Inside this issue:

An Interview with 
Dr. Carlos Castillo-Chavez

A Profile of an 
MGE Institution: University of
Michigan

The Human Capital Liabilities of Underepresented Minorities in Pursuit of Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Doctoral Degrees

From the Editors

Hot Topic Question

Managing Editor: Yolanda S. George Editor: 
Virginia Van Horne
Art Director:
Ann Williams
Online Editor:
Maria Sosa

Making Strides is a quarterly (April, July, October, and January) research newsletter published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Directorate for Education and Human Resources Program. Its purpose is to share information about minority graduate education (MGE) in the fields of science, mathematics, and engineering. It is available in print and electronic format. Inquiries, information related to MGE, and all correspondence should be sent to the editor.

Peter D. Syverson, Vice President for Research and Information Services, Council of Graduate Schools

Introduction

In the world of U.S. higher education, considerable attention is paid to the major research universities classified in the Carnegie² system as Research I and Research II.  These 125 research-intensive institutions enroll more than one-half million graduate students, grant 79 percent of all doctoral degrees and 83 percent of doctoral degrees in science and engineering.  Faculty at research-intensive institutions are at the top of the "academic food chain," and a tenure-track position at a Carnegie research institution is the ultimate goal of many Ph.D. students. 

Studies of these institutions form the basis for much of what we know about graduate education.  For instance, the AAAS study Losing Ground focussed on 93 major research universities.  The Bowen and Rudenstine study In Pursuit of the Ph.D. built its findings on the experiences of doctoral students at just 10 research institutions.  And the Ten Years Later³  study of the careers of Ph.D. recipients is using 61 research-intensive universities as the basis for its sample.

However, there are many other institutions in the graduate-education system.  These institutions also have an important role to play in preparing—and employing—the next generation of scientists and engineers. In fact, there are more than 800 institutions in 7 other Carnegie categories that are involved in the graduate education enterprise. These include the Carnegie Doctorate-Granting and Master’s (Comprehensive) institutions and universities with special missions classified as “Other Specialized.”  In addition, there are a number of colleges classified as Baccalaureate I and II that offer graduate programs.

DMOS (Doctorate, Master’s, and Other Specialized) institutions enroll 56 percent of all graduate students and annually grant more than 230,000 Master’s degrees and 9,000 doctoral degrees.  Moreover, they are the employers of many doctorate recipients from all levels of institutions, including those from research-intensive campuses.  Estimates are that most doctorate recipients from Research I institutions find faculty positions in non-Research I institutions.  According to the American Mathematical Society, more than one-half of all new Ph.D.s in mathematics find faculty jobs in non-research intensive institutions. 

DMOS are also a highly diverse group of institutions, ranging from doctoral institutions to small regionals to medical schools.  In addition, this group includes most of the Historically Black and Hispanic Serving institutions with graduate programs. 

This article will examine the contribution of the DMOS institutions to graduate education in science and engineering, focussing on ethnic groups underrepresented in science and engineering—American Indian, African American, and Hispanic.  Data will be drawn primarily from the CGS/GRE Survey of Graduate Enrollment, a survey of the 685 institutions that are either members of the Council of Graduate Schools or one of its regional affiliates. The survey population includes all 125 research-intensive institutions and 560 of the DMOS institutions.

National Context

The nation’s universities are in the midst of a sea change in graduate enrollment. The late 1980s and early 1990s were years of steady growth throughout graduate education, with annual growth rates of 2 percent and increasing enrollments across the disciplines.  In the mid-1990s graduate enrollment plateaued, with growth in some fields and decline in others.  In 1995, an extremely attractive job market for bachelor’s–degree recipients spurred the beginning of a decrease in graduate enrollment, which continued through 1997.  According to the National Science Foundation, science and engineering graduate enrollment peaked in 1993 and had declined by 6 percent by 1997. Enrollment decreases have been especially pronounced in mathematics, engineering, and the physical sciences.

At the same time, enrollment of women and minority-group members⁴  remained steady or increased.  In science and engineering, the number of women, African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans enrolled in graduate science and engineering programs increased through 1997.  Asian enrollment in science peaked in 1994 and has declined slightly since then.

