Even though our nation's HBCUs make up just 3 percent of colleges and universities, they produce 27 percent of African-American students with bachelor's degrees in STEM fields. In 2016 about 45% of freshmen indicated they planned to major in an S&E field (up from about 8% in 2000); about 16% in the biological and agricultural sciences; 11% in engineering; 10% in the social and behavioral sciences; 6% in mathematics, statistics, or computer sciences; and 3% in the physical sciences. Within occupational clusters, the share of workers who are black or Hispanic varies widely (see Appendix).20. After 2000, respondents to NSF surveys were able to report more than one race. For example, marital status, the presence of children, parental education, and other personal characteristics are often associated with salary differences. International Comparison of S&E Doctoral Degrees, S&E Associate’s Degrees by Race and Ethnicity, S&E Associate’s Degrees by Sex and Race and Ethnicity. And among employed adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher, blacks are just 7% and Hispanics are 6% of the STEM workforce. Printed in the United States of America, 2018. Very few workers (3%) who majored in the social sciences are employed as social scientists (based on the Standard Occupational Classification system). Some may have found their skills and training to be applicable to and rewarded in a non-STEM occupation (such as banking or finance). Between 1993 and 2015, the number of women nearly tripled among life scientists (an increase of 175%) and more than doubled among social scientists (an increase of 112%). In fall 2017, the top five countries sending S&E undergraduates to the United States were the same as in the previous year: China, Saudi Arabia, India, South Korea, and Kuwait (Appendix Table 2-16). [  9  ] Moreover, of those African-American students enrolled in an AP course, only 4 percent received AP test scores that qualified for college credit. Women’s representation in STEM occupations varies substantially by occupational subgroup. This section addresses the level of diversity in S&E by race and Hispanic ethnicity.​ Like the preceding section, this section draws on data from NSF’s surveys to report on levels of S&E participation, first across occupations and then across the overall workforce with S&E degrees. Hispanic may be any race. The pattern is similar for blacks and Hispanics, who also tend to be concentrated in less lucrative STEM jobs, widening the measured earnings disparity. By comparison, other health-related jobs have smaller shares of workers who are black or Hispanic including physicians and surgeons (11%), pharmacists (10%), dentists (9%), and physical therapists (9%). [  7  ] This lack of access to foundational STEM skills puts African-American students at a significant disadvantage in preparing for advanced STEM courses and careers. Women’s adjusted salary differentials are 8% among S&E doctorates—7% among S&E bachelor’s degree and 6% among master’s degree holders (Figure 3-30). The Underrepresentation of African American Female Students in STEM Fields: Implications for Classroom Teachers Abiola A. Farinde, Chance W. Lewis University of North Carolina, Charlotte, USA African American women are underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields (Catsambis, 1994). Students of color still have low degree completion rates and low representation in STEM fields, where needs for professionals and technical personnel are growing tremendously. Employment of engineers and architects has grown only 16%, while employment of physical scientists has fallen by 46% from the 1990 level (from 1.1 million in 1990 to 0.6 million today) and math jobs have fallen by 24%.14. NCES 2019-038. 1 Technology and engineering are among the top sought-after skills in the United States. Between 2000 and 2015, undergraduate enrollment increased consistently at most types of institutions (ranging between 22% and 35% at research universities, master’s colleges, and baccalaureate colleges). Only 57 percent of African American high school students attend schools with the full range of math and science courses, compared to 71 percent of white high school students. The number of S&E bachelor’s degrees awarded rose steadily from about 400,000 in 2000 to more than 650,000 in 2015 (Appendix Table 2-21).​ During this period, the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded increased fairly consistently, although to different extents, in all S&E fields. Among those who did graduate from college in 2015, all groups but Asians and Pacific Islanders shared a similar distribution across broad S&E fields. However, among civil engineers, women make up about one-fifth of the workers (Appendix Table 3-12). The share of bachelor’s degrees awarded to women declined, particularly in computer sciences (by 10%) and in mathematics and statistics (by 5%) (Figure 2-11; Appendix Table 2-21). The enrollment data presented in the previous section are not available by field of study because academic institutions vary in terms of when undergraduates declare a major, making it difficult to consistently measure enrollment by field. The contributions of HBCUs do not stop there: HBCUs have implemented proven practices to assist students in STEM fields to obtain rich professional experiences, research opportunities, and mentorships; navigate through courses and financial challenges, and drive students to post-baccalaureate success. For instance, among scientists and engineers who are not working, women are more likely than men to report family reasons for not working, and this pattern is quite robust across race and ethnic groups (it holds for Asians, whites, and underrepresented minorities). In 2017, the proportion of undergraduate students enrolled in S&E fields was 50% or higher among students from Kuwait, Turkey, Malaysia, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, similar overall to previous years. Across all S&E degree areas, 18% of women with an S&E highest degree are employed in the S&E field in which they earned their highest degree, compared with 33% of men (Appendix Table 3-14). STEM fields are widely thought of as the key to future success, from a national and individual perspective. Coefficients are estimated in an ordinary least squares regression model using the natural log of full-time annual salary as the dependent variable and then transformed into percentage difference. “. Promoting participation in STEM fields has been a priority of President Obama’s for a while now. (Of those who majored in a life sciences field, 30% of men and 33% of women work in a health-related occupation.). Degrees in this field increased considerably through 2003–04, sharply declined through 2008–09, then started to increase again, with degrees earned by Hispanics and whites exceeding their previous 2004 highs (57% higher for Hispanics, 6% higher for whites).​. In contrast, full-time, year-round healthcare practitioners and technicians have the lowest median earnings at $61,000. Xiaolei Wang. Racial and ethnic distribution of U.S. residents, and of employed individuals in S&E occupations, with S&E degrees, and with college degrees: 2015. 1615 L St. NW, Suite 800Washington, DC 20036USA Conversely, 52% of college-educated math workers do not have a college degree in a STEM field.31, Overall, among adults who majored in STEM, women are more likely than men to work in a STEM occupation (56% vs. 49%).32 This difference is driven mainly by college graduates with a health professions degree, most of whom are women. 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