476 



138 OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE NEXT DECADE 



of NSF Ocean Sciences Division grantees increased from 40 years 

 in 1977 to 45 years in 1990. 



Has the field matured in terms of becoming a separate disci- 

 plinel Over the past 20 years, the field has matured according to 

 several measures. The expansion of postdoctoral positions shown 

 by both the NSF and the OSB surveys, and the increase in the 

 ratio of full to assistant professors are both indicators of the field's 

 maturing. The significance of changes in the faculty ratio is un- 

 certain, however, because the ratio for the combined science and 

 engineering fields has also increased, and the 1989 jump in ratios 

 for oceanographers is difficult to explain. The lag of female fac- 

 ulty behind the rest of the field may be because of the relatively 

 recent entry of women into the field. 



Has the participation of women, minorities, and foreign na- 

 tionals changed over time! The percentage of women in the field 

 of oceanography increased from 4 to 11 percent from 1973 to 1989, 

 according to the NSF survey. At present, 30 percent of students at 

 JOI institutions are women. The percentage of underrepresented 

 minorities is low in both the population of employed oceanogra- 

 phers {7.7 percent) and the JOI student population (2.5 percent). 

 The percentage of oceanographers working in the United States who 

 are foreign nationals did not change dramatically from 1973 to 1989. 



Has the field changed in terms of emphasis among the differ- 

 ing major suh disciplines (physical oceanography, chemical ocean- 

 ography, marine geology and geophysics, biological oceanography 

 and marine biology, and ocean engineering) I The relative bal- 

 ance of the number of scientists in the academic disciplines has 

 changed little in the past 20 years. For federally employed scien- 

 tists, fewer are biologists and more are specialists in physical ocean- 

 ography and marine geology and geophysics now than in 1970. 



Has the balance of the field changed in terms of the relative 

 size and importance of the major oceanographic institutions^ This 

 analysis documents the fact that some decentralization of the field 

 has occurred over the past 20 years in terms of where Ph.D-level 

 scientists are employed. During and after World War II, Navy and 

 NSF support led to the expansion of JOI institutions. In 1970, the 

 faculty at SIO and WHOI constituted approximately 40 percent of 

 the field. By 1990, the faculty at these two institutions com- 

 prised only about 25 percent of the total. The distribution of 

 scientists at JOI institutions differed by subdiscipline, correlating 

 with sciences that tend to require large ships, such as physical 

 oceanography and marine geology and geophysics. In terms of 

 financial support from NSF, JOI institutions received a relatively 



