Research: New research may explain shortages in STEM careers
A new study by the University of Georgia revealed that more college students change majors within the STEM pipeline than leave the career path of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics altogether.
Funded by a National Institutes of Health grant and a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship and done in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin, the study examined interviews, surveys, and institutional data from 1,193 students at a U.S. midwestern university for more than six years to observe a single area of the STEM pipeline: biomedical fields of study.
Out of 921 students who stayed in the biomedical pipeline through graduation, almost half changed their career plans within the biomedical fields.
“This was almost double the number of students who left biomedical fields altogether,” said Emily Rosenzweig, co-author of the study and assistant professor in the Department of Educational Psychology. “This suggests that if we want to fully understand why there are shortages in certain STEM careers, we need to look at those who change plans within the pipeline, not just those who leave it.”