Full Citation

Title: Supporting 'The Best and Brightest' In Science and Engineering: NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2006

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Abstract: The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) is a highly prestigious award for science and engineering (S&E) graduate students. This paper uses data from 1952 to 2004 on the population of over 200,000 applicants to the GRF to examine the determinants of the number and characteristics of applicants and the characteristics of awardees. In the early years of the program, GRF awards went largely to physical science and mathematics students and disproportionately to white men, but as the composition of S&E students has changed, larger shares have gone to biological sciences, social sciences, and engineering, and to women and minorities. The absolute number of awards has varied over time, with no trend. Because the number of new S&E college graduates has risen, the result is a sharp decline in the number of awards per S&E bachelor’s graduate. In the 2000s approximately 1/3rd as many NSF Fellowships were granted per S&E baccalaureate than in the 1950s-1970s. The dollar value of the awards relative to the earnings of college graduates has also varied greatly over time. Our analysis of the variation in the number and value of awards and of the characteristics of applicants and awardees finds . . .

Url: http://users.nber.org/~sewp/Freeman_NSFstip_Proceedings.pdf

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Authors: Freeman, Richard; Chang, Tanwin; Chiang, Hanley

Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research and Harvard University

Data Collections: IPUMS CPS

Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Other

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