The Research Catalogue
New Findings and Insights on Institutional Practices and Academic Success

This is a digest of sources on issues addressed by the AAAS Capacity Center. It is updated periodically, sometimes with commentary. Web links, some accessible only to subscribers, are provided wherever possible, though we cannot assure their viability.

From CARE June 2008

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders – Facts, Not Fiction: Setting the Record Straight (National Commission on Asian American and Pacific Islander Research in Education (CARE)/College Board) –
The report focuses on three pervasive and core fictions about the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, which are examined empirically. The fictions are: (1) AAPI students are “taking over” U.S. higher education, (2) AAPIs are concentrated only in selective 4-year universities, and (3) AAPIs are a homogenous racial group with uniformity in education and financial attainment, culture, religion, and histories.  In addition, three issues of emerging importance are presented to highlight new conversations that are surfacing among educators on college campuses. The report serves as a source of consolidated information that will be valuable to anyone interested in advocating for fair and better educational practices. In particular, through the frame of advocacy and social justice, the report provides educators, policymakers, students and their families with accurate and up-to-date information, enabling them to critically examine the extent to which their schools meet the demands of an increasingly competitive and global environment and advance the principles of equality and justice.
Visit:  http://www.nyu.edu/projects/care/CAREReport2008.pdf

Science Professionals: Master’s Education for a Competitive World (Committee on Enhancing the Master’s Degree in the Natural Sciences, National Research Council) –
What are employer needs for staff trained in the natural sciences at the master's degree level? How do “T-shaped” professionals contribute in the workplace? How do master's programs meet or support educational and career goals?  This report examines the answers to these and other questions regarding the role of master's education in the natural sciences. The report also focuses on student characteristics and efforts underway, notably the Professional Science Masters, to enhance the status and purpose of the master’s degree in the natural sciences.  Capacity Center Director Chubin served as a member of the NRC Committee.
Visit:  http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=12064

From The Center for the Study of the Presidency August 2008

Presidential Leadership to Ensure Science and Technology In the Service of National Needs: A Report of the 2008 Candidates (Center for the Study of the Presidency) –
This report evaluates the need for presidential leadership in ensuring the science and technology needs of the nation, which include the renewal of prosperity for Americans in a changed world, environmental protection, climate change, food and water scarcity, energy, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.  No surprises here.
Visit:  http://election2008.aaas.org/docs/CSP_PresidentialLeadership.pdf

From Inside Higher Ed September 2, 2008

Role of HBCUs as Baccalaureate-Origin Institutions of Black S&E Doctorate Recipients (Joan Burrelli and Alan Rapoport, National Science Foundation) –
The report takes a historical look at the undergraduate institutions attended by African Americans who received doctorates in science and engineering fields over the last 30 years.  In some ways, the data show the ebb and flow in the centrality of historically black institutions in the education of black Americans.  But even as they are educating a smaller proportion of black undergraduates, HBCUs are graduating a growing share of black Americans who go on to earn Ph.D.’s in science and engineering.  The results suggest that the institutions are doing something different – and important – for the undergraduates they enroll.
Visit:  http://nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf08319/nsf08319.pdf

Affirmative Action in Law School Admissions: What Do Racial Preferences Do? (Jesse Rothstein and Albert H. Yoon, NBER) –
The Supreme Court has held repeatedly, most recently in Gratz (2003), that race-based preferences in public university admissions are constitutional. But debates over the wisdom of affirmative action continue. Opponents of these policies argue that preferences are detrimental to minority students -- that by placing these students in environments that are too competitive, affirmative action hurts their academic and career outcomes.  This article examines the so-called "mismatch" hypothesis in the context of law school admissions. The authors discuss the existing scholarship on mismatch, identifying methodological limitations of earlier attempts to measure the effects of affirmative action.
Visit:  http://papers.nber.org/papers/w14276

From Council of Graduate Schools September 2008

Ph.D. Completion and Attrition: Analysis of Baseline Demographic Data from the Ph.D. Completion Project (Council of Graduate Schools) –
This is the second in a series of monographs from the CGS Ph.D. Completion Project. It focuses on ten-year and seven-year completion rates by demographic characteristics (gender, citizenship, and race/ethnicity) based on data, submitted by 24 institutions, on students who entered their Ph.D. programs in academic years 1992-93 through 2003-04. It presents cumulative and annual completion rates from various perspectives: overall, by broad field, by institution type, and by time of entry into the Ph.D. program. Observed completion rates for some groups, e.g., African Americans in life sciences, rival those of whites.  This gives rise to various hypotheses and the need for further research using methodologies to probe for explanation.
Visit:  http://www.phdcompletion.org/information/book2.asp