Recruiting and Retaining Underrepresented Students: Hints From the Physics Pipeline

Recruiting and Retaining Underrepresented Students: Hints From the Physics Pipeline April 16, 2004 Michael NeuschatzAIP Statistical Research Centermneuscha@aip.org

2. Representation of Women Physics Students at Different Academic Levels, 1972-2002 AIP Statistical Research Center: High School Physics Reports, Enrollments and Degrees Reports

3. Representation of Minorities among Physics Students, 1985-2001 AIP Statistical Research Center: High School Physics Reports, Enrollments and Degrees Reports US Census Bureau: Current Population Survey, 2004 Internet Table A-5

4. Percent Women among Physics Faculty, 1987-2002 AIP Statistical Research Center: High School Physics Reports, Women in Physics Reports;National Research Council: Science and Engineering Programs, On Target for Women?, Table 3-4

5. Number of Women Faculty in PhD Physics Departments, 1985 and 2002 AIP Statistical Research Center: Women in Physics Reports

6. Percent Women among Bachelors and PhDs, All Fields 1950-2002 AIP Statistical Research Center: Women in Physics Reports; NCES: 2001 Digest of Education Statistics, T247

7. Percent of Bachelor’s Degrees Earned by Women in Selected Fields, 1966 to 2001 National Science Foundation, compiled by AIP Statistical Research Center

8. Percent of PhDs Earned by Women in Selected Fields, 1966 to 2001 National Science Foundation, Compiled by AIP Statistical Research Center

9. Minority Representation Among Physics Faculty atDifferent Academic Levels AIP Statistical Research Center: High School Physics Reports, Academic Workforce Reports

10. Persons Aged 25 to 29 Years Who Have Completed 4 Years or more years of College by Race, 1940-2002 Mortensen: Postsecondary Education OPPORTUNITY, March 2003

11. The Physics Pipeline: Where Many Enter, But Few Emerge High School Physics Intro at 4-yr Colleges and Universities 340K Physics Major Physics Bachelor’s 940K 7K 4K 120K Intro Physics at 2-yr College AIP Statistical Research Center: High School Physics Survey, Enrollments and Degrees Survey, Senior Survey

12. Physics Students Tend to Perform Well Academically SAT scores for high school physics takers (1992): math 559 (all others students 444) verbal 480 (all others students 406) GRE scores for physics bachelors recipients (1993): Math 724 (all other bachelors 599) Verbal 589 (all other bachelors 554) Analytic 663 (all other bachelors 621) And this despite the fact that 48% of physics bachelors, but only 8% of other bachelors, take the GRE’s National Center For Education Statistics: NELS ’88 Second Follow-up (SAT), B&B:93/94 (GRE)

13. Physics Bachelors Recipients are Far More Likely to Pursue Higher Studies, Generally and in Physics All Physics 60% National Science Foundation: National Survey of College Graduates, compiled by AIP Statistical Research Center

14. Even Further Reinforcing the Bias, Physics Study Tends to Be a Closed Club. There are few ways into the pipeline if you didn’t enter at the beginning. % of 1995 physics bachelors who took: High school physics: 92% (vs. 26% for all students) AP physics where available: 69% (vs. 2% for all students) % of 2001 physics graduate students whose undergrad major was physics: 88% AIP Statistical Research Center: Senior Survey, Graduate Student Survey, High School Physics Survey

15. In 2001, Percent of African American Bachelors from HBCU’s % of Institutions with Grad Programs National Center for Education Statistics, compiled by AIP Statistical Research CenterAIP Statistical Research Center: Enrollments and Degrees Reports

16. Physics PhDs Earned by Black and Hispanic Students, Totals 1973-2000 National Science Foundation: Survey of Earned Doctorates, compiled by AIP Statistical Research Center

Recruiting and Retaining Underrepresented Students: Hints From the Physics Pipeline