Why are STEM students abandoning academic career paths?

Faculty in the STEM fields are powerful forces in shaping engineering and computing education—the profession’s essential source of training and skills development. But even as the number of students pursuing science and engineering doctorates has increased dramatically, there has been a steep decline in candidates interested in pursuing academic careers.Ebony O. McGee, associate professor of STEM education at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of education and human development wanted to find out why. She led a multi-institutional research team that examined factors that dissuade engineering and computing doctoral students in the United States from pursuing a career in the professoriate. Their findings are published in International Journal of Doctoral Studies. McGee and her colleagues surveyed STEM doctoral students, asking them to elaborate about their educational experiences and career aspirations.