportion of Blacks and Hispanics among the college-age population (see table 4-2).

Blacks and Hispanics are scarcer at the Ph.D. level in engineering than in the sciences;

perhaps a dozen Blacks and two dozen Hispanics receive engineering Ph.D.s each year.

The story is similar in computer sciences.

Asian-Americans have

engineering majors than their

would lead one to expect.

immigrants. Asian-Americans

over 13 percent of engineering

become a much larger proportion of undergraduate

representation in the general population (about 1 percent)

Most of these degree recipients are foreign-born Asian

(including foreign-born Asians on permanent visas) receive

Ph.D.s granted to U.S. citizens.

perspective on salary differentials is also instructive. As part of an annual profile,

Robert R. Jones (“R&D Industry Developing An Entirely New Look,” Research &

Development, vol. 30, May 1988, pp. 78-80) reports that ". . . the highest median salary

for women (women in industry) remains below the lowest for men (men in universities) by

17.1%.’ 1 In some areas, the “entirely new look’ ’remains all too familiar.

24. National Research Council, op. cit., footnote 10. Women ea.rned only 12 percent of

all Ph. D.s, since almost all foreign students are male. Bachelor!s data are from the U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Statistics.

25. National Science Foundation, op. cit., footnote 9, p. 41.

206
Table 4-2. —Engineering Degrees, by Level and Race/Ethnicity, 1987

(in percent)

All U.S. Ph.D.s

B.S. M S . Ph.D.s 1986

Blacks 2.9 1.5 0.4 1.4

Hispanicsa

3.1 1.6 0.6 2.0

American Indians 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.3

Asian-Americans 6.7 7.3 5.6 15.2

ALL MINORITIES 12.9 10.5 6.7 19. 0

b

a Includes degsees aw~ded by the university of puerto Rico (up R). If these data are ‘ot

included, Hispanics are 2.4% of B.S. degrees. UPR data would not change M.S. or Ph.D.

results.

b u s. minorities ~ a percent of engineering Ph.D.s awarded to U.S. citizens* “U* S*”

incl~des foreign citizens on permanent visas.

SOURCE: Richard A. Ellis, “Engineering and Engineering Technology Degrees, 1987, ”

Engineering Education, vol. 78, No. 8, May 1988, p. 785.

207
A supportive campus environment and institutional commitment to minorities are

26 Special support programs particularly important for helping minorities graduate. can

substantially reduce attrition for Blacks and Hispanics in engineering. 27 Most programs

have a strong campus base, but depend on government and private funds as well as

university support. Successful programs provide peer support, tutoring, and communitybuilding among minority students. All emphasize the importance of precollege

preparation, call for consistent retention efforts from middle school through college, and

28 Today, there are high school career guidance by engineering professional societies.

indeed success stories (see box 4-C).

Ten institutions produce one-third of Black B.S. engineers; three of these are

historically Black colleges or universities. The University of Puerto Rico produces over

29 At least ‘n

20 percent of Hispanic engineers; 20 institutions produce half of the rest.

the near term, the concentration of minority engineering students in a small number of

institutions argues that a few specially targeted and well-supported intervention

programs could reach a large proportion of minority students.

Latecomers to engineering are another potential source of engineers. Significant

numbers of engineers decide to enter engineering during college; in periods of high

demand, as many as one-quarter of B.S. graduates.30 Most of these enter from other

26. Richard C. Richardson, Jr. et al., “Graduating Minority Students,’t Change,

May/June 1987, pp. 20-27; and Edmund W. Gordon, “Educating More Minority Engineers, ”

Technology Review, July 1988, pp. 69-73.

27. Ray Landis, ~lThe Case for Minority Engineering Programs~” Engineering ~ducatiw

,May 1988, pp. 756-761. .For Black freshmen engineers at the University of California,

attrition (out of engineering or school altogether) after 3 years was 87 percent; for

Blacks in the Minority Engineering Program, attrition was 36 percent. The Minority

Engineering Program has had similar success with Hispanic students.

The private National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME) is the

leader in coordinating and disseminating information on minorities in engineering and

intervention programs. NACME’S $1.1 million funding for the first 4 years came from

the Sloan Foundation. The next 4 years gathered corporate support and eventually some

National Science Foundation funding. NACME and most intervention programs also

receive substantial in-kind support from corporations (e.g., faculty loans) and colleges

and universities.

28. National Academy of Engineering, Engineering Education and Practice in the

United States: Engineering Infrastructure Diagraming and Modeling (Washington, DC:

National Academy Press, 1986); and National Academy of Engineering, Engineering

Undergraduate Education (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1986).

29. For a review of national minority engineering programs, and data on top-producing

institutions of minority engineers, see “Special Report: Engineering Education,” BZack

Issues in Higher Education, vol. 4, No. 15, Oct. 15, 1987, pp. 9, 12-15; and Engineering

Education, vol. 78, May 1988.

208
scientific or technical majors. Despite evidence of this potential for recruitment during

college, engineering curricula are aimed at students who come to college having chosen

the engineering major. Little effort is made at the college level to attract

nonengineering majors, though engineering educators recognize this as a key issue and

are now mobilizing to address it. 31

Foreign Engineering Students

The influx of foreign students to American universities is particularly apparent in

engineering. Foreign students have received a steady 7 to 9 percent of bachelor’s

engineering degrees since the mid-1970s. Their share of master’s degrees increased

slightly during the 1970s to around 25 percent, which has held steady since 1980. Foreign

students are much more likely than U.S. students to continue for Ph.D.s. Over 40

percent of recent engineering Ph.D.s have been awarded to foreign students on

32 About 70 percent of the temporary visas, up from 30 percent in 1975 (see figure 4-9).

foreign students who receive engineering Ph.D.s are Asian.33

The high demand for engineers has made it more attractive and easier for foreign

students to study and work in the United States. About one-half of foreign engineers (at

all degree levels) stay on to work in the United States after graduation.34 The shortage

of engineering faculty has made university and college departments particularly

dependent on foreign Ph.D.s. The proportion of foreign engineers among young faculty

(age 35 or younger) has risen from 10 percent to nearly 50 percent since 1975.35

Foreign students have also joined the rush to computer science. Foreign students

on temporary visas received nearly one-third of the computer science Ph.D.s awarded in

30. Anne Scanley and Engin Holstrom, Government-University-Industry Roundtable,

National Academy of Sciences, personal communication, September 1987. Analysis of

the 1984 followup on the 1980 Cooperative Institutional Research Program, University of

California, Los Angeles, data on freshmen show that 20 to 25 percent of engineering

majors in colleges and universities were recruited to that major during college.

31. J. Ray Bowen, “The Engineering Student Pipeline, f! Engineering Etication, volc 78 }

May 1988, pp. 733-734.

32. National Research Council, op. cit., footnote 10.

33. National Science Foundation, Foreign Citizens in U.S. Science and Engineering:

History, Status, and OutZook (Washington, DC: December 1986), p. xiii. The share of

U.S. citizens receiving Ph.D.s increased in 1986.

34. Michael G. Finn, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, “Foreign National Scientists

and Engineers in the Labor Force, 1972 -1982,” June 1985, p. 5.

35. Engineering Manpower Commission survey, in Vetter, op. cit., footnote 19, p. 739.

209
3000

2700

2400

2100

1800

1500

1200

9 0 0

6 0 0

3 0 0

0

Figure 4-9.-Engineering Ph.D. Awards by Visa Status, 1960-86

210
1986, up from

bachelor’s and

other field.37

and computer

11 percent in 1977. 36 Most foreign computer scientists --at both the

Ph.D. levels — remain to work in the United States, more than in any

Foreign computer scientists are important as new hires in the electronics

industries as well as

constitute as much as one-third of

one-third of all university computer

science or engineering.

academia. In Silicon Valley companies, they may

38 Foreign nationals comprise over the work force.

science faculty, the highest ratio among all fields of

Employers and universities testify to the high quality of foreign students and

engineers. 39 However, the large numbers of foreign students and faculty have raised

concerns in the engineering education community. Some foreign faculty, for example,

have been said to discriminate against women, reflecting their cultural backgrounds. (Of

course, native engineering faculty are not always free of such prejudice either. ) The

Department of Defense (DoD) has also expressed concern about adequate supplies of

American citizens to work as engineers on defense projects. For this, DoD has taken

initiatives to bring more women and minorities into the talent pool. 40

THE QUALITY ISSUE IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION

The quality of engineering education rests mainly in the hands of the institution.

Each engineering college oversees its own admissions, curriculum, student programs,

faculty, facilities, and laboratories. In other words, institutions delegate (or concede)

responsibility for executing quality standards to disciplines, departments, and individual

faculty.

41

36. National Research Council, Doctorate Recipients From U.S. Universities, Summary

Report 1986 (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1987).

37. U.S. Congress, General Accounting Office, Plans of Foreign Ph.D. Candidates:

Postgraduate Plans of LJos. Trained Foreign Students in Science/Engineering,

GAO/RCED-86-102FS (Washington, DC: February 1986), p. 3.

38. National Science Foundation, op. cit., footnote 33, p. 75, charts 5.1 and 5.2.

39. For example, Stanford S. Penner, “Tapping the Wave of Talented Immigrants, ’t

Issues in Science and Technology, vol. 4, spring 1988, pp. 76-80; and National Research

Council, Foreign and Foreign-Born Engineers: Infusing Talent, Raising Issues

(Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1988).

40. Two major initiatives include the Center for the Advancement of Science,

Engineering and Technology, a Department of Defense-sponsored project which is

compiling information on successful intervention programs; and the National Consortium

for the Physical Sciences, a consortium of Federal agencies, major corporations,

universities that is working to increase support and research opportunities for women

minority graduate students.

41. Guidance from engineering societies, especially the American Society

211

and

and

for
Except for national missions such as the Apollo program, the Federal Government

has had little direct role in engineering education. 4 2 While the project-based programs

of the mission agencies have had massive effects on the production of engineers, little

money has been directed toward science and engineering education per se. The concern

with engineering problems, especially at DoD, the National Aeronautics and Space

Administration, the Department of Transportation, and to a lesser extent the

Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, has underwritten the

support for human resources. In contrast with the founding of the National Science

Foundation’s (NSF) Engineering Directorate (and the addition of engineering to its

charter), engineering research centers and education have been formally recognized.

Faculty

Attracting and keeping good faculty is critical for engineering schools. Because of

strong industrial demand for engineers in the past 10 years, universities and colleges

seeking faculty to serve high undergraduate enrollments face a continuing shortage of

Ph.D. engineers interested in academic positions, particularly in fast-growing fields such

as electrical and computer engineering. The American Society for Engineering Education

(ASEE) reports that about 9 percent of the 20,000 faculty posts are unfilled. And

anticipated high retirements (in most academic fields) in the 1990s should again increase

demand. Universities would like to be able to hire more U.S. faculty than are

available. 43

42. As recently as 1982, no Federal agency targeted funds specifically for

undergraduate engineering education. According to a General Accounting Office

analysis, a total of 38 programs in 11 agencies spent $240 million on engineering

education in fiscal year 1981, but more than 80 percent of this was in the form of student

loan guarantees and a little over 10 percent went to the Merchant Marine and Coast

Guard Academies. U.S. Congress, General Accounting Office, No Federal Programs are

Designed Primarily to Support Engineering Education, But Many Do, GAO/PAD-82-20

(Washington, DC: May 14, 1982).

43. A.S. Wilke and W.A. Shaw, ~lThe Faculty Shortage: Comparing National and Local

Data,f~ Engineering Education, January 1988, pp. 233-235. The interplay of supply and

demand, and inferences about quality that arise at times of imbalance, is discussed in

National Research Council, The Effects on Quality of Adjustments in Engineering Labor

Markets (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1988). The new Federal law

prohibiting retirement due to age is raising anxieties in universities about differential

impacts on faculty hiring by field.

212
Faculty and graduate student increases have not kept pace with increasing

enrollments, and the faculty-to-student ratio has declined. In the engineering boom

between 1973 and 1983, undergraduate enrollments grew 80 percent while faculty

numbers grew 10 percent. ASEE recommends ratios of 12 or 14 to 1 for undergraduate

engineering education, which would require a 20 to 25 percent increase in current faculty

45 44 Shortages are worst at predominantly undergraduate institutions. I n

numbers.

response to the demand for faculty, engineering schools are using more adjunct,

industrial, part-time, and other nontraditional faculty. 46

Methods of attracting engineers into academia now include, for example, NSF’s

Presidential Young Investigator awards, which encourage industry matching funds. Some

States and universities created special salary schedules or add-ens for engineering

faculty; these helped recruit and retain faculty. Faculty development – career long

learning— is often cited as a priority for engineering professors. 47

Access to Equipment and Facilities

State-of-the-art equipment is particularly important in engineering education, and

contributes significantly to its high cost. 48 Since 1985 engineering faculty cite

laboratory equipment and building facilities as two of their most pressing problems. 49

This is both a catch-up problem, to make up for past underinvestment, and a continuing

problem because of the rising costs of equipment and maintenance.

Equipment problems vary by field. They are chronic in manufacturing engineering,

where equipment comes in large and expensive pieces. Universities may tailor their

course offerings according to availability of certain kinds of low-cost or donated

44. W. Edward Lear, The Quality of Engineering Education Programs (Washington,

DC: American Society for Engineering Education, 1986), p. 139.

