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Careers Paths in Materials Science and Engineering (cont'd) The people who graduated between 1940 and 1996 were included in the sample surveyed. The returns included each decade with an increasing percentage for the last three decades. Since the total degree output for the field has been slowly increasing with some variations, the sample age distribution should be fairly representative of the totals on an age sampling basis. The distribution of types of B. S. degrees held by the people in this survey is shown in Table I. This data provides an interesting insight into educational points of entry into the field. Of those surveyed, 14.9% entered the field at the graduate level with a BS degree from some other area. Approximately an equal fraction came from science (chemistry, mathematics, or physics) and other engineering types of backgrounds. Among the science backgrounds, chemistry and physics were about equally common in the sample and about four times more likely than a mathematics background. Among the engineering backgrounds, mechanical, chemical, and electrical were the most cited and in that order.
Table I As shown in Table I the survey reflects a dramatic shift in the specialization area distribution since 1980. The materials area survey group shows an increase from a few percent of the degrees granted prior to the 1980's to nearly 50% in recent years, consistent with the total reported degrees granted. Over the years the area of ceramics has maintained about constant (15%) over the years with a slight decrease in recent years. On the other hand the metallurgical area has decreased from over 60% of the field to less than 30% in recent years. This survey shows that about 15% of the people enter the field at the graduate level as indicated by the numbers of those with bachelors degrees in other fields. The survey also shows this percentage has not changed significantly over the years. The survey also shows the importance of advanced degrees for those
in the field. As shown in Table II, about 63% of the survey group have advanced degrees. The high
educational level is generally attributed to the job function
needs that require advanced degrees coupled with a significant
number who obtain management type degrees. Also, the doctorate
level reflects the importance of research and development as a
prime career path for the field.
Table II The distribution of master's degree specialization for the group
is shown in Fig. 1 with the largest group being advanced degrees in one of the specializations
in the field followed by degrees in business and law. Those who
checked the 'other' category listed a wide spectrum of areas such
as medicine, language, education, etc. This would support the
claim that the bachelor's degree in the materials field is good
preparation for a wide range of other areas.
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