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Newsletter Contents

Synopses of New Reports in Inside Engineering Education on the Engineering Trends Web Site  http://engtrends.com

1. "Historical Trends and Near-Term Predictions of Statistics on Degrees, Enrollments and Research Expenditures for Engineering Education in the United States"
2. "Unraveling the Apparent Inconsistencies Between Various Sources of US Engineering Degree Data - Comparison of ASEE, EWC and NSF Surveys"
3. "Master's and Doctoral Enrollments in Engineering and Engineering Disciplines, Including Ethnicity Data"
4. "Undergraduate Engineering Enrollments Overall Are Declining - Individual Engineering Discipline Trends Vary Significantly"

Engineering Degree Graphical Information in Degrees Since 1945 on the Engineering Trends Web Site Expanded from Eleven to Twenty-One Individual Engineering Disciplines

New Studies Underway at Engineering Trends

1. "Research Expenditures in Engineering and Engineering Disciplines"
2. "Analysis of Research Expenditures per Graduate Degree in Engineering and Selected Engineering Disciplines"
3. "Master's and Doctoral Enrollment Trends in Engineering and Selected Engineering Disciplines"

Synopses of New Reports in Inside Engineering Education on the Engineering Trends Web Site

Historical Trends and Near-Term Predictions of Statistics on Degrees, Enrollments and Research Expenditures for Engineering Education in the United States (Report No. 0806A)

This paper provides a comprehensive, statistical view of engineering education in the US. Data are presented in the context of an international view of engineering education overall and provide both a historical setting and a view of near-term future trends. The paper was presented at the plenary session of the 2006 United States-Korea Conference (UKC 2006) sponsored by the Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association in Teaneck, NJ in August 2006. It is posted on the Engineering Trends Web site with their kind permission and is available to all site visitors.

Unraveling the Apparent Inconsistencies Between Various Sources of US Engineering Degree Data - Comparison of ASEE, EWC and NSF Surveys (Report No. 0806B)

The study described in this report was aimed at providing an insight to the differences in the national totals of engineering bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees resulting from the annual surveys of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), the Engineering Workforce Commission (EWC) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Significant understanding of the differences has emerged, but some issues remain for future examination.

The bachelor's degree data from the three surveying organizations can be summarized as:
a. ASEE national totals are for the total number of degrees awarded by US engineering colleges.
b. EWC national totals are for degrees awarded by US engineering colleges plus ABET-accredited computer science degrees "outside" of the engineering college being surveyed. (The differences between ASEE and EWC data are observed only for bachelor's degrees, are minor and affect only the data reported in the last three years.)
c. NSF national totals for bachelor's degrees appear to be those awarded by US engineering
colleges, with computer science degrees excluded. The reports for bachelor's degrees by NSF lag those of ASEE and EWC by three years, making trend assessments based only on NSF degree data unreliable.

National totals for master's and doctoral degrees reported by ASEE and EWC are in agreement for the last four decades. The three-year lag in the reporting of NSF master's degree data has obscured the last three years of new annual records for master's degrees shown by the ASEE and EWC data. National totals for doctoral degrees reported by ASEE and EWC show significant growth in the last few years and a record number of doctoral degrees awarded in AY2004-05. The latest NSF data reported for doctoral degrees (through AY2003-04) indicate the onset of a growth period at the same rate shown by the ASEE and EWC data.

No "computer science effect" is evident in comparisons of master's and doctoral degrees reported by ASEE and EWC. Master's and doctoral degree data reported by NSF are lower than those reported by ASEE and EWC. The differences are measurably larger than the number of master's and doctoral computer science degrees derived from the ASEE and EWC survey data.

It is troubling that the various NSF tables containing engineering master's and doctoral degrees (in NSF Special Reports and in Science and Engineering Indicators Reports available on the NSF Web site) are inconsistent. Data presented in separate reports can be found to have different values for the same year; occasionally, the differences are large. For example, Science and Engineering Reports contain some master's (2002) and doctoral (2006) degrees that were the same numerically as data in prior reports, but were shifted to later years. Some of these shifts are as large as six years.

Master's and Doctoral Enrollments in Engineering and Engineering Disciplines, Including Ethnicity Data (Report No. 0806C)

A transition from past graduate enrollment trends in engineering appears to be occurring. Full-time master's enrollments grew little in fall 2003 and decreased substantially in fall 2004. Doctoral full-time enrollment growth slowed meaningfully in fall 2004.

For master's degree full-time enrollments, only aerospace and "biological" engineering continued to increase in fall 2004. Civil engineering master's enrollments have remained constant for the last few years. Electrical, materials and mechanical engineering enrollments declined significantly in fall 2004 and "computer" and industrial engineering declined in both fall 2003 and fall 2004. Chemical engineering continues its long-term declining trend in master's enrollments.

