Engineering Trends - 0207B - Trends in Engineering Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral Degrees Awarded in Individual States - Including Analysis of Six Engineering Disciplines

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Engineering Trends

REPORT 0207B - FEBRUARY 2007

Trends in Engineering Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral Degrees Awarded in Individual States - Including Analysis of Six Engineering Disciplines

Introduction

This report is an update on Report 0404 ("Engineering Bachelor's Degrees Awarded in States - Total Number and "Per Population" (with AY1990-91 and AY2000-01 Comparisons)", April 2004). Engineering college data (bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees) from the fifty states plus the District of Columbia are included. Biological (bioengineering plus biomedical), chemical, civil, computer (computer science degrees from departments "outside" the engineering college surveyed are included along with computer science degrees "inside" the college), electrical and mechanical engineering are presented. Total engineering degrees from AY2000-01 and AY2005-06 are compared in terms of number of degrees and degrees per capita. Disciplines are compared for number of degrees awarded in AY2005-06.

The AY2000-01 to AY2005-06 period is of interest because of the substantial increases in overall number of engineering degrees awarded. Bachelor's degrees increased by 17%, master's degrees increased by 20% and doctoral degrees increased by 32% over this five year span. These increases are considerably greater than the US population increase over that period (about 5%) and indicate that, on the average, engineering degrees per capita in the individual states should have increased.

Engineering Degrees (Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral) Awarded in AY2000-01 and AY2005-06

The table below shows the rankings of the fifty states plus the District of Columbia in terms of bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees for both AY2000-01 and AY2005-06. Clearly, the states with the largest populations and largest numbers of universities with engineering programs award the greatest numbers of degrees at all three academic levels.

The growth in degrees from AY2000-01 to AY2005-06 varies significantly among the individual states. For bachelor's degrees, 19 states grew less than 10% and 9 had declines. For master's degrees, 20 states grew less than 10% and 15 had declines. A sharp contrast is apparent for doctoral degrees. Growth of more than 10% took place in 42 states; the other 9 all experienced declines.

Engineering Degrees per Capita Awarded in AY2000-01 and AY2005-06

The second graph below shows bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in engineering on a per capita basis (degrees per million population). The rankings shown differ substantially from those for the numbers of degrees awarded by the states. Few of the states in the "top 10" ranking by number of degrees have rankings in the "top 10" on a per capita basis. However, the "top 10" states in terms of number of degrees are generally in the "top 25" category in terms of degrees per capita.

