Predictors of Graduate STEM Degree Production for Women at U.S. Master’s Institutions

• In Event: Poster Session 8
  In Poster Session: Division J Section 4 Poster Session 1

Abstract

National reports call for solutions to address the low representation of women in STEM fields. The extant literature tends to focus on gender inequalities for women as a group and within STEM undergraduate programs, even though there are also disparities at the graduate-level and between domestic and international groups. Nearly half of the women with doctorates in STEM fields earn a master’s degree along the way to a doctorate; however, very little research focuses on the origins of the institutions where women earn master’s degrees. This study aimed to understand which characteristics related to higher master’s degree production rates for women at those schools where doctoral-granting institutions could possibly look to establish an M.S.-to-Ph.D. “bridge” program.

Authors

• Amanda Ostreko, The University of Kansas

• Sara E. Tomek, The University of Alabama

• Austin Ryland, Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities