Forecasting Demand and Supply of Doctoral Scientists and Engineers
Forecasting Demand and Supply of Doctoral Scientists and Engineers

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2000-08-31

Total Pages: 104

ISBN-13: 0309070899

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This report is the summary of a workshop conducted by the National Research Council in order to learn from both forecast makers and forecast users about improvements that can be made in understanding the markets for doctoral scientists and engineers. The workshop commissioned papers examined (1) the history and problems with models of demand and supply for scientists and engineers, (2) objectives and approaches to forecasting models, (3) margins of adjustment that have been neglected in models, especially substitution and quality, (4) the presentation of uncertainty, and (5) whether these forecasts of supply and demand are worthwhile, given all their shortcomings. The focus of the report was to provide guidance to the NSF and to scholars in this area on how models and the forecasts derived from them might be improved, and what role NSF should play in their improvement. In addition, the report examined issues of reporting forecasts to policymakers.

Falling Behind?
Falling Behind?

Author: Michael S. Teitelbaum

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2014-03-30

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 069115466X

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How the fear of a shortage in American science talent fuels cycles in the technical labor market Is the United States falling behind in the global race for scientific and engineering talent? Are U.S. employers facing shortages of the skilled workers that they need to compete in a globalized world? Such claims from some employers and educators have been widely embraced by mainstream media and political leaders, and have figured prominently in recent policy debates about education, federal expenditures, tax policy, and immigration. Falling Behind? offers careful examinations of the existing evidence and of its use by those involved in these debates. These concerns are by no means a recent phenomenon. Examining historical precedent, Michael Teitelbaum highlights five episodes of alarm about "falling behind" that go back nearly seventy years to the end of World War II. In each of these episodes the political system responded by rapidly expanding the supply of scientists and engineers, but only a few years later political enthusiasm or economic demand waned. Booms turned to busts, leaving many of those who had been encouraged to pursue science and engineering careers facing disheartening career prospects. Their experiences deterred younger and equally talented students from following in their footsteps—thereby sowing the seeds of the next cycle of alarm, boom, and bust. Falling Behind? examines these repeated cycles up to the present, shedding new light on the adequacy of the science and engineering workforce for the current and future needs of the United States.

Handbook of the Economics of Innovation
Handbook of the Economics of Innovation

Author: Bronwyn H. Hall

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2010-05-14

Total Pages: 803

ISBN-13: 0080931111

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Economists examine the genesis of technological change and the ways we commercialize and diffuse it. The economics of property rights and patents, in addition to industry applications, are also surveyed through literature reviews and predictions about fruitful research directions. Two volumes, available as a set or sold separately - Expert articles consider the best ways to establish optimal incentives in technological progress - Science and innovation, both their theories and applications, are examined at the intersections of the marketplace, policy, and social welfare - Economists are only part of an audience that includes attorneys, educators, and anyone involved in new technologies

Beyond Sputnik
Beyond Sputnik

Author: Homer Alfred Neal

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Published: 2010-09-22

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 047202745X

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Science and technology are responsible for almost every advance in our modern quality of life. Yet science isn't just about laboratories, telescopes and particle accelerators. Public policy exerts a huge impact on how the scientific community conducts its work. Beyond Sputnik is a comprehensive survey of the field for use as an introductory textbook in courses and a reference guide for legislators, scientists, journalists, and advocates seeking to understand the science policy-making process. Detailed case studies---on topics from cloning and stem cell research to homeland security and science education---offer readers the opportunity to study real instances of policymaking at work. Authors and experts Homer A. Neal, Tobin L. Smith, and Jennifer B. McCormick propose practical ways to implement sound public policy in science and technology and highlight how these policies will guide the results of scientific discovery for years to come. Homer A. Neal is the Samuel A. Goudsmit Distinguished University Professor of Physics, Interim President Emeritus, and Vice President for Research Emeritus at the University of Michigan, and is a former member of the U.S. National Science Board. Tobin L. Smith is Associate Vice President for Federal Relations at the Association of American Universities. He was formerly Assistant Director of the University of Michigan and MIT Washington, DC, offices. Jennifer B. McCormick is an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Ethics in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the Mayo College of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota, and is the Associate Director of the Research Ethics Resource, part of the Mayo Clinic's NIH Clinical Translational Science Award research programs. GO BEYOND SPUTNIK ONLINE--Visit www.science-policy.net for the latest news, teaching resources, learning guides, and internship opportunities in the 21st-Century field of science policy.

Science Professionals
Science Professionals

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2008-09-26

Total Pages: 146

ISBN-13: 0309134242

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What are employer needs for staff trained in the natural sciences at the master's degree level? How do master's level professionals in the natural sciences contribute in the workplace? How do master's programs meet or support educational and career goals? Science Professionals: Master's Education for a Competitive World examines the answers to these and other questions regarding the role of master's education in the natural sciences. The book also focuses on student characteristics and what can be learned from efforts underway to enhance the master's in the natural sciences, particularly as a professional degree. This book is a critical tool for Congress, the federal agencies charged with carrying out the America COMPETES Act, and educational and science policy makers at the state level. Additionally, anyone with a stake in the development of professional science education (four year institutions of higher education, students, faculty, and employers) will find this book useful.

Perspectives on U.S. Competitiveness in Science and Technology
Perspectives on U.S. Competitiveness in Science and Technology

Author: Titus Galama

Publisher: Rand Corporation

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13: 0833041797

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Is the United States in danger of losing its competitive edge in science and technology "S & T"? In response to this concern, the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness asked RAND to convene a meeting, held on November 8, 2006, to review evidence presented by experts from academia, government, and the private sector. The papers presented at the meeting addressed a wide range of issues surrounding the United States' current and future S & T competitiveness, including science policy, the quantitative assessment of S & T capability, globalization, the rise of Asia "particularly China and India", innovation, trade, technology diffusion, the increase in foreign-born S & T students and workers in the United States, new directions in the management and compensation of federal S & T workers, and national security and the defense industry. These papers provide a partial survey of the facts, challenges, and questions posed by the potential erosion of U.S.S & T capability. The importance of S & T to U.S. prosperity and security warrants that policymakers pay careful attention to the various high-level reports issued over the past ve years that warn of pressures on the U.S. lead in S & T. The intellectual point of embarkation for the RAND meeting was the foremost recent such report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future, by the National Academy of Sciences.

Productivity in Higher Education
Productivity in Higher Education

Author: Caroline M. Hoxby

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2020-01-10

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 022657461X

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How do the benefits of higher education compare with its costs, and how does this comparison vary across individuals and institutions? These questions are fundamental to quantifying the productivity of the education sector. The studies in Productivity in Higher Education use rich and novel administrative data, modern econometric methods, and careful institutional analysis to explore productivity issues. The authors examine the returns to undergraduate education, differences in costs by major, the productivity of for-profit schools, the productivity of various types of faculty and of outcomes, the effects of online education on the higher education market, and the ways in which the productivity of different institutions responds to market forces. The analyses recognize five key challenges to assessing productivity in higher education: the potential for multiple student outcomes in terms of skills, earnings, invention, and employment; the fact that colleges and universities are “multiproduct” firms that conduct varied activities across many domains; the fact that students select which school to attend based in part on their aptitude; the difficulty of attributing outcomes to individual institutions when students attend more than one; and the possibility that some of the benefits of higher education may arise from the system as a whole rather than from a single institution. The findings and the approaches illustrated can facilitate decision-making processes in higher education.