and submit proposals to EHR programs. The committee strongly endorses such
efforts, particularly programs that support the involvement of undergraduate and
secondary students in basic research projects and encourage the broadest
participation in Earth science through Internet accessibility and participation—
including digital libraries.
Within EAR, there are many opportunities for blending education with basic
research. The challenge for EAR is to build flexible programs that (1) are
appropriate to the scale and topic of different research projects; (2) encourage the
dissemination of research results to a wide audience, ranging from colleagues to
the general public; and (3) build in support for education that complements,
rather than competes with, support for basic science.
Training in the Earth Sciences
Earth science training is becoming increasingly demanding. Not only must
Earth scientists keep pace with developments in physics, chemistry, biology, and
engineering, they must also be cognizant of the social and economic influences of
their work. Indeed, the attempts by humans to manage the terrestrial environment
on a planetary scale raises many ethical, political, and philosophical issues. 27
Thus, a key challenge for educators is to develop pre-college and undergraduate
curricula in Earth science that encompass a wide variety of knowledge and
approaches. This is particularly important because many Earth science graduates
go on to work in unrelated fields. According to NSF’s National Survey of College
Graduates, only 26% of the recipients of B.S. degrees in Earth science are
employed in the same science field, and nearly 60% have nonscience
occupations, mainly in industry. 28 A majority of M.S. recipients are working in
the Earth sciences (50%) or a related field (20%), although many combine
science with other tasks, such as management, sales, computer applications,
professional service, and teaching. Surprisingly, Ph.D. recipients are almost as
likely to work in a related science discipline (37%) as in Earth science (46%).
Half of the Ph.D. recipients are employed in the education sector; the remainder
work in business-industry-nonprofit (30%) or government (20%).
The current funding structure at NSF requires most training of
undergraduate and graduate students to come through focused research projects,
27 Research Priorities in the Geosciences: Philosophical Perspectives, Results of a
workshop held in Boston, Massachusetts, June 5, 1999.
28 In the survey, “Earth scientists” includes atmospheric, Earth, and ocean scientists. See
http://srsstats.sbe.nsf.gov .
FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
113
About this PDF file: This new digital representation of the
original work has been recomposed from XML files created
from the original paper book, not from the original
typesetting files. Page breaks are true to the original; line lengths,
word breaks, heading styles, and other typesetting-specific
formatting, however, cannot be retained,
and some typographic errors may have been accidentally inserted.
Please use the print version of this publication as the authoritative
version for attribution.
efforts, particularly programs that support the involvement of undergraduate and
secondary students in basic research projects and encourage the broadest
participation in Earth science through Internet accessibility and participation—
including digital libraries.
Within EAR, there are many opportunities for blending education with basic
research. The challenge for EAR is to build flexible programs that (1) are
appropriate to the scale and topic of different research projects; (2) encourage the
dissemination of research results to a wide audience, ranging from colleagues to
the general public; and (3) build in support for education that complements,
rather than competes with, support for basic science.
Training in the Earth Sciences
Earth science training is becoming increasingly demanding. Not only must
Earth scientists keep pace with developments in physics, chemistry, biology, and
engineering, they must also be cognizant of the social and economic influences of
their work. Indeed, the attempts by humans to manage the terrestrial environment
on a planetary scale raises many ethical, political, and philosophical issues. 27
Thus, a key challenge for educators is to develop pre-college and undergraduate
curricula in Earth science that encompass a wide variety of knowledge and
approaches. This is particularly important because many Earth science graduates
go on to work in unrelated fields. According to NSF’s National Survey of College
Graduates, only 26% of the recipients of B.S. degrees in Earth science are
employed in the same science field, and nearly 60% have nonscience
occupations, mainly in industry. 28 A majority of M.S. recipients are working in
the Earth sciences (50%) or a related field (20%), although many combine
science with other tasks, such as management, sales, computer applications,
professional service, and teaching. Surprisingly, Ph.D. recipients are almost as
likely to work in a related science discipline (37%) as in Earth science (46%).
Half of the Ph.D. recipients are employed in the education sector; the remainder
work in business-industry-nonprofit (30%) or government (20%).
The current funding structure at NSF requires most training of
undergraduate and graduate students to come through focused research projects,
27 Research Priorities in the Geosciences: Philosophical Perspectives, Results of a
workshop held in Boston, Massachusetts, June 5, 1999.
28 In the survey, “Earth scientists” includes atmospheric, Earth, and ocean scientists. See
http://srsstats.sbe.nsf.gov .
FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
113
About this PDF file: This new digital representation of the
original work has been recomposed from XML files created
from the original paper book, not from the original
typesetting files. Page breaks are true to the original; line lengths,
word breaks, heading styles, and other typesetting-specific
formatting, however, cannot be retained,
and some typographic errors may have been accidentally inserted.
Please use the print version of this publication as the authoritative
version for attribution.