Happy Scientists

A recent job satisfaction survey shows faculty members in the physical sciences are the happiest among untenured assistant professors at research universities, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Researchers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education surveyed 9,512 faculty members for the study, and found that the physical sciences ranked among the top three disciplines in about half the survey's questions, the Chronicle's Kelly Truong says. Social sciences ranked fifth, biological sciences ranked seventh, computer science and engineering ranked eighth, and health and human ecology tied with visual and performing arts for last place. Women also displayed "significantly less satisfaction" with the tenure process than men, Truong says, especially when it came to being able to balance work and family life.