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Table 4-2. Graduate students, postdoctoral appointees, and doctorate-holding nonfaculty researchers, by detailed field and sex: 2018

Detailed field Graduate students Postdoctoral appointees Doctorate-holding nonfaculty researchers
All graduate students Master's Doctoral
Total number Percent female Total number Percent female Total number Percent female Total number Percent female Total number Percent female
All detailed fields 668,307 46.2 391,211 48.5 277,096 43.0 64,783 40.3 29,284 40.3
Science 432,255 49.2 241,327 50.9 190,928 47.1 37,564 39.4 18,278 39.7
Agricultural sciences 9,538 54.4 5,658 56.7 3,880 51.0 1,072 41.7 565 42.5
Biological and biomedical sciences 87,933 57.7 35,306 62.5 52,627 54.5 21,533 44.3 8,250 46.4
Biochemistry 5,297 50.6 743 57.5 4,554 49.5 1,943 37.3 723 43.7
Biology 15,750 58.0 8,696 61.1 7,054 54.3 2,108 43.2 897 43.8
Biomedical sciences 8,409 58.0 4,379 58.6 4,030 57.4 1,941 47.0 588 42.7
Biophysics 836 35.0 6 33.3 830 35.1 151 31.8 25 24.0
Biostatistics and bioinformatics 5,836 49.8 2,890 54.9 2,946 44.7 699 36.1 393 49.6
Biotechnology 2,062 58.8 1,953 58.8 109 59.6 86 31.4 102 37.3
Botany and plant biology 1,690 51.4 373 53.9 1,317 50.6 620 39.4 343 43.4
Cell, cellular biology, and anatomical sciences 5,909 56.0 919 55.1 4,990 56.2 1,814 45.3 610 45.2
Ecology and population biology 3,508 57.9 888 61.6 2,620 56.7 446 45.3 248 44.4
Epidemiology 4,437 70.8 2,669 70.9 1,768 70.7 230 64.8 99 60.6
Genetics 2,662 60.9 557 81.5 2,105 55.4 1,428 45.7 405 42.0
Microbiological sciences and immunology 5,168 57.7 1,254 64.3 3,914 55.5 2,078 48.1 773 50.8
Molecular biology 1,492 55.0 364 60.7 1,128 53.1 521 39.9 186 38.7
Neurobiology and neuroscience 5,350 54.4 304 60.9 5,046 54.0 2,103 45.7 732 49.2
Nutrition science 3,513 83.7 2,546 86.8 967 75.5 180 55.0 165 61.2
Pathology and experimental pathology 973 59.1 93 69.9 880 58.0 1,145 45.2 398 53.3
Pharmacology and toxicology 3,110 58.6 873 65.9 2,237 55.8 1,012 41.5 372 43.8
Physiology 4,919 54.0 2,288 56.1 2,631 52.1 1,766 47.2 681 47.7
Zoology and animal biology 2,022 54.6 829 57.8 1,193 52.4 428 44.4 160 43.8
Biological and biomedical sciences nec 4,990 57.7 2,682 59.6 2,308 55.4 834 43.4 350 48.0
Computer and information sciences 93,478 30.6 77,351 31.6 16,127 25.5 879 20.6 515 25.8
Computer science 31,309 26.8 22,966 28.1 8,343 23.2 502 18.9 261 23.4
Computer and information sciences, general 36,969 29.3 30,568 30.2 6,401 24.9 225 19.1 143 26.6
Computer and information sciences nec 25,200 37.1 23,817 36.8 1,383 42.4 152 28.3 111 30.6
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 12,333 45.5 5,629 45.2 6,704 45.7 1,726 37.8 2,106 32.4
Atmospheric sciences and meteorology 1,342 39.3 459 41.6 883 38.2 243 31.7 426 29.1
Geological and earth sciences 8,294 42.1 3,924 40.3 4,370 43.8 803 35.4 991 32.3
Ocean and marine sciences 2,697 59.0 1,246 62.1 1,451 56.2 401 43.9 365 43.6
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences nec ne ne ne ne ne ne 279 41.6 324 24.7
Mathematics and statistics 31,461 37.4 18,073 43.5 13,388 29.2 982 23.3 266 25.2