Graduate enrollment at DMOS institutions has followed a different path, reaching a plateau in the last few years but not beginning the decrease seen in the national data.  Like the national trends, science and engineering enrollment at DMOS institutions peaked in 1995 and decreased by 5 percent from 1994 to 1997.

Science and Engineering Graduate Students at DMOS Institutions 

With these national trends in mind, we turn to the contribution of DMOS institutions to graduate enrollment and diversity in science and engineering.  As shown in Table 1, Research I and II institutions enroll 44 percent of all graduate students and 59 percent in science and engineering.  Doctoral institutions contribute about one-fifth of graduate enrollment, and the Master’s-granting institutions account for 31 percent of the total population of graduate students and 17 percent of science and engineering students.  Specialized institutions, consisting primarily of freestanding medical, health sciences, and engineering schools, contribute another 7 percent.  In total, DMOS institutions enroll 56 percent of graduate students in all fields and 41 percent in science and engineering.

Well beyond enrolling 41 percent of science graduate students, DMOS institutions enroll a disproportionate fraction of women and minority graduate students.   According to Table 2, DMOS institutions enroll 47 percent of women pursuing graduate degrees in science and engineering.  For underrepresented minority groups the percentages are considerably higher.  While accounting for 41 percent of science and engineering graduate enrollment, DMOS institutions enroll 47 percent of American Indian and 57 percent of African American and Hispanic graduate students.

One reason for this is the presence of Historically Black and Hispanic Serving institutions and regional systems such as the California State and CUNY systems that serve minority communities. There are 24 Historically Black institutions participating in the CGS/GRE survey and 19 in the DMOS category offer graduate programs in science and engineering. These 19 institutions account for 36 percent of African American science and engineering graduate enrollment at DMOS institutions. 

In contrast, 75 percent of international students enroll at Research I or Research II universities.  This is not surprising, considering that international students at the graduate level tend to enroll in full-time doctoral programs in science and engineering.

Minority Enrollment Trends at DMOS Institutions 

Displayed in Table 3 are data on changes in science and engineering enrollment at DMOS institutions over the 1986 to 1997 period.  During those 11 years, graduate S&E enrollment for minority-group members increased markedly, rising by an average annual percent change of between 6 and 8 percent.⁵  These large annual percent changes resulted in a more than doubling of enrollment for African Americans, American Indians, and Hispanics. Asian American enrollment in S&E fields increased a total of 81 percent over the 1986 to 1997 period.  In contrast, White graduate enrollment increased by 17 percent over the same period.

 While minority enrollment in all fields grew substantially over the 11-year period, several fields stood out as areas of particularly rapid growth.  African American enrollment in engineering grew at a 14 percent annual rate, Hispanic enrollment in health science fields increased by 12 percent per year and health and social sciences increased by 11 percent per year for Asian Americans.

Moreover, the rapid increase in enrollment has resulted in increases in the percent share that minority groups are of total DMOS science and engineering graduate enrollment.  In 1986, African American students accounted for 4 percent of all DMOS S&E enrollment; by 1997 they were 7 percent of the total.  Similar increases were experienced by other minority groups, with the Hispanic share growing from 4 to 7 percent, the Asian share from 6 to 8 percent and the American Indian percentage rising as well.

 Recent decreases in graduate enrollment have raised questions about whether enrollment for underrepresented groups will continue on its upward trajectory. The 1996 to 1997 percent change figures in Table 3 shed some light on that issue.  As previously noted, graduate enrollment at DMOS institutions appears to have reached a plateau, but has yet to decline.  The Enrollment Survey data indicates a more unsettled situation is underway, with some groups increasing and others decreasing.  In the last year, African American enrollment rose by 2 percent and Hispanic by 4 percent.  In contrast, Asian and American Indian S&E enrollment both decreased by 5 percent from 1996 to 1997. 

First-Year Enrollment at DMOS Institutions

While trends in total enrollment provide a measure of the direction of the entire pool of enrolled students, first-year enrollment may be used as an early indicator of future trends.  There has been much concern about minority student interest in graduate education in the post-Proposition 209/post-Hopwood era.  For example, the Losing Ground report found decreases in first-year enrollment in some research-intensive institutions.

