Changing needs for Ph.D.'s

New trends are developing in the United States' supply of scientific and engineering manpower. Students appear to be losing interest in science and engineering; at the same time, there is concern about an over-supply of Ph.D.'s. Underlying this oversupply is a disturbing fact of life: In the 1970s, the universities and the defense and space industries will have very limited need for new Ph.D.'s. The situation calls for an agonizing reexamination and reorientation of both the content of and attitudes toward the Ph.D. degree.