scholarly journals The Changing Landscape of Doctoral Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics: PhD Students, Faculty Advisors, and Preferences for Varied Career Options

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
David K. Sherman ◽  
Lauren Ortosky ◽  
Suyi Leong ◽  
Christopher Kello ◽  
Mary Hegarty
Keyword(s):  
Faculty Perceptions ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Academic Departments ◽  
Career Goals ◽  
Underrepresented Minority ◽  
Open Communication ◽  
Faculty Advisors ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
Research Careers ◽  
Career Options

The landscape of graduate science education is changing as efforts to diversify the professoriate have increased because academic faculty jobs at universities have grown scarce and more competitive. With this context as a backdrop, the present research examines the perceptions and career goals of advisors and advisees through surveys of PhD students (Study 1, N = 195) and faculty mentors (Study 2, N = 272) in science, technology, engineering, and math disciplines. Study 1 examined actual preferences and career goals of PhD students among three options: research careers, teaching careers, and non-academic careers in industry, and compared the actual preferences of students with what they perceived as being the normative preferences of faculty. Overall, students had mixed preferences but perceived that their advisors had a strong normative preference for research careers for them. Moreover, students who ranked research positions as most desirable felt the most belonging in their academic departments. Further analyses revealed no differences in career preferences as a function of underrepresented minority (URM) student status or first-generation (FG) status, but URM and FG students felt less belonging in their academic departments. Study 2 examined faculty preferences for different careers for their advisees, both in general and for current students in particular. While faculty advisors preferred students to go into research in general, when focusing on specific students, they saw their preferences as being closely aligned with the career preference of each PhD student. Faculty advisors did not perceive any difference in belonging between their students as a function of their URM status. Discrepancies between student and faculty perceptions may occur, in part, because faculty and students do not engage in sufficient discussions about the wider range of career options beyond academic research. Supporting this possibility, PhD students and faculty advisors reported feeling more comfortable discussing research careers with each other than either non-academic industry positions or teaching positions. Discussion centers on the implications of these findings for interpersonal and institutional efforts to foster diversity in the professoriate and to create open communication about career development.

scholarly journals Faculty Perceptions Of Resource Constraints In Business Academic Research

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas P. Dotterweich ◽  
Sharon Garrison
Keyword(s):  
Business School ◽  
Resource Constraints ◽  
Faculty Perceptions ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Research Support ◽  
School Faculty ◽  
Faculty And Administrators ◽  
Near Future ◽  
Type Of School

Administrators and faculty are grappling with the relative importance of teaching and research by professors in higher education. While various opinions exist, both faculty and administrators will likely agree that research will remain prominent in the near future. Faculty frustration can result from inadequate support for research. A national survey of business school faculty examines support adequacy by type of school. Of the ten categories of research support studied, six are receiving less than adequate support. Administrators who allocate their limited research budgets based on the findings of this study will likely remove many of the obstacles their faculty members face in meeting the research objectives of their institutions.

scholarly journals Role of the Undergraduate Student Research Assistant in the New Millennium

2004 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 235-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thais Dutra Nascimento Silva ◽  
Lúcia Cristina da Cunha Aguiar ◽  
Jaqueline Leta ◽  
Dilvani Oliveira Santos ◽  
Fernanda Serpa Cardoso ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Student ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Research Assistant ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Research Careers ◽  
New Research

In this study, we analyze the contribution of the undergraduate student who participates in the process of generating scientific data and developing a research project using Brazilian research as an example. Historically, undergraduate students have performed the critical role of research assistants in developing countries. This aspect has been underappreciated as a means of generating scientific data in Brazilian research facilities. Brazilian educational institutions are facing major age-related generational changes among the science faculty within the next 5–10 yr. A lack of adequate support for graduate students leads to a concern that undergraduates will not be interested in choosing research assistant programs and, subsequently, academic research careers. To remedy this situation it is important to focus on ways to encourage new research careers and enhance university–industry collaborations.

scholarly journals Competing Discourses of Scientific Identity among Postdoctoral Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. ar29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca M. Price ◽  
Ira Kantrowitz-Gordon ◽  
Sharona E. Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Career Goals ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Biomedical Sciences ◽  
Future Goals ◽  
Career Opportunities ◽  
Career Options ◽  
Scientific Identity ◽  
Low Pay ◽  
Bench Scientist

The postdoctoral period is generally one of low pay, long hours, and uncertainty about future career options. To better understand how postdocs conceive of their present and future goals, we asked researchers about their scientific identities while they were in their postdoctoral appointments. We used discourse analysis to analyze interviews with 30 scholars from a research-intensive university or nearby research institutions to better understand how their scientific identities influenced their career goals. We identified two primary discourses: bench scientist and principal investigator (PI). The bench scientist discourse is characterized by implementing other people’s scientific visions through work in the laboratory and expertise in experimental design and troubleshooting. The PI discourse is characterized by a focus on formulating scientific visions, obtaining funding, and disseminating results through publishing papers and at invited talks. Because these discourses represent beliefs, they can—and do—limit postdocs’ understandings of what career opportunities exist and the transferability of skills to different careers. Understanding the bench scientist and PI discourses, and how they interact, is essential for developing and implementing better professional development programs for postdocs.

scholarly journals How Women in Biomedical PhD Programs Manage Gender Consciousness as They Persist Toward Academic Research Careers

