Recently, the editor remarked to me that physics departments that offered a PhD with a specialization in Physics Education Research (PER) seemed to graduate more bachelor's degree recipients than those physics PhD departments that did not have the specialization. I was not convinced. That led to quite a bit of discussion between us. He compiled a…

Background: This paper adapts the four-frame model of organizational change to the context of higher education. We offer the model as a tool for researchers and change agents who wish to study and enact systemic change within STEM departments. We provide the four frames in contrast to overly simplistic models of change that have been shown to be…

The University of Delaware Department of Biological Sciences is in a period of change. Pressures, both internally and externally, are driving towards a greater teaching demand. The University of Delaware itself is under a leadership directive that has all departments focusing on performance goals along the lines of peer institutions from the…

The study consisted of three articles. Article one aimed to determine if there were any significant difference in science graduate students' (SGSs') conceptions of the "consensus tenets" of the nature of science (NOS) with respect to demographic factors -- the SGSs' academic and research characteristics. The participants were SGSs from…

The aim of this paper is to share a case study from Brunel University London's Department of Life Sciences, where a change project was established to manage a significant increase in undergraduate student numbers. It gives an insight into the key factors behind the successful implementation of change, in particular focusing on how the project…

National discourse about STEM careers has dominated conversations about the need to meet the demands of the labor market. The ever increasing population diversity requires the participation of underrepresented groups, including women and individuals from racially minoritized backgrounds. However, for those at the intersections of historical and…

The phenomenon of embedding Science Faculty with Education Specialties (SFES) in science departments is well documented. However, the perspectives of academic leaders have not been systematically studied. To investigate these perspectives, we conducted an interview study of college of science deans in the California State University system, which…

The trend data detailed in this "Focus On" includes doctorates from the class of 2019. It presents data on the number of physics PhDs awarded in the U.S. including data on citizenship, women, and PhDs from underrepresented groups. It also includes data on educational background, time to degree, subfield of dissertation, and general…

There has been little work done in exploring the variations in admissions practices between different types of physics graduate programs. In this paper, we compared admissions practices in master's programs to a parallel data set collected from doctoral departments to understand the relative importance of particular admission criteria and looked…

There is a severe shortage of Black scientists in the United States. Amid the recent national movement to dismantle systemic racism and racial injustices, many scientists publicly highlighted the prevalence of racist learning environments in STEM, contributing to the underrepresentation of Black students in STEM fields. Acknowledging this…

The Academic WorkForce Survey has been conducted every two years since 1986. Between March and June 2018, researchers contacted 797 physics and astronomy departments (including 39 astronomy-only departments) that award a bachelor's degree or higher in physics or astronomy. Responses were received from 720 institutions, a 90% response rate. This…

In any academic department, faculty members retire or leave for a variety of reasons, and new faculty members are hired to replace departing faculty or fill newly created positions. This report focuses on departures, retirements, recruitments, and new hires in physics and astronomy departments. In our Academic Workforce Surveys, we collect the…

As we near the close of another academic year, we highlight departments in the United States that consistently award more physics bachelor's degrees than other similar departments. We categorize departments by the highest physics degree they award. Typically, departments that award a doctorate have more faculty members and more students; thus, one…

Background: The continuation of teacher preparation activities after a 3-year Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC) grant is used as a case study to examine multi-faceted aspects of sustainable change in higher education. Since teacher preparation is outside typical physics departmental activities, success is highly dependent on finding a…

Women and some racial and ethnic groups remain underrepresented in chemistry departments across the United States, and generally, efforts to improve representation have resulted in minimal or no improvements in the last 10 years. Here, we present the outcomes of a graduate-student-led initiative that sought to assess the issues affecting…