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Table 26. Black or African American, full-time U.S. citizen and permanent resident graduate students in science, engineering, and health in all institutions and in historically black colleges and universities, by field and sex: 2008–12

  Male Female
Field 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Black or African American students in all institutions (n) 7,384 7,632 7,883 7,936 7,835 14,519 14,730 14,728 14,491 14,010
    Science and engineering 6,422 6,741 6,968 6,978 6,878 10,417 11,038 11,226 11,119 10,666
        Science 4,891 5,169 5,301 5,427 5,447 9,665 10,238 10,424 10,389 10,007
            Agricultural sciences 122 100 133 136 118 189 174 199 213 182
            Biological sciences 851 899 937 897 919 1,794 1,932 1,921 1,828 1,935
            Communication 108 126 132 180 148 227 240 269 383 354
            Computer sciences 521 573 609 539 589 282 341 354 272 289
            Earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences 92 107 112 112 100 115 116 116 110 106
            Family and consumer sciences and human sciences 19 35 34 43 54 136 194 184 249 227
            Mathematical sciences 230 253 237 256 263 172 180 188 178 150
            Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary studies 57 74 103 107 76 112 159 217 152 129
            Neuroscience 27 32 34 47 56 33 49 48 78 87
            Physical sciences 394 394 400 389 396 392 406 420 407 376
            Psychologya 665 639 604 649 641 2,758 2,814 2,810 2,677 2,645
            Social sciences 1,805 1,937 1,966 2,072 2,087 3,455 3,633 3,698 3,842 3,527
        Engineering 1,531 1,572 1,667 1,551 1,431 752 800 802 730 659
    Healtha 962 891 915 958 957 4,102 3,692 3,502 3,372 3,344
Black or African American students in HBCUs (n) 959 1,060 1,206 1,166 1,047 1,892 1,914 2,158 2,286 2,041
    Science and engineering 870 983 1,132 1,086 953 1,448 1,611 1,854 1,911 1,661
        Science 637 744 868 881 777 1,315 1,463 1,696 1,787 1,560
            Agricultural sciences 55 37 66 71 48 103 86 100 112 73
            Biological sciences 121 118 126 130 122 270 346 381 379 355
            Communication 7 13 31 42 24 21 23 44 76 47
            Computer sciences 52 58 67 65 64 49 46 62 54 37
            Earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences 11 17 19 21 17 25 19 22 21 22
            Family and consumer sciences and human sciences 1 4 4 4 6 10 21 24 29 39
            Mathematical sciences 35 46 35 36 35 22 32 32 36 27
            Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary studies 5 7 12 15 12 7 6 11 11 7
            Neuroscience 0 4 3 3 3 0 14 9 9 9
            Physical sciences 80 76 78 78 62 83 91 100 98 87
            Psychologya 58 59 67 67 52 246 227 218 192 187
            Social sciences 212 305 360 349 332 479 552 693 770 670
        Engineering 233 239 264 205 176 133 148 158 124 101
    Healtha 89 77 74 80 94 444 303 304 375 380
Black or African American students in HBCUs (%) 13 14 15 15 13 13 13 15 16 15
    Science and engineering 14 15 16 16 14 14 15 17 17 16
        Science 13 14 16 16 14 14 14 16 17 16
            Agricultural sciences 45 37 50 52 41 54 49 50 53 40
            Biological sciences 14 13 13 14 13 15 18 20 21 18
            Communication 6 10 23 23 16 9 10 16 20 13
            Computer sciences 10 10 11 12 11 17 13 18 20 13
            Earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences 12 16 17 19 17 22 16 19 19 21
            Family and consumer sciences and human sciences 5 11 12 9 11 7 11 13 12 17
            Mathematical sciences 15 18 15 14 13 13 18 17 20 18
            Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary studies 9 9 12 14 16 6 4 5 7 5
            Neuroscience 0 13 9 6 5 0 29 19 12 10
            Physical sciences 20 19 20 20 16 21 22 24 24 23
            Psychologya 9 9 11 10 8 9 8 8 7 7
            Social sciences 12 16 18 17 16 14 15 19 20 19
        Engineering 15 15 16 13 12 18 19 20 17 15
    Healtha 9 9 8 8 10 11 8 9 11 11

HBCUs = historically black colleges and universities.
a Beginning with 2008, more rigorous follow-up was done with institutions regarding the exclusion of practitioner-oriented graduate degree programs in Psychology and in Other health (a subfield of health). This change may affect interpretation of trends in these fields.
NOTE: Black or African American includes U.S. citizens and permanent residents who report a single race and are not of Hispanic origin.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, NSF-NIH Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering.
Data from survey cycle Fall 2012, as of December 2013.