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Trends in Graduate STEM Degrees Earned in the United States

The committee’s vision for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduate education in the 21st century builds on the strengths of the current system. This system has consistently produced both master’s and Ph.D. graduates who leave their graduate universities with a deep understanding of their disciplines’ content areas and who have learned the practical skills and sophisticated analytical methods needed to conduct research, and it remains the largest destination for graduate education in the world (OECD, 2017). However, as the committee looks to the future needs of graduate students, the science and engineering enterprises, the U.S. economy, and society at large, there are aspects of the current graduate STEM education system that need to change to better serve all four. This is particularly true when one considers the following:

• The pool of potential STEM graduate students is increasingly diverse, and research disciplines and institutions are striving—though many continue to struggle—to be more inclusive and equitable, in terms of both representation and institutional climate. Progress in increasing diversity and improving the success of all students, notably students from groups historically underrepresented in STEM, is needed to produce the talent pool that drives the discovery of knowledge and the application of that knowledge in all sectors of life.
• The nature of STEM research and other kinds of work, driven by developments such as “big data” and artificial intelligence, is changing and becoming evermore technology enabled, multidisciplinary, collaborative, and international.

• Increasing numbers of graduates are likely to have multiple jobs over the course of their careers and work in a range of sectors.
• STEM graduate degrees holders are increasingly in demand in traditionally non-STEM fields, such as policy, law, media and communications, nonprofits, and government (AAAS, 2009; NSB, 2018c).

The subsequent chapters of this report focus on these issues. To provide a basis for those discussions, this chapter focuses on the current state of graduate STEM education and important trends in student characteristics of gender, race and ethnicity, citizenship, and disability status. Unless otherwise specified, numbers will include both master’s and doctoral students. Additional information on issues and trends specific to master’s or doctoral education, such as career outcomes, appear in Chapters 4 and 5, respectively. Note that the broad umbrella term “STEM” comprises many individual disciplines that can vary substantially, and the majority of the report reflects the Statement of Task and focuses on STEM broadly defined. However, to help establish a better understanding of the graduate education system, this chapter does provide data presented by broad discipline (agricultural sciences; biological sciences; earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences; computer sciences; mathematics and statistics; chemistry; physics; social and behavioral sciences; and medical and other health sciences). A review of data collection mechanisms and initiatives appears in Chapter 3 as a crosscutting issue.

ENROLLMENT, DEGREES, AND TRENDS IN U.S. GRADUATE STEM EDUCATION

The number of students enrolled in graduate STEM education system has grown steadily, increasing from 303,000 in 1975 (NCSES, 2004) to nearly 668,000 students in 2015 (NSB, 2018c). According to the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES), as stated in Science and Engineering Indicators (SEI) 2018, “Most of the growth in this period [in graduate STEM enrollment] occurred in the 2000s, with stable enrollment between 2008 and 2013 and resumed growth in 2014 and 2015” (NSB, 2018h¹).

The number of degrees awarded over the 2000-2015 period has also grown substantially. In 2015, approximately 225,500 graduate STEM degrees were awarded, with 181,000 at the master’s level (NSB, 2018d) and 44,500 at the doctoral level (NSB, 2018f; see also Figure 2-1 and Table 2-1).

Overall, the total number of degrees awarded in STEM fields increased at every level between 2000 and 2015. The number of master’s degrees has shown the largest growth, increasing by nearly 88 percent over the 15-year period. In

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¹ See https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/report/sections/higher-education-in-science-and-engineering/graduate-education-enrollment-and-degrees-in-the-united-states (accessed March 12, 2018).

comparison, the number of doctoral STEM degrees increased by 60 percent (NSB, 2018b). Regarding proportion of STEM degrees awarded compared to non-STEM degrees, STEM master’s degrees accounted for 24.7 percent of all master’s degrees awarded in 2015 (NSB, 2018d), while at the doctoral level, STEM degrees accounted for 64.4 percent of all Ph.D.’s awarded in 2015 (NSB, 2018f).

While looking at graduate STEM education as a whole can give a broad perspective of the enterprise, reviewing the data at the discipline level can add nuance to the understanding. According to SEI 2018:

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² The National Science Foundation uses the term S&E (science and engineering) to denote STEM fields.

