Changing Participation in STEM Fields Since 1940: US vs. Foreign Students - Essay Sample

Introduction

The participation of different groups in STEM fields has been changing significantly since 1940. For example, countries like the US have recorded a decrease in the number of US citizens students enrolled for science and engineering graduate programs. Between 2011 and 2012, the figure dropped by 1.7% (Heuer, R., Einaudi, P. & Kang). This is contrary to the enrollment of foreign S&E graduate students, which rose to 176, 075 in 2012. In 2010, the number of Black/African Americans, as well as Mexican students, increased significantly from 2009. However, the number of Latino students declined.

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The number of women enrolment for UCLA graduate programs remains steady with no or a slight change. However, women usually dominate disciplines such as nursing but are underrepresented in Engineering. Despite this underrepresentation, their enrolment has increased gradually since 2001. Based on the courses applied for by both international and domestic students, the percentage of international students continues to increase whole that of domestic students remains conspicuously low.

The changing distribution of the underrepresented groups in STEM seems to arise from various factors, with the most dominant being research budgets. Over the years, the research budgets from underrepresented groups have been increased, and this has led to an increase in the number of enrollees from the underrepresented groups. For example, between 2010 and 2011, the total merit support for the domestic underrepresented minorities totaled to $27, 718,627 ("UCLA Graduate Programs"). This was a great difference from $21,269,418 that was used between 2006 and 2007. This trend reveals that the higher the research budget, the higher the number of enrollees.

Based on the data provided, it is evident that the demographic changes in the surrounding area affect the changing distribution of various groups at UCLA. The more the demographics, the higher the likelihood of having more people at UCLA. Data from the years between 1940 and 2000 is missing, and it would be necessary to have it for this research.

Based on the above findings, my research topic is "A study of the factors contributing to an increase in the number of underrepresented groups in STEM." The research question will be, "Does an increase in the research budget lead to an increase in the number of underrepresented groups in STEM?" The hypothesis would be that an increase in research budgets leads to an increase in the number of underrepresented groups enrolling for STEM.

The limits of the current data on STEM participation in the US and beyond is that there is barely enough data for the years preceding 2000. Data from 1940 and the subsequent years until 2000 seem very vague. Based on this, the study would use the available datasets such as the one in Table 1-4 (Graduate Division domestic underrepresented minorities; Master's applications, admits and newly registered by ethnicity: Fall 2006- Fall 2010) Table 4-1 (Merit support by student demographics for UCLA campus; 2006-07 through 2010-11) ("UCLA Graduate Programs"). Additional data need to be collected between 1940-2000. This data will be collected by accessing records, reports, and sources from the relevant ministries and agencies. The patterns that I would seek in the data set are the trend of the underrepresented population in enrolment for STEM courses. The reason for choosing this group would be to determine the participation trend of this group and determine whether there has been an increase since 1940 or not. This information would be obtained by accessing the relevant sources of data.

There are policies that can be applied to alter the demographics of STEM participation, such as increasing the funding for the underrepresented minorities to motivate more of them to join STEM. This is different from the recommendations of Moreno Report, which dwell more on changing the structure of administration (Moreno et al). My recommendation touches more on providing adequate funding for the underrepresented groups to act as a motivating factor.

Works Cited

Heuer, R., Einaudi, P. & Kang, K. Foreign Graduate Enrollment in Science and Engineering Continues to Rise While Overall Graduate Enrollment Remains Flat, 2014. Retrieved from https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf14313/

Moreno et al. Independent Investigative Report on Acts of Bias and Discrimination Involving Faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles, 2013.

UCLA Graduate Programs Annual Report 2010-2011. Retrieved from https://grad.ucla.edu/asis/report/arentire.pdf