and training grants in recent years. s" Rather 

 than providing direct student aid, there has been 

 a tendency to rely more heavily on graduate 

 student participation in federally funded 

 research projects that support areas of national 

 concern. Thus, Federal obligations for 

 fellowships, traineeships, and training grants 

 declined from $421 million in 1971 to $287 

 million in 1973. These funds rose again in 1974 

 to $327 million, largely because approximately 

 $85 million of funds impounded in 1973 were 

 released to HEW in 1974. 



Among Federal agency programs affected by 

 the shifts in funding were the Office of 

 Education's student programs under the 

 National Defense Education Act, NSF's 

 traineeship program, and NASA's traineeship 

 program. As a result, obligations by the Office of 

 Education declined from $52 million in 1971 to 

 $41 million in 1972, and after the termination of 

 National Defense Education Act awards, to $10 

 million in 1973. NSF's support of fellowships and 

 traineeships dropped from $42 million in 1971 to 

 $16 million in 1973, and NASA's traineeship 

 program was virtually eliminated. 



Reductions in Federal support of fellowships, 

 traineeships, and training grants were spread 

 across all fields of science. The largest absolute 

 decrease occurred in the life sciences, which 

 dropped from $225 million in 1971 to $179 

 million in 1973. 



Immigrant scientists and engineers 



Another source of supply of scientists and 

 engineers are those persons achieving im- 

 migrant status in the United States. Ap- 

 proximately 6,600 scientists and engineers 

 immigrated to the United States in 1973. These 

 numbers (see the table below) represent a 

 reduction from the high 1966-72 yearly inflows 

 resulting from revisions in October 1965 in the 

 national immigration laws. 



Scientists and engineers immigrating to the 

 United Stales, annual average, 1949-73'" 



Natural Social 

 Period Total Engineers scientists scientists 



In February 1971, the existing system of 

 "precertification" of prospective immigrants 

 came to an end under U.S. Department of Labor 

 regulations. This change did not bring about an 

 immediate reduction in immigration because 

 large numbers of foreign scientists and 

 engineers, in anticipation of this legislation, had 

 become precertified for immigration and eligible 

 to enter the United States. There were enough 

 of these scientists and engineers "in the pipeline" 

 to maintain a high inflow of immigration 

 through 1972, but the number of immigrant 

 scientists and engineers has fallen sharply since 

 that year. 



Over the period 1966-68, the largest numbers 

 of immigrant scientists and engineers came to 

 the United States from developed nations. After 

 that time, the situation changed, with by far the 

 largest numbers coming from the developing 

 nations. 



WOMEN AND MINORITIES 

 IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 



Women employed in science and engineering 



Increasing interest has been expressed in 

 recent years in the opportunities for participa- 

 tion of women in science and engineering. 

 Despite the widespread interest, however, 

 relatively little information is available on the 

 subject, particularly those that allow the ex- 

 amination of trends over time. This section 

 presents some data concerning the employment 

 of women in science and engineering oc- 

 cupations, women receiving doctorates in these 

 areas, and women enrolled for advanced degrees 

 in the sciences and engineering. 



In 1974, women comprised 5 percent of the 

 persons employed in science and engineering 

 occupations, compared with 39 percent of the 

 total civilian work force, and 41 percent of the 

 professional and technical workers.^' Large 

 differences exist in the level of employment of 

 women among the various fields of science and 

 engineering, as shown in the table below. 



" Feiieral Support to Univcrsiiiei, Colleges, ami Selected Nonprofit 

 Institutions. National Science Foundation, annual series. 



'" "Immigration of Scientists and Engineers Orops Sharply 

 in FY 1973; Physician Inflow Still Near FY 1<'72 Peak", Science 

 Resources Studies Highlights, National Science Foundation (NSF 

 74-302), March 29, 1974, and earlier reports of the series. 



" The category of professional and technical workers 

 includes occupations such as accountant, lawyer, nurse, 

 physician, and teacher. In 1970 (the most recent year for 

 which comparable data are available), the proportions of all 

 lawyers who were women (5 percent) and the proportion of 

 all physicians who were women (9 percent) were relatively 

 similar to that for scientists and engineers (5 percent). 



138 



