As someone who got a graduate degree in Mathematics I would state that one big reason behind this trend is the poor job prospects for mathematicians in America. 40 years ago it was a very different picture. Industry and business used to hire more mathematicians and scientists. Our culture has changed in many ways. We are more focused on short term gain, and less and less on R&D. David Adams --- Joe Bauman <bau@desnews.com> wrote: ...

The outreach coordinator of the Rocky Mountain NASA Space Grant Consortium, John Vanderford, told me the other day that "40 percent of NASA employees are going to be retiring in the next 10 years." ... He also pointed out that while U.S. universities have plenty of people going into science and math, they are disproportionately from overseas, from countries like China and India. Years ago I talked to a visiting professor from China, who said American students were reluctant to do the tough work of physics, that they wanted to go after money in easier fields. But science is worth doing even if it doesn't pay well.

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