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Doctorates & Research Spending
The graphics on these pages allow us to compare engineering doctoral degrees awarded from 2007 to 2010, the period of the global financial crisis and Great Recession, with the level of research spending by engineering schools. ASEE data show that the number of doctoral degrees awarded remained flat from 2007 to 2010 at around 9,000 degrees awarded each year and resumed climbing in 2011. Looking at how two disciplines—electrical engineering and computer science (inside engineering)—fared during the same period, the data show a marked drop in doctoral degrees awarded in electrical engineering. It’s possible that doctoral candidates in that field delayed graduation—due to poor job prospects, the likelihood of more federal research money, or both. The second graphic looks at research expenditures in electrical engineering and computer science over the past 20 years. The 10.3 percent growth in 2010 likely reflects the spike in federal research spending that resulted from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Compiled by Daodao Wang
Infographic by Francis Igot