Amount of science professors in America?

[Genecks]

I'm trying to determine the number of science professors in America in relation to their perspective research fields, such as biology, chemistry, earth science, and more. I'm not having such an easy time, and I don't know if it's possible to even figure that out.

 

I'm guessing there are about 1.5 million Ph.D holders currently in America. I'm guessing that perhaps 80% of them are agile, living in good condition, and mobile. Maybe more? Not sure. I get that number from reading that about 1% of America has Ph.D holders, so I suspect that's the adult population.

 

From the SED, I suspect that a quarter of the Ph.D holders at most are biologists.

 

One of the things I've been trying to figure it is if there are that many professors, what are they all up to?

[CharonY]

I recall that 1-3% of US citizens are PhDs. Considering the amount of foreign PhDs the number should higher). However, the minority of PhD holders are professors. The majority will be either postdocs or working outside academia. Of course, if you also consider non-tenured professors the numbers will be more complicated. Essentially the timeline post PhD is sometime between 1-4 years postdocing then (if lucky) assistant prof or equivalent position for around 5 years and after that (if really lucky) tenure. However only around 20% of PhDs will end up there. While non-tenured faculty are technically considered to be professors in the US, it is generally a time-limited position. Hence, there will be a lot of flux.

But again, counting PhDs as profs is definitely inaccurate as the pyramid becomes much steeper towards the top.

[ecoli]

Can't some professors also hold just a Masters degree depending on the college and field?

[CharonY]

That I do not know. I have not met a single one being lecturer or similar without a PhD. It would surprise me a bit though. I think I heard that at community colleges there were a few, but all of them were something like adjuncts (and I do not know whether they still exist).

[Genecks]

At my old community college, there are "professors," as we called them. Many had only a Masters degree. One "professor" asked me not to call him a professor, as he did not have his Ph.D. Now whether or not I really shouldn't have is a different story. It was commonplace to call them a professor, though. Some only had a Masters degree yet held tenure positions.

[CharonY]

Are you sure that they are tenured? Though community colleges may be quite a different breed.

[Genecks]

Are you sure that they are tenured? Though community colleges may be quite a different breed.

 

I'm pretty sure one of the guys I know is tenured. If he wasn't, he would probably go back to work in the industry and make $100K+ USD a year. That's what he was making. I was standing around one day, listening to him talk about how he didn't want to go meeting and felt he had the ability to blow it off because he had tenure. He's probably in his 60s or something. He has but a Masters degree.

 

Yes, community colleges have tenured professors whom don't have a Ph.D.

 

I'm not sure if it's common for people with Masters degrees to obtain tenure in community colleges anymore. The system could have changed, and perhaps it now restricts tenure to those with a Ph.D.

[janep]

>From the SED, I suspect that a quarter of the Ph.D holders at most are biologists

 

What is the SED? I'm surprised that 25% of PhDs are bio-related. I was at my friends

graduation ceremony at Univeristy of IL, and all 10,000 undergrads listend as the people who earned PhDs got named. There were a LOT of science fields, and while bio probably had more than average, I don't think it was 25%....

[Genecks]

>From the SED, I suspect that a quarter of the Ph.D holders at most are biologists

 

What is the SED? I'm surprised that 25% of PhDs are bio-related. I was at my friends graduation ceremony at Univeristy of IL, and all 10,000 undergrads listend as the people who earned PhDs got named. There were a LOT of science fields, and while bio probably had more than average, I don't think it was 25%....

 

The percentage is a guess. It's a shot-in-the-dark guess.

It was my rough, perhaps very poor, interpretation of the most recent SED report and looking at some historical data.

 

Survey of Earned Doctorates: http://www.norc.org/projects/survey+of+earned+doctorates.htm

 

I have a bad habit of using acronyms on this website once I've created a thread already defining the acronym. My apologies.

[Ophiolite]

Apparently you can have an amount of science professors! Fortunately for the integrity of the English language you cannot have an amount of English professors.

 

Amount refers to a continous quantity, such as volume, or mass, or length. Discrete numbers are exactly that - numbers. So you can have, as the op correctly stated in his post, though not his title, a number of professors. You can never have an amount of professors. (Equally there may be fewer professors in Maryland than California, never less professors in Maryland.)

 

Numbers are digitial; amounts are analog.

[Genecks]

apparently you can have an amount of science professors! Fortunately for the integrity of the english language you cannot have an amount of english professors.

 

Amount refers to a continous quantity, such as volume, or mass, or length. Discrete numbers are exactly that - numbers. So you can have, as the op correctly stated in his post, though not his title, a number of professors. You can never have an amount of professors. (equally there may be fewer professors in maryland than california, never less professors in maryland.)

 

numbers are digitial; amounts are analog.

 

Ok...