By the time physics students receive their PhDs, they have a broad understanding of many areas of physics and in-depth knowledge in a specific subfield. They have developed a comprehensive knowledge of mathematics, modeling, and programming. Graduate students in physics also develop skills in areas not specifically related to physics and not…

Each year we attempt to contact each person who received a bachelor's degree in physics one year earlier to ask them what they are doing. New degree recipients typically follow one of two paths: enrolling in graduate school or entering the employment market. For the classes of 2011 and 2012 combined, nearly 60% chose to enroll in a graduate…

Each fall the Statistical Research Center conducts its Survey of Enrollments and Degrees, which asks all degree-granting physics and astronomy departments in the U.S. to provide information concerning the numbers of students they have enrolled and counts of recent degree recipients. In connection with this survey, the authors ask for the names and…

This paper considers gendered patterns of participation in post-compulsory STEM education. It examines the trajectory of learning that takes students from A-level qualifications, through undergraduate work and into employment or further study. It also uses a long-term view to look at the best available evidence to monitor participation and…

With one glance at the starting salaries of new bachelor's degree recipients in Fig. 1, a teacher or parent can see the career fields to which their high school students interested in the best economic opportunities might aspire: several engineering fields (chemical, electrical, mechanical), computer science, physics, and mathematics.

Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) have been endorsed as a powerful instructional tool in higher education; however, relatively little is known about the long-term effects of participation in these programs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the educational enhancements of URE participation from the perspective of practicing…

Analyzes the education and employment of physicists during the last forty years with interpretation as to lack of jobs in 1970. Four procedures are presented to avoid future unemployment crises. (DS)

This report provides information about holders of bachelor's degrees in physics who went on to earn master's degrees and were employed at the time of the survey (completed by spring 1999). This is the second report based on data collected from people who earned bachelor's degrees between 1990 and 1993, but it is the first time the American…

The study indicates that jobs in astronomy have become severely limited in the last few years, with a near balance between supply and demand of astronomers. The following issues are assessed in this study: the current supply of astronomers in the United States, and its change as a function of time; the background and make-up of astronomers in the…

Describes the criticism of science during the early 1930's, when questions about the internal dynamics of the physics community- reduced research funds, slackening employment opportunities and lower public esteem for physics and its relationship with society were raised. States that the problem of social relevance of physics is still very real…

This report focuses on graduates in physics who did not earn any degrees after their bachelor's degree and who are not primarily students. The report is based on data from a sample of physics bachelors between December 1998 and the summer of 1999. About 1,200 respondents, out of a potential 2,400, supplied the information. At 5 to 8 years after…

This report is based on an annual survey of physics degree recipients conducted approximately 6 months after the end of the academic year in which they received their degrees. During the 1997-1998 academic year, there were 1,323 physics Ph.D.s conferred at the 183 departments granting physics doctorates in the United States. Departments reported…

Presents the initial analytical results of 1973 survey data obtained from over 52,500 respondents in the physics and astronomy community. Indicates a decrease in unemployment and a continuous salary increase from 1970 to 1973. Included are descriptions of subfield employment, work activities, and situations of minority groups. (CC)

This is a report of a preliminary study of the job mobility of academic physicists in American higher education institutions that offer a physics major to the baccalaureate level. Survey sampling methods employing a mailed questionnaire were used to collect data from a random sample of 800 academic physicists. The central finding of the study was…

Discussed in this document are the changes within the physics profession, their causes and effect. Detailed statistical data are supplied concerning physics enrollments, the institutions where physics is taught, the faculty in physics departments, and the nonacademic employment of physicists. Other topics include employment, education, minority…