Science and the University

by Paula E. Stephan, Ronald G. Ehrenberg

Overview

Science and the University investigates the tremendous changes that have taken place in university research over the past several decades, gauging the current state of research in higher education and examining issues and challenges crucial to its future. Scientific research increasingly dominates the aims and agendas of many American universities, and this proliferation—and changes in the way research is conducted—has given rise to important questions about the interrelations of higher education, funding for scientific research, and government policy. The cost of doing science, the commercialization of university research, the changing composition and number of Ph.D. students, the effect of scientific research on other university programs—these are just a few of the many issues explored in this volume from the vantage points of scholars in such diverse fields as economics, biochemistry, genetics, and labor studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780299224806
Publisher:	University of Wisconsin Press
Publication date:	09/13/2007
Series:	Science and Technology in Society
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Paula E. Stephan is professor of economics at Georgia State University and coeditor of the two-volume Economics of Science and Innovation. Ronald G. Ehrenberg is the Irving M. Ives Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations and Economics and director of the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute at Cornell University and editor of What’s Happening to Public Higher Education.

Table of Contents

Preface     ix
Introduction: Science and the University   Paula E. Stephan   Ronald G. Ehrenberg     3
Financing Science and Engineering Research
Who Bears the Growing Cost of Science at Universities?   Ronald G. Ehrenberg   Michael J. Rizzo   George H. Jakubson     19
How Does the Government (Want to) Fund Science? Politics, Lobbying, and Academic Earmarks   John M. de Figueiredo   Brian S. Silverman     36
The Commercialization of Science
University Science Research Funding: Privatizing Policy and Practice   Risa L. Lieberwitz     55
Patterns of Research and Licensing Activity of Science and Engineering Faculty   Jerry G. Thursby   Marie C. Thursby     77
Commercialization and the Scientific Research Process: The Example of Plant Breeding   W. Ronnie Coffman   William H. Lesser   Susan R. McCouch     94
Foreign Students and Scholars
The Importance of Foreign Ph.D. Students to U.S. Science   Grant C. Black   Paula E. Stephan     113
Do Foreign Students Crowd Out Native Students from Graduate Programs?   George J. Borjas     134
Foreign Scholars in U.S. Science: Contributions and Costs   Paula L. Stephan   Sharon G. Levin     150
U.S.-Citizen Ph.D.s in Science and Engineering
The Changing Composition of U.S.-Citizen Ph.D.s   Jeffrey A. Groen   Michael J. Rizzo     177
Where Do New U.S.-Trained Science and Engineering Ph.D.s Come From?   Richard B. Freeman   Emily Jin   Chia-Yu Shen     197
The Changing Competitiveness of U.S. Science and the Organization of Academic Science
Global Research Competition Affects Measured U.S. Academic Output   Diana M. Hicks     223
The Workforce for Biomedical Research-Who Will Do the Work?   Susan A. Gerbi   Howard Garrison     243
Concluding Remarks: Looking to the Future   Paula E. Stephan   Ronald G. Ehrenberg     259
References     265
Contributors     283
Index     287

Editorial Reviews

The university—a central institution in the emerging knowledge economy—is in the process of dramatic transformations. In this volume, Paula Stephan and Ronald Ehrenberg bring together scholars from a wide array of disciplines to address some of the most crucial changes underway in universities today. Grappling with matters ranging from how universities are funding their scientific research in an era of government belt-tightening to what roles universities can and should play in the commercial economy, the essays in this collection are important reading for anyone who cares about the future of higher education in the United States.”—Daniel Lee Kleinman, University of Wisconsin-Madison, series editor and author of Impure Cultures: University Biology and the World of Commerce

From the Publisher