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Sloan Foundation Grants for Research on the US Science and Engineering Workforce - Second Round
in Labor Market for PhDs
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is pleased to announce the second round of its small grants program to support creative research on the U.S. workforce and labor markets in science and engineering (S ). The due date for submissions will be November 17, 2008.
Into the Eye of the Storm: Assessing the Evidence on Science and Engineering Education, Quality, and Workforce Demand
in Required Reading
"Recent policy reports claim the United States is falling behind other nations in science and math education and graduating insufficient numbers of scientists and engineers. Review of the evidence and analysis of actual graduation rates and workforce needs does not find support for these claims. U.S. student performance rankings are comparable to other leading nations and colleges graduate far more scientists and engineers than are hired each year. Instead, the evidence suggests targeted education improvements are needed for the lowest performers and demand-side factors may be insufficient to attract qualified college graduates."
Sloan Foundation Grants for Research on the US Science and Engineering Workforce
in Labor Market for PhDs
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is pleased to announce a new small grants program to support creative research on the U.S. workforce and labor markets in science and engineering. Depending on the number and quality of proposals received, this grant program will provide up to 10 research grants, selected on the basis of a peer review process. Grant budgets requested cannot exceed a total of $45,000, though we expect that most will be smaller than this ceiling. The first grant application deadline is April 7, 2008.
Exploring Ways to Shorten the Ascent to a Ph.D.
in Improving Graduate Education
"For those who attempt it, the doctoral dissertation can loom on the horizon like Everest, gleaming invitingly as a challenge but often turning into a masochistic exercise once the ascent is begun. The average student takes 8.2 years to get a Ph.D.; in education, that figure surpasses 13 years. Fifty percent of students drop out along the way, with dissertations the major stumbling block. At commencement, the typical doctoral holder is 33, an age when peers are well along in their professions, and 12 percent of graduates are saddled with more than $50,000 in debt."
Decline of the Tenure Track Raises Concerns
in The Adjunctification of Academia
NY Times, Nov 20, 2007. "Professors with tenure or who are on a tenure track are now a distinct minority on the countrys campuses, as the ranks of part-time instructors and professors hired on a contract have swelled, according to federal figures analyzed by the American Association of University Professors."
New Database Reveals State Variations in the U.S. Science and Engineering Labor Force -
in Labor Market for PhDs
A new database created by the Population Reference Bureau reveals geographic differences in characteristics of people working in the science and engineering (S ) labor force. The data, from the Census Bureau's 2005 American Community Survey, highlight state-level variations in earnings, education, and the participation of minorities, women, and foreign-born workers in the high-tech economy.
The Science Education Myth
in Labor Market for PhDs
BusinessWeek, October 26, 2007. "Forget the conventional wisdom. U.S. schools are turning out more capable science and engineering grads than the job market can support."
How to Get Fewer Scientists
in NIH Funding Crisis
Washington Post, July 24, 2007. "President Bush told cancer researchers gathered at the National Institutes of Health in January that we need to 'make sure that our scientists are given the tools and encourage young kids to become scientists in the first place.' Yet his administration's stingy NIH budgets over the past five years and its threat last week to veto the appropriations bill giving the NIH a small funding boost sound more like components of a Discourage Future Scientists Act."
The Real Science Crisis: Bleak Prospects for Young Researchers
in Labor Market for PhDs
Chronicle of Higher Education , September 2007. "[F]or many of today's graduate students, the future could not look much bleaker. They see long periods of training, a shortage of academic jobs, and intense competition for research grants looming ahead of them. 'They get a sense that this is a really frustrating career path,' says Thomas R. Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health. So although the operating assumption among many academic leaders is that the nation needs more scientists, some of brightest students in the country are demoralized and bypassing scientific careers."
Catching Up in International Grad Students
in Enrollment Trends
Inside Higher Ed, Aug 2007. "Graduate schools are reporting a continued rebound in applications from and admissions offers to those from outside the United States, but levels at most institutions still have not reached 2003 levels, according to a report being released today by the Council of Graduate Schools."
