FAEIS Newsletter

March 31, 2008

In This Issue:

Preliminary Data from 2007 Surveys

User Spotlight

Student and Faculty Survey Reminder

Biochemistry/Biophysics/Molecular Biology Graduate Student Data

Greetings from the FAEIS team at Virginia Tech. If you are not familiar with this important project from USDA/CSREES, click here to read about FAEIS and why it is important to you.

Preliminary Data from 2007 Surveys

Preliminary data from the FAEIS 2007 student and faculty surveys has been loaded into Report Builder. The recent data load also included updates to data from the 2005 and 2006 survey years, with more than 6,000 undergraduates added to 2006 student enrollment. Data from 2007 will be updated as more surveys are received.

To use the new data, login to Report Builder with your FAEIS userid and password. Contact the FAEIS Team for assistance.

User Spotlight

"FAEIS data was very helpful for a comparative study of faculty compensation in family and consumer sciences requested by our central administration. The FAEIS data provided comparisons of different types of institutions to support this report. Information was concise, current and easy to read. The prompt helpfulness of the staff was greatly appreciated."

Nina Collins

C.C. Wheeler Professsor and Chair

Family and Consumer Sciences

Bradley University

Peoria, IL

Student and Faculty Survey Reminder

We will continue to send reminder messages to those who have not started or completed their student and faculty surveys.To check the status of FAEIS surveys at your institution, please see the FAEIS 2007 Survey Status Report.

In addition to the traditional FAEIS surveys, the Survey of International Programs that began January 2008 is also open for your data input.

THANK YOU to those who have completed your surveys. We appreciate you taking your time to provide this important information.

Biochemistry/Biophysics/Molecular Biology Graduate Student Data

We examine graduate enrollment and placement trends in two CIPS that are related to Biochemistry in this issue ( CIP 26.0202 and 260210).  Biochemistry and molecular biology are two areas that may or may not be in a college containing agriculture, natural resources, or veterinary sciences.  Typically a Biochemistry Department would not appear in a College of Human Sciences, but there may be some scientists with this expertise in such a college.  

Doctoral enrollment (see line graph) appears to be increasing slightly in these two CIPS, while the reported master’s enrollment appears to be decreasing.  However, please keep in mind that only a small number of institutions reported masters enrollment in these two CIPS.

Enrollment in Biochemistry (CIP 26.0202)

and Biochemistry/Biophysics and Molecular Biology [Integrated]

(CIP 26.0210)

Click here to see the entire list of institutions.

Placement in Biochemistry (CIP 26.0202) and Biochemistry/Biophysics and Molecular Biology [Integrated]

(CIP 26.0210)

Most master’s students in these two CIPS became scientists or engineers, with 46% in this placement category (see 1st pie chart).   Interestingly, 27% were employed in a foreign country.  This pattern changed considerably for doctoral student placement (see 2nd chart).  71% of doctoral students became scientists and engineers, while only 12% were employed in a foreign position.  

Click here to see the entire list of institutions.

We have also included a link to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) data for biochemistry and biochemistry-related CIPS.  These data cover enrollment from 2002-2005 at the masters and doctoral levels. NCES is part of the US Department of Education and collects data from non-FAEIS institutions such as Harvard University, Stanford University, etc. Enrollment in biotechnology nationwide increased from 305 students in 2002 to 484 in 2005. Cellular and molecular biology, and bioinformatics have experienced similar increases over the same time frame.  The NCES data show that as colleges of agriculture, natural resources, or veterinary medicine ‘go molecular,’ that our graduates compete directly with those graduating from institutions that have little to do with agriculture, natural resources, or veterinary medicine.

Need Any Help?

We've tried to make the FAEIS surveys as intuitive as we can but we know there are still some challenges when you are first getting started.  We're here to help! Call us at 540-231-4941 or e-mail us at : faeis@vt.edu.

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