Mathematics and applied mathematics 21,442 34.5 11,212 41.6 10,230 26.8 833 23.2 207 22.7
Statistics 10,019 43.6 6,861 46.6 3,158 37.0 149 24.2 59 33.9
Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary studies 10,338 53.0 7,414 53.6 2,924 51.4 980 41.8 832 33.8
Natural resources and conservation 11,407 54.8 7,691 55.9 3,716 52.6 764 42.8 580 36.2
Environmental science and studies 5,427 58.4 3,683 59.6 1,744 55.8 258 46.1 217 44.7
Forestry, natural resources, and conservation 5,980 51.6 4,008 52.6 1,972 49.7 506 41.1 363 31.1
Physical sciences 42,075 33.8 6,075 38.3 36,000 33.0 6,976 22.4 3,056 20.2
Astronomy and astrophysics 1,353 38.0 72 40.3 1,281 37.9 536 30.2 472 20.8
Chemistry 22,691 42.6 3,144 49.6 19,547 41.5 3,320 25.0 974 27.9
Materials sciences 1,324 31.7 449 34.1 875 30.5 264 21.6 73 21.9
Physics 16,086 20.9 2,173 22.2 13,913 20.7 2,619 17.5 1,354 13.9
Physical sciences nec 621 39.9 237 43.9 384 37.5 237 23.6 183 23.0
Psychology 55,707 76.8 35,404 79.5 20,303 72.1 1,145 58.3 507 61.9
Clinical psychology 7,027 79.4 3,213 80.6 3,814 78.3 73 75.3 9 66.7
Counseling and applied psychology 31,660 79.4 24,714 80.9 6,946 73.9 165 63.6 38 65.8
Psychology, general 12,861 71.6 6,178 74.3 6,683 69.1 674 58.9 302 61.6
Research and experimental psychology 4,159 69.1 1,299 74.9 2,860 66.5 233 47.2 158 61.4
Social sciences 77,985 54.1 42,726 56.2 35,259 51.5 1,507 53.1 1,601 55.0
Agricultural economics 1,698 44.5 779 44.0 919 44.8 53 50.9 62 40.3
Anthropology 6,773 66.1 2,302 69.5 4,471 64.3 137 60.6 76 51.3
Criminal justice and safety studies 5,169 59.5 4,506 59.0 663 62.7 12 33.3 10 80.0
Economics (except agricultural) 13,344 37.7 5,427 43.6 7,917 33.6 108 29.6 156 34.6
Geography and cartography 4,566 45.9 2,717 42.7 1,849 50.5 120 44.2 105 36.2
History and philosophy of science 301 52.8 31 48.4 270 53.3 12 41.7 1 0.0
Human development 2,122 85.6 1,329 88.0 793 81.7 135 73.3 130 82.3
International relations and national security studies 7,265 48.5 6,826 48.9 439 41.7 51 43.1 59 28.8
Linguistics 2,723 59.9 1,175 66.6 1,548 54.8 39 51.3 37 67.6
Political science and government 8,317 42.9 2,706 44.4 5,611 42.2 137 41.6 72 56.9
Public policy analysis 8,202 58.1 5,882 58.8 2,320 56.4 191 57.6 311 60.5
Sociology 7,523 64.3 2,395 69.1 5,128 62.1 149 55.7 154 64.9
Social sciences nec 9,982 64.6 6,651 64.3 3,331 65.2 363 56.5 428 55.6
Engineering 163,301 25.3 93,064 24.7 70,237 26.1 7,914 23.6 3,570 23.0
Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 5,848 16.8 3,342 17.4 2,506 16.0 207 11.6 115 9.6
Agricultural engineering 1,032 38.9 371 36.7 661 40.1 113 34.5 60 21.7
Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 11,480 42.8 4,202 44.6 7,278 41.8 1,433 35.8 440 35.0
Biological and biosystems engineering 283 37.5 80 37.5 203 37.4 96 35.4 51 29.4
Chemical engineering 10,011 31.7 3,061 31.4 6,950 31.8 1,142 24.4 257 26.8
Civil engineering 20,461 31.9 12,729 31.4 7,732 32.7 739 26.8 414 25.4
Electrical, electronics, and communications engineering 46,227 21.9 28,108 24.0 18,119 18.7 1,197 15.1 588 15.8