45. Paul Doigan and Mack Gilkeson, ‘

t

Engineering Faculty Demographics: ASEE

Faculty & Graduate Student Survey, Part II, Engineering Education, January 1987, p. 208.

46. Ibid., p. 212.

47. American Society for Engineering Education, A National Action Agenda for

Engineering Education (Washington, DC: 1987), pp. 18-22.

48. The American Society for Engineering Education in 1986 estimated $8,400 for

laboratory costs for educating a B.S. engineer, including for personnel, operating costs,

and amortized capital cost. Lear, op. cit., footnote 44, p. 141.

490 According to a 1985 American Society for Engineering Education survey, reported

in Doigan and Gilkeson, op. cit., footnote 45, p. 212. For 1987 survey results, see Paul

Doigan and Mack Gilkeson, “Who Are We? Engineering and Engineering Technology

Faculty Survey, fall 1987, Part 11, ’1 Engineering Education, vol. 78, November 1988, pp.

109-113.

213
equipment; the result may be significant gaps in course offering where equipment is not

available.

In engineering as in the sciences, most laboratory equipment is obsolete and in

extremely short supply, classroom and laboratory space is inadequate, and buildings often

need renovation or replacement. The problems are particularly acute at teachingoriented institutions that do not receive extensive corporate or Federal research support;

these institutions produce one-half of all B.S. engineers. Even where up-to-date

equipment is available as a result of corporate gifts, funds to maintain, insure, or repair

it are often lacking. The easing of enrollment pressure in the last 3 years does not

resolve the problem. A very large number of engineering institutions are still training

students with little hands-on experimental experience, in overcrowded laboratories, using

equipment so obsolete it

they graduate.

Increased spending

bears no resemblance to what the students

on engineering equipment in the past few

will encounter when

years has mitigated

but not eliminated the immediate problem.50 Maintenance and new needs will continue

to press for permanent changes in funding of university equipment. These needs impinge

on all areas of science; engineering is especially affected because it is so equipmentintensive.

The unanimous recommendations of recent studies are for major Federal funding

and incentives that would sharply increase State and corporate contributions to

institutions whose primary mission is undergraduate engineering education. One

engineering community study estimated a need to double laboratory space and spend

nearly $3 billion for instructional laboratory equipment to match to the peak quality

levels of 1972, and defray a current annual maintenance cost of about $30 million.51

Computers and Communications Technologies

Computers and computer-based equipment have become integrated into day-to-day

engineering teaching and laboratories, and have created an entirely new education

industry of televised, videotaped, and telecommunicated instruction. 52

50. National Science Board, op. cit., footnote 1, pp. 80-84 and 256-263.

51. Lear, op. cit., footnote 44, p. 140.

52. Ibid., pp. 73-122.

214
Computers and Undergraduate Engineering Education

Computer and communications applications in engineering are diverse. They

include decision and design aids, desktop computers, teaching aids, flexible

manufacturing systems, computer-aided design and engineering workstations

(CAD/CAM/CAE), graphics, computerized sensors and nondestructive testing, simulation,

computerized machine tools and robotics, supercomputers, sophisticated portable

calculators, instructional video, and communication networks.

Intelligent engineering tools demand human partners with new skills and roles,

emphasizing problem recognition, unusual problem solving, visualization, flexibility,

information evaluation and synthesis, and decisionmaking. Networking may extend the

engineer’s role in communicating with management, the public, regulators, foreign

customers and sources, and sales personnel. These new needs demand changes in the

education of engineers, technologists, and technical managers. Students must understand

and practice with the tools they will be using in the future.

The current pressing concern is adequate student access to modern workstations

and computer-based equipment. Universities have difficulty equipping and maintaining

their classrooms, offices, and laboratories and rewiring buildings, despite special Federal

equipment funding and industry donations. Arranging access to industry equipment

through special programs or cooperative education has not proved easy or sufficient.

Federal tax incentives have helped but not inspired industry donations; student fees are

insufficient to cover costs; States have had limited effect.53 In the longer term, new

issues may arise as changes in engineering jobs and computer-based training restructure

the engineering curriculum.

Distance Learning

Long-distance delivery of education through video recordings and

telecommunications networks opens new arenas for engineering education. Distance

learning is particularly important for part-time, advanced students at the master’s level,

and for continuing engineering education. Electronic instruction takes several forms. On

campus, televised courses can reach more students at a variety of times, easing

53. U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Technology, Imovation, and

RegionaZ Economic Development, OTA-STI-238 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government

Printing Office, July 1984).

215
overcrowding in engineering classrooms. It provides employees at job sites with remote

access to instruction emanating from universities, companies, and third parties.

Instruction can be real time and interactive, or recorded for later use. Video and

electronic technologies make access to education convenient, flexible, broader, and less

expensive. They make possible more

certain economies of distribution.

The Association for Media-Based

diverse, up-to-date, tailored courses and permit

Continuing Education for Engineers (AMCEE) was

founded as a consortium in 1976, with funds from NSF and the Sloan Foundation, to

increase the national effectiveness of continuing education for engineers. Membership

has grown from 12 to 33 universities, serving thousands of engineering students; the

current catalog lists more than 550 video courses. Building on this success, in 1982 the

National Technological University (NTU) was created (see box 4-D). in addition to

courses by satellite, NTU offers special symposia, teleconferences, and other services.

Electronic instruction is spreading. In 1986 nine major programs using instructional

television to provide M.S. programs in engineering disciplines were in operation or under

development. Operated by public and private universities, the programs used various

delivery methods to reach part-time students, usually at their job sites. More than 40

regional systems are in operation today. About two dozen major universities, in the past

20 years, have awarded more than 3,500 M.S. degrees to engineers who complete degree

requirements in this way. 54

Cooperative Education

Cooperative education or “co-op" — student work for academic credit and (usually)

pay in industrial or corporate settings — is particularly important for engineers. It

provides unique career enhancement integrated with academic training, with

irreplaceable hands-on experience, improved access to modern equipment, role models,

education, training, career guidance, testing, and screening. Earnings help pay college

expenses, but financial aid is not the primary goal, and co-op is a less effective means of

financial aid than work-study and other aid programs.55 Engineering co-op graduates,

like other co-op students, tend to receive higher salaries and better jobs. Yet

54. Lionel V. Baldwin, "Tune In for Professional Development, ” Engineering Education,

April/May 1987, p. 679.

55. James W. Wilson, Northeastern University, “Summary Report: Cooperative

Education — A National Assessment,” 1978, p. 22.

216
engineering co-op

school.

56

Engineering

graduates are no less likely than other engineers to go on to graduate

and technology have dominated cooperative education since the

concept was implemented in 1906 by a civil engineer at the University of Cincinnati. 57

Much of the 1970s' growth in co-op programs, however, was in trade, business, and liberal

58 Slightly over 36,000 engineering and engineering technology undergraduates (less arts.

than 10 percent of undergraduate enrollments) are in co-op programs. 59

Engineering students have various sorts of work experiences. In one survey of

young engineers, 16 percent had co-op experience, 44 percent had other engineeringrelated employment, 31 percent had nonengineering employment, and 8 percent had no

60 However, Coop engineering students are much undergraduate work experience at all.

more likely than working nonco-op students to have work related to their majors. 61

Federal support for co-op programs was first specifically authorized in 1968

amendments to the Vocational Education Act of 1963 and Title IV-D of the Higher

Education Act of 1965 (HEA). The first significant appropriations under this legislation

were not made until 1973, when $10 million was awarded by the Department of Education

as seed grants for universities to start co-op programs. The number of co-op programs

increased rapidly, and took another leap following further amendments in 1976, which

placed co-op education in Title VIII of the HEA (see figure 4-10).62 Impact was limited,

as funds tended to seed many small programs. Regulation changes in 1979, designed to

encourage expansion of programs, successfully increased enrollments.

56. Sylvia J. Brown, Cooperative Education and Career Development: A Comparative

Study of Alumni (Boston, MA: Northeastern University, Cooperative Education Research

Center, 1976), pp. 36-38.

57. Richard P. Nielsen et al., An Employefls Guide to Cooperative Education (Boston,

MA: National Commission on Cooperative Education, 1987), p. 1.

58. Wilson, op. cit., footnote 55, p. 46.

59. James W. Wilson, Cooperative Education Research Center, Northeastern

University, “Cooperative Education in the United States and Canada,’f 1986, survey data.

60. Carolyn M. Jagacinski et al., “The Relationship Between Undergraduate Work

Experience and Job Placement of Engineers,” Engineering Education, January 1986, p.

233. The survey was limited to engineers who had graduated between 1961 and 1980 and

who were working full time. They averaged 6 years since receipt of the baccalaureate.

61. Brown, op. cit., footnote 56, p. 36.

62. John Dromgoole et al., National Commission for Cooperative Education, “Change

Management in Cooperative Education: The Expansion and Development of Title VIII

Comprehensive Large Scale Co-op Programs,” unpublished manuscript, n.d.

217
Figure 4-10. - Cooperative Education Programs, 1960-86

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

0 1

1982 1986

HEA Title II, IV HEA Title IV-D

HEA Title Vlll

NOTES: Includes Canada (less than 5% of total programs).

In 1986, 1,016 U.S. programs enrolled 198,000 students.

Includes junior college programs, which account for about 40% of

the total of both programs and students.

About 30% of cooperative education students are in engineering.

SOURCE: Cooperative Education Research Center, “Cooperative Education in

the United States and Canada” (Boston, MA: Northeastern University,

)

January 1987 ; and James W. Wilson, “Cooperative Education–A National

Assessment” Boston, MA: Cooperative Education Research Center, Northeastern

University, April 1988).

218
State involvement in co-op programs has been small and sporadic. Foundations

have also supported co-op education. The most important actors, the employers

themselves, have generally not assumed a leadership role in coordinating the on- and offcampus experiences. 63 The Federal Government also has a lead role as an employer of

co-op students, employing about 8,000.

UTILIZING AND UPGRADING THE ENGINEERING WORK FORCE

Continuing Education

Continuing engineering education is extensive

undertake continuing education during their careers;

participate in some kind of training each year. 65

and expanding.64 Most engineers

more that one-half of all engineers

Concern about the supply of new

engineers, rising costs, and improving corporate flexibility, industrial productivity, and

efficiency has prompted investment and innovation in continuing education.

Continuing education is used to update specific technical skills. Companies invest

more in formal continuing education and training for technicians than they do for Ph.D.

engineers. 66 Young engineers are more likely than old ones to undertake such training.

Although not strictly considered continuing education, extensive on-the-job training is

usually required during the first year of engineering employment. It is not clear how

much of this burden could be shifted to the universities or to joint university-industry

programs. Much in-house training presumably is necessary to introduce new engineers to

company equipment, procedures, and techniques.

Corporate needs have fostered many ad hoc arrangements with traditional

educational institutions. In 1984, for example, General Motors (GM) contracted with 45

63. National Research Council, " Engineering Education and Practice in the United

States,’f Engineering Undergraduate Education (Washington, DC: National Academy

Press, 1986), pp. 27-32.

64. Bruno O. Weinschel and Russel C. Jones, American Association of Engineering

Societies, Toward the More Effective Utilization of American Engineers, (Washington,

DC: American Association of Engineering Societies, 1986); Russel C. Jones and William

K. LeBold, “Continuing Development to Enhance the Utilization of Engineers,t

’

Engineering Education, April/May 1986, pp. 669-673; and “Continuing Education,!’

Engineering Education, April/May 1987, pp. 656-685.

65. National Research Council, Engineering Education and Practice in the United

States: Continuing Education of Engineers (Washington, DC: National Academy Press,

1985), pp. 21-22.

66. Ibid., p. 22.

219
community colleges

the college faculty

more evening and

programs. Industry

‘?

around the country for automotive technician training courses, with

receiving specialized training at GM.67 Universities are offering

short courses, televised and videotaped courses, and certificate

contracts for technician training or continuing engineering education

have become a significant revenue source for some engineering colleges and

universities. The time and trouble of getting access to a desired course at a convenient

time and place have prompted expansion of telecommunications-based distance

continuing education, which allows employers to bring a specific course right into their

offices or plant. 68

Estimates of private investment in continuing education vary, but all indicate

something on the order of tens of billions of dollars. Most is informal, on-the-job

training — observing an experienced worker — but increasingly includes formal courses.

Companies also pay about $10 billion annually in tuition for employees enrolled in

conventional courses and degree programs. 69 The Federal Government also sponsors

extensive retraining for both military and civilian technical employees.

These sums dwarf Federal education outlays. However, only large companies can

afford extensive training. Corporate education expenditures correlate very strongly with

R&D investment and ranking in the Fortune 500. Although society benefits, it is difficult

for a company to recoup its investment when workers leave. Also, companies often

reduce retraining support during business downturns, when retraining is most needed.

Although many educational institutions are offering more continuing education, they

often do not have the appropriate resources or faculty to do specialized mid-career

engineering retraining in addition to their primary general teaching mission. Public

67. Steven L. Goldman, “The History of Engineering Education: Perennial Issues in the

Supply and Training of Talent,” OTA contractor report, 1987. Also see David F. Noble,

America by Design: Science, Technology and the Rise of Corporate Capitalism (New

York, NY: Knopf, 1977).

