PhD Experiences and Career Pathways of Students of Color in STEM

• In Event: Digging Into Degrees: Exploring Graduate Education

Abstract

The aim of this study was to understand the career pathways of ethnically diverse doctoral alumni in the STEM fields. Traditionally, doctoral education has been a preparation in academic research, teaching, and writing, but a portion of doctoral graduates are pursuing careers outside of the professoriate. From 2010 to 2020 there was a 13% decrease of doctorate recipients entering academe and 16.7% increase entering industry. With PhD recipients becoming more diverse, there is a shortage of faculty members from traditionally underserved populations, making a compelling case to better understand how ethnically diverse PhDs’ career pathways are formulated. We conducted 20 semi-structured Follow-Up interviews. Findings included poor advising, lacking soft skills, and leaving academe for industry to make greater impact.

Authors

• Marlena Wolfgramm, Council of Graduate Schools
  Presenting Author

• Enyu Zhou, Council of Graduate Schools
  Presenting Author