Back to Data Tables
Excel icon Download to excel

Table 9. Graduate students in science, engineering, and health in all institutions, by detailed field: 2011–16

Field 2011 2012 2013 2014olda 2014newa 2015 2016
All surveyed fields 626,820 627,243 633,010 650,738 666,586 685,397 684,825
Science and engineering 560,941 561,418 570,300 587,161 601,883 618,008 620,489
Science 414,440 413,033 417,251 425,148 437,395 448,654 452,046
Agricultural sciences 16,129 16,234 16,429 16,947 17,505 18,610 18,284
Biological sciences 75,423 76,447 76,649 76,029 78,490 80,096 79,146
Anatomy 762 700 527 535 554 594 448
Biochemistry 5,183 5,245 4,970 5,025 5,025 4,793 4,481
Biology 16,911 16,321 16,004 16,117 16,697 16,612 16,380
Biometry and epidemiology 6,786 7,800 8,478 8,224 8,326 8,987 9,007
Biophysics 1,016 976 952 877 877 919 941
Botany and plant biology 1,915 1,852 1,878 1,877 1,877 1,869 1,820
Cell and molecular biology 6,905 6,799 6,543 6,151 6,214 6,450 6,535
Ecology 1,713 1,667 1,437 1,416 1,416 1,302 1,396
Entomology and parasitology 1,119 1,187 1,278 1,304 1,304 1,285 1,171
Genetics 2,403 2,342 2,315 2,375 2,411 2,412 2,404
Microbiology, immunology, and virology 5,031 4,950 4,961 4,654 4,670 4,571 4,615
Nutrition 5,345 5,336 5,387 5,583 5,868 5,705 5,401
Pathology 1,313 1,196 1,112 1,036 1,036 1,046 998
Pharmacology and toxicology 3,053 3,088 2,979 2,916 2,916 2,817 2,873
Physiology 3,000 3,046 3,224 3,303 3,415 3,795 4,024
Zoology 1,060 1,083 1,188 1,046 1,093 998 815
Biosciences nec 11,908 12,859 13,416 13,590 14,791 15,941 15,837
Communication 11,029 11,010 11,114 11,382 11,942 11,759 12,347
Computer sciences 51,234 51,789 56,339 68,766 76,546 86,192 92,650
Earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences 15,820 16,069 15,816 15,423 15,710 15,447 15,015
Atmospheric sciences 1,513 1,546 1,534 1,455 1,466 1,387 1,399
Geosciences 8,361 8,659 8,754 8,809 8,821 8,876 8,610
Ocean sciences 2,680 2,642 2,682 2,508 2,666 2,574 2,743
Earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences nec 3,266 3,222 2,846 2,651 2,757 2,610 2,263
Family and consumer sciences and human sciences 4,509 4,110 4,014 4,180 4,302 4,134 3,750
Mathematics and statistics 23,801 24,575 24,804 25,502 25,874 26,444 28,050
Mathematics and applied mathematics 18,157 18,577 18,323 18,592 18,863 18,737 20,028
Statistics 5,644 5,998 6,481 6,910 7,011 7,707 8,022
Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary studies 6,537 6,038 5,892 6,417 7,196 8,138 9,251
Neurobiology and neuroscience 4,117 4,547 4,795 4,923 4,923 5,002 5,226
Physical sciences 39,694 39,928 40,019 40,196 40,332 40,386 40,518
Astronomy and astrophysics 1,345 1,278 1,250 1,241 1,241 1,273 1,353
Chemistry 22,802 23,117 22,949 22,892 22,936 22,840 22,676
Physics 14,829 14,940 15,239 15,490 15,564 15,609 15,764
Physical sciences nec 718 593 581 573 591 664 725
Psychology 54,486 54,117 54,102 50,938 48,833 49,740 47,609
Clinical psychology 10,468 9,971 9,909 9,212 8,781 8,779 8,356
Psychology, general 17,326 17,073 15,960 15,513 12,643 12,716 12,318
Psychology nec 26,692 27,073 28,233 26,213 27,409 28,245 26,935