Bachelor's Degrees

Master's Degrees

Doctoral Degrees

2005-06

2000-01

2005-06

2000-01

2005-06

2000-01

9560

7031

5543

4125

1174

845

5578

4454

2984

2355

608

410

4593

4053

2893

2174

536

376

4137

3886

2104

2156

457

372

4064

3719

1738

1784

437

371

3331

2743

1737

1527

436

353

2880

2636

1672

1493

391

330

2669

2384

1524

1459

355

275

2614

2300

1438

1272

322

218

2513

1972

1408

1108

294

203

2217

1861

1340

1059

242

200

1898

1666

1300

935

242

192

1870

1540

1005

813

241

164

1786

1524

924

583

216

163

1673

1413

757

562

183

156

1631

1372

666

558

159

140

1458

1292

646

536

148

118

1446

1282

526

482

139

112

1337

1280

493

479

130

109

1330

1232

460

437

121

100

1220

1215

459

410

112

1173

1099

445

399

108

1160

1071

444

398

1108

914

441

391

954

810

428

378

920

789

401

353

897

770

396

347

850

735

390

341

813

689

376

267

787

605

375

255

575

577

372

254

506

476

366

236

457

454

284

236

444

433

252

233

431

388

236

212

400

382

197

140

392

329

172

134

380

316

163

134

373

315

143

115

361

272

117

337

271

114

327

257

282

230

246

223

238

186

205

163

181

149

173

136

171

122

104

103

BS Degrees per Capita

MS Degrees per Capita

PhD Degrees per Capita

2005-06

2000-01

2005-06

2000-01

2005-06

2000-01

615.7

512.3

895.5

683.5

78.1

106.6

448.7

473.7

271.6

281.0

71.4

58.6

434.3

423.4

232.1

217.4

69.9

48.5

432.3

417.3

215.4

216.9

43.2

36.3

408.5

407.8

207.9

209.2

38.4

30.8

406.8

387.3

185.9

177.5

36.4

29.9

401.5

376.7

177.1

149.6

35.5

29.1

398.6

375.5

161.8

141.0

35.2

28.7

395.4

353.3

161.5

134.5

35.1

28.3

355.4

312.3

153.4

131.3

34.4

27.7

353.5

306.1

150.8

124.1

34.2

27.0

333.9

302.8

150.2

123.5

34.1

25.9

332.8

301.3

147.3

121.8

32.5

24.9

332.1

286.9

145.8

120.4

32.0

24.8

319.8

278.6

136.1

120.2

31.7

24.8

289.7

277.0

130.5

118.8

27.8

24.3

286.7

263.4

124.3

115.3

27.2

22.8

274.5

259.0

118.3

108.9

26.8

22.0

274.3

238.0

115.7

104.5

26.6

21.9

264.6

234.7

114.8

104.3

24.9

21.2

263.4

230.9

108.8

104.3

24.9

19.8

252.8

217.2

108.4

103.1

22.4

19.7

252.7

214.6

107.1

99.7

22.1

18.2

251.2

212.7

103.0

99.7

21.0

17.4

243.0

212.3

101.8

99.3

20.2

17.0

230.2

208.7

100.1

93.4

19.5

15.4

230.0

207.6

94.6

88.2

19.3

14.6

229.3

202.6

93.4

81.8

17.7

14.5

228.8

200.4

91.9

79.6

17.2

14.3

225.1

199.7

91.1

79.3

16.5

13.6

215.3

193.2

87.2

78.0

16.1

12.0

210.9

191.9

86.0

75.0

16.0

11.2

209.2

189.3

85.7

74.4

15.4

11.2

209.1

188.1

85.0

72.4

15.4

10.8

205.3

186.4

84.9

72.4

15.3

9.9

200.9

186.1

83.0

72.3

14.8

9.7

199.8

184.7

79.1

70.2

14.3

9.3

196.9

176.8

77.5

66.8

13.1

8.8

194.5

173.6

72.5

66.4

12.4

8.1

192.7

171.6

71.2

62.8

10.5

7.4

187.2

159.6

71.0

59.7

10.5

7.1

187.1

149.4

70.8

59.5

10.3

7.0

163.8

144.4

67.7

57.6

10.2

4.1

158.4

142.8

67.2

53.4

9.9

3.7

155.2

139.8

64.8

52.4

8.6

3.2

155.1

128.6

64.2

48.0

7.2

3.0

136.9

126.0

62.8

47.1

7.2

2.6

135.4

118.0

55.8

45.6

6.4

2.6

130.9

116.9

54.9

38.9

6.3

2.2

121.2

101.7

24.3

31.4

4.5

1.7

81.6

80.9

21.9

28.2

3.1

1.6

Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral Degrees Awarded in AY2005-06 in Six Engineering Disciplines

The following three tables show the bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees awarded in biological (bioengineering plus biomedical), chemical, civil, computer (computer science degrees from departments "outside" the engineering college surveyed are included along with computer science degrees "inside" the college), electrical and mechanical engineering in AY2005-06.

As expected, the rankings of the states for each of the six disciplines for each of the three degree levels are generally consistent with the state rankings for total engineering degrees for the three academic levels. The disciplines selected for study are major contributors to the overall engineering totals. The departures from these general trends are worthy of note. A comparison was made between the "top 10" in engineering as a whole to the "top 10" in each discipline at each degree level. The discussions to follow focus on the states that were not "top 10" in engineering, but were in the "top 10" in individual disciplines.