³ See https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/report/sections/higher-education-in-science-and-engineering/graduate-education-enrollment-and-degrees-in-the-united-states (accessed March 12, 2018).

TABLE 2-1 Comparison of Master’s and Doctoral Degrees Awarded in STEM Disciplines, in 2000 and 2015

^a The fields for doctoral, which include medical and other health sciences, reflect degrees in the category with doctor’s-research/scholarship. These do not include medical or health degrees in the doctor’s- professional practice category. The National Center for Science and Engineering does not include the master’s degrees in this category in the Science and Engineering Indicators, and they do not appear in this report.

SOURCES: NSB, 2018d, f.

The selection above highlights the magnitude of change that can occur within each discipline. Additional focus on graduate education trends by citizenship appears below in the section on Current State of Graduate STEM Education by Citizenship.

To show the trends in each discipline, Table 2-1 also includes the percentage change within each discipline between 2000 and 2015. While all STEM disciplines listed in Table 2-1 have experienced growth at the master’s and Ph.D. levels, the degree to which the fields have increased varies considerably. Following the trends in enrollment, the degrees awarded in computer science at the master’s and doctoral levels show some of the highest levels of increase, at 110.5 percent and 151.1 percent, respectively. Other categories that saw a doubling in degrees awarded from 2000 to 2015 include master’s degrees in biological sciences (127.1 percent) and mathematics and statistics (151.0 percent) and doctoral degrees in medical and other health sciences (119.1 percent). Engineering experienced relatively high and similar levels of growth in both master’s (91.2 percent) and doctoral (93.3 percent) degrees. At the other end of the spectrum, chemistry

experienced the lowest overall growth at 30.5 percent for master’s and 39.0 percent for doctoral degrees, followed by agricultural sciences at 50.1 percent for master’s degrees and 40.3 percent for Ph.D.’s. The social and behavioral sciences saw the lowest level of growth at the doctoral level, with a 21.6 percent increase, although the number of master’s degrees increased by 74.4 percent.

DATA AND TRENDS BY GENDER

From 2000 to 2015, annual degree attainment for both genders increased at the master’s and doctoral levels (NBS, 2018d, f; Figure 2-2). For women, the number of STEM master’s degrees increased from 41,700 in 2000 to 81,700 in 2015, while the number of doctoral degrees rose from 9,300 to 16,300 (Tables 2-2 and 2-3; NSB, 2018d,f). Men earned a larger number of degrees overall, increasing at the master’s level from 54,600 in 2000 to 92,000 in 2015 and at the doctoral level from 16,100 to 22,900 (NSB, 2018d,f). For context, at the bachelor’s degree level, women earned 201,000 STEM degrees in 2000 and 322,900

degrees in 2015, while men earned 197,700 and 327,100 degrees, respectively. At the undergraduate level, the differences in degree attainment by gender have declined. In the 2000 to 2013 period, women earned more degrees than men, while in 2014 and 2015 men earned less than 1 percent more bachelor’s degrees than women (NSB, 2018b).

While men earned more STEM graduate degrees, the rate at which women earned graduate STEM degrees has increased more from 2000 to 2015 (Tables 2-2 and 2-3). For master’s degrees, women earned 96 percent more degrees in 2015 than in 2000, while men earned 82 percent more. At the doctoral level, women earned 74 percent more degrees in 2015 than 2000, while men earned 43 percent more (NSB, 2018d,f). The increase in degrees earned at the undergraduate level shows a different trend, reflecting that women and men earned bachelor’s degrees in STEM at similar levels from 2000 to 2015. From 2000 to 2015, the number of women and men earning bachelor’s degrees increased by 61 percent and 66 percent, respectively (NSB, 2018b).

The comparison between women and men in terms of annual degrees awarded varied significantly between disciplines (Tables 2-2 and 2-3). One of the starkest differences in the number of degrees awarded was in engineering versus the sciences. At both levels of graduate education, men earned more degrees in engineering than women, and women earned more degrees in the sciences than men in 2015 (NSB, 2018d,f). In 2000, men also earned more degrees in

engineering than women at both levels; however, in the sciences, women earned more master’s degrees than men, though men earned more doctoral degrees. In particular, looking at the largest fields at the doctoral level, women’s growth in the biological sciences more than doubled that of men, as they earned 2,000 more degrees in 2015 than in 2000 while men earned 920 more (NSB, 2018d,f).

