SCIENCE & ENGINEERING INDICATORS

The presence of certain groups among S&E degree recipients differs from their overall representation in the U.S. population (Figure 2-8).^{​For the demographic trends presented in this section, unless otherwise noted, racial and ethnic group totals are compared with totals for U.S. citizens and permanent residents. For sex, the comparison is with totals across all citizenships.} Under- or overrepresentation by sex and racial or ethnic group varies by field of study and degree level (NCSES 2019b).^{​This report refers to racial and ethnic groups following the standards for collection of data on race and ethnicity announced by the Office of Management and Budget in 1997, as described in https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf19304/technical-notes#racial-and-ethnic-information. To facilitate ease of reading, the report sometimes adopts a shorthand when referring to specific groups (e.g., “black” for “black or African American,” “Hispanic” for “Hispanic or Latino”). Additionally, the category “Asian or Pacific Islander” was replaced in 2011 with the separate categories “Asian” and “Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.” When trends for “Asians” are discussed, they include “Asian or Pacific Islander” before 2011 and “Asian” from 2011 on.,​Limited data about S&E degree attainment of another group, military veterans, is available in Milan (2018).}

On average, women earn half or more of associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees overall; in S&E fields, their shares are lower (Figure 2-9; see also Table S2-4, Table S2-6, Table S2-8, and Table S2-10). Long-standing differences between men and women persist in some fields but are gradually diminishing in others.

Historically high-participation S&E fields for women include psychology, biological sciences, and social sciences. In 2017, women earned about half or more degrees awarded at all degree levels in these fields. Historically low S&E participation fields include engineering; earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences; computer sciences; mathematics and statistics; and physical sciences. Women’s participation in these fields varies. The physical (low participation) and social (high participation) sciences include fields where women’s participation rates differ from the overall trends. In chemistry, for example, women approached near parity with men at the bachelor’s and master’s levels, but not at the doctoral level. In economics, women earned around one-third of bachelor’s and doctoral degrees.

Since 2000, women’s overall share of S&E bachelor’s degrees has remained at about half, although the trend over time varies across fields. In computer sciences and mathematics and statistics, the number of women earning bachelor’s degrees increased during this interval; the number of men, however, grew at a faster rate than the number of women, resulting in an overall decline in women’s share from 28% to 19% in computer sciences and from 48% to 42% in mathematics and statistics (Table S2-6).

Unlike S&E bachelor’s-level degrees, the share of doctoral degrees received by women increased across virtually all S&E fields since 2000 (Table S2-10). Overall, S&E doctorates earned by women increased from 11,000 (39%) in 2000 to 21,000 (45%) in 2017. Women earned more than half of doctorates in most social sciences fields and in biological and medical sciences in 2017. Women earned about one-quarter of doctoral degrees in engineering in 2017, up from 16% in 2000; however, there was variability across engineering fields. Women earned relatively low shares of doctoral degrees in computer sciences (23%) and mathematics and statistics (27%).^{​Trends in master’s degrees earned by sex broadly mirror those of bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in growth over time and differences between fields in the proportion of degrees earned by women.}

The racial and ethnic composition of S&E degree recipients has changed over time, reflecting population changes and increasing rates of higher education attainment by members of underrepresented minority groups. The gap in educational attainment has narrowed across racial and ethnic groups, but it remains. In 2017, the percentage of people ages 25–29 with a bachelor’s or higher-level degree in any field differed among blacks (23%), Hispanics (19%), and whites (42%) (Snyder et al. Digest of Education Statistics 2017: Table 104.20). These gaps in many cases reflect lower rates of high school completion, college enrollment, and degree attainment. (For information on immediate post–high school college enrollment rates, see the Science and Engineering Indicators 2020 report “Elementary and Secondary Mathematics and Science Education.”)

