To be or not to be: Major choices in budding scientists

Over the last forty years, the supply of US-born scientists and engineers has dropped dramatically. In 1970, 3547 US citizens received doctoral degrees in the physical sciences. By 2005, this number had fallen to 1986. Over the same period, the number of Americans earnings doctorates in math fell from 1088 to 541, and the number in engineering fell from 2957 to 2284. From 1966 to 2000 the proportion of US-trained doctorates born in the United States declined from 77 percent to 61 (Freeman, Jin, and Shen 2004). The trends in science and math, coupled with the increase in foreign born, US-trained doctorates in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields have led to great consternation among policymakers and industry analysts.