Current and Historic Trends in Physics and Related Fields.

This talk provides a statistical overview of the supply side in physics and related fields. Data on current and historic trends are presented in selected fields at both the bachelor's and PhD levels. Several of the major factors driving enrollment patterns in higher education are discussed. This paper concludes with an examination of issues related to both supply and demand. The AIP Statistical Research Center has been collecting data on enrollments and degrees in physics for 40 years and they are the source for the physics data presented. The sources for the data on related fields are the National Science Foundation in the case of PhD data and the U.S. Department of Education for bachelor's level data. Finally, this paper includes data on the size of the bachelor's degree classes of 1999 and 2000. These data were not available when the talk was presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]