Business and government leaders have long recognized that more students—particularly women and minorities—must enter the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields for the United States to remain competitive in the innovative industries that STEM disciplines support. . NORC has been a pioneer in tracking STEM students, the educational choices they make, their career outcomes, and the economic and educational policy decisions that influence their success.
NORC conducts the biannual Survey of Doctorate Recipients, the nation’s only source of data on the career outcomes of U.S.-trained science, engineering, and health doctorate holders, and the annual Survey of Earned Doctorates, which tracks new recipients of research doctorates in the United States. NORC and the University of Chicago host the National Science Foundation’s Center for Advancing Research and Communication in STEM, which supports education research focused on core scientific questions about learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.