In terms of growth, as measured by the increase in annual degrees awarded, the trends at the broader STEM level generally apply to growth at the master’s and doctoral levels within each STEM discipline (Tables 2-2 and 2-3). Except for master’s degrees in computer sciences and mathematics and statistics, the increase in annual degrees awarded to women was greater than the increase for men between 2000 and 2015. As noted previously for engineering, men earned more degrees per year than women did, but women have seen greater annual percentage increases. The number of engineering master’s and doctoral degrees that women earned annually increased by 130 and 190 percent, respectively, from 2000 to 2015, while those earned by men increased by 81 percent and 75 percent, respectively. Similarly, women saw greater percentage increases than men in both master’s and doctoral degrees awarded between 2000 and 2015—91 percent versus 82 percent for master’s degrees and 74 percent versus 31 percent for doctoral degrees. In addition to the growth in the biological sciences, women have earned more degrees than men and had a greater increase in growth in the

social and behavioral sciences at both the master’s and doctoral levels. Although women have earned fewer degrees in the computer sciences and mathematics and statistics than men, the annual numbers of degrees awarded to women in those fields at both degree levels increased by at least 84 percent between 2000 and 2015 (NBS, 2018d,f).

DATA AND TRENDS BY RACE AND ETHNICITY

The greatest benefit to U.S. society will only come when students from all segments of U.S. society and backgrounds succeed in graduate school through a supportive atmosphere that begins to reverse a long history of underrepresentation and exclusion across many STEM and non-STEM fields alike. NCSES data show that the makeup of the student population in STEM graduate programs does not reflect the diversity of the United States.⁴ The demographic composition of the U.S. resident population is shifting, as noted in Figure 2-3, with the percentage of individuals identifying as white falling from nearly 70 percent in the 24 to 65 age group to slightly above 50 percent for those under age 18. In contrast,

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⁴ This report uses the racial and ethnic group categories as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and adopted by the National Science Foundation (NCSES, 2017b).

the proportion of individuals identifying as Hispanic or Latino/a, belonging to two or more racial groups (non-Hispanic), or as American Indian or Alaska Native (AIAN) increases steadily as the age of the group declines. For blacks or African Americans, the proportion increases in the 18- to 24-year-old group, and while the proportion decreases for those under age 18, it remains higher than the proportion of the oldest age group. Overall, these shifts in the composition of younger U.S. residents mean that the pool of potential graduate students will change as well.

The way in which federal agencies have collected information on race and ethnicity has also changed between 2000 and 2015:

Figures 2-4, 2-5, 2-6, and 2-7 include the two or more races category beginning in 2015. Although the number of degrees awarded to this group in 2015 was not insignificant (3,105 at the master’s and 505 at the doctoral level), the NCSES states that the addition of the category did not likely have a major impact on the trends in race and ethnicity regarding how those data had been collected prior to 2011 (NSB, 2018h⁶).

Historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups who hold master’s degrees significantly outnumber those with Ph.D.’s in STEM fields, but witness similar kinds of trends in terms of gender and racial/ethnic representation. NCSES notes that at the master’s level, the proportion of STEM degrees earned by students from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups increased from 14 percent to 21 percent in 2000 to 2015 (NSB, 2018h⁷), with Hispanic and Latino/a students showing the largest growth at nearly 202 percent. AIAN students, on the other hand, experienced the slowest rate of growth at the master’s level overall, at close to 43 percent.

At the doctoral level, the number of degrees earned by all racial and ethnic groups grew between 2000 and 2015. One of the most historically well-represented groups, white students, had the lowest increase in annual degrees earned between 2000 and 2015, at 32 percent. Trends for Asian students, another historically well-represented group, are more challenging to isolate due to the data collection practices mentioned previously; however, given the relatively small number of students in 2015 who identified as Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, Figures 2-5 and 2-6 show a general increasing trend for Asian students. Hispanic or Latino/a students, in comparison, had the greatest increase in that time period at 160 percent.

While the view of STEM degrees earned by each racial and ethnic group provides a broad understanding of degrees earned annually, the trends within group at the disciplinary level can identify fields that have experienced increases in representation at the graduate level. In the following analyses by racial or ethnic group, note that in the event of a low base number, the percentage change between 2000 and 2015 in degrees earned per year is more significant.

