STEM Fields' Inclusivity for Minority Ph.D.s in the United States, 1995–2014

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Inequity in Educational Access and Success

Abstract

This study examines STEM fields’ inclusivity for demographic (women; non-Whites; non-US citizens), academic (PhDs whose baccalaureate major is different from their doctorate major), and career minorities (“late bloomers” with a longtime gap between baccalaureate and doctorate). Analyzing the National Survey of College Graduates of 2017, this study finds that inclusivity varies across STEM fields and doctorate cohorts. Demographic inclusivity kept high for women in bio/life sciences and for Asians in computer/mathematics, while increasing for non-US citizens in all four STEM fields over the last two decades. As career inclusivity stayed low in engineering, so did academic inclusivity in physical/chemical sciences. These field-specific variations in inclusivity indicate that STEM fields have been segregated not only demographically but also academically and career-wise.

Author

• Yun Kyung Cho, University of Wisconsin - Madison