Casual discussions of the scientific and technical workforce often rely on a pipeline metaphor. In this picture, there is an ample supply of student interest to begin with, but leakage at critical junctures leaves only a trickle of graduates who actually pursue careers in STEM. The obvious remedy is to plug the leaks. But perhaps the "pipeline" theory is an easy but misleading oversimplification. This grant supports a project by Hal Salzman of Rutgers to investigate how various pathways can lead through the educational system to STEM careers. Using the Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B) compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics, Salzman and his team will analyze the complex ways that course-taking patterns relate to decisions about STEM majors and careers, including how students (a) use college as a period of exploration; (b) may benefit from majoring in STEM without pursuing a traditional STEM career; (c) can major in a non-STEM field but still do lots of science in classes or at work; (d) make choices that are influenced by both supply and demand variables; and (e) can thereby end up in scientific careers by way of nonlinear and nontraditional routes. The resulting picture, complemented by a series of interviews with students and site views to universities, promises to help build a more robust, nuanced of the myriad ways in which students may end up in scientific careers.