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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: 2012–15

Field Male Female
2012 2013 2014olda 2014newa 2015 2012 2013 2014olda 2014newa 2015
Black or African American students in all institutions (number) 7,835 7,881 7,692 7,636 7,628 14,010 13,426 12,878 12,255 13,052
Science and engineering 6,878 6,934 6,759 6,790 6,742 10,666 10,376 9,925 9,549 9,958
Science 5,447 5,497 5,409 5,417 5,428 10,007 9,741 9,249 8,859 9,258
Agricultural sciences 118 105 114 129 143 182 189 179 194 201
Biological sciences 919 933 940 997 1,072 1,935 1,892 1,835 1,972 2,141
Communication 148 148 158 174 181 354 328 390 423 444
Computer sciences 589 607 645 695 662 289 289 296 305 320
Earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences 100 106 91 94 95 106 90 104 110 104
Family and consumer sciences and human sciences 54 62 52 53 45 227 209 253 255 239
Mathematics and statistics 263 265 259 264 243 150 156 150 157 152
Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary studies 76 75 89 104 103 129 113 144 186 149
Neurobiology and neuroscience 56 60 63 63 66 87 86 91 91 94
Physical sciences 396 426 395 396 400 376 352 341 343 323
Psychology 641 666 627 502 580 2,645 2,624 2,289 1,699 1,877
Social sciences 2,087 2,044 1,976 1,946 1,838 3,527 3,413 3,177 3,124 3,214
Engineering 1,431 1,437 1,350 1,373 1,314 659 635 676 690 700
Health 957 947 933 846 886 3,344 3,050 2,953 2,706 3,094
Black or African American students in HBCUs (number) 1,047 1,002 996 1,163 1,166 2,041 1,890 1,830 2,030 2,196
Science and engineering 953 904 883 1,034 1,025 1,661 1,533 1,429 1,601 1,656
Science 777 721 745 886 863 1,560 1,446 1,336 1,495 1,538
Agricultural sciences 48 33 38 52 47 73 59 56 69 69
Biological sciences 122 119 136 154 172 355 329 310 361 392
Communication 24 13 9 21 25 47 32 26 42 59
Computer sciences 64 60 69 117 107 37 39 45 65 49
Earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences 17 17 15 17 11 22 13 25 29 29
Family and consumer sciences and human sciences 6 12 7 7 10 39 37 63 63 53
Mathematics and statistics 35 45 33 36 33 27 28 28 30 21
Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary studies 12 7 18 27 19 7 11 34 42 26
Neurobiology and neuroscience 3 3 3 3 4 9 8 4 4 3
Physical sciences 62 71 71 71 61 87 83 70 70 64
Psychology 52 40 39 39 81 187 186 134 142 270
Social sciences 332 301 307 342 293 670 621 541 578 503
Engineering 176 183 138 148 162 101 87 93 106 118
Health 94 98 113 129 141 380 357 401 429 540
Black or African American students in HBCUs (%) 13.4 12.7 12.9 15.2 15.3 14.6 14.1 14.2 16.6 16.8
Science and engineering 13.9 13.0 13.1 15.2 15.2 15.6 14.8 14.4 16.8 16.6
Science 14.3 13.1 13.8 16.4 15.9 15.6 14.8 14.4 16.9 16.6
Agricultural sciences 40.7 31.4 33.3 40.3 32.9 40.1 31.2 31.3 35.6 34.3
Biological sciences 13.3 12.8 14.5 15.4 16.0 18.3 17.4 16.9 18.3 18.3
Communication 16.2 8.8 5.7 12.1 13.8 13.3 9.8 6.7 9.9 13.3
Computer sciences 10.9 9.9 10.7 16.8 16.2 12.8 13.5 15.2 21.3 15.3
Earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences 17.0 16.0 16.5 18.1 11.6 20.8 14.4 24.0 26.4 27.9
Family and consumer sciences and human sciences 11.1 19.4 13.5 13.2 22.2 17.2 17.7 24.9 24.7 22.2
Mathematics and statistics 13.3 17.0 12.7 13.6 13.6 18.0 17.9 18.7 19.1 13.8
Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary studies 15.8 9.3 20.2 26.0 18.4 5.4 9.7 23.6 22.6 17.4
Neurobiology and neuroscience 5.4 5.0 4.8 4.8 6.1 10.3 9.3 4.4 4.4 3.2
Physical sciences 15.7 16.7 18.0 17.9 15.3 23.1 23.6 20.5 20.4 19.8
Psychology 8.1 6.0 6.2 7.8 14.0 7.1 7.1 5.9 8.4 14.4
Social sciences 15.9 14.7 15.5 17.6 15.9 19.0 18.2 17.0 18.5 15.7
Engineering 12.3 12.7 10.2 10.8 12.3 15.3 13.7 13.8 15.4 16.9
Health 9.8 10.3 12.1 15.2 15.9 11.4 11.7 13.6 15.9 17.5
HBCU = historically black college or university.
a In 2014, the survey frame was updated following a comprehensive frame evaluation study. The study identified potentially eligible but not previously surveyed academic institutions in the United States with master's- or doctorate-granting programs in science, engineering, or health. A total of 151 newly eligible institutions were added, and two private for-profit institutions offering mostly practitioner-based graduate degrees were determined to be ineligible.
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, Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering.