Career Trajectories of Master's Degree Recipients in the Sciences

“美国的研究生教育正处于变革时期，随着学生、项目和科学的不断发展，未来15-20年可能会出现很大的变化。然而，在许多关键问题上，我们缺乏指导变革的研究成果。”这是2003年3月美国国家科学基金会关于研究生教育未来的研讨会得出的结论。随着美国经济结构的变化，随着高等教育参与者的变化，随着市场压力促使教育机构创造新的项目和实践，越来越需要建立一个关于研究生教育的综合知识体系。目前，美国大多数关于研究生教育的研究都涉及博士水平的研究。然而，研究生教育中一个长期被忽视的领域是硕士学位，通常被称为“被遗忘的学位”。在许多科学领域，拥有硕士学位的人被高等教育的管理者和教师，随后也被研究人员贬为“二等”或“安慰奖”。2001年，授予的硕士学位中只有五分之一是科学和工程领域的，在授予的466645个硕士学位中，只有34960个（7.5%）是自然科学领域的。相反，2001年在40744名博士中，自然科学领域的博士人数为12496人（30.7%）。专注于硕士学位是有充分理由的。我们国家的研究生院在进行研究方面特别有效，但与美国经济和美国雇主的需求没有很好地联系起来。许多新的博士和博士后面临着艰难的就业市场，兼职和兼职教师的增长，现在获得科学博士学位平均需要8-9年的时间，然后是漫长的博士后阶段，目前的研究生培训适合非学术工作，50%的博士学位未完成率表明科学领域的职业选择和教育选择不匹配。理工科学士学位持有者从我们的理工科劳动力中大量流失率也是一个问题。学术价值:拟议的研究将全面检查目前配置的硕士学位，使用NSF的SESTAT和WebCASPAR数据库，并辅以其他政府机构（如美国人口普查局、劳工统计局、国家教育统计中心）的统计数据源，以全面了解谁获得硕士学位，为什么，从哪里获得硕士学位，以及学位对他们整体职业道路的影响。以及从全国角度看待硕士学位对美国整体经济的价值。这一统计研究将作为对拥有硕士学位为最高学位的美国科学促进会成员进行更定性研究的背景。目前美国科学促进会有5226名硕士级别的正式会员（不包括学生会员）。这些成员中的一个小组将被选中进行结构化的电话采访，以确定他们忘记硕士学位的原因，这对他们的职业生涯意味着什么，以及在此过程中有哪些支持机制帮助了他们。更广泛的影响：我们的最终目标是通过对迄今为止硕士学位成功的地方进行充分研究，为创造更广泛的学士学位后选择提供信息。在这些结果的基础上，本研究可以为构建可行的、受人尊敬的科学硕士学位课程提供建议，并有望增加美国本科生对科学和数学职业的兴趣。或许，那些聪明到足以从事科学和数学的学生之所以流失如此之多，是因为他们面对的职业选择过于狭隘。

"Graduate education in the US is in a period of change and likely to look quite different in the next 15-20 years, as students, programs, and science continue to evolve. However, we lack research findings on many key issues to guide change." That was the conclusion of an NSF workshop on the future of graduate education held in March 2003. As the structure of the U.S. economy changes, as the participants in higher education change, and as market pressures induceeducational institutions to create new programs and practices, there is an increasing need togenerate a body of comprehensive knowledge about graduate education. Currently, most of theresearch done on graduate education in the United States involves doctoral-level studies.However, an area of graduate education that has long been neglected is the master's degree, often called the "forgotten degree." In many fields of science, individuals holding master's degrees have been relegated to "second-class" or "consolation prize" status by administrators and faculty in higher education, and subsequently by researchers as well. In 2001, only one out of five master's degrees awarded was in a science and engineering field and only 34,960 (7.5%) of the 466,645 master's degrees awarded were in the natural sciences. In contrast 12,496 doctorates (30.7%) out of 40,744 total Ph.D.s were awarded in the natural sciences in 2001.There are good reasons to focus on master's degrees. Our nation's graduate schools have beenparticularly effective in producing research, but are not well connected to the needs of the U.S.economy and U.S. employers. The difficult job market faced by many new Ph.D.s and postdocs,the growth of part-time and adjunct faculty, the 8-9 year average time now needed to acquire adoctoral degree in the sciences followed by long postdoctoral periods, the suitability of presentgraduate training for non-academic jobs, and the 50% non-completion rate of doctoral degreessuggests a mismatch between career options and educational choices in the sciences. The sizable attrition rate of science and engineering bachelor's degree holders from our science andengineering workforce is also problematic. Intellectual Merit: The proposed study would comprehensively examine the master's degree as itis currently configured using NSF's SESTAT and WebCASPAR databases, augmented bystatistical data sources from other government agencies (e.g., U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau ofLabor Statistics, National Center for Education Statistics) to gain a complete picture of who earnsa master's degree, why, from where, and the impact the degree has had on their overall careerpath, as well as a national perspective on the value of master's degrees to the overall U.S.economy. This statistical study would serve as the background for a more qualitative look atAAAS members who have a master's degree as their highest degree. Currently AAAS has 5,226regular members at the master's level (excluding student memberships). A subgroup of thesemembers would be chosen for structured telephone interviews to ascertain their reasons forgetting a master's degree, what it has meant for their careers, and what support mechanisms have helped them along the way. Broader Impact: Our ultimate goal is to inform the creation of a wider variety of postbaccalaureateoptions by a well-researched examination of where the master's degree has succeeded to date. By building on these results, this study could generate recommendations for constructing viable and respectable master's degree programs in the sciences, and hopefully increase interest on the part of U.S. undergraduates in careers in science and math. Perhaps the sizeable attrition among students bright enough to do science and math comes from too narrow a set of career options presented to them.