From 2000 to 2015, AIAN students saw the most growth in agricultural

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⁵ See https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/report/sections/higher-education-in-science-and-engineering/graduate-education-enrollment-and-degrees-in-the-united-states#s-e-doctoraldegrees (accessed March 16, 2018).

⁶ See https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/report/sections/higher-education-in-science-and-engineering/graduate-education-enrollment-and-degrees-in-the-united-states#s-e-doctoraldegrees (accessed March 16, 2018).

⁷ See https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/report/sections/higher-education-in-science-and-engineering/graduate-education-enrollment-and-degrees-in-the-united-states#s-e-master-s-degrees (accessed March 16, 2018).

sciences at the master’s level at nearly 74 percent, while the number of AIAN master’s students in engineering, chemistry, and earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences, experienced sharp decreases of 7.8, 20.0, and 33.3 percent, respectively, and no growth in mathematics and statistics (Table 2-4). For STEM doctoral degrees, where the annual number of degrees awarded remains small in relation to the total number of degrees awarded to all racial and ethnic groups and subject to sharper percentage changes, the largest growth for AIAN students was in the agricultural sciences, with a 300 percent increase, but there was no growth in computer sciences and a decrease in the number of AIAN doctoral students in earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences, mathematics and statistics, and chemistry at 50.0, 50.0, and 28.6 percent, respectively.

For Asian, Pacific Islander, or Native Hawaiian students, because of the

changes in the data collection process, the trends between the two groups over the 2000 to 2015 time period are more difficult to discern. In Table 2-5, the master’s and doctoral degrees awarded for Asian or Pacific Islander appear as a comparison between 2000 and 2010. Starting in 2011, NCSES changed the categories, offering students the opportunity to identify as Asian or as Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. Going forward, the division will allow researchers to differentiate the trends between Asian students, who have historically been well represented, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander students, which have been less well represented in graduate STEM education. To align with the other tables, the degrees awarded in 2015 for these groups are noted. In the 2000 to 2010 period, master’s and doctoral degrees awarded to Asian or Pacific Islander students increased in almost every field, except for doctoral degrees in earth, atmospheric, and oceanic studies (which remained flat) and notably, master’s degrees, which decreased from 2,068 to 1,470.

For black and African American students, there has been growth in almost

every field at both degree levels, aside from physics; however, the small base number renders the percentage change prone to dramatic swings (Table 2-6). For instance, the field that saw the most growth at the master’s level was earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences, with a nearly 550 percent growth from 2000 to 2015, resulting from an increase from 7 to 45 degrees awarded per year. In a more robust field, engineering master’s degrees doubled over the 15-year period. Also notable was the 23 percent decrease in master’s degrees conferred among this group for physics. For black and African American students, overall growth in STEM doctoral degrees at 126 percent exceeded that of engineering at 81 percent, while the number of computer science doctoral degrees and medical and other health sciences degrees increased by 280 percent and 420 percent, respectively, from 2000 to 2015. Black and African American students earned 5 percent fewer doctoral degrees in physics over this period.

Hispanic and Latino/a students earning engineering master’s degrees increased at a slower rate than their rate for STEM master’s overall, but still with significant gains at 169 percent change over 15 years (Table 2-7). Strikingly, every discipline at the master’s level for this group saw greater than 100 percent change during this time. Hispanic and Latino/a doctoral students earned degrees in engineering and earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences at nearly twice their rate of STEM overall, nearly 233 and 245 percent change compared to 160 percent. Additionally, medical and health sciences grew by 400 percent. The only discipline with less than 100 percent growth at the doctoral level for Hispanic and Latino/a students was the social and behavioral sciences, at almost 95 percent.

For the relatively small number of students identifying as two or more races, the largest percentage change at the master’s level over the 2000-2015 period occurred in earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences at nearly 270 percent (Table 2-8). At the Ph.D. level, the increase in number of students of two or more races earning Ph.D.’s in engineering exceeded that of STEM overall, 172 percent compared to 148.5 percent.

