Doctoral Dissertation Research: Educational Transitions in the Physical Sciences and Engineering among Women and Minorities

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This is an award under the Grants for Improving Doctoral Dissertation Research program. It is a study of educational transitions in the physical sciences and engineering among women and minorities, following a life course perspective. One dataset will be an existing longitudinal survey of young people, called High School and Beyond, which tracks the life histories of 60,000 high school students interviewed at two year intervals throughout the 1980s. Another dataset will be assembled by the present investigators from a sample of entering students in a large school of engineering, and will permit closer examination of social- psychological factors that shape careers in engineering. This study will contribute to the sociology of science, gender, minorities, and careers, and it will also provide important information for deciding public policy concerning the scientific and engineering workforce. In addition to the scientific gains to be achieved by the research, this award will materially assist a highly promising student in completing research for the Ph.D. dissertation. Thus it contributes to future scientific manpower and the thorough training of the next generation of sociologists.