scholarly journals Doctoral Advisor-Advisee Pairing in STEM Fields: Selection Criteria and Impact of Faculty, Student and Departmental Factors

10.28945/2302 ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 343-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simy Joy ◽  
Xiang Fen Liang ◽  
Diana Bilimoria ◽  
Susan Perry
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Selection Criteria ◽  
Doctoral Programs ◽  
Career Stage ◽  
American University ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Time Of Admission

Unlike the doctoral programs in places where students are paired with advisors at the time of admission itself, most US programs require the students to choose their advisors, and the advisors to formally accept the students as advisees. Little research has been done to understand how students and faculty approach this mutual selection and pairing process. This paper examines this process in STEM departments (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), with specific focus on factors influencing the decisions. Based on focus groups and interviews of doctoral students and faculty from STEM departments in an American university, we identify criteria applied by students and faculty in making their choices. Students were found to assess faculty on available funding, area of research, personality, ability to graduate students fast, and career prospects for students, and faculty to assess students on their qualifications/credentials and perceived ability to contribute to research. We also found that this mutual assessment was not objective, but influenced by perceptions associated with faculty gender and career stage, and student nationality. In the end, whether students and faculty were actually paired with persons of their choice depended on departmental factors including prevalent pairing practices, restrictions on student numbers per faculty, and reward structure. We discuss implications of the findings for research and practice.

scholarly journals We need to address ableism in science

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 507-510
Author(s):  
Raven J. Peterson
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
The United States ◽  
Academic Science ◽  
Stem Fields ◽  
Disabled People ◽  
Unique Problem ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
And Mathematics

In science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, disabled people remain a significantly underrepresented part of the workforce. Recent data suggests that about 20% of undergraduates in the United States have disabilities, but representation in STEM fields is consistently lower than in the general population. Of those earning STEM degrees, only about 10% of undergraduates, 6% of graduate students, and 2% of doctoral students identify as disabled. This suggests that STEM fields have difficulty recruiting and retaining disabled students, which ultimately hurts the field, because disabled scientists bring unique problem-solving perspectives and input. This essay briefly explores the ways in which ableism—prejudice against disabled people based on the assumption that they are “less than” their nondisabled peers—in research contributes to the exclusion of disabled scientists and suggests ways in which the scientific community can improve accessibility and promote the inclusion of disabled scientists in academic science.

scholarly journals Does Latinx Representation Matter for Latinx Student Retention in STEM?

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 437-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blanca E. Rincón
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Student Retention ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Stem Students ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship

Using student-level data, this study explores the relationship between Latinx student representation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and student retention. Results revealed that a 1% increase in cohort-level Latinx student representation in STEM subfields is associated with a decrease in student departures from the university, but not STEM. Furthermore, Latinx STEM students may be more responsive to changes in the representation of their cohorts compared with increases in diversity for upper-division undergraduate or graduate students.

scholarly journals WORKING WITH OR WITHOUT AGING SPECIALISTS: WHERE ARE THE GERONTOLOGISTS?

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S48-S48
Author(s):  
Heidi H Ewen
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Graduate Students ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Doctoral Programs ◽  
Response Rate ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Substantive Content ◽  
Career Trajectories ◽  
Psychological Theories ◽  
Age Related

Abstract One question asked by generations of gerontology doctoral students is what types of employment can be secured after completing the PhD in Gerontology. The Gerontology Education Longitudinal Study (GELS) has surveyed graduate students and alumni of the various doctoral programs in order to understand the career trajectories of graduates. Of 102 alumni surveyed in 2014 (42% response rate), the majority (60%) were not working with other people who had degrees in gerontology, yet 51% report working with at least some people who have experience with aging and older adults. On the job, graduates say that their duties require knowledge and mastery of public policy issues, health and medical aspects related to aging, and psychological theories. As aging experts, it is inherent in their work to combat ageism and reduce age-related stereotypes. As such, gerontologists are using substantive content expertise within their careers and serving as experts in aging.

scholarly journals Antecedents of overtime work: The case of junior academics

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-397
Author(s):  
Irina Frei ◽  
Christian Grund
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Longitudinal Survey ◽  
Family Responsibilities ◽  
Overtime Work ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
Longitudinal Survey Data ◽  
Part Time ◽  
And Mathematics

Despite the ongoing public debate about precarious working conditions in academia, there is only little evidence on working hours and overtime work for the group of (non-tenured) junior academics. We make use of unique longitudinal survey data on the occupational situation and careers of doctoral students and doctorate holders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields in Germany. We find that overtime hours are less pronounced among firm employees holding a doctorate and among postdocs than they are among doctoral students. This result is prevalent both between individuals in the cross-section and with regard to individual fixed effects panel estimations. In contrast to firm employees, overtime hours are in a considerable way positively associated with part-time contracts for doctoral students. Furthermore, our results reveal that individuals’ career orientation is positively associated with extra hours. In contrast, individuals with family responsibilities spend significantly fewer hours at work.

Crowd-Funding for Inspiring Graduate Students to Educate K12 Students About STEM

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Taylor ◽  
Suresh K. Sitaraman
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Electronic Packaging ◽  
Teachable Moment ◽  
Teachable Moments ◽  
Georgia Institute ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
Stem Career ◽  
Institute Of Technology ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
K 12

Often when people who are not in the field hear about electronic packaging, they immediately presume that it is exclusive to electrical engineering; however, electronic packaging has opportunities for many different Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) areas. Many projects in micro- and nanotechnology are interdisciplinary in nature, and thus, a broad background of various disciplines is needed to conduct research and development in these areas. At the Georgia Institute of Technology, an initiative called the Meindl Legacy project has been created to use crowd funding to help graduate students in the nanotechnology area to create “teachable moments.” The intention of the teachable moment is to broaden the research to younger audiences, so that they are inspired to take the necessary background classes needed to pursue a STEM career path. The use of crowd-funding allows for industry partners and the general public to become involved with research that is currently ongoing at the Georgia Institute of Technology and to educate K-12 students. The “teachable moment” outlined in this paper was created to demonstrate how different materials’ coefficients of thermal expansion can affect the interfaces and potentially lead to cracking damage in an electronic package.

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