68. Academic engineers can also benefit from continuing education; some argue that

industry should play a larger role to keep engineering faculty abreast of industry

advances and interests.

69. A number of reports, especially in the Wall Street JournaZ, and in conversations

with executives at IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, Hughes, DuPont, and other medium

to large companies, refer to the practice by more and more companies of reducing their

engineering work force to a core group and hiring more contract engineers on a projectby-project basis (Pamela Atkinson, University of California, Berkeley, personal

communication, November 1988). This will remind engineers of the virtues of

entrepreneurship in marketing their talents. See National Academy of Engineering,

Focus on the Future: A National Action Plan for Career-Long Education for Engineers

(Washington, DC: 1988).

220
investment in retraining could be justified on the value of a well-trained work force to

the economy, and helping individuals who may be dislocated or made obsolete by

technological advance. Overcoming disincentives for retraining may require public

policies to encourage company and industry-wide retraining, support retraining of

government employees, increase individual investment in retraining (e.g., through tuition

credits), and assist colleges, universities) and third party education providers in

developing programs. 70

Engineering Technicians and Technologists

Engineering technicians and technologists are vital support personnel in engineering

practice and production. The vast majority of engineering technicians are employed in

71 but their training and jobs industry. There are over 1 million engineering technicians,

are diverse and there is no well-accepted definition of technician or technologist.

Electronics and electrical technicians are by far the largest category, accounting for

over 40 percent of engineering technicians and technician-level degrees. 72 Major

concerns are the supply of well-trained technicians, qualified at least at the 2-year

associate level, and the capacity of institutions to train quality technicians. 73

About 12,000 4-year bachelor’s degrees and 14,000 2-year associate degrees were

awarded in engineering technology in 1987 at programs surveyed by the Engineering

70. U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Technology and the Economic

Transition, TET-283 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1988), pp. 240-

251, 385; and Richard M. Cyert and David C. Mowery (eds.), Technology and

Employment: Innovation and Growth in the U.S. Economy (Washington, DC: National

Academy Press, 1987).

71. Betty M. Vetter and Eleanor L. Babco, Professional Women and Minorities: A

Manpower Data Resource Service, 5th ed. (Washington, DC: Scientific Manpower

Commission, August 1984), p. 198, table 7-31; and National Science Board, op. cit.,

footnote l,pp. 56-57, 221.

72. Estimates of the engineering technician population provided by Betty Vetter,

Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology, based on Bureau of Labor

Statistics data and the Engineering Manpower Commission’s Engineering anc.f Technology

Degrees series. Vetter estimates 384,000 electrical/electronic technicians out of

984,000 total in 1985. The U.S. Departmentof Education’s National Center for Statistics

unpublished data on engineering technology/technician degrees are significantly higher

than Engineering Manpower Commission data.

73. National Science Foundation, Emerging Issues in Science and Technology, 1982,

NSF 83-61 (Washington, DC: 1983), pp. 49-58; ‘Engineering Technology,M Engineering

Education, April/May 1987, pp. 724-755.

221
Manpower Commission. 74 Estimates of total associate level engineering degrees are on

75 Engineering technology programs have been growing the order of 90,000 to 100,000.

rapidly; although there is some evidence of downturns in enrollments in the past few

years.

7 6

Technician and technology degrees are conferred by community colleges, 2- and 4-

year city colleges, proprietary vocational-technical institutions, and to a lesser extent at

State colleges and universities. Faculty tend to come from industry. In addition to

formal degree programs, significant technician training and certification is done

privately, through associations and companies. Most institutions are supported by tuition

paid by students or employers.

Engineering technology and technician students and institutions have historically

been outside the mainstream of U.S. science and engineering education, and beyond the

reach of Federal engineering education programs. Though a source of engineering talent

through mobility and training, they are often ignored in R&D policy. NSF, with its focus

on universities, research, and Ph.D.s, has not been involved in technician training.

Universities employ technicians, in science and engineering, but many of these are their

own alumni. That situation is changing. The National Technicians Training Act,

introduced (though not passed) in 1987, directed NSF to designate ten centers of

excellence among community colleges to serve as clearinghouses and model training

programs.

77

74. Richard A. Ellis, “Engineering and Engineering Technology Degrees, 1987,"

Engineering Education, May 1988, p. 792. The Engineering Manpower Commission

collects partial data on 2- and 4-year accredited programs. These programs cover a

majority, but by no means all, of formal 2- and 4-year programs. They do not cover

certificate, pre-engineering, or less formal degree programs. Difficulties of definition of

programs make data collection in this area very difficult.

75. These are 1984 data on associate degrees and other occupational curriculums

greater than 1 year, but less than 4 years. U.S. Department of Education, National

Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics (Washington, DC: 1987),

p. 216.

76. Richard A. Ellis, ‘

t

Engineering and Engineering Technology Enrollments, 1987,1’

Engineering Education, October 1988, pp. 51-54, reports declining enrollments through

the 1980s; and in the May 1988 issue (Ellis, op. cit., footnote, 74) a downturn in 4-year

degrees for 1987. Lack of good definitions, poor institutional recordkeeping, the

diversity and informality of many programs, and changes in survey methods and scope

make it difficult to track trends. Lawrence J. Wolf, ‘tThe Emerging Identity of

Engineering Technology,” Engineering Education April/May 1987 p. 725, reports, based on

National Center for Education Statistics data, that engineering technology bachelor’s

degrees (and associate programs) have been growing about twice as fast as engineering

degrees.

222
Technologist education may be even more equipment-intensive than engineering

education. Hands-on experience is a hallmark of successful programs. Simulation and

computer graphics can help. There is a chronic need for instructional materials, access

to facilities, and employers’ giving time off. Many large companies offer extensive inhousetraining, but have difficulty in hiring people to do the training.

Better coordination of course content and requirements between curricula at 2- and

4-year institutions could make it more likely that academically-oriented technician or

technologist students would be able to transfer to engineering programs. 78 There is

nothing in the American educational system comparable to the institutions created in

England, France, and Germany in the 19th century to provide mobility into engineering

jobs for skilled workers lacking formal education. The tension between the shop culture

of early American engineering (dominant through the 1800s) and the university culture of

science-based engineering (dominant after World War II) has widened the gulf between

engineers with degrees and knowledgeable workers without them. Skilled workers possess

valuable expertise, but without a formal credential or professional license they are not

considered "engineers."

7 9

Although technologists and technicians have degrees, engineering culture reinforces

the status differential. Some argue that many engineers are employed in industry in

capacities that do not use their formal training well, in jobs that could filled by other

77. H.R.2134, Congre@ona2 Record, vol. 133, No.62, Apr. 22, 1987.

78. An underlying issue is the content of the college-preparatory ‘academic”

curriculum track in high school as opposed to the ‘vocationalv track:

One of the most important and least understood segments of the education

and training system is the set of institutions that provide vocational

training. . . . The proportion of postsecondary students enrolled in

vocational fields has increased notably, as have the number and variety of

service providers. Yet little is known about the institutions and people that

constitute the system of postsecondary vocational education, the reasons

students enter and exit the system and, ultimately, the extent to which

students benefit from the training they receive.

National Assessment of Vocational Education, First Interim Report (Washington, DC:

January 1988), p. 6-1. Under the Perkins Vocational Education Act, high school

vocational education serves a diverse clientele. Programs under the Comprehensive

Employment and Training Act and Job Training Partnership Act are for different

purposes and have not directly addressed the need for technicians. Warren Anderson,

‘Community Colleges and Technician Training,

H testimony before the House

Subcommittee on Science, Research and Technology, Committee on Science and

Technology Committee, Sept. 30, 1985, p.231.

79. See, for example, National Societyof Professional Engineers, ‘PE — A License for

Success,” Engineering Times, vol. 8,No. 3, May1986, p.4.

223
expert workers. The situation suggests that technicians and technologists could augment

the ranks of engineers in times of high demand.80

ROLES OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Industry dominates the engineering labor market. Universities generate the supply

of new engineers. Together with the professional engineering community, industry, and

academia have shaped engineering education. The Federal Government, although a major

player, affects engineering education mainly indirectly, by supporting higher education

and academic research, and by mounting major national R&D programs that drive

industrial and academic demand for engineers. Federal R&D and student support

programs can affect the distribution of engineers among fields and sectors, but most of

this fine-tuning is overshadowed and overtaken by the effects of the labor market. The

Federal Government has left most supply adjustments to the market.

This approach has worked fairly well, but periodic shortages of engineers bring calls

for Federal "remedies," such as to produce more engineers in the specialties in vogue and

to provide timely information on engineering labor markets. The rising cost of

engineering research and education has drawn attention to Federal funding for university

equipment, facilities, and institutional development. Federal actions have also been

prompted by social concerns, such as access of minorities and women to engineering

careers, and having sufficient personnel to work on high-priority Federal military, space,

and public works R&D. Federal concern for a healthy supply of engineers has been

boosted by the historically increasing Federal role in business and R&D, and pressure for

coordinated national action to stimulate innovation and international industrial

competitiveness.

About 8 percent of engineers work directly for the Federal Government or military,

but far more engineering employment depends directly or indirectly on Federal R&D and

81 Roughly 20 to 40 percent of engineers are procurement (largely defense-related).

82 On campus, employed in defense-supported work, most in industry and government.

80. This is why industry has adamantly not supported the hiring of only engineers with a

P.E., and why continuing education for relicensure has never gained momentum. Industry

can hire anyone it wants and call him or her an ‘engineer.U

81. National Science Foundation, U.S. Scientists anal Engineers: 1986, NSF 87-322

(Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1988), p.36.

82. Ibid., p. 118, 124; and Michael Davey and Genevieve Knezo, Congressional Research

Service, 1987, ~IThe Federal Contribution to Basic Research: Background Material for

224
military spending is a substantial amount of the support received by engineers: DoD is

83 The rising DoD the source of research funds for one-quarter of academic engineers.

presence in Federal R&D spending worries some that the military will siphon engineers

from industry and widen the gap between military and civilian skills. One recent report

concluded, however, that military R&D spending increased demand for engineers, which

in turn bolstered the supply and benefited all employers of engineers — civilian,

academic, and military. 84

Graduate Education

There have been continuing shortages of Ph.D. engineers. A recent survey of

engineering department heads reinforced the role of financial assistance in attracting

graduate students (again see table 3-12 in the preceding chapter) .85

Doctoral engineering programs grew rapidly after World War II, with the

encouragement of the G.I. Bill, the National Defense Education Act, and large Federal

research expenditures. Engineering Ph.D. awards rose from about 100 annually in the

early 1940s to about 3,700 in the mid-1970s. The subsequent decline can be attributed to

various factors: the end of the military draft, a ratcheting down of demand for

engineering doctorates in industry and continuing strong employment of engineering

baccalaureates, modest growth in academic hiring, and the waning attractiveness of

academic posts when research money is tight (compared to the 1960s and 1970s) and

teaching demands high (due to high undergraduate enrollments).

The early-1980s boom in undergraduate enrollments could swell the graduate

population, but there is no sign of this yet and in the past there has not been a direct

relationship between engineering B.S. awards and graduate enrollments. Some have

predicted an increase in Ph.D. production approaching 4,000 Ph.D.s per year. 86 To

83. The Department of Energy supports 17 percent, much of that defense-related; the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation

support 14 percent each. National Science Foundation, op. cit., footnote 81, p. 129.

84. National Academy of Engineering, The Impact of Defense Spending on Nondefense

Engineering Labor Markets (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1986), esp. Eli

Ginzberg, “Scientific and Engineering Personnel: Lessons and Policy Directions,’f pp. 25-

41.

85. Faculty attitudes toward undergraduate engineering students is a “wild card’f:

abundant anecdotes indicate that encoura~ement, along with increased graduate stiDends,

would make a difference. The College of-Engineer~t the University-of

is a case in point.

86. National Research Council, Engineering Graduate Education

225

Illinois-Urbana

and Researc h
achieve this, incentives for graduate study, and especially the redoubling of efforts to

inform students about engineering opportunities, will have to improve (for an example,

see box 4-E).

The Federal Government is the primary source of support in graduate school for

less than 10 percent of U.S. engineers who earn Ph.D.s, and less than 5 percent of all

Ph.D. engineers (see table 4-3). 87 Research assistantships are the most widespread

funding source; they support nearly three-quarters of successful Ph.D.s and are primary

support for over one-half of Ph.D.s. Loans supplement other funds for few students.

Ph.D. engineers are twice as likely as Ph.D. scientists to have received support from

industry or an employer (8 percent v. 4 percent in 1986), but industry’s role is still quite

88 A comparison of sources and types of small relative to university and Federal support.

support awarded to engineering and science graduate students in 1986 is presented in

table 4-4.

From 1973 to 1983, graduate stipends fell from one-half to nearly one-quarter of

89 To lure engineering students away rapidly rising starting salaries for B.S. engineers.

from high-paying industry jobs and into graduate school, many institutions have increased

the amount of graduate student stipends, based on a rule of thumb of one-half of industry

starting salaries (which approach $30,000 for B.S. engineers). The creation of industrylinked academic centers for engineering research (for example, NSF-supported

Engineering Research Centers and the many anticipated local variations on them ) 90

could enhance the attractiveness of academic careers more than simply increasing

graduate stipends. More likely, academic centers will be a phase; like so many other

proposed innovations, it will fade as a fashion or be absorbed into the academic culture

of engineering.

