Federal research policy effects on graduate electrical engineering curriculum

This study examines the effects of federal research policy on graduate engineering curriculum in the field of electrical engineering at publicly funded Research I universities. It combines quantitative and qualitative methods of research by using national survey data, archival data and interview data. The national survey data gathered from three independent sources provided a clear picture of the state of academic and research affairs in these electrical engineering programs. Analysis of the survey data revealed that students enrolled in the larger electrical engineering programs were more likely to have research assistantship funding than smaller electrical engineering programs. Furthermore, departments with a larger number of faculty members were also more likely to have larger research budgets. Additionally, faculty rank was a determinant in attracting research funds. Fully-tenured professors of publicly funded Research I electrical engineering programs were more likely to receive external research funding than lower ranking faculty members. Coupled with this finding, was the fact that those departments with larger research budgets, suggesting fewer full professors were assuming undergraduate teaching responsibilities at publicly funded Research I electrical engineering programs. Employing larger numbers of graduate students as teaching assistants also had an effect on time to degree data for larger departments. Interview data revealed that the most prominent reasons for revising graduate electrical engineering curriculum were: the hiring of new faculty members and new directions in departmental research thrusts.