Thursday, March 30, 2017
The latest update of the NSF Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering was released this week. It provides statistical information about the participation of these three groups in science and engineering education and employment. Explore the digest, tables, and full report. These data are helfpul to improve participation and retention of underrepresented groups and to be a baseline for possible future hiring pools for science and engineering jobs. Some key findings include:
- Women's participation remains well below that of men at all degree levels and in all fields of engineering.
- Women earn more degrees in chemical, materials, industrial and civil engineering than in aerospace, electrical, and mechanical engineering.
- The number and percentage of computer sciences bachelor's degrees earned by women has declined in the last 10 years.
- Women earn only 20% of physics degrees (at all degree levels) -- the lowest of all the physical sciences.
Research suggests women may be drawn more to collaborative and interdisciplinary research. Lehigh ADVANCE will shed light on to what extent and how interdisciplinary work is gendered, not only in terms of participation but in terms of outcomes.
