There Are Large Racial Gaps in Doctoral Awards in Specific Disciplines

Last week, JBHE reported that the National Science Foundation recently released its annual data on doctoral degree recipients in the United States. Data for the annual Survey of Earned Doctorates shows that universities in the United States conferred 57,862, doctorates in 2023, up slightly from the previous year. Of these, 3,451 were earned by Black students, the highest number in history and up slightly from the previous year. African Americans earned 7.7 percent of all doctorates earned by U.S. residents and permanent residents. But Blacks are vastly underrepresented among doctoral degree recipients in some disciplines. For example, African Americans earned only 4.4 percent of all doctorates awarded to U.S. citizens and permanent residents in agricultural and research science. Blacks were awarded 4.9 percent of all doctorates in biology and the biological sciences and 3.4 percent of all doctorates in computer science. Of the more than 4,500 doctorate awared in engineering, only 4.6 percent went to African Americans. Blacks earned only 1.9 percent of all doctorates awarded in the geological sciences, 1.2 percent of all mathematics doctorates, 2.5 percent of all doctorates in physics, and 1.9 percent of all doctorates in astronomy. African Americans were awarded 3.6 percent of all doctorates...