Federally and State sponsored interdisciplinary engineering research centers and

new university-industry institutions, such as the Engineering Research Centers, have

been geared not only to R&D but also to education and manpower development.

(Washington, DC: 1985), p.1.

87. The proportion of graduate students with Federal support, as opposed to those who

complete Ph.D.s, is 2 to 3 times higher.

88. National Research Council, op. cit., footnote 36, p.54.

89. Jerrier A. Haddad, ‘Key Issues in U.S. Engineering Education,M The Bridge, summer

1983,po 12.

90. Nam P. Suh, ‘The ERCS: What We Have Learned,H Engineering Education, vol. 78,

No. l, 0ctober1987, pp. 16-18.

226
Table

Source of Support

Institutional b

Federal

Personal

Other

c

4-3. — Primary Source of Support, 1986 Engineering Ph.D.s

(in percent)

Engineering Sciences Computer Sciences All

N=2,754a N=340a N=13,654 a

68 58

6 4

16 26

10 12

aNumber reporting source of support, about 90 percent of total blncludes State*

cIncludes corporate and foreign.

SOURCE: National Research Council, unpublished 1987 data.

54

11

30

6

Ph.D.s.

227
Table 4-4. — Primary Sources and Types of Support

of Engineering and Science Graduate Students, 1986

(in percent)

Type of primary suppor t

Fellowship

Federal

Non-Federal

Traineeship

Federal

Non-Federal

Research assistantship

Federal

Non-Federal

Teaching assistantship

Federal

Non-Federal

Other

Federal

Non-Federal

Primary source of support

Federal

Department of Defense

National Science Foundation

Other Federal

Institutional

Other

U.S.

Foreign

Self-support

Engineering

8

1

7

1

1

34

16

18

18

18

38

3

35

21

7

5

9

33

17

13

4

29

Science

9

2

7

7

4

2

23

12

11

25

25

37

3

35

19

2

4

13

44

8

6

2

29

NOTE: Full-time students in doctorate-granting institutions. Students in master'sgranting institutions have a similar distribution of support: slightly more self-support,

less Federal, and slightly less research assistantship support.

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, Academic Science/Engineering: Graduate

EnroZZment and Support, Fall 1986, NSF 88-307 (Washington, DC: 1988), pp. 49-50, 153-

167.

228
Education goals are to bring students into contact with industry personnel and R&D

problems and, in some cases, develop new engineering curricula.9l Little is known as yet

of the impacts of such centers on education, in part because NSF eschewed evaluation

efforts from the start. Congress continues to monitor the educational activities of

industry-university centers. 92

About 150 universities offer engineering Ph.D.s.; many award only a few each

year. Thirty institutions produce nearly two-thirds of engineering Ph.D.s. These same

institutions receive a large share of Federal R&D funds. The National Research Council

concluded that the existing institutions could expand production significantly without

creating new Ph.D. programs, and that building on the existing base of faculty,

equipment, and facilities would be most cost-effective. 93

The engineering doctorate mixes two philosophies. Industry still dominates

employment of Ph.D.s, but the research-oriented science model guides engineering

graduate study — inappropriately, some claim.

94 The deterioration of U.S.

competitiveness has called into question the value to industry of this academic model,

entrenched during the 1960s' explosive growth of Federal research funding, graduate

student support, and doctoral enrollments. Many engineering faculty who earned

doctorates during the 1960s and 1970s, so the argument goes, have lacked appreciation

for the relation of engineering to industrial production. This faculty bias is said to

promote a neglect of design in undergraduate engineering coursework and a failure to

relate engineering solutions to the creation of manufacturable and marketable products.

Given the strong symbiosis between engineering education and industry, this issue is now

receiving renewed attention. 95

91. Edmund T. Cranch, Department of Defense and Carnegie-Mellonts Software

Engineering Institute, “Continuing Education in the United States,t

’ Engineering

Education, April/May 1987, p. 663.

92. See U.S. Congress, General Accounting Office, Engineering Research Centers: NSF

Program Management and Industry Sponsorship, GAO/RCED-88-177 (Washington, DC:

1988).

93. NationaI Research Council, op. cit., footnote 86, p. 85.

94. See Edwin T. Layton, ‘

t

Science as a Form of Action: The Role of the Engineering

Sciences,” Technology and Culture, vol. 29, January 1988, pp. 82-103.

95. American Society for Engineering Education, A National Action Agenda for

Engineering Education (Washington, DC: 1987), pp. 15-17. Also see National Research

Council, Engineering Personnel Data Needs for the 1990s (Washington, DC: National

Academy Press, 1988).

229
For example, poor management of manufacturing has been offered as the reason

for the United States failure to take commercial advantage of home-grown technological

developments. Ignoring manufacturing and relegation of manufacturing technology to

technical schools is seen as catastrophic not only for mechanical engineering, but also for

American manufacturing in general.96 Compared to other engineering specialists,

manufacturing engineers earn the lowest median income. Only a handful of U.S.

institutions grant degrees in manufacturing engineering or systems. If the definition is

broadened to include programs in computer-aided manufacturing, automation, materials,

processes, robotics, and production, one-fifth of the 221 institutions listed in the ASEE

1986 Directory of Engineering College Research and Graduate Study qualify. This

measure, while crude, suggests the lack of emphasis placed on manufacturing by U.S.

universities and engineering institutes. ‘

7 As one antidote, the National Institute of

Standards and Technology is establishing technology centers at three eastern colleges,

two (at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Cleveland’s Cuyahoga Community College)

will be devoted expressly to manufacturing technology. 98

CONCLUSION

The view persists that the future supply of engineers is directly related to

technological innovation and the competitiveness of industrial production. Technology

studies scholars, however, generally agree that managerial decisionmaking dominates the

innovation process and that competitiveness is determined by a wide range of corporate,

political, and social policy decisions that distance innovation and competitiveness from

engineering education. 99 The engineering curriculum will continue to reflect the tension

between longer-term academic priorities and shorter-term industrial needs. While there

is no consensus on the “best” engineering curriculum, salutary features include

communication between university and industry, work experience, hands-on laboratory

96. National Academy of Engineering, Education for the Manufacturing World of the

Future (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1985); and Reuel Shinnar, “The Crisis

in Chemical Engineering, ?! The Bent of T~ Beta Pi, fall 1987J P* 200

97. W.J. Fabrycky et al., ‘t

Engineering College Research & Graduate Study: A 20-Year

Statistical Analysis,tt Engineering Education, vol. 76, No. 6, March 1986, pp. 326-340.

98. See Will Lepkowski, 1lNIST Launches Technology Centers,

it Chemical and

Engineering News, Jan. 9, 1989, p. 26.

990 Goldman, op. cit., footnote 67. For a bilateral dialogue on approaches to

engineering education, see Edward E. David and Takahi Mukaibo, Engineering

Education: United States and Japan, Proceedings of the Fourth U.S.-Japan Science

Policy Seminar, Oct. 19-23, 1986, Honolulu, Hawaii (Washington, DC: National Science

Foundation, 1988).

230
experience, and ongoing scrutiny by the academic and professional engineering

communities. 100 Engineering education will not “save" the Nation or restore its

economic vibrancy; it can, however, give a competitive edge to America’s technology

base.

100. Joseph Bordogna et al., “Linking Management and Technology — A Decade’s

Experience, l! Engineering E~cation, VO1. 78, October 1987s pp* 23-28. Also see ‘dward

~1 Engineering EticatiOnt ’01

Wenk, Jr., ~~portents for Reform in Engineering CurriCUla$ *

78, November 1988, pp. 99-102; and Hans Mark and Larry Carver, ‘tEducating Engineers

for Leadership: The Fourth Revolution,’t Engineering Education, vol. 78, November 1988,

pp. 104-108.

231
Box 4-A. — Perennial Issues in Engineering Education

Many engineering education issues center around the often conflicting priorities of

academia, industry, and government as employers of engineers. 1 These conflicts are by

nature irreconcilable, so that engineering education is likely to be a continuing arena of

debate and its curriculum a continuing compromise between its many clients.

Current calls for reform of engineering education are only the latest among many

from a community that has been extraordinarily self-conscious about its responsibility to

students and its contributions to the economic vitality of the Nation. Since 1985 alone,

the engineering community has called attention to the tension between education and

practice, the measurement of quality, the National Science Foundation's Engineering

Research Centers, and the impact of foreign graduate students on engineering education

and employment. 2

The roots of these concerns run deep. An OTA review of all major reports on

engineering education, from the 19th-century birth of the profession through 1987,

revealed a number of themes and perennial controversies that have defied easy

resolution: 3

● Curriculum

The extent to which the undergraduate engineering curriculum should

provide a general education or employment-guided training, and the extent

to which industry’s short-term needs should shape engineering education.

1. Robert Perrucci and Joel E. Gerstl, Profession Without Community (New York,

NY: Random House, 1969); Edwin Layton, Jr., The Revolt of the Engineers: Social

Responsibility and the American Engineering Profession (Baltimore, MD: The Johns

Hopkins University Press, 1969); David F. Noble, America by Design: Science,

Technology and the Rise of Corporate Capitalism (New York, NY: Knopf, 1985); and

Lawrence P. Grayson, l~A Brief History of Engineering Education in the United state%t’

Journal of Engineering Education, December 1977, pp. 246-264.

2. W. Edward Lear, The Quality of Engineering Education Programs (Washington,

DC: American Society for Engineering Education, 1986); Don E. Kash, The Engineering

Research Centers: Leaders in Change (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1987);

and Elinor G. Barber and Robert P. Morgan, ‘tThe Impact of Foreign Graduate Students on

Engineering Education,’f Science, vol. 236, Apr. 13, 1987, pp. 33-37.

3. Steven L. Goldman, !’The History of Engineering Education: Perennial Issues in the

Supply and Training of Talent,” OTA contractor report, 1987.

232
Distinguishing between engineering practice and science, and balancing the

curriculum a) between more "theoretical" courses in mathematics and

physical science and "practical" engineering courses, and b) between generic

engineering science courses and specialized courses.

● Faculty

The appropriate qualifications for engineering faculty in the “real world”

practice of engineering, and the extent to which industry experience, in

addition to a university Ph. D., is a desirable and sufficient credential for a

faculty post.

● Credentials

A 4-year v. a 5-year “undergraduate” program. The difficulty of preparing

for a career and responding to a large and rapidly changing knowledge base

in a 4-year B.S. program raises the issue of adding at least 1 more year,

making the a 5-year B.S. or M.S. the first professional degree in

engineering. However, 4-year programs are attractive to students, who can

move into high-paying jobs, encouraged by a volatile, technology-responsive

labor market.

The proper role of government licensing and certification by an engineering

professional society, in addition to job performance, as determining

membership in the professional engineering community.

The proper role and education of technicians, technologists, and

paraprofessional engineers.

● Careers and Continuing Education

Encouraging continuing education and professional development for

engineers, including engineering faculty, and balancing this with the

preference of some employers to invest in cheaper, younger, fresher

engineers.

233
Engineering and Society

Balancing engineers’ responsibilities to employers, and building into

engineering practice explicit recognition of the social impacts of

technological innovation and the value-laden character of engineering

judgment.

234
Box 4-B. — Expanding the Engineering Pool:

Recommendations of the Engineering Deans Council

To attract more able students, to provide a more supportive environment, and to

make engineering education more accessible, engineering educators should: 1

Improve undergraduate recruitment and retention, especially of women and minorities

● Support and publicize intervention programs tailored for women and

minorities through institutional consortia.

● Improve guidance materials.

● Strengthen elementary and secondary mathematics and science

education.

● Coordinate curricula and counseling with community colleges to

increase transfer to 4-year colleges, especially for women and

minorities.

● Encourage dual-degree and transfer programs

colleges.

● Keep better data on educational and career paths,

rates.

with liberal arts

especially retention

● Implement lessons from successful intervention programs which

improve the academic performance and retention of engineering

undergraduates, especially women and minorities. In particular,

support:

— extended programs which allow students to proceed at a

slower pace;

— ambience that encourages nurturing, not weeding out;

— orientation and transition programs for entering freshmen;

— engineering student organizations; and

— effective academic advising.

● Ensure that faculty are sensitive to the special needs of women and

minorities.

● Establish specific goals, such as doubling the number of women

enrolled by the end of the decade.

1. Based on Report of the Task Force on the Engineering Student Pipeline, “Findings &

Recoin mendations, tt Engineering Education, vol. 78, May 1988, pp. 778-780.

235
● Support programs to help women re-enter engineering after career

interruptions.

Increase graduate enrollments

● Establish recruitment and retention goals for minority students.

● Sharpen recruiting of U.S. engineering graduate students, by:

— actively targeting and recruiting promising undergraduates;

— encouraging undergraduates to do research;

— developing ties between graduate schools and

undergraduate institutions with large minority enrollments;

— opening engineering graduate study to nonengineering

undergraduates;

— publishing a guide to graduate programs; and

— creating a listing in which graduate students and schools

can find each other.

● Adjust graduate student stipends to at least one-half the starting

salary for a B.S. engineer.

● Double the number of graduate fellowships available.

● Restore the tax deductibility of both tuition remission and graduate

student stipends.

