Understanding PhD Career Pathways in STEM

研究生院理事会将收集和分析STEM博士生和校友在其职业生涯的不同阶段的详细量化数据，以确定那些追求学术职位的人与寻求和担任非学术工作的人相比，是否具有根本不同的职业发展、价值观或工作责任。该项目将跟踪15所STEM博士授予机构授予博士学位三年、八年和15年后校友的职业道路，以跟踪学术部门内就业的变化，从学术工作到非学术工作的转变，反之亦然。这项研究还将考察机构背景、研究领域和社会人口特征(如种族、性别和父母教育程度)的差异。这项研究将更好地理解STEM博士培训、专业发展机会和后续职业之间的关系。研究结果将为STEM劳动力发展政策和实践提供信息，同时建设各机构系统收集自己的数据的能力，这些数据可以为项目的持续改进提供信息，特别是对于更有可能选择非学术职业的代表性不足的学生。该项目得到了教育和人力资源核心研究计划的支持，该计划为STEM学习和学习环境的基础研究、扩大STEM的参与和STEM劳动力发展提供资金。利用职业锚理论，研究人员将对数据进行分析，以确定STEM博士校友的职业结果和职业发展的全面范围。这项研究将聚焦于两个主要的研究问题，并检验这样一个假设，即学术和非学术工作之间的界限没有人们通常认为的那么重要或更加不稳定：(1)STEM博士研究生的学术和非学术职业之间是否存在实质性差异？2)在21世纪的STEM专业劳动力中，学术/非学术区别是否有意义？大约6,000名学生和校友调查将分三波进行，收集有关就业和职业偏好、就业和职业成果、参与STEM专业发展计划和其他可观察到的特征的信息，包括性别、种族/族裔、年龄、就业和教育史以及父母教育水平。将进行方差分析(ANOVA)和t检验，以确定学生特征以及院校和项目背景的差异。

The Council of Graduate Schools will collect and analyze detailed quantitative data of STEM doctoral students and alumni at different phases of their careers to determine if those who pursue academic positions have fundamentally different career progression, values, or work responsibilities compared to those who seek and hold nonacademic jobs. The project will track career pathways for alumni cohorts three, eight, and 15 years from PhD degree award from 15 STEM doctoral granting institutions to trace changing employment within academic sector, transitions from academic to nonacademic jobs, and vice versa. The study also will examine differences by institutional context, field of study, and sociodemographic characteristics such as race, gender, and parental educational attainment. The research will provide a better understanding of the relationship among STEM doctoral training, professional development opportunities, and subsequent careers. The findings will inform STEM workforce development policy and practice while building the capacity for institutions to systematically collect their own data that can inform continuous program improvement, particularly for underrepresented students who are more likely to choose nonacademic careers. This project is supported by the Education and Human Resources Core Research Program, which funds fundamental research in STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. Using the career anchors theory, the researchers will analyze the data to define the full scope of occupational outcomes and career progression of STEM doctoral alumni. The study will focus on two major research questions and test the hypothesis that the boundaries between academic and nonacademic jobs are less significant or more fluid than is often assumed: (1) Are there substantial differences between academic and nonacademic careers for STEM PhD holders? 2) Is the academic/nonacademic distinction a meaningful one in a 21st century STEM professional workforce? The approximately 6,000 student and alumni surveys will be administered in three waves and capture information on employment and occupational preferences, employment and occupational outcomes, participation in STEM professional development programs, and other observable characteristics, including gender, race/ethnicity, age, employment and education history, and parental education level. Analyses of variance (ANOVA) and t-tests will be performed for differences by student characteristics as well as institutional and program contexts.