Factors that facilitate or inhibit enrollment of domestic engineering PhD students: A mixed methods study

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)提供资金的。这项授予内布拉斯加-林肯大学的工程教育研究奖将雇用研究人员来了解促进或抑制国内学生进入工程学博士项目的因素，并确定加强积极因素或消除障碍的策略。该项目的总体目标是确定可行的战略，以增加国内学生的入学人数。具体地说，这项研究将讨论为什么攻读工程学博士学位的国内学生比例稳步下降，哪些因素阻碍了国内本科生攻读博士学位，以及哪些变化将使博士学位项目对国内学生更具吸引力。为了吸引更多的国内学生，大学需要对决定攻读或放弃工程学博士学位的因素有一个实证的了解。这一新的认识可以为一套新的战略奠定基础，以增加国内工程博士入学人数和大学和行业所需的毕业生。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This engineering education research award to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will employ researchers to understand the factors that facilitate or inhibit domestic student enrollment in engineering Ph.D. programs, and to identify strategies for reinforcing positive factors or removing barriers. The overarching goal of the project is to identify actionable strategies to increase domestic student enrollments. Specifically, this study will address why the percentage of domestic students pursuing a PhD in engineering has steadily declined, what factors inhibit domestic undergraduates from enrolling in PhD programs, and what changes would make PhD programs more attractive to domestic students. In order to attract more domestic students, universities need an empirical understanding of the factors that underlie the decision to pursue or forego an engineering PhD. This new understanding can form the basis for a new set of strategies for increasing domestic engineering PhD enrollments and graduates needed by universities and industry.