I'd like to see the numbers comparing physics and engineering with computer science. I know my physics profs were pointing out a crisis in the 90's involving a lot of the bright young students being drawn away into computer-related fields. For the puzzle-driven, computing offers more bucks and is definitely sexier today (unfortunately). -Steve Grube
Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> Chronicle of Higher Education - web daily - February 19, 2001
>
> U.S. Is Urged to Invest in Science Education or Risk Losing Its Global Edge
> By LILA GUTERMAN
>
> San Francisco [partial quote]
>
>"Since 1986, B.S. degrees in engineering, mathematics, and computer
science have dropped by about 20 percent," she said. The number of
Ph.D.'s awarded by American universities in those areas has also
decreased, and only slightly more than half of the students who
earned them in 1999 were American citizens.
"When one compares our work force to our global competitors, we find that we lag behind most of the industrialized world in the percentage of 24-year-olds with natural-science and engineering degrees," Ms. Good said.