Engineering mechanics, physics, and science 2,157 24.1 729 22.6 1,428 24.9 354 22.6 220 22.7
Industrial and manufacturing engineering 15,987 27.5 12,389 26.8 3,598 30.2 156 25.0 105 17.1
Mechanical engineering 26,593 16.2 15,434 14.7 11,159 18.4 1,069 16.1 489 16.2
Metallurgical and materials engineering 6,689 30.9 2,079 30.9 4,610 30.9 549 18.9 215 22.8
Mining engineering 527 24.7 316 26.3 211 22.3 26 23.1 52 28.8
Nanotechnology 118 28.8 47 25.5 71 31.0 134 26.9 43 32.6
Nuclear engineering 1,453 17.5 407 11.8 1,046 19.7 106 13.2 41 24.4
Petroleum engineering 1,403 19.4 754 18.6 649 20.3 63 17.5 80 32.5
Engineering nec 13,032 24.0 9,016 22.4 4,016 27.4 530 26.0 400 25.0
Health 72,751 75.3 56,820 77.4 15,931 68.0 19,305 48.9 7,436 50.3
Clinical medicinea 32,002 73.9 27,494 74.7 4,508 69.5 16,563 48.5 6,159 49.8
Anesthesiology ne ne ne ne ne ne 436 46.3 139 45.3
Cardiology ne ne ne ne ne ne 841 38.2 238 43.3
Endocrinology ne ne ne ne ne ne 351 48.7 102 52.9
Gastroenterology ne ne ne ne ne ne 279 44.8 92 58.7
Hematology ne ne ne ne ne ne 316 43.4 114 50.0
Neurology ne ne ne ne ne ne 1,437 49.1 425 54.4
Obstetrics and gynecology ne ne ne ne ne ne 313 61.0 94 67.0
Oncology and cancer research ne ne ne ne ne ne 2,012 46.4 637 43.0
Ophthalmology ne ne ne ne ne ne 517 46.2 297 43.1
Otorhinolaryngology ne ne ne ne ne ne 306 46.4 142 54.2
Pediatrics ne ne ne ne ne ne 1,264 59.2 624 54.6
Psychiatry ne ne ne ne ne ne 991 60.8 235 57.4
Public health 30,777 74.5 26,673 75.1 4,104 70.6 791 58.9 646 63.3
Pulmonary disease ne ne ne ne ne ne 286 46.5 136 49.3
Radiological sciences ne ne ne ne ne ne 1,090 37.8 436 33.7
Surgery ne ne ne ne ne ne 1,352 40.7 523 41.1
Clinical medicine nec 1,225 60.5 821 61.6 404 58.2 3,981 49.1 1,279 51.0
Other health 40,749 76.4 29,326 79.9 11,423 67.4 2,742 51.3 1,277 52.7
Communication disorders sciences 16,902 94.8 15,803 95.6 1,099 82.9 83 72.3 68 57.4
Dental sciences 1,725 51.2 1,478 50.1 247 57.9 311 52.1 92 41.3
Nursing science 5,453 87.9 1,902 88.1 3,551 87.7 121 83.5 96 78.1
Pharmaceutical sciences 4,029 53.5 1,075 61.3 2,954 50.6 1,063 40.8 344 37.5
Veterinary biomedical and clinical sciences 1,212 69.2 637 75.2 575 62.6 636 53.5 330 57.9
Other health nec 11,428 56.3 8,431 56.5 2,997 55.8 528 58.7 347 57.9
ne = not eligible;
nec = not elsewhere classified.
a Clinical medicine includes graduate students in public health and clinical medicine nec. Clinical medicine includes postdoctoral appointees and nonfaculty researchers in anesthesiology, cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, hematology, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, oncology and cancer research, ophthalmology, otorhinolaryngology, pediatrics, psychiatry, public health, pulmonary disease, radiology, surgery, and clinical medicine nec.
NOTES: "Field" refers to the field of the unit that reports postdoctoral appointees and doctorate-holding nonfaculty researchers to the Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering. Percentages may not add to total because of rounding.
SOURCE: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering, 2018.