|
By WILL POTTER Top college students in the United States, including science majors, are becoming less likely to pursue careers in science and technology fields, according to a study published today in the journal Issues in Science and Technology. The number of high-achieving American college seniors who planned graduate studies in mathematics fell by 19 percent from 1992 to 2000, while the number planning advanced study in engineering fell by 25 percent, according to the study, which was co-written by William Zumeta, a professor at the University of Washington's Evans School of Public Affairs, and Joyce S. Raveling, a doctoral student in education at the university. Enrollments in biological sciences increased by 59 percent, but the authors caution that this increase comes from a "relatively low base." The study looked at the graduate-study choices of U.S. citizens and permanent residents who scored above 750 on the quantitative portion of the Graduate Record Exam during an eight-year period. The number of master's degrees in business awarded during that time period grew by one third, drawing in part from the ranks of science and engineering undergraduates, the study found. The study also examined information from the Consortium for Financing Higher Education on the career plans of 2,000 senior natural-science majors. The number of science majors planning graduate work declined to 28 percent in 1998 from 48 percent in 1984. Mr. Zumeta and Ms. Raveling attribute the changes in career goals to the fact that scientific fields typically offer low-paid apprenticeships, require extensive training that can last more than a decade, and do not have plentiful faculty openings available. Although the overall number of science majors pursuing postgraduate work in scientific fields declined in the 1990s, the number of high-scoring women and members of minority groups who pursued postgraduate science and engineering training increased, the study said. The downward trend will continue unless the federal government intervenes, Mr. Zumeta and Ms. Raveling said. They propose a federal effort to create a number of selective research-assistant professorships in the natural sciences and engineering. Such positions would attract postdoctoral scholars who would otherwise be tempted to leave science entirely. The study, titled "Attracting the Best and Brightest Into Science and Engineering," is available online at Mr. Zumeta's Web site. It can be viewed using Adobe Acrobat Reader, available free.
|