Racial and ethnic groups vary in S&E degree attainment levels. In most fields, Hispanics earn substantially larger proportions of S&E associate’s degrees than bachelor’s and higher degrees. Blacks, by contrast, do so in only some S&E fields (Figure 2-10). Since 2000, the share of S&E bachelor’s degrees awarded annually to Hispanic students nearly doubled while the share awarded to black students remained flat. The share awarded to Asians increased slightly, and the share awarded to American Indians or Alaska Natives dropped (absolute numbers also declined). While the number of S&E bachelor’s degrees earned by white students increased between 2000 and 2017 (Table S2-7), their overall share declined (Figure 2-11). The number of degrees earned by students of more than one race and other or unknown race or ethnicity, increased from 14,000 to 48,000 during this period.^{​Some changes by race and ethnicity over time may reflect the way the National Center for Education Statistics and other federal statistical agencies collect information on this topic. Beginning in 2011, some students may be classified as multiracial; in the past, they may have been reported as American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian or Pacific Islander, black, Hispanic, or white. In 2017, 7.5% of bachelor’s degree recipients were students of more than one race or other or unknown race or ethnicity.}

Social sciences and psychology were the most common S&E bachelor’s degree fields among many racial and ethnic groups. Engineering degrees were more common among Asians and whites than among other groups. Asians were also more likely to earn biological sciences bachelor’s degrees compared with other groups (Table S2-7).

Many of these trends over time are similar for doctoral degree awards. Overall, underrepresented minorities—blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians or Alaska Natives—earned more S&E doctorates in 2017 compared with 2000 (Figure 2-12 and Figure 2-13, Table S2-11). In 2017, blacks and Hispanics collectively earned 14% of S&E doctorates (up from 8% in 2000). In comparison, Asians earned about 9% of S&E doctorates in 2017 (unchanged from 2000), while whites earned 66% (down from 77% in 2000). S&E doctorates as a percentage of total doctorates varied across racial and ethnic groups: from a low of 38% for blacks to a high of 75% for Asians.

Racial and ethnic groups also vary in their fields of doctoral degree (Table S2-11). In 2017, the top field for black recipients was medical and other health sciences (32% of S&E doctorates awarded to blacks), followed by psychology (18%), biological sciences (13%), and political science and public administration (9%). Psychology is the top field for Hispanics (24%), followed by biological sciences (20%), engineering (14%), and medical and other health sciences (14%). For Asians, the top fields are engineering and biological sciences (24% each), followed by medical and other health sciences (15%) and psychology (8%).^{​Trends in master’s degrees awarded across racial and ethnic groups resemble those found in the data on bachelor’s degree awards.}

Blacks were more likely to earn S&E doctorates at for-profit institutions (in 2017, 25% did so, compared with 7% of Hispanics, 4% of whites, and 3% of Asians). While the number of S&E doctorates earned by blacks from “highest research activity” doctoral universities rose from about 500 in 2000 to more than 850 in 2017, the percentage of blacks who earned doctorates from these institutions declined from 61% to 40% during this time.

In 2017, underrepresented minority women earned more than half of their racial or ethnic group’s S&E bachelor’s degrees, whereas white and Asian women earned slightly less than half (Table S2-12).^{​In addition to Table S2-12, NCSES WMPD 2019 provides data on degree awards by field that allow race, ethnicity, and sex to be disaggregated. For associate’s degrees, see NCSES WMPD 2019: Table 4-3. For bachelor’s degrees, see WMPD 2019: Table 5-7. For master’s degrees, see WMPD 2019: Table 6-4 and 6-5. For doctoral degrees, see WMPD 2019: Table 7-8.} Similarly, women earned more than half of the S&E doctorates across all groups except whites, where they earned 49%.

Within fields, differences between men and women appear to hold across racial and ethnic groups. Women in all racial and ethnic groups earned most bachelor’s degrees awarded in social and behavioral sciences and about half of bachelor’s degrees awarded in natural sciences (ranging from 45% for whites to 53% for blacks). However, the difference in the number of bachelor’s degree awards between women and men is especially high in engineering across all racial and ethnic groups. Among blacks, the proportion of bachelor’s degree awards in engineering that went to women declined from 36% to 25% between 2000 and 2017; in natural sciences, it declined from nearly 60% in 2000 to 53% in 2017 (in both cases, however, absolute numbers of women earning doctorates increased).