The National Science Foundation recently released a report titled, “Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2013” with some interesting data about Latinos and Latinas in STEM fields.
Data in the report covers the participation of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in science, engineering education and employment. Specifically: enrollment, field of degree, employment status, occupation, academic employment, and persons with disabilities.
Some interesting points from the report:
- Underrepresented minorities’ shares of science and engineering bachelor’s and master’s degrees have been rising over the two decades since 1991, with shares of doctorates in these fields flattening well below 10% after 2000.
- Since 1991, the greatest rise in the share of science and engineering bachelor’s degrees earned by underrepresented minorities has been in psychology, the social sciences, and computer sciences.
- Since 2000, underrepresented minorities’ shares in engineering and the physical sciences have been flat, and participation in mathematics has dropped.
- Underrepresented minority women, like women in general, earn higher proportions of bachelor’s degrees in psychology and the social sciences than in engineering, computer sciences, and mathematics.
- Unemployment rates are higher for minority scientists and engineers than for white scientists and engineers.
- The participation of Hispanics in science and engineering occupations and in professional and related occupations is low in comparison to the U.S. workforce.
Read the rest of the report here.
[Image Via Linda Bartlett]
Sara Inés Calderón is a journalist and writer who lives between Texas and California. Follow her on Twitter @SaraChicaD.