For doctoral degree full-time enrollments, "biological" engineering continues to grow rapidly. The increase from fall 2001 to fall 2004 was 80%. Aerospace, civil, industrial and materials engineering maintained past growth trends in fall 2004. On the other hand, chemical, "computer", electrical and mechanical engineering exhibited significant reductions in doctoral enrollment growth in fall 2004.

Trends for African, Hispanic, Native and Asian Americans were studied for engineering as a whole and, except for Native Americans, for specific engineering disciplines. Trends for engineering were presented as enrollments; those for disciplines as relative enrollments (fractions of engineering). Currently, African American students prefer chemical and industrial engineering at the master's level and "biological" and industrial engineering at the doctoral level. Hispanic American students prefer civil and industrial engineering at the master's level and chemical, civil and industrial engineering at the doctoral level. Asian American students prefer "biological", "computer", electrical and materials engineering at the master's level and "biological", chemical, "computer", electrical and materials engineering at the doctoral level.

Undergraduate Engineering Enrollments Overall Are Declining - Individual Engineering Discipline Trends Vary Significantly (Report No. 0806D)

First-year and total full-time engineering enrollments, including computer science both within and "outside" of the engineering colleges surveyed, are declining. This report is directed toward the individual engineering disciplines. Nine disciplines were selected for study: aerospace, "biological" (bioeng and biomedical), chemical, civil, "computer" (computer engineering and computer science both within and "outside" the engineering colleges surveyed), electrical, industrial, materials and mechanical engineering. Total full-time enrollments were used to assess historical and current trends; first-year enrollments provided an insight to trends in the near future.

Aerospace engineering full-time enrollments have been increasing slowly, but recent first-year enrollments have been constant. "Biological" engineering full-time enrollments have been increasing substantially as have first-year enrollments. The first-year enrollment growth rate for fall 2005 was significantly less than the past trend. Chemical engineering full-time enrollments have been constant for the past few years; first-year enrollments, however, have increased slowly in recent years. Civil engineering continues to grow in both first-year and total full-time enrollments. First-year and full-time enrollments in mechanical engineering have been growing significantly since the mid-1990s. However, first-year enrollments declined slightly in fall 2005.

Both industrial and materials engineering have experienced essentially constant total full-time enrollments for about two decades. First-year enrollments for these two disciplines have been essentially constant as well for almost a decade.

"Computer" engineering has undergone substantial declines in both first-year and total full-time enrollments since fall 2001. These declines are expected to continue. Electrical engineering first-year and total full-time enrollments have been declining since fall 2001 and fall 2002, respectively. The rate of decline of first-year enrollments has increased annually. Full-time enrollment declines are expected to continue.

Engineering Degree Graphical Information in Degrees Since 1945 on the Engineering Trends Web Site Expanded from Eleven to Twenty-One Individual Engineering Disciplines

Requests to Engineering Trends for increased numbers of engineering disciplines covered on the Degrees Since 1945 page of our Web site have encouraged us to expand the number of disciplines from eleven to twenty-one. In addition, bioengineering and biomedical engineering are being reported separately (rather than combined as "biological") and computer engineering, computer science (in universities with engineering colleges) and computer science and engineering are being reported separately (rather than combined as "computer"). Engineering Trends believes that the separate reporting of these five disciplines is unique.

In addition, all data on engineering as a whole are now available to all Web site visitors. As in the past, all individual discipline degree data on the Web site are accessible to Engineering Trends members. Non-members of Engineering Trends may purchase from the Web site graphs of degree datasets for individual engineering disciplines.

New Studies Underway at Engineering Trends

Research Expenditures in Engineering and Engineering Disciplines through AY2004-05

Total research expenditures for engineering graduate programs have continuously increased and have now reached $5 billion per year. This study will consider engineering and engineering discipline expenditures through AY2004-05 and will include trends in research expenditures per faculty member.

Analysis of Research Expenditures per Graduate Degree in Engineering and Selected Engineering Disciplines Through AY2004-05

Information on research expenditures per master's and doctoral degree can be obtained from scatter plots of expenditures per faculty member versus doctoral degrees per faculty member. This study will include data for engineering as a whole and for selected engineering disciplines.

Master's and Doctoral Enrollment Trends in Engineering and Selected Engineering Disciplines Through Fall 2005

This study is a companion to the undergraduate study just completed (Report 0806D). Engineering disciplines, in addition to engineering as a whole, will be considered.

Can We Be of Assistance?

Engineering Trends specializes in client-defined studies comparing engineering colleges and departments at individual universities. We would be pleased to assist you in your activities in this regard. Engineering Trends has the capability to provide rapid responses and accurate studies at low cost to our clients. All studies are based upon a no-cost quotation specifying the scope of the study and the delivery time, as well as the cost.

We welcome your suggestions of reports to be added to the Inside Engineering Education section of our Web site and reviewed in forthcoming newsletters. You may contact us via our Web site http://engtrends.com, by e-mail at news@engtrends.com and/or by phone (906) 482-1523. We look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

Richard W. Heckel
Founder & Technical Director

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