For students of other or unknown race, the greatest growth at the master’s level occurred in the biological sciences, with just over a 200 percent increase, while the smallest increase occurred in chemistry, at just over a 20 percent increase (Table 2-9). At the doctoral level, students of other or unknown race increased the number of medical and other health sciences and agricultural sciences Ph.D.’s they earned by 415 percent and 259 percent, respectively, nearly double that of the 133 percent increase in all STEM Ph.D.’s they earned.

From 2000 to 2015, the number of master’s degrees in engineering conferred to white students rose by nearly 40 percent, just shy of growth among that population for STEM master’s degrees overall at 45 percent change (Table 2-10). With a 75 percent increase, the biological sciences saw the largest growth in master’s degrees awarded to white students. At the doctoral level, the medical and other health sciences experienced the large growth—an almost 105 percent increase—while physics and biological sciences kept pace with overall STEM growth at

TABLE 2-4 Comparison of Master’s and Doctoral Degrees Awarded in STEM Disciplines, by American Indian or Alaska Native Students, in 2000 and 2015

SOURCES: NSB, 2018e,g.

NOTE: Data not available for Master’s Degrees awarded in this field.

SOURCES: NSB, 2018e,g.

NOTE: Data not available for Master’s Degrees awarded in this field.

TABLE 2-6 Comparison of Master’s and Doctoral Degrees Awarded in STEM Disciplines, by Black or African American Students, in 2000 and 2015

SOURCES: NSB, 2018e,g.

TABLE 2-8 Comparison of Master’s and Doctoral Degrees Awarded in STEM Disciplines, by Students Identifying with Two or More Races, in 2000 and 2015

SOURCES: NSB, 2018e,g.

38 percent and almost 37 percent, respectively, and the social and behavioral sciences saw a slight decrease of 4 percent.

Reviews of data and trends by gender or by race and ethnicity can highlight important issues; however, the segmentation solely in those major categories can obscure trends at the intersection of gender and race and ethnicity. Identifying trends not only across disciplines, but also within specific groups, provides a much more thorough perspective on the state of representation in STEM higher education as a whole. According to the SEI 2018:

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⁸ See https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/report/sections/higher-education-in-science-and-engineering/graduate-education-enrollment-and-degrees-in-the-united-states (accessed March 16, 2018). The natural sciences include agricultural sciences, biological sciences, and earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences. At the doctoral level, medical sciences and other health sciences are included under natural sciences and consequently under S&E because at this level, these degrees are research degrees.

Additionally,

These data do not account for trends over time, but rather present a snapshot of the system in 2015. One finding from these trends is that engineering students at both the master’s and doctoral levels and across all racial and ethnic groups are predominantly men (Table 2-11). The natural sciences follow this trend as well, though the difference between the percentage of male and female students is smaller than that within engineering. In the social and behavioral sciences, on the other hand, students at both the master’s and doctoral levels are predominantly female. In engineering, for all groups and at both the master’s and doctoral levels, men earn more degrees in engineering than women, and the total number of women earning those degrees represent roughly a third or less of the total students across all racial and ethnic groups. In the natural sciences, the numbers

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⁹ See https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/report/sections/higher-education-in-science-and-engineering/graduate-education-enrollment-and-degrees-in-the-united-states (accessed March 16, 2018).

TABLE 2-11 Master’s and Doctoral Degrees Awarded to U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents, by Sex, Race, Ethnicity, and Broad Field Category in 2015

NOTE: At the doctoral level, medical sciences and other health sciences are not included under natural sciences and consequently under S&E. While previous tables and figures have separated Asian or Pacific Islander in 2015, the source data for this table provided a single category for this tabulation.

SOURCES: Adapted from NSB (2018a) and WebCASPAR.

are slightly more balanced, and in social and behavioral sciences, the situation is reversed, with women in all groups earning at least two-thirds of the degrees at both the master’s and doctoral levels. Overall, black and African American students account for the greatest proportional difference within groups between genders among all racial and ethnic groups, most notably in natural sciences and social and behavioral sciences. Interestingly, white women have the lowest share of engineering master’s and doctoral degrees compared to other gender splits among the other racial and ethnic groups.