However, evidence from a sample of DMOS institutions responding to the CGS/GRE Survey of Graduate Enrollment survey indicates a different situation.  While overall first-year enrollment in S&E fields did decrease from 1996 to 1997, first-year enrollment for members of most minority groups rose modestly.  Although there was no change in American Indian first-year enrollment, first-year enrollment in S&E fields rose by 2 percent for Asians and African Americans and by 4 percent for the Hispanic group.

Summary and Discussion

In Greek demos means “the people,” and is the root for English words such as democracy and demographics.  DMOS institutions reflect the populist meaning of the Greek word, for these institutions are clearly “of the people.”  They are a widely diverse group of universities including many Historically Black and Hispanic Serving institutions.  They form the center of graduate education in the United States, serving as the local institution where many Americans go to pursue graduate degrees.  Moreover, they make a substantial contribution to graduate education and research, enrolling the majority of graduate students in all fields and more than two-fifths of students in science and engineering. 

As well as being institutionally diverse, DMOS institutions enroll a disproportionate share of women and members of U.S. minority groups.  While enrolling 41 percent of all students in science and engineering, they enroll 47 percent of the women, 57 percent of the African American and Hispanic graduate students, and 47 percent of the American Indian students.

Data presented here indicate that S&E graduate enrollment of minority-group members at DMOS institutions has increased substantially over the past 11 years.  Moreover, the share that minority students are of graduate enrollment has increased as well.  There is evidence of a slow-down in that growth trend, however, as the current attractive job market siphons-off potential graduate students.  While it is difficult to predict where enrollment is heading, first-year enrollment trends at DMOS institutions indicate a slowdown in growth and a leveling-off in the future.

The contributions of DMOS institutions go well beyond the numbers of graduate students that they enroll. For many students—especially first-generation college graduates—a master’s degree program at a DMOS institution is an opportunity to “try out” advanced study and research in science.  It is at these regional institutions where students find that they are good at science, that they enjoy the challenge, and want to pursue it further. 

This means that the Master’s degree in science and engineering at a DMOS institution can serve a quite different role than a master’s degree at a major research institution.  Rather than being a consolation prize in a doctoral program, the master’s degree is a sound step along the road to a career in science or to the doctorate.  The diverse graduate student population at DMOS institutions should be considered fertile ground for corporate hiring and for research universities seeking to recruit high-quality students for doctoral programs.

References

Bowen, William G. and Neil L. Rudenstine. 1992. In Pursuit of the Ph.D. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. 1994. A Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Princeton, NJ: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Science.

Davis, Paul W., James W. Maxwell, and Kinda M. Remick. 1998. 1997 AMS-IMS-MAA Annual Survey (Second Report). Notices of the AMS, 45-9: 1158-1165. October.

Malcom, Shirley M., Virginia V. Van Horne, Catherine D. Gaddy, and Yolanda S. George. 1998. Losing Ground: Science and Engineering Graduate Education of Black and Hispanic Americans. Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Olson, Kristen. 1998. Total Science and Engineering Graduate Enrollment Falls for Fourth Consecutive Year. National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Studies: 
Data Brief, December.

Syverson, Peter D. and Stephen R. Welch. 1997. Graduate Enrollment and Degrees: 1986 to 1996. Washington, DC: Council of Graduate Schools.

Footnotes

1. DMOS institutions are Doctoral, Master’s, and Other Specialized institutions as classified in the Carnegie Classification system.  For purposes of this analysis, the category also includes Baccalaureate institutions that have graduate programs in science and engineering fields.
2. The Carnegie Classification includes all colleges and universities in the U.S. that are degree-granting and accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education.   For detailed definitions of Carnegie categories, please visit http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/cihe/cihe-dc.htm.
3. The Ten Years Later study is an ongoing research study at the University of California, Berkeley.  The Co-Principal Investigators of this study are Drs. Maresi Nerad and Joseph Cerny.
4. Data on minorities refer to U.S. citizens and permanent resident minority graduate students only.
5. It is important to note that these percent change figures are based on small starting enrollment figures, so that a 5 percent increase may represent an increase of less than 500 students. Nevertheless, the strength and direction of the upward trend is important to recognize.