At the bachelor's degree level, North Carolina (4th), Maryland (8th) and Missouri (9th) entered the "top 10" in biological engineering, replacing Michigan (14th), Virginia (21st) and Florida (24th). For chemical engineering, Indiana (7th) and New Jersey (10th) replaced Florida (12th) and Virginia (18th). For civil engineering, Washington (10th) replaced Virginia (12th), for computer engineering, Maryland (9th) and North Carolina (10th) replaced Massachusetts (12th) and Ohio (13th) and, for mechanical engineering, Indiana (8th) replaced Florida (11th).

At the master's degree level, Louisiana (7th), Wisconsin (9th) and Maryland (10th) entered the "top 10" in biological engineering, replacing Florida (11th), Massachusetts (12th) and New Jersey (14th). For chemical engineering, Colorado (8th) replaced Florida (19th), for civil engineering, Colorado (7th), Virginia (8th) and Utah (9th) replaced Ohio (11th), New Jersey (12th) and Pennsylvania (13th), for computer engineering, Maryland (7th) and Virginia (8th) replaced Pennsylvania (11th) and Ohio (13th) and, for mechanical engineering, Georgia (9th) and Virginia (10th) replaced New Jersey (11th) and Florida (13th).

At the doctoral degree level, North Carolina (8th) and Washington (10th) entered the "top 10" in biological engineering, replacing Georgia (11th) and New Jersey (13th). For chemical engineering, Indiana (9th) replaced Florida (22nd), for civil engineering, Indiana (5th), Colorado (9th) and Virginia (10th) replaced Florida (11th), Michigan (12th) and Ohio (14th), for computer engineering, Maryland (6th) and Virginia (10th) replaced Michigan (11th) and Massachusetts (13th), for electrical engineering, Indiana (9th) replaced Florida (11th) and, for mechanical engineering, Maryland (9th) and Indiana (10th) replaced Pennsylvania (11th) and Florida (12th).

Summary

The growth in the number of degrees awarded by engineering colleges in the AY2000-01 to AY2005-06 period covered by this study was substantial. Bachelor's degrees increased by 17%, master's degrees increased by 20% and doctoral degrees increased by 32%. The increases for the fifty states plus the District of Columbia varied significantly from each other and the national averages. The study updated Report 0404 ("Engineering Bachelor's Degrees Awarded in States - Total Number and "Per Population" (with AY1990-91 and AY2000-01 Comparisons)", April 2004).

BS Bio

BS Chem

BS Civil

BS Comp

BS Elect

BS Mech

2005-06

366

391

1043

2726

2193

1468

223

365

561

1201

1131

1309

180

339

474

965

959

1101

179

298

425

758

756

884

160

231

419

756

721

871

155

198

330

627

582

712

149

174

323

564

572

629

148

168

322

503

551

594

121

116

275

494

544

500

112

115

275

492

426

485

106

112

261

429

415

444

104

103

257

412

322

422

102

101

252

390

304

321

217

368

302

318

214

272

301

313

209

263

280

293

192

234

262

280

189

229

239

274

175

223

234

274

169

214

230

273

164

203

220

263

162

202

207

260

156

177

172

251

154

169

146

245

148

158

146

229

144

143

145

219

142

130

145

214

111

126

135

187

109

110

130

179

100

105

130

141

117

135

131

130

118

105

MS Bio

MS Chem

MS Civil

MS Comp

MS Elect

MS Mech

2005-06

223

122

550

1388

1432

574

102

112

298

803

795

465

237

593

692

387

213

525

491

290

170

350

477

279

169

327

376

273

149

311

366

214

128

289

332

186

119

275

329

178

116

214

290

137

113

182

264

113

100

168

212

110

165

211

102

163

207

161

169

153

145

126

142

113

112

103

111

101

109

106

103