DATA AND TRENDS BY CITIZENSHIP

Another critical component of graduate student demographics is the increasing proportion of international students in the STEM graduate student population. Individuals who do not hold U.S. citizenship or permanent residence and who pursue higher education in the United States do so under a special class of nonimmigrant visa, category F-1 (USCIS, 2018b). This visa allows students to study full-time at an accredited college or university providing the program ultimately confers a degree, diploma, or certificate. Students on F-1 visas are not eligible to work off campus during their degree with certain exemptions such as a STEM Optional Practical Training Extension (OPT) (USCIS, 2018a). These are 24-month extensions available to students who have earned a bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree from an accredited school. Individuals on F-1 visas also do not have the same access to federal funding sources as American citizens or permanent residents, and are similarly not eligible for government-sponsored aid programs such as the Pell Grant, the Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant, Stafford Loan, Perkins Loan, PLUS Loan, and Federal Work-Study program. This restriction excludes students with an Arrival-Departure Record (I-94) from U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS), or who qualify as a “battered immigrant-qualified alien” (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). According to the Brookings Institution, the number of students studying in the United States on F-1 visas has grown dramatically in recent years, and they are disproportionately studying STEM and business.

Over the past 20 years, temporary visa holders earning doctorates have increasingly preferred to stay in the United States immediately following graduation, a measure referred to as the “stay rate.” For instance, as of 2014, 45 percent of international students extended their visas in order to work in the United States after graduation, primarily in the same geographic area in which they earned their degrees. The lack of longitudinal data on international student employment limits the granularity of data available on stay rates. However, this influx of global talent has boosted the economy in significant ways, including contributing to an increase of more than $39 billion to our economy in 2016 (IIE, 2017). Stay rates are highest in fields where temporary visa holders are most prevalent: engineering, physical sciences, and life sciences (NCSES, 2017a).

For STEM master’s degrees, the rate of temporary visa holders continued a general upward trend and increased dramatically from 2014 to 2015, especially remarkable when compared to rates for white and ethnic minorities during that same time (see Figure 2-8 and NSB, 2018i, Fig. 2-15).

At the doctoral level, the rate of visa holders earning STEM Ph.D.’s tapered off from 2014 to 2015, after a gradual rate of growth for several years earlier. For that last year of data collection, the rate of growth for white students and students from underrepresented minorities earning STEM Ph.D.’s outpaced that of visa holders, Asian or Pacific Islanders, and those of unknown or other race or ethnicity (NSB, 2018i, Fig. 2-18).

In terms of the most popular countries of origin for temporary visa holders in the U.S. graduate STEM education system, NCSES reports:

From 2000 to 2015, temporary visa holders earning master’s degrees in STEM increased by more than 136 percent, compared to just over 71 percent for American citizens (see Table 2-12). Similarly, temporary visa holders earning doctoral degrees in STEM increased by more than 80 percent over the same period of time despite the tapering between 2014 and 2015 mentioned previously, while the number of American citizens earning doctoral STEM degrees increased by just over 40 percent (see Table 2-13). Temporary visa holders have seen a higher percentage increase in degrees earned in every field at the master’s and doctoral levels, except for physics and social and behavioral sciences at the master’s level and agricultural sciences at the doctoral level. For overall enrollment, the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) found for fall 2016 that “International students comprised the largest share of first-time graduate students in mathematics and computer sciences (60 percent), followed closely by engineering (55.7 percent)” (CGS, 2017).

The most recent data from CGS show that there was a decline in temporary visa holder enrollment between 2016 and 2017 in all fields. For STEM, graduate enrollment for first-time international students declined 5 percent in the biological and agricultural sciences; 10 percent in engineering; 2 percent in mathematics and computer sciences; 6 percent in physical and earth sciences; and 1 percent in social and behavioral sciences (Okahana and Zhou, 2017). Graduate deans have faced challenges in interpreting the recent decline in enrollment:

Of course, national visa and immigration policies will continue to play a critical role in the continuing participation of international students, who have the potential to contribute to innovation and discovery, in the U.S. scientific enterprise.

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¹⁰ See https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/report/sections/higher-education-in-science-and-engineering/graduate-education-enrollment-and-degrees-in-the-united-states#graduate-enrollmentby-field (accessed March 16, 2018).

TABLE 2-12 Comparison of Master’s Degrees Awarded in STEM Disciplines, by Citizenship Status, in 2000 and 2015

SOURCES: NSB, 2018e,g.

