Understanding PhD Career Pathways in STEM

研究生院理事会将收集和分析STEM博士生和校友在职业生涯不同阶段的详细定量数据，以确定那些追求学术职位的人与那些寻求并持有非学术工作的人相比，是否有根本不同的职业发展，价值观或工作责任。该项目将跟踪校友队列的职业道路，从15个STEM博士授予机构的博士学位授予三年，八年和15年，以跟踪学术部门内的就业变化，从学术到非学术工作的过渡，反之亦然。这项研究还将研究机构背景，研究领域和社会人口特征，如种族，性别和父母的教育程度的差异。 该研究将提供更好地了解STEM博士培训，专业发展机会和后续职业之间的关系。调查结果将为STEM劳动力发展政策和实践提供信息，同时为机构建立系统收集自己数据的能力，这些数据可以为持续的项目改进提供信息，特别是对于那些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，该计划资助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。利用职业锚理论，研究人员将分析数据，以确定STEM博士校友的职业成果和职业发展的全部范围。这项研究将集中在两个主要的研究问题和测试的假设，学术和非学术工作之间的界限是不太重要或更流动的比通常假设：（1）有学术和非学术职业之间的STEM博士持有人的实质性差异？ 2)在21世纪的STEM专业劳动力中，学术/非学术的区别是否有意义？ 大约6，000名学生和校友的调查将分三波进行，并收集有关就业和职业偏好，就业和职业成果，参与STEM专业发展计划以及其他可观察到的特征的信息，包括性别，种族/民族，年龄，就业和教育历史，以及父母的教育水平。 方差分析（ANOVA）和t检验将根据学生的特点以及机构和项目背景进行差异分析。

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.