236
The

Box Box 4-C. — The Minority Introduction to Engineering Program (MITE)

MITE program encourages high school students to enter and stay in

engineering. MITE students gain confidence in science and engineering, are more likely

to change their high school curriculum to prepare for college and technical majors, and

are more likely to enter and stay in science and engineering majors in college than their

peers.

1 Funding for MITE, like most other such programs, comes Primarily from large

corporations and corporate foundations.

MITE students are exposed to a college environment and "real” engineering in

summer university-based programs. Each summer about 1,000 to 3,000 MITE students

spend 1 to 8 weeks in programs at various engineering institutions. The typical program

is 2 weeks, the typical student a Black male between junior and senior year in high

school. The students tend to be high achievers, college-and engineering-oriented, and

from a privileged

widely, as does the

socioeconomic and education background. Program content varies

makeup of student groups.

Student alumni report favorable changes in high school courses, plans for college

(70 to 80 percent apply) and planned major (70 to 90 percent engineering), impressions of

the MITE program, and the impact of the program on their college and field decisions.

MITE participants have a much lower first-year attrition rate than other minority

engineering students.

Several 5-year followups all bear positive news on college attendance, major, jobs,

post-graduation plans, financial aid, and the impact of the MITE program.2 Almost all

ex-MITE students are in college, most are in science or engineering majors, and many

plan graduate study. Women especially are encouraged by participation in MITE. About

one-half of the students attend the college where they did their MITE program.

1. MITE began in 1974. Since 1975 MITE has conducted evaluations, based on annual

and 5-year followup surveys. Survey results are incomplete and nonrepresentative.

UNITE, a separate military extension of MITE, is not included in this discussion. Both

are creations of JETS, the Junior Engineering Technical Society.

2. Conducted by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. Response

rates have been 15-20 percent.

237
MITE is drawing on students who are already interested in engineering in college.

Three-quarters of the students going into MITE already prefer engineering; 80 percent

coming out do.

238
Box 4-D. — The

The National Technological

offers specially developed science

to technical staff at corporate and

National Technological University

University (NTU), based in Fort Collins, Colorado,

and engineering courses by satellite communications

educational centers. Technical professionals can thus

keep their skills up-to-date without the disruption and expense of leaves of absence.

Twenty-eight universities and 60 sponsoring corporations and government agencies

nominate students for NTU coursework. 1

NTU encourages its sponsors to create courses, spreading the very considerable

cost of development over a much larger base than that available to any single

institution. The amortized cost of development, distribution, and electronic distribution

allows a great variety of specialized courses to be developed and offered on very flexible

schedules. 2

In general, corporate education programs reflect greater educational efficiency

than schools and colleges. They spend far more time and money on evaluating and

experimenting with different teaching and learning formats. They are, therefore, a

potentially valuable resource for colleges implementing educational technologies and

techniques about which industry may already have accumulated great deal of data. The

Federal Government, a subscriber to NTU, also supports research and experimentation.

NTU is not the only one of its kind, although it is by far the largest and has

absorbed many smaller systems. One-way education video, with audio teleconferencing,

expanded from a single system in 1964 to over 40 systems in 1986, serving over 50,000

engineers and other technical professionals. The phrase, the “televersity," has been

1. James Krieger, ffManagement-of -Technolo~ Program Debuts~” C’he~ical &

Engineering News, Jan. 16, 1989, p. 34. Six M.S. programs are now offered: computer

engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, engineering management,

manufacturing systems engineering, and the newest offering in management of

technology.

2. Most National Technological University (NTU) courses originate in member

universities, and a few in industry. There were about 120 sites in the fall of 1987; two

channels broadcast 18 hours a day. In 1987 NTU offered 120 courses, with 4,000 hours of

graduate credit instruction. This remote learning seems to be as effective as traditional

classroom instruction. NTU News, vol. 3, No. 4, November 1987.

239
General trends driving greater use of televised, applied to the NTU phenomenon.3 

computerized, and distance education are:

●

●

●

the high and rising proportion of students who are employed and

studying part time;

technical improvements;

cost decreases and economies of scale as more users get on the

systems;

the high cost of release time and commuting time for employees to

take courses in traditional classrooms;

the higher demand for continuing technical education to maintain work

force competence and improve productivity;

employee and union interest in continuing education; pressure for

education as employee benefits; worker satisfaction;

market pressure on universities to find new sources of revenue and new

services to provide; and

the rise of non-university educational providers.

3. Thomas L. Martin, Jr., The Televersity: The University of the Future (Surrey,

England: Industry and Higher Education, September 1987).

240
Box 4-E. — National Consortium for Graduate Degrees

for Minorities in Engineering, Inc. (GEM)

GEM sponsors about 100 to 160 students a year in master’s and doctorate

engineering study. Since GEM’s founding in 1976, 12 percent of minorities holding

graduate engineering degrees have been sponsored by GEM. 1

The director of the program, Howard G. Adams, cites the heavy recruiting and high

salaries offered by industry as a major reason that minorities do not go on for graduate

engineering education. Other reasons include the perception that an advanced

engineering degree is worth little in terms of career or salary, ignorance of the

availability and process of financing graduate study, and competition from other majors

such as business and law. 2

In addition, students face institutional barriers, GRE scores,

poor academic preparation. Adams offers four recommendations for institutions: 3

● intensify efforts to identify

students with undergraduate

career days, participation by

in recruitment at minority

target minorities;

and recruit full-time minority graduate

research assistantships, open houses and

minority faculty and students (especially

colleges), and publicity materials that

● revise criteria for admissions by considering qualitative information

such as motivation and work experience, explain how admissions works,

and make sure that admissions criteria are appropriate for student

success;

● provide financial support, ensure its equitable distribution, and use

teaching and research assistantships to foster faculty-student

interaction; and

● make sure the academic environment involves and supports minorities

in teaching and research apprenticeships, seminars, publishing and “

presentations, and advising.

1. Manpower Comments, vol. 25, No. 3, April 1988, p. 17.

2. Howard G. Adams, ‘

f Advanced Degrees for Minority Students in Engineering, f

’

“ Engineering Education, vol. 78, May 1988, pp. 775-777.

3. Ibid., p. 777.

241
Appendix A.–The Mathematics Workshop Project:

Intervention With a Difference at the University of California, Berkeley

The Mathematics Workshop Project was created by Uri Treisman as a component of

the University of California, Berkeley's Professional Development Program (PDP).l

Since 1978, Black and Hispanic undergraduates in this honors program have earned higher

mean grades in calculus at Berkeley than nonworkshop minority students and have

graduated from the university at rates roughly comparable to those of white and Asian

students. The program was created in response to concerns about the low achievement

among Black undergraduates at Berkeley in mathematics, but its unique format grew out

of research undertaken by Treisman to explain why Blacks were having such intense

problems in their adjustment to university life.

Treisman sought to answer not ‘f Why do Blacks do so badly in mathematics?” but

rather, “Why are Chinese students so successful in a subject that non-Chinese minority

students find so daunting?” He assumed, quite plausibly, that Blacks might enjoy the

same levels of success of the Chinese if a means to promote successful study habits and a

productive approach to mathematics could be determined.

For many years, these two groups have been at very different points in the

academic pecking order at Berkeley: Chinese students have traditionally been the most

accomplished mathematics students at the university, while Blacks have been the least

accomplished. For example, in 1975 only 2 of the 21 Black students who enrolled in the

first course of the three-term calculus sequence managed to complete the last term in

the sequence with a grade higher than “C.” Since calculus is required for most of the

academic majors that minority students at Berkeley pursue (e.g., architecture/

environmental design, business, engineering, natural sciences, and premedicine), this

pattern of failure for Blacks has had devastating consequences

persistence and graduation.

In 1975 Treisman first interviewed 20 Black and 20 Chinese

for their academic

students about their

study habits and their methods of preparing for examinations. He subsequently observed

them around the clock — in their homes, on dates, as they interacted with family and

1. This appendix is based on Robert Fullilove, "Images of science: Factors Affecting

the Choice of Science as a Career,” OTA contractor report, 1987, and especially on an

interview of Treisman who elaborated on the origins of his work. Treismants approach to

the creation of programs for minority students in mathematics is featured here.

242
friends — for almost 18 months to obtain some sense of how their adjustment to campus

life and to the study of mathematics differed.

Among Black students he found a pattern of cultural, social, and academic

isolation. Many of these students had come from high schools where few students

attended college. They had achieved success in secondary mathematics by becoming

extremely self-reliant and by becoming relatively isolated from the social life pursued by

other students. At the university these habits of isolation — studying long hours alone,

resisting the temptation to hang out with friends — persisted. Unfortunately, such

patterns proved harmful to their adjustment to the university: most of these students

became lost and confused by the blistering pace of first-semester calculus. They were

unwilling to seek help from other students or from many of the remedial programs

created to assist minority students. They saw these programs as having been created for

poorly prepared, weak students, and their pride simply would not permit them to admit to

others that they were struggling. Thus:

The freshman year at Berkeley was a time of rude awakening and

disorienting surprises, even for many black students who had attended

academically reputable, predominantly white high schools. Even though

these students were relatively well-prepared academically, the pace and

intensity of competitive first-year mathematics and science courses coupled

with the unexpected social isolation they encountered prevented many of

them from getting their bearings or developing adequate study habits; thus,

few did well in their courses. 2

The 20 Chinese students in his study, by

matriculation at the university, found friends

regularly. Twelve of the 20 formed informal

contrast, almost immediately upon their

and classmates with whom they studied

study groups that became a vehicle for

mastering mathematics and for becoming acquainted with life in the university.

Composed of students with shared purpose, the informal study groups

of Chinese freshmen enabled their members not only to share mathematical

knowledge but also to “check out” their understanding of what was being

required of them by their professors and, more generally, by the

University. These students learned quickly, for example, that the oftenquoted rule of thumb for estimating the number of hours that one should

devote to study — two hours for each class hour — was seriously

2. Philip Uri Treisman, University of California, Berkeley, “A Study of the

Mathematics Achievement of Black Students at the University of California, Berkeley, ”

doctoral dissertation, 1985, p. 22.

243
misleading. The blacks whom I had interviewed devoted approximately eight

hours per week to homework and study for their four-unit math course; the

Chinese devoted roughly fourteen hours per week to these same tasks. 3

Treisman was particularly struck by the efficiency with which Chinese students

within these groups mastered critical concepts in the course, concepts that, by contrast,

left many of the Black students in his study bewildered. Black students, Treisman

observed, were frequently stumped by a problem whose solution consumed hours of their

time — often without success.

The Chinese students, when confronted with a similar problem, were quickly able to

consult others in their study group. Typically, if no one in the group had come up with a

solution, group members concluded that the problem was difficult enough and significant

enough to warrant consulting the teaching assistant (TA) for help. Black students, by

contrast, almost never sought out such assistance, particularly from the TA, because

they were fearful that they would be exposing a weakness.

It became apparent to Treisman that group study offered many options that would

be particularly useful to Black students at the university. First, study groups would

provide an efficient vehicle for mastering the challenges of calculus. The interaction of

students as they struggled with difficult, challenging problems appeared to have clear

benefit for students who were prone to getting stuck. Second, study groups would

provide students with an opportunity to combine their social and academic lives, and in

so doing, combat much of the social isolation that Treisman had observed among the

Black students in his study.

In order to avoid the appearance of being “just another remedial program,"

Treisman and the staff of the Professional Development Program billed their

Mathematics Workshop program as an honors program. The ~thonorstt label was not

difficult to sell. PDP is sponsored by the University's Academic Senate under the

auspices of a standing committee of the Senate, the Special Scholarships Committee.

Created in 1964 this committee has counted some of the university's finest scholars

(including two Nobel prize winners) among its members. Having such a committee

sponsor an honors program, therefore, was consistent with student expectations of how

the university functions.

3. Ibid., p. 13.

244
The workshops honors focus was not meant to suggest that its participants were

selected because of their superior academic credentials; rather, the workshops would

require that each student strive to earn honors-level grades as a condition of his or her

participation. One clearcut benefit has been derived from this emphasis. The workshops

attract highly-motivated students who see a direct relationship between working for high

grades and achieving their career or graduate school objectives. Thus since the creation

of the Mathematics Workshops, PDP students typically put twice as much time into

studying each night as is suggested by conventional campus wisdom. This increased

“time-on-task” is believed to explain, in part at least, why workshop students do so well.

The work that students are asked to complete in each workshop is intended to be of

a more formal nature than the work Treisman observed among the study groups of the

Chinese students in his study. However, the basic principles that made these informal

groups so successful — the intense discussion and debate between students around

difficult problems in mathematics — were retained and elaborated on. These features

remain a distinct component of the program today.

The current version of the program centers around workshops that enroll

approximately 20 to 25 students each. Each workshop meets for 2 hours twice a week.

