Transcript Korean-American Scientists in Higher Education

Korean-American Scientists
in Higher Education
Kichoon Yang
Dean, College of Natural Sciences
University of Northern Iowa
Foreign Born S&E Workforce as of 1999
By 1999, 27 percent of all doctorate holders in S&E in the U.S.
were foreign born;
The highest percentage was in civil engineering (51.5%), the
lowest percentage was in psychology (7.6%), and in other
disciplines the percentages were:
Life sciences – 26%
Computer and mathematical sciences – 35%
Physical sciences – 29%
Social sciences - 13%
A high proportion of KA doctorate holders seems to be in social
science disciplines, at least according to the 2000 KAUP
Directory.
Foreign Born S&E Workforce by Country of Origin
As of 1999, among the foreign born doctorate holders working
in the U.S., China rated the highest as the place of birth at
20%:
China – 20%
India – 16%
UK – 7%
Taiwan – 6%
Canada – 4%
Germany – 4%
Iran – 3%
Korea – 2%
Japan – 1%
Korean-American Professors in the U.S
The 2000 Directory of Korean-American University Professors
contains about 1,900 entries;
According to their academic departmental affiliation we have:
Mathematical and computer science – 150
Engineering – 250
Physical and chemical sciences – 200
Life sciences – 300
Business (including economics, which has over 200 entries) – 500
Other (including liberal and fine arts) - 500
Foreign Graduate Enrollment at U.S. Universities
In 1999, 41% of graduate students in engineering and 39% of
graduate students computer science were foreign students - the
total number of foreign students enrolled in all U.S. S&E
graduate programs exceeded 100,000 students;
Foreign students earn a larger proportion of degrees at the
doctoral level than any other degree level – more than one-third
of all S&E doctoral degrees awarded:
47% of all doctoral degrees in mathematics and computer science;
49% of all doctoral degrees in engineering.
The number of Chinese students was the largest, amounting to
34,000:
27,000 from India, 9,000 from South Korea, 7,000 from Taiwan,
and 3,500 from Japan.
S&E Doctoral Degrees by Race/Ethnicity
Among Citizens and Permanent Residents
In 1999, the U.S. universities awarded 17,428 S&E doctoral
degrees to U.S. citizens and permanent residents:
Whites - 13,656
Asian/Pacific Islanders - 1,951
Blacks - 715
Hispanics – 688
American Indian/Alaskan Native – 117.
In addition, about 8,000 S&E doctoral degrees were awarded to
students with temporary visas.
U.S. Federal R&D Support and Life Sciences
Overall inflation-adjusted federal R&D declined by about 9%
during the period 1990-9, whereas it increased by 42% for
academic R&D;
In the same period, there were the following changes in share
of Federal academic research expenditures by disciplines: -2.5%
for physical sciences, -1% for engineering, -.7% for
mathematics, +.4% for computer science, and +5.1% for life
sciences;
In FY 2000, life sciences accounted for 50% of all non-defense
federal R&D funding;
Information science, life sciences, and nano science are among
the current areas of emphasis in federal R&D support.
Personal Observations; Concluding Remarks
The ratio of administrators to faculty members for KoreanAmerican scientists and engineers in higher education seems
much smaller than that for many other ethnic groups – see
OKSPN survey;
There seems to be a significant (perhaps larger than expected)
number of Korean-American social scientists (e.g., economists)
working at U.S. universities;
Possibly, educational needs and aspirations for Korean graduate
students, enrolled at both Korean and U.S. universities, do not
necessarily parallel those for U.S. graduate students, reflecting
differing national conditions and priorities.
Some Personal Observations about the Korean and
Korean-American Mathematical Communities
It is difficult to separate the two communities as there is much
interaction between the two;
Both the quality and quantity of Korean and KA mathematical
sciences research have increased sharply in the last twenty
years as measured by SCI publications and citations and the
number of mathematical scientists trained by and collaborating
with world-class researchers;
Several Korean mathematics graduate programs are
internationally competitive;
There is a cause for optimism, but there are challenges as well,
some of which may be rooted in cultural differences.