Article
ID: CBB759508673

A Symbiosis of Access: Proliferating STEM PhD Training in the U.S. from 1920–2010 (2021)

unapi
Educational change Academic freedom Academically sponsored science Research institutes; research stations Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) Universities and colleges Education (graduate) 21st century 20th century

Over the course of the 20th century, unprecedented growth in scientific discovery was fueled by broad growth in the number of university-based scientists. During this period the American undergraduate enrollment rate and number of universities with STEM graduate programs each doubled three times and the annual volume of new PhDs doubled six times. This generated the research capacity that allowed the United States to surpass early European-dominated science production and lead for the rest of the century. Here, we focus on origins in the organizational environment and institutional dynamics instead of conventional economic factors. We argue that three trends of such dynamics in the development of American higher education not often considered together—mass undergraduate education, decentralized founding of universities, and flexible mission charters for PhD training—form a process characterized by a term coined here: access symbiosis. Then using a 90-year data series on STEM PhD production and institutional development, we demonstrate the historical progression of these mutually beneficial trends. This access symbiosis in the U.S., and perhaps versions of it in other nations, is likely one critical component of the integration of higher education development with the growing global capacity for scientific discovery. These results are discussed in terms of the contributions of American universities to the Century of Science, recent international trends, and its future viability.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB759508673/

Similar Citations

Article Almeida, Mike; (2007)
Comment se rendre utile: les centres de recherche universitaires en sciences sociales au Canada (/isis/citation/CBB000930292/)

Article Michael J. Feuer; (Spring 2013)
STEM Education: Progress and Prospects: Editor's Note (/isis/citation/CBB049575987/)

Article Willcox, Karen E.; Klopfer, Eric; Miller, Haynes R.; (Fall 2016)
Open Educational Resources: Past, Present, and Future (/isis/citation/CBB568788184/)

Book Lacroix, Robert; Maheu, Louis; (2015)
Les grandes universites de recherche: Institutions autonomes dans un environnement concurrentiel (/isis/citation/CBB774396126/)

Article Griffiths, Rebecca J.; Maron, Nancy L.; (Fall 2016)
Open Educational Resources: Nearing an Inflection Point for Adoption? (/isis/citation/CBB603608998/)

Article Bucciarelli, Louis L.; Drew, David C.; (Fall 2015)
On MOOCs (/isis/citation/CBB827953033/)

Article Reich, Justin; (Fall 2016)
Engineering the Science of Learning (/isis/citation/CBB787483221/)

Article Huntemann, Nina B.; (Fall 2016)
edX: Open Education in the 21st Century (/isis/citation/CBB316867066/)

Chapter Leišytė, Liudvika; Enders, Jürgen; Boer, Harry de; (2010)
Mediating Problem Choice: Academic Researchers' Responses to Changes in their Institutional Environment (/isis/citation/CBB001420863/)

Article Goldstein, Joanne; Berkey, Dennis D.; (Summer 2013)
State-Level Measures to Close the STEM Skills Gap (/isis/citation/CBB167549328/)

Book Pierangelo Crucitti; Francesco Bubbico; (2020)
Dieci figure femminili della zoologia italiana del XX secolo (/isis/citation/CBB013316262/)

Article D'Oliveira, Cecilia; Lazarus, Jeffery S.; (Fall 2016)
MIT OpenCourseWare: A Leader in Open Education (/isis/citation/CBB636986868/)

Book Maria Paula Diogo; Ana Carneiro; Isabel Amaral; Paula Urze; André Pereira; Ivo Louro; João Machado; (2017)
A Outra Margem da NOVA (/isis/citation/CBB806520629/)

Article Ambrose, Susan A.; (Summer 2013)
Undergraduate Engineering Curriculum: The Ultimate Design Challenge (/isis/citation/CBB242192510/)

Article Huang, Luwen; Willcox, Karen E.; Miller, Haynes R.; (Fall 2016)
Crosslinks: Improving Course Connectivity Using Online Open Educational Resources (/isis/citation/CBB045905426/)

Book Misa, Thomas J.; Seidel, Robert W.; (2010)
College of Science and Engineering: The Institute of Technology Years (1935--2010) (/isis/citation/CBB001251430/)

Chapter Mario Fiorillo; (2020)
La giuspubblicistica italiana innanzi alla Prima guerra mondiale (/isis/citation/CBB280536440/)

Chapter Maciej Górny; (2020)
The War of Professors in Polish Academia (/isis/citation/CBB947079248/)

Book Filiberto Agostini; (2020)
Università E Grande Guerra In Europa. Medicina Scienze E Diritto (/isis/citation/CBB012551012/)

Chapter Catherine Fillon; (2020)
Le combat pour le droit: la contribution des doyens des facultés de droit françaises a la culture de guerre (/isis/citation/CBB789111915/)

Authors & Contributors
Miller, Haynes R.
Willcox, Karen E.
Reich, Justin
Huang, Luwen
Lazarus, Jeffery S.
Griffiths, Rebecca J.
Journals
The Bridge: Journal of the National Academy of Engineering
Scientia Canadensis: Journal of the History of Canadian Science, Technology, and Medicine
Publishers
Franco Angeli
Gangemi Editore
NOVA School of Science and Technology (FCT NOVA)
Presses de l'Université de Montréal
Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota
Concepts
Universities and colleges
Educational change
Curriculum change
Information technology
Education
Academic freedom
Time Periods
21st century
20th century
20th century, late
19th century
Places
United States
Italy
Lisbon (Portugal)
Poland
France
Europe
Institutions
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT
Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment

Creative Commons License REST API