Each workshop session consists of both individual and group work that is centered on the

problems contained in a “worksheet." Worksheet problems typically include:

(1) old chestnuts that

homework assignments;

deficiencies either in

appear frequently on examinations but rarely on

(2) monkey wrenches — problems designed to reveal

students’ mathematical backgrounds or in their

understanding of basic course concept; (3) problems that introduce examples

or counterexamples to shed light on, or deli m it, major course concepts or

theorems; (4) problems designed to deepen the student's understanding of and

facility with mathematical language; and (5) problems designed to help

students master what, in workshop parlance, is known as “street

mathematics” — the computational tricks and shortcuts known to many of

the best students, but which are neither mentioned in the textbook nor

taught explicitly by the instructor.4

4. Ibid., pp. 42-43.

245
Students work on these problems alone at first, then together in a group of four or

five other students, all of whom have been working with the same problems. The major

objective of the group work is to have students communicate with others about their

efforts to develop solutions. This communication may be facilitated in a number of

ways: 1) students may be asked to present their problem solutions to others in their

group (or if the situation warrants it, to the entire workshop); 2) two or three students

may be asked to edit another student’s work, paying particular attention to issues of

mathematical accuracy (e.g., was the correct form followed?), and to the elegance and

clarity of the student’s conclusions; and 3) students who appear to be well advanced in

their work may be asked to tutor slower students until everyone in the group has arrived

at the same level of expertise.

The advantage of these approaches is that the art of communicating complex ideas

and concepts is an important means through which students organize and clarify their

thoughts. As Treisman observes: “By continually explaining their ideas to others,

students acquire the same benefits of increased understanding that teachers themselves

regularly experience.” If students find it difficult to express themselves, they become

immediately aware of the inconsistencies in their understanding. Moreover, their efforts

to make themselves understood — particularly in the face of pointed, thoughtful probing

by the listeners — may also lead them to explore facets of a particular concept that

might not otherwise have occurred to them. Discussing the solutions to worksheet

problems also provides students with an opportunity to practice the skills and to exhibit

the mastery of course concepts that they are expected to demonstrate on quizzes and

exam i nations.

Students are not alone in the workshops, however. A workshop leader— typically a

graduate student in mathematics or physics or some other similarly quantitative field –

will be responsible for the preparation of the worksheets and for directing the activities

of workshop students. Leaders are taught to be unobtrusive. Their major task is to

ensure that students are communicating effectively about the work at hand.

Towards these ends, the leader circulates among the students and

listens carefully to their discussions. When he suspects that students are not

listening carefully to one another, he intercedes, perhaps asking a student to

restate something he has said more precisely or to explain in ore detail the

steps by which he arrived at the solution to a certain problem.5

5. Ibid., pp. 44-45.

246
One clearcut advantage of the group study format used in the workshop is that

anyone listening to the conversations students are having about their work has a unique

glimpse of the mathematical thought processes of each of the speakers. As students

discuss their struggles with the material, they are literally making their problem solving

algorithms public. At the same time, these conversations provide the workshop leader

with numerous opportunities to determine the degree to which students have mastered

important material and key ideas. If students are unclear about the work, their problems

will quickly become obvious.

The workshop, therefore, is an ideal instructional setting: it offers students an

opportunity to practice the skills they will be expected to demonstrate in quizzes and

examinations; it forces students to communicate with each other in a fashion that

promotes greater mastery of difficult concepts as well as familiarity with the language

and syntax of mathematics; and finally, it provides instructors with a vehicle for

monitoring the progress of students as they master course materials.

Data on student achievement suggest that the program has been extremely

successful:

● Black students at Berkeley are at greater risk of academic failure and

are more prone to leave college before graduation than any

comparable group of students. Significantly, 55 percent of the 231

Black students who were enrolled in the workshop program between

1978 and 1985 earned grades of “B-" or better in calculus; only 21

percent of the 284 nonworkshop Black students who took calculus

during this period earned comparable grades. The mean final calculus

grade for workshop students was 2.6 (N=231); the comparable mean for

nonworkshop Blacks was 1.9 (N=284).

● The workshops also had a dramatic impact on student failure in

mathematics: during the period between 1978-85, only 8 Black

workshop students in 231 (3 percent) failed calculus; by comparison,

105 of 284 (37 percent) nonworkshop Black students failed the course.

● Perhaps the most significant impact of the workshops was on the

mathematics achievement of poorly prepared students — those who

entered the university with SAT mathematics scores in the lowest

247
tercile (200 to 460) of the score distribution. The mean final grade in

calculus for Black workshop students with poor mathematics

preparation (2.2; n=56) was four-tenths of a grade point higher than

that of nonworkshop Black students (1.9; n=42) with ‘strong

preparation " in mathematics (defined as students with an SAT math

score above 550).

● Participation in the workshops was also associated with high retention

and graduation rates. Approximately 65 percent of all Black workshop

students who entered the university in 1978 and 1979 (47/72) had

graduated or were still enrolled in the spring semester of 1985. The

comparable rate for nonworkshop Black students entering the

university in those same years was 47 percent (132/281). The

proportion of workshop students earning degrees in science and/or

mathematics-related fields was 44 percent — the comparable rate

among nonworkshop students was 10 percent. Comparable rates of

achievement and persistence have been reported for Hispanic workshop

students as well.

Treisman's success with this approach extends beyond the boundaries of the

Berkeley campus. Successful adaptations of the workshop program—defined as programs

whose Black and Hispanic students have earned final mean grades in calculus of 2.7 or

better — have been created at the University of California-Los Angeles, University of

California-San Diego, University of California-Santa Cruz, and California State

Polytechnic University-Pomona. Similar secondary-level adaptations have been created

for high school students in Albany, Richmond, Stockton, and Orange County, California.

These adaptations are by no means exact clones of the Mathematics Workshop

program at Berkeley, but they all share key features. Treisman stresses that at the

college level there is much to be learned by studying successful students. Successful

students typically have a "bag of tricks" for dealing with institutional bureaucracies (e.g.,

how to navigate the financial aid mess, how to locate helpful TAs, how to approach

faculty members if you have a "dumb" question), as well as useful strategies for

succeeding academically (e.g., which campus classrooms are open all night, which

questions always appear on so-and-so’s examinations). Where possible, these pieces of

received wisdom need to be incorporated into the design of programs that serve students

248
at all educational levels and should be integrated into the academic and personal advising

that students are given by program staff. In Treisman’s words:

that

What should not be overlooked here is the fact that every minority

student who gets an "A” in a mathematics course that other equally (or

better) prepared students failed may have learned something that we should

pass on to others. Too much educational research concentrates on

explaining the variance in performance when, in reality, it is the unexplained

variance — typified by the kids whose success can’t be explained by race,

SES, prior levels of preparation for mathematics, or time-spent-on-task —

that may hold the answer to some of our knotty questions about how to

design programs that promote student success.

Treisman goes on to note that the most successful teaching techniques are those

attempt to have students approach mathematics the way mathematicians do, by

looking for and examining patterns. In too many instances, mathematics instruction fails

to provide students with an opportunity to explore mathematics or to play with the

patterns that fascinate and entrance mathematicians. 6 Instead, the curriculum

concentrates on rote procedures and on getting the right answer. ‘Students are taught, in

other words, to focus on one of the end products of mathematics —the answer— and not

on the potentially fascinating process we engage in to generate that answer.”

In the Stockton Summer Math Institute, a project that Treisman directed in 1987,

with support from the Hitachi Foundation, the search for pattern was placed at the core

of the curriculum of a summer program for ninth graders. In one of the courses offered,

students were introduced to variables as ‘pattern generalizers" and were given an

opportunity to use variables to understand arithmetic progressions.

Not surprisingly, the program involves working with interesting problems and

working in small groups of the type used in PDP'S Mathematics Workshops. Preliminary

reports of the achievement of Stockton Summer students, the majority of whom were

minority students, strongly suggests that there is considerable merit to this approach. At

the beginning of the program, the mean percentile score of participating students on a

test of mathematical problem solving skills was 27; at the end of the program the mean

was 78. Student attendance and morale were described as "excellent,” and observers feel

that the model has tremendous potential as a tool for assisting students to make a

6. In this vein, see Lynn Arthur Steen, "Out From Underachievement,” Issues in

Science & Technology, vol. 5, fall 1988, pp. 88-93.

249
successful transition from middle school mathematics to the college-track algebra course

in high school.

Treisman’s final observation is related to teachers and their role in mathematics

instruction. He points out that in all too many schools with predominantly minority

enrollments, mathematics is taught by teachers who are not trained for it and who may

have been assigned teaching duties in the subject against their will. Efforts to reform

teaching techniques and the content of the curriculum pass these teachers by because

they have neither the time, the opportunity, nor the interest in learning how to teach the

subject well. If change is to occur, a number of important alterations must be made in

the way we try to affect how teachers teach mathematics.

The Stockton Summer Math Institute provides key insights to the nature of these

changes. Teachers who participated in the institute were actively involved in the

development of the institute’s curriculum and in the preparation of teaching materials.

In many teacher training programs, teachers are treated as "students”: they become

passive learners who have little or no opportunity to bring their own classroom expertise

to bear as they learn new techniques and ideas.

Stockton Institute teachers, however, adapted the materials they would use in the

classroom from a variety of texts and teaching materials, guided in large part by their

own sense of what they knew to be effective methods for presenting topics to their

students. If curriculum materials are developed on the assumption that they should be

“teacher proof” — that is, able to be used without any direct involvement of the teacher

— is it any wonder that teachers ignore them?

From these experiences, Treisman concludes: 1) mathematics is something that

students must do, not as a set of rules that they must memorize, but rather as an activity

in which they must be actively engaged; and 2) instruction works best when students are

given an opportunity to communicate with each other about their work and when

teachers are in a position to observe, and, where necessary, intervene, in that

communication.

Treisman is a mathematician first and a teacher second. His philosophy of teaching

reflects a desire to provide students with opportunities to do the things that

mathematicians do, to search for and examine patterns. One sees in the PDP programs a

greater concern with the process of doing mathematics — designing classroom

opportunities to observe what students are doing with mathematics problems — and less

250
focus on the products of students' labors— i.e., the answers. There is a concern with

maximizing opportunities for teachers to observe students at work, doing the kinds of

problems and exercises that elicit the skills and abilities we are most interested in having

students acquire. Finally, group work has the potential to influence the dynamics of peer

groups within the schools. At present, in all too many schools, academic achievement,

particularly in mathematics and science, is not valued by students.

Finally, and most significantly perhaps, Treisman's work helps to place much of the

research in mathematics education in some much needed perspective. Much research has

focused on the structural barriers (both personal and systemic) that inhibit (or promote)

student success in science and mathematics courses. What has been suggested here is: 1)

that students succeed when the proper conditions for success are provided; and 2) that we

do, in fact, know something about what those conditions must be. The key to students’

success, Treisman has noted, is not the student’s "native ability" for mathematics, but

rather the institutional ability to design instructional settings that promote excellence.

Workshops students, Treisman is fond of saying, provide an "existence proof" — they

demonstrate how much can be achieved if the proper conditions are created and

maintained. They also demonstrate that mathematics excellence can be achieved by

minority students if it is demanded of them. 7

7. A fitting postscript is that in June 1988 the Charles A. Dana Foundation awarded

$737,000 to the University of California, Berkeley to establish a center to assist other

colleges in educating minority students in mathematics and science. [n Treisman’s

words: ‘The Dana Award [for Pioneering Achievement in Higher Education] legitimized

our work.” See Liz McMillen, ‘Dana Awards for Undergraduate Education and Health

Prompt Debate on the Proper Role of Foundations, ~~ The Chronical of Higher Education,

Nov. 2, 1988, p. A-28-30. While honoring individuals, such awards dramatically raise the

visibility of issues and allow for the replication of a successful program like the

Mathematics Workshop Project on many other campuses.

251
Appendix B.—Productivity Ratios for the Leading

100 Undergraduate Sources of Science and Engineering Ph.D.s

One way to investigate the effect of undergraduate settings on science and

engineering careers is to look at what types of undergraduate institutions produce the

most people who go on to get science and engineering Ph.D.s. OTA conducted an analysis

of institutions’ “productivity” of science and engineering Ph.D.s, and also looked at trends

in this institutional productivity over time. OTA analyzed this productivity at six points

in time, looking at baccalaureates conferred between 1951 and 1976.1 Trends in science

and engineering Ph.D. awards, lagged from the mid-1950s to 1986, yield measures of

institutional Ph.D. “productivity” in terms of baccalaureates going on to earn science and

engineering Ph.D.s.

A way of looking at institutional productivity, independently of institutional size, is

to look at the proportion, rather than the absolute numbers of baccalaureate graduates

who go on to earn science and engineering Ph.D.s. The “productivity ratio” for each

institution was calculated by dividing the number of baccalaureates from institution “A”

that went on to earn a science/engineering Ph.D. from any doctoral granting institution

for a specific referenced baccalaureate year (or for the total of the 6 referenced

baccalaureate years) by the total number of baccalaureates awarded by institution ‘f At’

for the same referenced year(s). The baccalaureate year was used as the reference

point, rather than the Ph.D. year. For example, the number of baccalaureates who

graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1955-56 and continued

graduate studies to earn a science and engineering Ph.D. (irrespective of where and when

said Ph.D. was earned) was divided by the total number of baccalaureate degrees

awarded by MIT in 1955-56.

1. Betty D. Maxfield, llInstitution~ Productivity: The Undergraduate Origins of

Science and Engineering Ph.D.s," OTA contractor report, July 1987, table 1A. Six

academic years were sampled for baccalaureate data: 1950, 1955, 1960, 1965, 1970, and

1975.