DATA AND TRENDS BY DISABILITY STATUS

When considering issues of diversity and inclusion in STEM, it is important to consider other traditionally underrepresented groups such as those who have disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act defines a disability as “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.”¹¹ In STEM, this population is not insignificant: there were approximately 50,800 graduate students enrolled in STEM fields with a disability in 2012 (NCSES, 2017b¹²).

From SEI 2018:

Notably absent from the indicators are any data concerning similar trends within disciplines or at the master’s level, which limits their generalizability in comparison to the data presented earlier in this chapter. Additionally, these numbers may be low as a result of underreporting. Organizations such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science have specific programming directed at making STEM graduate education more accessible to students with disabilities,¹⁴ with the aim of increasing the representation of this population in engineering and the sciences. Future efforts at supporting graduate students with disabilities would be bolstered by more thorough accounting of these individuals among the various STEM disciplines.

REFERENCES

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¹¹ See https://adata.org/faq/what-definition-disability-under-ada (accessed March 20, 2018).

¹² See https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2017/nsf17310/static/data/tab3-7.pdf (accessed March 16, 2018).

¹³ See https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/report/sections/higher-education-in-science-and-engineering/graduate-education-enrollment-and-degrees-in-the-united-states (accessed March 16, 2018).

¹⁴ See https://www.aaas.org/program/entrypoint (accessed March 21, 2018).

IIE (Institute of International Education). 2017. Open Doors 2017 Executive Summary. Available: https://www.iie.org/Why-IIE/Announcements/2017-11-13-Open-Doors-2017-Executive-Summary (accessed March 16, 2018).

NCSES (National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics). 2004. Science and engineering indicators 2004. Appendix Table 2-13. S&E graduate enrollment, by field and sex: Selected years, 1975–2001. Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation. Available https://wayback.archive-it.org/5902/20150818164912/http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind04/append/c2/at02-13.pdf (accessed March 16, 2018).

NCSES. 2017a. Doctorate recipients from U.S. universities: 2015. Special Report NSF 17-306. Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation. Available: https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2017/nsf17306/static/report/nsf17306.pdf (accessed March 26, 2018).

NCSES. 2017b. Technical notes in Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in science and engineering: 2017. Special Report NSF 17-310. Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation. Available: https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2017/nsf17310/technical-notes.cfm#reporting-categories (accessed December 21, 2017).

NSB (National Science Board). 2018a. Appendix Table 2-20, Degrees awarded to U.S. citizens and permanent residents, by sex, race, ethnicity, broad field category, and degree level: 2000–15. Science and engineering indicators 2018. NSB-2018-1. Alexandria, VA: National Science Foundation. Available: https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/assets/561/tables/at02-20.pdf (accessed March 20, 2018).

NSB. 2018b. Appendix Table 2-21, Earned bachelor’s degrees, by sex and field: 2000–15. Science and engineering indicators 2018. NSB-2018-1. Alexandria, VA: National Science Foundation. Available: https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/assets/561/tables/at02-21.pdf (accessed March 13, 2018).

NSB. 2018c. Appendix Table 2-23, S&E graduate enrollment, by field: 2000–15. Science and engineering indicators 2018. NSB-2018-1. Alexandria, VA: National Science Foundation. Available: https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/assets/561/tables/at02-23.pdf (accessed March 26, 2018).

NSB. 2018d. Appendix Table 2-27, Earned master’s degrees, by sex and field: 2000–15. Science and engineering indicators 2018. NSB-2018-1. Alexandria, VA: National Science Foundation. Available: https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/assets/561/tables/at02-27.pdf (accessed March 13, 2018).

NSB. 2018e. Appendix Table 2-28, Earned master’s degrees, by citizenship, field, race, and ethnicity: 2000–15. Science and engineering indicators 2018. NSB-2018-1. Alexandria, VA: National Science Foundation. Available: https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/assets/561/tables/at02-28.pdf (accessed March 16, 2018).

NSB. 2018f. Appendix Table 2-29, Earned doctoral degrees, by citizenship, field, and sex: 2000–15. Science and engineering indicators 2018. NSB-2018-1. Alexandria, VA: National Science Foundation. Available: https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/assets/561/tables/at02-29.pdf (accessed March 13, 2018).

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