Collaborative Research: STEM Training, Employment in Industry, and Entrepreneurship

俄亥俄州立大学和密歇根大学正在调查影响研究生走向非学术职业的因素。跨学科研究团队调查了两个研究问题：(1)研究生进入非学术职业的途径是什么？以及(2)他们的培训环境，包括教师赞助商和网络，在指导这些途径方面起到了什么作用？为了调查这些问题，研究人员将开发一个数据基础设施，将STAR指标数据与博士生调查/博士生调查和人口普查局商业登记联系起来，以衡量研究生进入特定职业的可能性以及随后在遵循该职业道路上的成功程度。他们探讨了职业道路的选择与毕业生培训环境的一系列措施之间的关系，并通过估计毕业生培训与行业创业和就业之间的因果联系，审查了研究生培训与创业和行业职业之间的联系。该项目将为建立这些联系以研究创业和行业就业制定最佳实践，记录学术与行业互动的复杂途径，为探索性分析博士后和非博士毕业生的职业生涯铺平道路，并为指导实践的新理论模型奠定基础。该项目还将通过报告数据和提出能够进行更有用的劳动力趋势分析的项目，帮助为未来的全国调查提供信息。初步的实证研究设计以一系列理论范式为指导，包括学生认同理论或学生社会化研究、社会学的生命历程理论、职业发展理论和经济学的人力资本理论。研究人员将应用广泛的统计模型来检验七种理论。这些假设从基于人力资本的猜想，即从事高风险和/或跨学科研究项目的经验，为学生在快速变化、高增长(和高波动性)行业的工作做准备，这些行业是国家的增长引擎-S新经济，到社会化和通过网络进行信息传输的猜想，通过顾问、同行和供应商与行业和创业的联系，促进了行业和创业生涯的进入。与此同时，研究人员预计，他们对即将构建的丰富新数据的探索将产生新的理论。这一迭代过程将通过与专家咨询委员会的互动得到加强，专家咨询委员会包括STEM政策社区的许多成员，他们将为项目的实施提供信息。该项目得到ECR计划的支持，该计划强调基础STEM教育研究，以产生该领域的基础知识。在基本、广泛和持久的关键领域进行投资：STEM学习和STEM学习环境，扩大STEM的参与，以及STEM劳动力发展。ECR支持积累强有力的证据，为理解、建立解释理论和提出干预和创新建议提供信息，以应对STEM兴趣、教育、学习和参与方面的持续挑战。

Ohio State University and the University of Michigan are investigating factors that affect graduate student pathways to non-academic careers. The interdisciplinary research team examines two research questions: (1) What are the pathways that graduate students take into non-academic careers? and (2) What is the role of their training environments, including faculty sponsors and networks, in guiding those pathways? To investigate these questions, the researchers will develop a data infrastructure that links the STAR METRICS data to the Survey of Earned Doctorates/Survey of Doctoral Recipients and the Census Bureau Business Register to measure the likelihood that a graduate student would enter a particular career and the subsequent success in following that career path. They explore the relationships between the choice of career pathway and a range of measures of the graduate training environment and examine the links between graduate training and entrepreneurship and industry careers by estimating the causal links between graduate training and entrepreneurship and employment in industry. The project will develop best practices for making these links to study entrepreneurship and industry employment, document the complex pathways for academic-industry engagement, pave the way for an exploratory analysis of the careers of postdocs and non-PhD completers, and lay the foundation for new theoretical models to guide practice. The project also will help inform future national surveys by reporting data and suggesting items that could enable more useful workforce trend analyses. The primarily empirical research design is guided by a range of theoretical paradigms, including student identity theory or student socialization research, life course theory from sociology, career development theory, and human capital theory from economics. The researchers will apply a wide range of statistical models to test seven theories. These range from a human capital-based conjecture that experience working on risky and/or interdisciplinary research projects prepare students for jobs in the rapidly-changing, high growth (and high volatility) industries that are engines of growth for the nation?s new economy, to a conjecture of socialization and information transmission through networks where connections to industry and entrepreneurship through advisors, peers, and suppliers facilitate entry into industry and entrepreneurship careers. At the same time, the researchers expect new theories to emerge from their exploration of the rich new data that will be constructed. This iterative process will be enhanced by interactions with the expert advisory board, which includes many members of the STEM policy community, who will inform the implementation of the project.The project is supported by the ECR program that emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. ECR supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest intervention and innovations to address persistent challenges in STEM interest, education, learning and participation.