{"83511":{"#nid":"83511","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Engineering on the Rise: Engineering Degrees More Popular Now","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAcross the nation, engineering is gaining in popularity at all degree levels and bachelor\u0027s degrees could be on their way to surpassing the 70,000 mark last reached in 1988, according to a recent survey by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe ASEE reports bachelor\u0027s degrees awarded in 2001-2002 increased 3.4 percent to 67,301, marking the third year of growth nationally at the undergraduate level. Overall, bachelor\u0027s degrees increased by 7.9 percent since the 1998-1999 academic year.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile the number of undergraduate degrees conferred at Georgia Tech\u0027s College of Engineering saw a slight increase during 2001-2002 - up 4.3 percent to 1,231 from the previous year - Tech awarded the nation\u0027s second-highest number of bachelor\u0027s degrees in engineering, according to the ASEE report. Pennsylvania State University was first, awarding 14 more degrees with 1,245.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ELast year also marked the first time in the past three years that Tech saw an increase in the number of bachelor degree awards since 1999. That year Tech awarded 1,293 bachelor degrees. In 2000, the number dropped to 1,243 and, in 2001, to 1,180.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe latest enrollment figures show the upward trend continues at Tech. In the 2003 fiscal year, 1,286 bachelor degrees were awarded in engineering. Tech\u0027s strengths in its undergraduate recruitment program have led to the Institute\u0027s status of being the largest producer of engineers in the country. In turn, that\u0027s helped the College of Engineering maintain its focus on quality and diversity, rather than quantity, said Narl Davidson, associate dean of engineering.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Our undergraduate enrollments have grown in the past two years due to the success of the Georgia Tech Regional Engineering Program at the GT-Savannah campus and due to the recruiting efforts of the Women-in-Engineering program here in Atlanta,\u0022 Davidson said.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe ASEE study found that growth in undergraduate degrees is not consistent across the disciplines. For example, in the past three years, biomedical degrees nationally jumped 49 percent at the bachelor\u0027s level, while chemical engineering degrees decreased by 11 percent. Electrical and computing engineering bachelor\u0027s degrees rose 18 percent.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ENationally, electrical and computer engineering remains the most popular engineering discipline at the undergraduate level (114,456 enrolled). It also awarded the most undergraduate degrees (21,812). Figures at Georgia Tech mirror that trend. Electrical and computer engineering at Tech had the highest undergraduate enrollment of all engineering disciplines (1,826) and awarded the most degrees (333).\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGraduate Engineering\u003C\/strong\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe numbers tell a slightly different story at the graduate level. While enrollment for master\u0027s and doctoral programs both jumped by over 14 percent from last year, the number of master\u0027s degrees awarded increased by only 1.4 percent. Doctoral degrees awarded decreased by 4. 7 percent.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022The weak labor market might be causing more Ph.D. candidates to postpone gradation in favor of staying in their funded positions,\u0022 said Michael T. Gibbons, a project manager for surveys and statistics at ASEE. \u0022This trend in matriculation comes as a relief to many universities in need of increased teaching support but unable to hire faculty because of hiring freezes.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech was first in the nation for the number of graduate students enrolled in 2001-2002, with 3,165 students. Tech ranked fourth in the number of master\u0027s degrees awarded (708) and No. 5 in the number of doctoral degrees awarded.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAt the master\u0027s and doctoral levels, electrical and computer engineering graduated the most students (10,127 and 1,658 respectively). \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOther data for the 2001-2002 academic year show that:\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E--Georgia Tech is the top producer of women engineering graduates at the bachelor level. Tech awarded 350 bachelor degrees in engineering to women.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E--Georgia Tech awarded the most bachelor degrees in chemical engineering than any other school in the nation (133).\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E--Georgia Tech leads the nation in the number of women engineering faculty who are tenured or tenure-track (44). Rounding out the top five are: MIT (40); Pennsylvania State University (39); Ohio State University (31): and Purdue University (30). \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E--Georgia Tech awarded the second-largest number of bachelor degrees in mechanical engineering (250). Kettering University awarded the most (252).\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E--Georgia Tech awarded the second largest number of bachelor\u0027s degrees in engineering to African-Americans (123). North Carolina A\u0026amp;T State University awarded the most (222).\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E--Tech ranked No. 7 in civil engineering degrees (137) and No. 8 in electrical and computer engineering (333).\n\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"Across the nation, engineering is gaining in popularity at all degree levels and bachelor\u0027s degrees could be on their way to surpassing the 70,000 mark last reached in 1988, according to a recent survey by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27304","created_gmt":"2003-09-16 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:02:06","author":"Matthew Nagel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2003-09-08T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2003-09-08T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"83521":{"id":"83521","type":"image","title":"ASEE","body":null,"created":"1449178095","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:28:15","changed":"1475894700","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:45:00"}},"media_ids":["83521"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.coe.gatech.edu\/","title":"College of Engineering"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.asee.org\/colleges\/","title":"ASEE Report: Engineering on the Rise"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003ELisa Grovenstein\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications \u0026amp; Marketing\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=lgrovenste3\u0022\u003EContact Lisa Grovenstein\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-8835\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["lisa.grovenstein@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}