Engineering Ph.D. students' career preferences: Levels, changes, and the role of advisors

Abstract

The Survey of Earned Doctorates indicates that almost three fourths of all doctoral degree recipients in engineering fields found employment in industry or business, and less than one eighth of them found employment in academia. Although these observations provide insight into the employment patterns, job opportunities, and realized career transitions of recent doctorate recipients, very few systematic studies have been conducted concerning potential mismatches between the career preferences and actual employment pathways among doctoral students in engineering. This issue is of particular importance given growing concern that these career patterns reflect fundamental imbalances between the supply of doctoral students seeking academic positions and the availability of such positions. Differences in job expectations and availability can also generate considerable dissatisfaction among students and may negatively impact relationships between students and advisors. In this preliminary study, the authors are investigating career preferences among doctoral students in engineering. The more specific focus of this paper centers on level and changes in preferred career choices during Ph.D. studies, as well as the role faculty advisors play in engineering doctoral students' career decision-making processes. For the purpose of this study, the research participants will be Ph.D. students in a specific level of their graduate study. The method for collecting and analyzing data will be quantitative survey method. The findings from this study have implications for higher education policymakers, faculty advisors, and other stakeholders (e.g., representatives of industry) related to better understanding engineering doctoral students' preferred career choices and changes in those choices during the course of their Ph.D. studies. More specifically, it is expected that the results will help policymakers, administrative staff, and faculty advisors encourage doctoral students to explore multiple career paths so these students can explore and be trained for the full range of likely job opportunities they will face upon graduation. In this work-in-progress paper, the authors will be discussing the relevant literature review and the research design of this preliminary study.