International grad student applications on the rise
in Enrollment Trends
Engineering Science blog, August 2007.
Education and Employment of Biological and Medical Scientists: Data from National Surveys
in Labor Market for PhDs
FASEB, 2007. "The figures in the following presentation are offered as an introduction to the major sources of nationally representative data on education and employment of biological and medical scientists. We hope that this compilation of graphs will foster an informed discussion of this topic. We do not seek to be exhaustive in our presentation of data, but rather to offer a starting point from which interested parties can pursue additional analyses in greater depth and detail."
NIH BUDGET: Boom and Bust
in NIH Funding Crisis
Couzin and Miller 316 (5823): 356 -- Science "Biomedical facilities are expanding after a growth spurt in the budget of the National Institutes of Health. Yet individual scientists say that it's harder than before to get their work funded." (subscription to Science required)
Watching a Train Wreck, Part 2 - Engineering Science Blog
in NIH Funding Crisis
"We've seen the effects of the NIH budget doubling on the grad student population. What about postdocs? ... From 1998-2003, the number of life sciences postdocs increased by 4,015. These new postdocs were all non-citizens. In fact, over the same time period, the number of US citizen / permanent resident postdocs decreased by 255."
Watching a Train Wreck, Part 1 - Engineering Science Blog
in NIH Funding Crisis
"Given that concerns about NIH funding levels have only recently hit the press, it's likely that we will see continuing increases in first-year graduate enrollments through at least 2007. This means increasing numbers of new PhDs for another 6-8 years and probably another decade of sizable increases in the ranks of postdocs. A whole crop of new PhDs is walking right into an already troubled labor market, and things probably won't start to improve for 10+ years."
The Scientist : 'Looming crisis' from NIH budget
in NIH Funding Crisis
"Four years of flat funding causing major shifts in US biomedical research, university officials and senior scientists warn Congress"
Troubling Doubling
in NIH Funding Crisis
A great presentation by Paula Stephan on the NIH budget doubling.
What the NIH Bought With Double the Money
in NIH Funding Crisis
Chronicle of Higher Education "After five years, $13.6-billion has produced few major new treatments and little spreading of research wealth, but the agency's leaders and supporters counsel patience" (subscription required)
Be Careful What You Wish For
in NIH Funding Crisis
ScienceCareers.org - "Between 1998 and 2003, the budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) rose from $13 billion to more than $27 billion in a plan known as "the doubling. Now that the tsunami of cash has receded, many life scientists--especially those in the early phase of their careers--have found conditions no better, and in some ways worse, than before the process began."
NIH to NRSA postdocs: Revise and Resubmit!
in Trends in Funding for R&D
NIH cuts NRSA postdocs?
Zerhouni for a Day: A Challenge
in The Big Picture
The Problem: The NIHs budget doubled over the past few years, and the NSF is currently working on a budget doubling of its own. Despite this vast influx of new federal funding, approval rates for grant proposals at the NIH have plummeted, and similar things are happening at NSF. The Challenge: If you were in charge, tell us what would you do differently. Join a public discussion.
Bills to Train More Scientists Go Down to the Wire
in International Competitiveness
The Chronicle, 9/8/2006. "Congress mulls modest increases in spending, but much of the money may go to schools, not colleges"
Get Wiki With It
in Web Publishing
Wired News, Aug 28, 2006. "Peer review the unsung hero and convenient villain of science gets an online makeover."
Patent fight rattles academic computing
in Intellectual Property
MSNBC, Aug 28, 2006. "In a move that has shaken up the e-learning community, Blackboard Inc. has been awarded a patent establishing its claims to some of the basic features of the software that powers online education."
The Tenure Chase Papers
in Required Reading
Dana Mackenzie's poignant tale of a tenure case gone awry.
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