252
Leading 100 Undergraduate Sources of Science/Engineering PhD.’s

Rank

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

30

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

B.A. to Ph.D.

rank

32

207

2

104

78

146

23

154

51

179

453

111

108

159

50

131

112

5

389

28

222

140

127

208

578

1

27

92

212

106

56

89

10

138

628

148

202

24

49

158

for 6 Selected Yearn

(Adjusted for Institution Size)

Institution

Cal Institute of Technology

Harvey Mudd College/CA

Mass Institute of Technology

Reed College/OR

Swarthmore College/PA

Cooper Union/NY

Chicago, Univ of/IL

Radcliffe College/MA

Rice University/TX

Haverford College/PA

New Coil-South FL U

Carleton College/MN

Pomona College/CA

Grinnell College/IA

Oberlin College/OH

Antioch College/OH

Calif, U-San Diego

Cornell Univ/NY

N Mex I Mining & Tech

Princeton Univ/NJ

Wabash College/IN

Wesleyan Univ/CT

Amherst College/MA

Earlham College/IN

Hampshire Coil/MA

Calif, U-Berkeley

Rensselaer Poly I/NY

Polytechnic Univ/NY

Bryn Mawr Coil/PA

Brandeis Univ/MA

John Hopkins U/MD

Calif, U-Riverside

Harvard Univ/MA

Franklin & Marshall C/PA

St Johns College/MD

Wooster, Coil of/OH

Kalamazoo College/MI

Yale University/CT

Carnegie-Mellon U/PA

Calif, U-Santa Cruz

Total #

S/E Ph.D.’s

388

68

1,114

172

228

126

497

97

288

86

30

161

161

119

292

156

127

981

33

410

73

133

143

72

20

1,472

368

210

75

148

276

189

730

134

18

119

65

470

277

110

Productivity y

ratio

44.34

30.63

21.28

20.67

17.14

13.71

13.48

13.43

11.98

11.73

11.63

10.95

10.16

9.87

9.72

9.41

9.37

9.27

9.17

9.02

8.89

8.88

8.60

8.53

8.37

8.31

8.24

8.10

7.90

7.88

7.88

7.86

7.54

7.19

7.17

7.03

7.00

6.88

6.83

6.67

Type

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Public

Private

Public

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Public

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Public

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Public

253
—Rank

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

47

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

79

80

81

82

83

84

85

B.A. to Ph.D.

Rank

43

38

144

293

782

185

75

19

33

205

218

200

220

35

130

431

8

532

7

245

67

14

438

261

216

178

375

621

275

156

129

95

244

164

282

150

147

271

82

190

310

677

252

281

57

Institution

Rochester, Univ of/NY

Brown University/RI

Williams College/MA

Phila C Pharm & Sci/PA

Webb I Naval Arch/NY

Worcester Poly I/MA

SUNY at Stony Brook

Stanford Univ/CA

Case Western Reserve/OH

Bowdoin College/ME

Knox College/IL

Stevens Inst Tech/NJ

Davidson College/NC

Calif, U-Davis

Union University/NY

Eckerd College/FL

Calif, U-Los Angeles

Blackburn College/IL

CUNY-City College

Lawrence Univ/WI

Dartmouth College/NH

Columbia Univ/NY

Delaware Valley C/PA

Bates College/ME

Beloit College/WI

Clark University/MA

Ill Benedictine Coil

King College/TN

Juniata College/PA

Occidental Coil/CA

SUNY at Binghamton

Illinois Inst. Tech

Muhlenberg Coil/PA

Lafayette College/PA

Whitman College/WA

Wellesley College/MA

Calif, U-Irvine

SUNY Envr Sci Frstry

Lehigh University/PA

U.S. Military Academy

Rhodes College/TN

U.S. Merchant Mar Academy

Hamilton College/NY

Kenyon College/OH

Duke University/NC

Total #

S/E Ph.D.’s

320

321

113

52

6

93

191

560

399

77

75

80

74

337

144

24

848

21

915

69

235

646

34

62

72

92

25

15

54

106

131

187

77

117

52

118

102

52

190

99

41

18

60

40

282

Productivity y

Ratio Type

6.54

6.50

6.49

6.42

6.38

6.29

6.26

6.26

6.24

6.20

6.02

5.79

5.78

5.73

5.72

5.70

5.68

5.65

5.59

5.51

5.45

5.44

5.37

5.35

5.33

5.32

5.31

5.24

5.23

5.20

5.18

5.15

5.08

5.06

4.99

4.94

4.92

4.84

4.78

4.76

4.71

4.69

4.64

4.63

4.60

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Public

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Public

Private

Private

Public

Private

Public

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Public

Private

Private

Private

Private

Private

Public

Public

Private

Public

Private

Public

Private

Private

Private

254
Rank

86

87

88

89

90

91

92

93

94

95

95

97

98

99

100

100

B.A. to Ph.D.

Rank

497

473

206

333

240

280

191

300

711

21

483

266

358

136

204

229

Institution

Bard College/NY

Centre Coil Kentucky

Hope College/MI

Lebanon Valley C/PA

Colorado Sch Mines

Drew University/NJ

Vassar College/NY

S. Dakota S Mine & Tech

Pitzer College/CA

Iowa State Univ

Charleston, C of/SC

Berea College/KY

Cornell College/IA

Bucknell Univ/PA

Yeshiva Univ/NY

Macalester Coil/MN

Total #

S/E Ph.D.'s

20

29

74

45

55

51

92

45

12

520

26

61

38

130

65

72

Productivity

Ratio

4.58

4.56

4.53

4.52

4.47

4.40

4.33

4.31

4.29

4.28

4.28

4.26

4.21

4.20

4.16

4.16

Type

Private

Private

Private

Private

Public

Private

Private

Public

Private

Public

255
Appendix C. — Science and Engineering Graduate Study

in Other Nations

The U.S. system of university-based graduate education,

training, is admired throughout the world for the quality of

and Credentials

combining research and

researchers it produces.

However, it is not the only model for training and certification of researchers. Other

nations take different approaches to training graduate-level scientists and engineers for

academic and industry research and development (R&D), reflecting major social,

administrative, legislative, and economic differences in university systems, in where and

how R&D is conducted and funded, and where scientists and engineers are employed in

.

that country.1 Higher education in other countries generally is more science- and

engineering-intensive, particularly in Japan, Soviet Union, and West Germany.

There is no “best” model for graduate education. The U.S. university system is

decentralized, with a large high-quality private sector; many other nations have much

more centralized systems. Most developed countries have reformed university education

in the past decade, often modeling U.S. successes. These reforms have been driven and

accompanied by a move to mass higher education, problems of overexpansion in the face

of declining young populations, worries about quality, and retrenching in tight budgets.

Japan. 2 Although Japan awards more science and engineering doctorates on a per

capita basis than does the United States, far fewer of these are obtained through formal

university graduate studies. Students follow two paths to the doctorate. Students may

earn a “course doctorate” (katei hakushi) in one of the major universities, similar to the

United States, with courses, 5 years or so of research, and an oral defense of the

dissertation. Graduate students conduct research

teaching assistants. These graduates usually stay

the doctorate.

for their professor and do not serve as

in the universities after completion of

A greater number of “dissertation doctorates" (ronbun hakushi) are awarded not to

graduate students, but to researchers who submit a dissertation based on research

conducted outside the university. Many of these are industry employees, and their

1. S. Blume and O. Amsterdamska, Post-Graduate Education in the 1980s (Paris,

France: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 1987).

2. Lawrence P. Grayson, ‘

f

Technology in Japan, Part 1: Graduate Education, ’t

Engineering Education, April/May 1987, pp. 687-696; and William K. Cummings, “Japan’s

Science and Engineering Pipeline: Structure, Policies, and Trends,t

’ (.)TA contractor

report, October 1987.

256
dissertation research usually is geared toward their industry work. Few academic Ph.D.s

work in industry. Companies prefer to hire young, broadly-educated college graduates

and train them (often sending them overseas for graduate training). Many complete

graduate studies at the university, but do not receive a degree; some may later earn a

"dissertation doctorate." Japanese institutions offer a 2-year master’s degree, and, as in

the United States, the number of students receiving this degree has grown rapidly. The

Japanese are placing ever more importance on graduate education as a potential source

of creative researchers for building industry R&D, and the Ministry of Education has

announced expansion plans.

Parents are a more important source of financial support for graduate students in

Japan than in other countries. Overall, about 40 percent of support comes from parents,

about 30 percent from scholarships, and about 30 percent from job earnings. 3

West Germany. The German doctorate is fairly similar to the U.S. Ph.D., although

graduate training generally takes longer and involves more formal study and less

independent research than in the United States. A graduate student may spend several

years in formal studies, do a modest thesis, and then spend another 3 or 4 years on

dissertation research. The doctorate recipient is often over 30, and may have spent time

in military service or in industry. The Doktor Habilitation is a postdoctoral degree

considered necessary for receiving an academic post. Compared to the United States,

there are relatively few graduate students in West Germany.

In engineering, the universität offers a 5-year Diplome Ingenieur (between a B.S.

and a master’s), which includes 1 year of work in industry. The average age of Dip. Ing.

recipients is 25. While university training is preferred for research or academic

engineers, most people working as production, design, or line engineers are trained

through formal apprenticeships or have a 3- or 4-year engineering degree from a

Fachhochschule, similar to British polytechnics or the best U.S. engineering technology

programs. Graduate students and researchers come through the universities rather than

the Fachhochschulen. 4

3. Blumeand Amsterdamska, op. cit, footnote l,p. 32.

4. Lawrence P. Grayson, NEE Education Around the World,” IEEE Spectrum) November

1984, p. 66; and Joseph Mintzes and William Tash, Comparison of Scientific and

Technical PersonneZ Trendsin the United States, France, West Germany, and the United

Kingdom Since 1970, NSF 84-335 (Washington, DC: National Science Foundation, 1984),

pp. 147-157.

257
Great Britain. The university D. Phil. is awarded earlier in Great Britain than in

the United States, at age 25 or 26, usually after 3 years of study (beyond a 3- or 4-year

undergraduate course). With necessary coursework, this leaves little time for research.

The universities are primarily government-supported and essentially all students are

supported by nontaxable government studentships, and thus are less tied to fluctuating

university needs for teaching and research assistants. Great Britain also has a large

polytechnics and colleges sector geared to undergraduate education, including

engineering.

France. French universities are centralized and government-supported. Students

often hold teaching or research assistantships. Graduate education and college education

are quite different and are less distinct in France than they are in the United States (and

secondary education extends slightly longer in France); “graduate” education really

consists of the latter years of higher education. Following 2 years of general study and 2

years of specialized study leading to a maitrise or an engineering degree, or to a

university Diplome d'Etudes (between a bachelor’s and a master’s), graduate-level

scientists and engineers can follow two paths: entry to the small and prestigious Grand

Ecoles, which concentrate on engineering, applied sciences, and technical management;

or the entry into universities, which enroll the vast majority of students and have a

longer and broader curriculum.

The Grandes Ecole degree, the elite Diplome d’Ingenieur, is roughly equivalent to a

U.S. master’s of engineering management. It is essentially all formal classroom learning

(most students spend a few months in work assignments out of 5 years), and is general

rather than technically specialized. Those few graduates of the Grandes Ecoles who go

into research (rather than industry or government) often go to university laboratories for

several more years of thesis research, and may receive the doctorate.

The main route of advanced study used by most science students is through the

universities. Following recent, politically-charged reform, the several doctorate level

degrees (Ingenieurs Docteur, individual university doctorates awarded mostly to

foreigners, Troiséme cycle doctorate, and the high-level pinnacle of the Doctorate

d'Etat, awarded after the Troiséme and important for an academic career) were

combined into one doctorate requiring 2 to 4 years of additional study, similar to the

British Ph.D. In addition, a degree similar to the German Habilitation is is now awarded in

place of the Doctorate d’Etat, recognizing advanced research and achievement.5
Italy. Italy has no research-oriented Ph.D.-like degree beyond the Laurea, a

master’s level degree usually awarded around age 23. At some point, aspiring faculty

members can obtain a title of Docent based on their academic achievements, as

demonstrated by publications and prepared lectures.

china. China is rapidly rebuilding the infrastructure of research and graduate

education that was disrupted by the Cultural Revolution. Universities, colleges, and

institutions for engineering and other specialities are examined, authorized, and funded

by the state, although many are run by local governments. Graduate enrollments are

approved by the state as part of national planning, although universities are being given

more discretion in their admissions, hiring, promotion, and spending. Entry, until recent

experimental reforms, has been by competitive examination. Universities require about

21⁄2 years of study for a master's degree, a year of which is research. A doctorate takes 3

 About 660 doctorates more years, all devoted to research except for one semester.6

were awarded in all fields in 1987, and over 53,000 master's. 7 New policies encourage

part-time graduate study for students with 2 or more

graduate students to spend a year working before

doctorates go into university teaching to help the

particularly in science and engineering.

Soviet Union.8In the Soviet Union, research is

years of work experience, and new

pursuing academic study. Most

country expand higher education,

concentrated in a few governmentrun institutes and a few of the leading universities which conduct significant amounts of

quality research. Thus many university students do not get intimately involved in

research. Universities and various technical institutes (VUZy) are concentrated in a few

cities. Approximately 40 percent of Soviet graduate students earn their degrees at

scientific research institutes and institutions of the Academy of Sciences rather than at

5. Guy R. Neave, “Science and Engineering Work Force Policies: Western Europe,’t

OTA contractor report, September 1987, p. 11.