Social sciences 111,661 108,169 107,278 104,445 105,742 102,706 100,200
Agricultural economics 2,095 2,045 1,916 1,931 1,931 2,056 1,756
Anthropology 8,406 8,247 8,172 7,914 7,955 7,625 7,309
Economics (except agricultural) 14,920 14,959 14,819 14,509 14,604 14,299 14,488
Geography 5,188 5,016 4,891 4,792 4,810 4,434 4,315
History and philosophy of science 597 508 391 365 371 379 379
Linguistics 3,219 3,256 3,509 3,489 3,489 3,370 3,149
Political science and government 49,660 48,855 48,411 47,388 47,370 45,781 45,213
Sociology 9,671 8,887 8,960 8,552 8,637 8,272 8,023
Sociology and anthropology 288 270 228 197 197 207 208
Social sciences nec 17,617 16,126 15,981 15,308 16,378 16,283 15,360
Engineering 146,501 148,385 153,049 162,013 164,488 169,354 168,443
Aerospace engineering 5,691 5,069 5,181 5,116 5,116 5,345 5,416
Agricultural engineering 1,656 1,552 1,642 1,717 1,740 1,630 1,626
Architecture 3,111 2,363 2,176 1,812 1,817 1,565 1,671
Biomedical engineering 9,175 9,157 9,198 9,510 9,510 9,761 10,208
Chemical engineering 8,828 9,222 9,698 9,853 9,870 10,008 10,187
Civil engineering 19,596 19,922 20,110 20,660 20,789 20,978 20,569
Electrical engineering 41,580 42,347 45,562 50,051 51,909 52,940 50,062
Engineering science, mechanics, and physics 2,101 2,227 2,142 2,151 2,162 1,708 1,756
Industrial and manufacturing engineering 14,494 14,469 14,363 14,659 14,845 16,284 16,200
Mechanical engineering 21,883 23,088 24,087 25,508 25,651 27,314 27,898
Metallurgical and materials engineering 6,649 6,985 7,144 7,473 7,518 7,741 8,106
Mining engineering 500 356 357 396 396 407 378
Nuclear engineering 1,499 1,513 1,459 1,467 1,467 1,449 1,466
Petroleum engineering 1,301 1,525 1,609 2,056 2,056 2,021 1,862
Engineering nec 8,437 8,590 8,321 9,584 9,642 10,203 11,038
Health 65,879 65,825 62,710 63,577 64,703 67,389 64,336
Clinical medicine 26,634 26,798 26,362 26,914 27,048 28,606 27,212
Anesthesiology 8 3 7 17 17 26 1
Cardiovascular science 61 44 32 28 28 36 39
Endocrinology 56 52 42 45 45 47 47
Gastroenterology 7 2 0 0 0 0 5
Hematology 1 5 1 0 0 0 1
Neurology 219 171 0 0 0 0 9
Obstetrics and gynecology 100 91 68 18 18 16 17
Oncology and cancer research 255 248 103 51 51 32 42
Ophthalmology 2 2 0 36 36 0 0
Otorhinolaryngology 2 2 1 0 0 0 0
Pediatrics 132 125 0 0 0 0 10
Preventive medicine and community health 23,001 23,700 23,909 24,285 24,369 25,608 24,670
Psychiatry 88 100 0 0 0 0 71
Pulmonary disease 14 12 11 0 0 0 1
Radiology 339 335 201 117 149 140 116
Surgery 30 35 8 5 5 5 14
Clinical medicine nec 2,319 1,871 1,979 2,312 2,330 2,696 2,169
Other health 39,245 39,027 36,348 36,663 37,655 38,783 37,124
Communication disorders sciences 14,203 13,918 14,113 14,331 14,826 15,214 15,323
Dental sciences 1,764 1,707 1,914 1,877 1,877 1,854 1,926
Nursing science 7,269 7,449 4,969 4,784 4,824 5,388 5,492
Pharmaceutical sciences 4,056 4,256 4,137 4,293 4,419 4,464 4,081
Veterinary sciences 1,894 1,794 1,919 1,979 1,979 2,054 1,735
Other health nec 10,059 9,903 9,296 9,399 9,730 9,809 8,567
nec = not elsewhere classified.
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.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering.