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PhD Student Funding Patterns: Placing Biomedical, Biological, and Biosystems Engineering in the Context of Engineering Sub-Disciplines, Biological Sciences, and Other STEM Disciplines

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Title: PhD Student Funding Patterns: Placing Biomedical, Biological, and Biosystems Engineering in the Context of Engineering Sub-Disciplines, Biological Sciences, and Other STEM Disciplines
Language: English
Authors: David B. Knight (ORCID 0000-0003-4576-2490), Dustin M. Grote (ORCID 0000-0002-9189-2424), Timothy J. Kinoshita, Maura Borrego (ORCID 0000-0001-7131-4611)
Source: Biomedical Engineering Education. 2024 4(2):199-210.
Availability: Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 12
Publication Date: 2024
Sponsoring Agency: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Contract Number: DGE1535226
DGE1535462
EEC2114181
EEC2114210
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Information Analyses
Education Level: Higher Education
Postsecondary Education
Descriptors: Doctoral Students, Financial Support, Biological Sciences, Biomedicine, STEM Education, Intellectual Disciplines, Engineering Education, Biology, Fellowships, Student Financial Aid, Teaching Assistants, Research
DOI: 10.1007/s43683-024-00142-w
ISSN: 2730-5937
2730-5945
Abstract: Whether doctoral students are funded primarily by fellowships, research assistantships, or teaching assistantships impacts their degree completion, time to degree, learning outcomes, and short- and long-term career outcomes. Variations in funding patterns have been studied at the broad field level but not comparing engineering sub-disciplines. We addressed two research questions: How do PhD student funding mechanisms vary across engineering sub-disciplines? And how does variation in funding mechanisms across engineering sub-disciplines map onto the larger STEM disciplinary landscape? We analyzed 103,373 engineering and computing responses to the U.S. Survey of Earned Doctorates collected between 2007 and 2016. We conducted analysis of variance with Bonferroni post hoc comparisons to examine variation in funding across sub-disciplines. Then, we conducted a k-means cluster analysis on percentage variables for fellowship, research, and teaching assistantship funding mechanism with STEM sub-discipline as the unit of analysis. A statistically significantly greater percentage of biomedical/biological engineering doctoral students were funded via a fellowship, compared to every other engineering sub-discipline. Consequently, biomedical/biological engineering had significantly lower proportions of students supported via research and teaching assistantships than nearly all other engineering sub-disciplines. We identified five clusters. The majority of engineering sub-disciplines grouped together into a cluster with high research assistantships and low teaching assistantships. Biomedical/biological engineering clustered in the high fellowships grouping with most other biological sciences but no other engineering sub-disciplines. Biomedical/biological engineering behaves much more like biological and life sciences in utilizing fellowships to fund graduate students, far more than other engineering sub-disciplines. Our study provides further evidence of the prevalence of fellowships in life sciences and how it stretches into biomedical/biological engineering. The majority of engineering sub-disciplines relied more on research assistantships to fund graduate study. The lack of uniformity provides an opportunity to diversify student experiences during their graduate programs but also necessitates an awareness to the advantages and disadvantages that different funding portfolios can bestow on students.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2024
Accession Number: EJ1432278
Database: ERIC
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  Data: PhD Student Funding Patterns: Placing Biomedical, Biological, and Biosystems Engineering in the Context of Engineering Sub-Disciplines, Biological Sciences, and Other STEM Disciplines
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22David+B%2E+Knight%22">David B. Knight</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4576-2490">0000-0003-4576-2490</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Dustin+M%2E+Grote%22">Dustin M. Grote</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9189-2424">0000-0002-9189-2424</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Timothy+J%2E+Kinoshita%22">Timothy J. Kinoshita</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Maura+Borrego%22">Maura Borrego</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7131-4611">0000-0001-7131-4611</externalLink>)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Biomedical+Engineering+Education%22"><i>Biomedical Engineering Education</i></searchLink>. 2024 4(2):199-210.
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  Data: Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
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  Data: Whether doctoral students are funded primarily by fellowships, research assistantships, or teaching assistantships impacts their degree completion, time to degree, learning outcomes, and short- and long-term career outcomes. Variations in funding patterns have been studied at the broad field level but not comparing engineering sub-disciplines. We addressed two research questions: How do PhD student funding mechanisms vary across engineering sub-disciplines? And how does variation in funding mechanisms across engineering sub-disciplines map onto the larger STEM disciplinary landscape? We analyzed 103,373 engineering and computing responses to the U.S. Survey of Earned Doctorates collected between 2007 and 2016. We conducted analysis of variance with Bonferroni post hoc comparisons to examine variation in funding across sub-disciplines. Then, we conducted a k-means cluster analysis on percentage variables for fellowship, research, and teaching assistantship funding mechanism with STEM sub-discipline as the unit of analysis. A statistically significantly greater percentage of biomedical/biological engineering doctoral students were funded via a fellowship, compared to every other engineering sub-discipline. Consequently, biomedical/biological engineering had significantly lower proportions of students supported via research and teaching assistantships than nearly all other engineering sub-disciplines. We identified five clusters. The majority of engineering sub-disciplines grouped together into a cluster with high research assistantships and low teaching assistantships. Biomedical/biological engineering clustered in the high fellowships grouping with most other biological sciences but no other engineering sub-disciplines. Biomedical/biological engineering behaves much more like biological and life sciences in utilizing fellowships to fund graduate students, far more than other engineering sub-disciplines. Our study provides further evidence of the prevalence of fellowships in life sciences and how it stretches into biomedical/biological engineering. The majority of engineering sub-disciplines relied more on research assistantships to fund graduate study. The lack of uniformity provides an opportunity to diversify student experiences during their graduate programs but also necessitates an awareness to the advantages and disadvantages that different funding portfolios can bestow on students.
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        Value: 10.1007/s43683-024-00142-w
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