NSF Grant to Study STEM Career Tracks

What factors encourage or discourage Florida's high school students to pursue careers in STEM fields -- science, technology, engineering or mathematics?  A team of researchers, including Dr. Kathryn Borman, Associate Director of the David C. Anchin Center at the University of South Florida, has received a two-year, $730,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to find out.

"Although employment opportunities in STEM fields will increase three times faster than all other occupations in the next decade, U.S. high schools do not produce sufficient numbers of students to pursue these careers," says Dr. Borman. "This study seeks to understand how individual students' career tracks in STEM fields are either nourished, sustained, or inhibited in secondary and post-secondary educational settings."

Using data maintained by the Florida Deparment of Education, Borman and her fellow researchers will analyze career pathways of all 82,000 Florida students who graduated from high school in 1993/1994.  Once they identify those who did or did not pursue careers in STEM fields, researchers will analyze social demographic factors, student experiences, and also carry out personal interviews with 300 individuals.  In a second phase of the study, non-STEM track student experiences will also be examined to understand why students who could have pursued STEM careers did not, or why those starting on a STEM career track did not continue.

"For the STEM track students, we will collect data about their employment, hands-on lab and other research experiences, information on role models, supports and obstacles," explains Borman.  The interviews are expected to provide valuable information on the motivations, opportunities, obstacles and constraints students face throughout their educational and work experiences.

"We will also look at differences in career tracks for those who have pursued different types of STEM careers," says Borman.  "The educational career path for a Ph.D. mathematician may be very different than that of a civil engineer.  We want to understand those differences so policies for nurturing career paths across the STEM spectrum can be developed."

According to Borman, NSF is interested in supporting a diverse and well-prepared workforce of scientists, technicians, engineers, mathematicians and educators.  This study will benefit policymakers as well as educators and future students who may seek careers in science and technology.