6. Richard De Meis, “Engineers for China’s Future,tt Aerospuce America, January 1988,

pp. 7-9, 56.

7. Meng Yang, !! Developments and Reform in Graduate Education in the pRC~tt

Graduate Education — Communities of SchoZars, Proceedings of the Twenty-Seventh

Meeting of the Council of Graduate Schools, Washington, DC, December 1-4, 1987, p.

44. See also Halsey L. Beemer, Jr., ‘

tChinese Engineering Education: The Development

of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies, ’f Graduate Education — Communities of

SchoZars, Proceedings of the Twenty-Seventh Meeting of the Council of Graduate

Schools, Washington, DC, December 1-4, 1987, pp. 48-57.

8. Harley D. Balzer, ‘

t

Soviet Science and Engineering Education and Work Force

Policies: Recent Trends,” OTA contractor report, 1987.

259
There are two major advanced degrees: Candidate of Science (kandidat nauk) and

Doctor of Science (Doktor nauk). The kandidat degree is closest to the American Ph. D.,

although may require less work. There is no direct equivalent of a master's. The

kandidat recipient is generally earned by younger scholars who have completed their

initial period of mandatory employment following graduation from a VUZy. (In unusual

cases, a promising student may be permitted to continue study immediately following

graduation.) Most graduate students at VUZy have been sent by their employers, with

the expectation that they will return after completing their degrees. All graduate

students are, of course, state-supported, and receive a modest stipend. The Soviet

Doktor degree often honors a senior scholar who has already achieved significant status,

and is awarded as much for the corpus of work as for a specific dissertation. Most Soviet

Doctors of Science are at the level of full professors in American universities.

Soviet reforms are geared toward fostering research creativity and innovation:

encouraging early involvement in research, encouraging more students to continue

toward advanced degrees without interruption, awarding the kandidat degree for

“practical” work, and offering greater recognition for outstanding students and faculty.

260
Natural Science and Engineering (NSE) Doctorate-Level Degrees

For Selected Nations, 1984

No. NSE NSE Ph.D.s as % Ratio of 1984 NSE Ph.D.s

Ph.D.s of 27-year olds to 1980 NSE B.S. Degrees

a

U.S. (1985) 12,101 0.3 7

Japan 2,712 0.2 3

West Germany 4,650 0.5 31

Franceb

4,800 0.6 22

U.K. 3,846 0.5 12

NOTE: NSE includes agriculture but not the social sciences.

a T he French degree includes the Trois@me cycle and DOCte~ Ingenieur degrees~ ‘hich

are somewhat less than a Ph. D., and the Z)octeur d’etat, which is more than a Ph.D.

F~ance will grant one Ph.D.-level doctorate in the future.

b ph D data (numerator) from National science Foundation, lnte~atiOnCIl Science and

Tec~o~ogy Update, NSF 87-319 (Washington, DC: 1987); B.S. data (denominator) from

National Science Board, Science Indicators: The J985 Report, NSB 85-1 (Washington,

DC: 1986), p. 192.

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, International Science and Technology Update,

NSF 87-319 (Washington, DC: 1987), pp. 38, 42.

261
Appendix D. — A Chronology of Reports on Engineering Education

1918 Publication of the Mann Report, A Study of Engineering Education, sponsored

by the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education (SPEE) and funded

by the Carnegie Foundation. It urged: return to fundamentals and unify

fragmenting curricula; merge theory and practice in coursework; introduce

“real work,” including "values and costs," into teaching engineering problem

solving; retain shop experience, laboratory, industrial training, cooperative

and summer work in curriculum; English mastery; link technology to its

human and social setting; closer university-industry linkage, especially in

research, to improve productivity and thereby national well-being; develop

discipline for work and “lifelong” study; select faculty based on teaching

ability and work experience, not just research excellence.

1930 Publication of volume 1 of the Wickenden Report, Report of the Investigation

of Engineering Education 1923-1929.

1934 Publication of volume 2 of the Wickenden Report. It urged a halt to

fragmentation of curricula; graduate engineering education and continuing

education for 5 years after graduation; forms of technical education other

than engineering colleges; functional rather than professional engineering

education; design project, including writing, for second and third year

students; third year project teaching, fourth year honors option; stronger high

school preparation; lifetime learning in cooperation with industry;

professional certification by engineering societies independent of State

licensing; higher faculty standards; teach engineering method; teach society

and values so engineers can understand social impact of engineering.

H.P. Hammond Report for SPEE, Aims and Scope of the Engineering

diversification of curricula; parallel technical

and humanities/social sciences “stems”; reconsideration of 4-year curriculum

and move to 5- or even 6-year program.

1944 H.P. Hammond Report for SPEE Committee on Engineering Education After

the War: reaffirmed 1939 report; promoted expanding technician programs to

262
1955

fill industrial needs then being met, non-optimally, by engineers; and teaching

the “art” of engineering as distinct from scientific method.

American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). The final report

included comments by 122 engineering colleges. It recommended: five

“stems” — humanities and social sciences, mathematics and basic science,

generic engineering science, engineering specialty subjects, and electives; a

two-track undergraduate curriculum, one to immediate employment, the

other to graduate study; twin goals for engineering education — technical

(analysis and “creative design”; construction, production, operation) and social

(ethics, general education, leadership in technological action); improved high

school preparation and articulation with admission standards; the integration

of graduate education and research-oriented faculty into undergraduate

curriculum; requirements for industrial experience and proven teaching

ability for tenure; programs for gifted students; improved facilities; dropping

shop and upgrading laboratories, retaining a 4-year curriculum but

encouraging experimentation; a focus on design; a base curriculum of

engineering science, not contemporary engineering practices; the inclusion of

social and economic factors in solutions to technological problems;

unification of analytical methods in all branches of engineering; and lifelong

learning.

1956 Publication of the E.S. Burden Report, complementary to the Grinter Report,

humanities and social sciences needed; rejected fears that this will either

weaken engineering education or lead to superficial treatment of humanities

and social sciences.

1959 Report to President Eisenhower by Lee DuBridge, Chairman of the President’s

Science Advisory Committee,

enhance the image of the teaching profession; improve high school education

as preparation for science and engineering careers; reform curricula by

unifying it along scientific principles common to engineering specializations,

teach relation of engineering to social and governmental problems instead of

parallel humanities/social sciences stem; promote the Ph.D. for engineers;

263
provide special programs for gifted students; expand technical institutes; and

retain faculty.

1966 Engineers Joint Council response to Interim ASEE Goals of Engineering

integrate teaching of engineering practice into its social

context; focus on fundamentals, not current information; do not standardize

curricula or accreditation; increase student-faculty interaction; promote

lifetime learning; and expand the role of engineering professional societies in

linking education to state-of-the-art practices.

1968 Publication of Final Report of the 5-year ASEE study, Goals of Engineering

of engineering education. Recommendations: add 1 year of graduate study to

basic engineering education; limit prerequisites and open the engineering

major to transfers; expand cooperative and interdisciplinary programs; reduce

credit hours for graduation; improve teaching of social and economic factors

influencing, and influenced by, technology by integrating humanities and

social sciences into the engineering curriculum; integrate research and

undergraduate teaching; hire faculty with industrial experience, regardless of

degrees; expand technician programs; and expand industry funding of

engineering research; promote advanced engineering education (Ph.D.),

continuing education, lifelong learning, professional registration by faculty.

Predictions: M.S. will become the basic engineering degree; fewer

programs/institutions; and the increasing use of engineering to solve social

problems.

1968 Olmsted Report for ASEE: integrate humanities and social sciences into 4-

year programs; improve general education; retain humanities and social

science faculty; and reduce the number of electives while retaining breadth.

1975 The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Policy Alternatives

Report, J. Herbert Holloman, Chairman, Future Directions for Engineering

Education: System Response to a Changing World, provoked by a “precipitous

decline” in engineering enrollments and America’s global dominance. It noted

that engineering education was too responsive to "transient” changes.

Recommended: prepare for declining enrollments; restore art of engineering

to curriculum by teaching design; require work experience or cooperative

264
education; integrate humanities and social sciences into engineering

curriculum; raise consciousness of “culture" of the sciences as opposed to

their techniques; teach social, economic, political and legal constraints on

engineering; expand 2- and 4-year technology programs; promote continuing

education in engineering rather than management; expand evaluation;

promote the engineering major as generic preprofessional training; and use

industry more as a resource and sponsor.

1982 National Association of State

University and Land-Grant Colleges, J. D. Kemper, Chairman. Cited

problems of overenrollment, faculty shortages, and serious inadequacies in

equipment, space, and facilities; and recommended increased faculty salaries

and industry support and government funding to upgrade the infrastructure.

1985 The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) publishes a 9-volume study,

1985 NAE report to the National Science Foundation (NSF), New Directions for

1986 National Conference on Engineering Education, convened by the

Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. Consensus

recommendations: update undergraduate engineering education with

mathematics concentration in probability, statistics, and numerical analysis;

more breadth in basic sciences; expand humanities, social sciences, and

communication skills; focus on design, including socioeconomic factors;

intensify use of computers; introduce interdisciplinary coursework in realworld problem contexts; set admission standards that obviate need for

remediation; strengthen faculty, requiring industrial experience and teaching

effectiveness for tenure; continuing education; advisory committee of

practicing engineers for each engineering education unit; raise fellowship

stipends to one-half industry starting salary to attract U.S. graduate students;

tighten the link of engineering education to engineering practice; encourage

longer than 4-year curricula but do not mandate them; and increase role for

265
engineers vis-a-vis executives, economists, and politicians in improving

1986

1986

1986

1986

1987

competitiveness.

Final ASEE Report, Quality in Engineering Education Programs, W. Edward

Lear, Project Director. Cited problems of overenrollment, insufficient and

obsolete laboratory equipment, and facilities shortage and deterioration.

Recommended: re-emphasize production along with research; make industrial

experience and effective teaching conditions of tenure; require test of spoken

English for teaching assistants; institute structured continuing faculty

education; implement computers and other new educational technologies;

expand production of technicians; and improve laboratory teaching, assigning

senior faculty to it.

The Quality of Engineering Education II, followup to 1982 report, James E. A.

John, Chairman. Recommended: promote U.S. citizen graduate study by

raising fellowship stipends to one-half industry starting salary; fund large

scale facilities improvement and maintenance; retain Ph.D. faculty with a

healthy campus research environment; and produce more technicians.

National Academy of Engineering, The Impact of Defense Spending on

Nondefense Engineering Labor Markets.

David, Chairman. Its eight recommendations: scale back the 4–year,

necessarily limited curriculum to prepare for continuing education; make

graduate education more practice-oriented; re-emphasize engineering design

and manufacturing; improve undergraduate laboratories; attract more and

better U.S. graduate students and faculty with higher salaries and research

funding; bolster faculty development; support career-long education; and

improve precollege mathematics and science education and introduction to

engineering careers.

SOURCE: Steven L. Goldman, "The History of Engineering Education: Perennial Issues

in the Supply and Training of Talent,” OTA contractor report, 1987.

266
Appendix E — Contractor Reports

Full copies of Contractor Reports done for this project are available through the

National Technical Information Service (NTIS), either by mail (U.S. Department of

Commerce, National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA 22161) or by calling

them directly at 703/487-4650.

Higher Education (NTIS order #PB 88-177 951/AS)

1. "The Apollo Program: Science and Engineering Personnel Demand Created by

a Federal Research Mission, ” Arnold S. Levine, Consultant

2. “Institutional Productivity: The Undergraduate Origins of Science and

Engineering Ph.D.s,” Betty D. Maxfield, Consultant

3. “The History of Engineering Education: Perennial Issues in the Supply and

Training of Talent,” Steven L. Goldman, Lehigh University

Elementary and Secondary Education (NTIS order #PB 88-177 944/AS)

1. “Images of Science: Factors Affecting the Choice of Science as a Career, ”

Robert E. Fullilove, University of California, Berkeley

2. “Identifying Potential Scientists and Engineers: An Analysis of the High

School-College Transition,” Valerie E. Lee, University of Michigan

International Comparisons (NTIS order #OB 88-177 969/AS)

1. “Japan’s Science and Engineering Pipeline: Structure, Policies, and Trends,”

William K. Cummings, Harvard University

2. Soviet Science and Engineering Education and Work Force Policies: Recent

Trends," Harley Balzer, Georgetown University

Funding for Higher Education: Part I (NTIS order #PB 88-177 928/AS)

1. "Federal Funding of Science and Engineering Education: Effect on Output of

Scientists and Engineers, 1945 -1985,” Betty M. Vetter, Commission on

Professionals in Science and Technology, and Henry Hertzfeld, Consultant

2. “science in the Steady State: The Changing Research University and Federal

Funding,” Edward J. Hackett, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

IGuy R. Neave’s report, “Science and Engineering Work Force Policies: Western Europe, ft

is only available through the Science, Education, and Transportation Program office

202/228-6920.

267
Funding for Higher Education: Part II (NTIS order #PB 88-177 936/AS)

1. "Industrial Support of University Training and Research: Implications for

Scientific Training in the "Steady State," Michael E. Gluck, Harvard

University

2. "Financial Assistance, Education Debt and Starting Salaries of Science and

Engineering Graduates: Evidence From the 1985 Survey of Recent College

Graduates," Applied Systems Institute, Inc., Richard Wabnick (Principal

Investigator)

268