2016 ◽  
Vol 91 (8) ◽  
pp. 1119-1127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Remich ◽  
Remi Jones ◽  
Christine V. Wood ◽  
Patricia B. Campbell ◽  
Richard McGee
Keyword(s):  
Academic Research ◽  
Gender Consciousness ◽  
Research Careers ◽  
Phd Programs

scholarly journals Academics at play: Why the “publication game” is more than a metaphor

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 414-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Butler ◽  
Sverre Spoelstra
Keyword(s):  
Academic Research ◽  
Academic Work ◽  
The Other ◽  
Career Goals ◽  
Game Playing ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Academic Researchers ◽  
Critical Management ◽  
The University ◽  
Meaningful Research

It is increasingly common to describe academic research as a “publication game,” a metaphor that connotes instrumental strategies for publishing in highly rated journals. However, we suggest that the use of this metaphor is problematic. In particular, the metaphor allows scholars to make a convenient, but ultimately misleading, distinction between figurative game-playing on one hand (i.e. pursuing external career goals through instrumental publishing) and proper research on the other hand (i.e. producing intrinsically meaningful research). In other words, the “publication game” implies that while academic researchers may behave just like players, they are not really playing a game. Drawing on semi-structured interviews, we show that this metaphor prevents us, ironically, from fully grasping the lusory attitude, or play-mentality, that characterizes academic work among critical management researchers. Ultimately, we seek to stimulate reflection about how our choice of metaphor can have performative effects in the university and influence our behavior in unforeseen and potentially undesirable ways.

scholarly journals Lessons from a student-led development project in Peru: Aligning technical and educational perspectives

2014 ◽  
pp. 525-539 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Chisolm ◽  
Elliott T Gall ◽  
Laura Read ◽  
Fernando Renzo Salas
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Student Interest ◽  
Open Communication ◽  
Peruvian Andes ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Humanitarian Engineering

With the growth of student interest in humanitarian engineering development projects, a critical assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of this type of work is crucial to success. While a number of models exist for joining development with technical expertise in humanitarian engineering projects, this paper focuses on the experiences of students working on a program in Peru within the Greater Austin Chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB)-USA. This program is a unique EWB-USA program that builds on ongoing academic research in the Peruvian Andes at the University of Texas at Austin and regional efforts by The Mountain Institute to mitigate the effects of climate change on Peruvian communities that need technical solutions to water issues. We contrast the benefits and struggles of pursuing a student-led initiative with a regional scope. Specifically, this case study shares how the roles of partnerships between universities, private sector, government, and nongovernmental organizations create challenges and opportunities for a student-led humanitarian engineering program. The key challenges identified are (1) effectual use of U.S. team members, (2) building trust and open communication with in-country partners, and (3) understanding community dynamics and adapting projects to their local context. We present how development of a ‘non-traditional engineering classroom’ framework can serve as a proactive means for facilitating effective knowledge transfer, critical reflection, and service-learning to improve project outcomes.

scholarly journals Making Disciplinary Research Audible

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Drew Smith ◽  
Meghan L. Cook ◽  
Matt Torrence
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Academic Departments ◽  
Academic Unit ◽  
Broad Audience ◽  
Library Staff ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Published Research ◽  
Viable Method

Academic libraries have long consulted with faculty and graduate students on ways to measure the impact of their published research, which now include altmetrics. Podcasting is becoming a more viable method of publicizing academic research to a broad audience. Because individual academic departments may lack the ability to produce podcasts, the library can serve as the most appropriate academic unit to undertake podcast production on behalf of researchers. The article identifies what library staff and equipment are required, describes the process needed to produce and market the published episodes, and offers preliminary assessments of the podcast impact.

Diversamente scienza

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Academic Career ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Research Staff ◽  
Gender Parity ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
The World ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Diversity Committee ◽  
University Of Florence ◽  
The University

This work originates from the conference organized by the Equity and Diversity Committee of the University of Florence and the National Conference of the Gender Parity Organisms of the Italian Universities held in Florence the 12th October 2018. The papers here collected illustrate the obstacles that women encounter in their academic career, especially in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). The issues the volumes deals with are still worth taking into consideration considering that women represent only the 30% of the academic research staff at the world level and that only the 30% of women students choose STEM faculties.

Pathways and Structures: Evaluating Systems Changes in an NSF INCLUDES Alliance

2022 ◽  
pp. 109821402110416
Author(s):  
Caitlin Howley ◽  
Johnavae Campbell ◽  
Kimberly Cowley ◽  
Kimberly Cook
Keyword(s):  
West Virginia ◽  
National Science Foundation ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Systems Change ◽  
Underrepresented Minority ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
National Science ◽  
Stem Students ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Programs Of Study

In this article, we reflect on our experience applying a framework for evaluating systems change to an evaluation of a statewide West Virginia alliance funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to improve the early persistence of rural, first-generation, and other underrepresented minority science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students in their programs of study. We begin with a description of the project and then discuss the two pillars around which we have built our evaluation of this project. Next, we present the challenge we confronted (despite the utility of our two pillars) in identifying and analyzing systems change, as well as the literature we consulted as we considered how to address this difficulty. Finally, we describe the framework we applied and examine how it helped us and where we still faced quandaries. Ultimately, this reflection serves two key purposes: 1) to consider a few of the challenges of measuring changes in systems and 2) to discuss our experience applying one framework to address these issues.

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