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This paper provides a comprehensive overview of adolescent career plans reported in PISA 2006. Its main focus is on the differences in the status and area of employment expected by girls and boys in high school. In almost all countries, girls lead boys in their interest in non-manual, high status professional occupations. This can be seen as a vertical dimension of gender segregation in occupational preferences. Students also differ by gender in selecting particular fields of employment within status categories. These differences make up the horizontal segregation of students' expectations and, in PISA 2006, are prominent in the gendered choices of specific subfields of science. Both the vertical and the horizontal dimensions must be considered to appreciate the cultural and institutional factors which promote and reinforce systematic divides in career choices of adolescent boys and girls. Appended are: (1) Additional descriptive tables; (2) Occupational titles comprising science, engineering/computing and health employment; (3) Plans to enter socio-cultural professions; (4) Missing data; and (5) Additional information on methods. (Contains 8 figures, 18 tables and 2 footnotes.)

This paper presents the degrees conferred by Connecticut institutions of higher education in 2007-08. Connecticut colleges and universities awarded 36,634 degrees in 2007-08 (up 1.6% over 2006-07), the state's seventh consecutive year of growth and a 28 percent increase since 1998. Once again, the top five degree-producing disciplines were business, health professions, education, social sciences/history and liberal arts and sciences. Those five fields comprise 57 percent of all degrees and are up 22 percent over the last decade. All but business and education (both down 1%) saw gains in 2008. Degrees across the health professions increased seven percent to 4,179 in 2008 and are 29 percent above their production in 2004. Nursing degrees were down two percent (i.e., 20 fewer awards) in 2008, but are up 32 percent above 2004. Degrees across four other fields important to Connecticut's economy (engineering, physical and biological sciences and computer science) increased six percent over 2007 and rose a cumulative 14 percent since 2004. Forty-two percent (1,457) of teacher preparation awards were in the 10 critical shortage areas identified last year by the State Department of Education. Degrees awarded to minority students increased 1.3 percent. Degrees earned by African Americans fell (2.6%) for a second consecutive year, but degrees to Hispanics/Latinos were up 6.0 percent. Minority students earned 17.6 percent of all awards in 2007-08, up from 13.4 percent 10 years ago. Women earned 59.1 percent of all degrees, up from 55.3 percent two decades ago, down slightly from their record high of 60.3 percent set in 2005-06. Appended are: (1) Degrees and Certificates Granted by Colleges and Universities in Connecticut, 2007-08; (2) Degrees and Certificates by Level and Race/Ethnicity Connecticut Colleges and Universities, 2007-08; and (3) Degrees and Certificates by Level, Discipline and Gender of Recipient Discipline Connecticut Colleges and Universities, 2007-08. (Contains 7 tables.)

Presented are two papers on computer applications in engineering education coursework. The first paper suggests that since most engineering graduates use only "canned programs" and rarely write their own programs, educational emphasis should include model building and the use of existing software as well as program writing. The second paper deals with the use of the computer to teach design in a mechanical engineering curriculum. A number of examples of computer-oriented projects for freshmen through seniors are presented. (SL)

In certain boundary layer or natural convection work, where a similarity transformation is valid, the equations can be reduced to a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. They are therefore well-suited to a fast solution on an analog/hybrid computer. This paper illustrates such usage of the analog/hybrid computer by a set of applications of increasing complexity. The examples chosen are the growth of the boundary layer as expressed by the Blasius equation, the steady natural convection plume above a horizontal line heat source, and free convection from horizontal surfaces. The analog computer is effective in both educational and research contexts providing very rapid solutions to such problems. (Author/BB)