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Digest of Education Statistics
2002 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 300. Statistical profile of persons receiving doctor's degrees in engineering: 1979-80 to 1999-2000

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               Item               |1979-80|1980-81|1985-86|1988-89|1989-90|1990-91|1991-92|1992-93|1993-94|1994-95|1995-96|1996-97|1997-98|1998-99|1999-2000
                                  |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
__________________________________|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_________
                1                 |   2   |   3   |   4   |   5   |   6   |   7   |   8   |   9   |  10   |  11   |  12   |  13   |  14   |  15   |   16
__________________________________|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_________
     Number of doctorates ........| 2,479 | 2,528 | 3,376 | 4,543 | 4,894 | 5,214 | 5,438 | 5,698 | 5,822 | 6,008 | 6,305 | 6,052 | 5,919 | 5,337 |   5,330
                                  |_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_________
Sex (percent)                     |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
  Men ............................|  96.4 |  96.1 |  93.3 |  91.8 |  91.5 |  91.3 |  90.7 |  90.9 |  89.1 |  88.4 |  87.7 |  87.6 |  86.9 |  85.1 |    84.2
  Women ..........................|   3.6 |   3.9 |   6.7 |   8.2 |   8.5 |   8.7 |   9.3 |   9.1 |  10.9 |  11.6 |  12.3 |  12.4 |  13.1 |  14.9 |    15.8
Racial/ethnic group (percent)     |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
  American Indian ................|   0.2 |   0.3 |   0.3 |   0.3 |   0.2 |   0.3 |   0.4 |   0.1 |   0.2 |   0.3 |   0.4 |   0.4 |   0.4 |   0.4 |     0.3
  Asian ..........................|  18.9 |  20.0 |  15.6 |  16.6 |  15.3 |  17.4 |  18.2 |  19.7 |  28.8 |  31.5 |  26.8 |  22.3 |  19.0 |  18.4 |    17.9
  Black ..........................|   1.2 |   1.4 |   1.4 |   1.4 |   1.8 |   2.4 |   1.9 |   1.9 |   1.8 |   2.2 |   2.2 |   3.1 |   2.9 |   3.4 |     3.3
  Hispanic ..................     |   1.9 |   1.0 |   2.1 |   2.2 |   2.4 |   2.6 |   3.0 |   2.4 |   2.2 |   2.4 |   2.9 |   2.8 |   3.8 |   2.9 |     3.2
  White ..........................|  77.8 |  77.3 |  80.6 |  79.5 |  80.4 |  77.4 |  76.5 |  75.9 |  67.0 |  63.7 |  67.6 |  71.5 |  73.9 |  74.9 |    75.2
Citizenship (percent)             |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
  United States ..................|  50.6 |  46.2 |  40.8 |  40.9 |  39.4 |  37.9 |  38.7 |  39.1 |  38.0 |  39.7 |  41.1 |  44.3 |  43.0 |  46.4 |    41.4
  Foreign ........................|  46.3 |  49.1 |  50.8 |  50.4 |  52.5 |  54.7 |  57.8 |  57.1 |  60.0 |  57.9 |  55.7 |  49.5 |  48.5 |  48.6 |    52.5
  Unknown ........................|   3.1 |   4.7 |   8.4 |   8.8 |   8.1 |   7.3 |   3.5 |   3.9 |   2.1 |   2.5 |   3.3 |   6.2 |   8.5 |   5.1 |     6.2
Median age at doctorate (years) ..|  30.3 |  30.5 |  31.0 |  31.1 |  31.2 |  31.4 |  31.5 |  31.6 |  31.7 |  31.7 |  31.7 |  31.3 |  31.6 |  31.4 |    31.4
Percent with bachelor's degree in |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
  same field as doctorate ........|  75.2 |  74.1 |  73.0 |  76.2 |  76.9 |  79.0 |  81.8 |  80.1 |  80.4 |  79.1 |  80.2 |  75.9 |  71.0 |  71.2 |    74.0
Median time lapse from bachelor's |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
  to doctorate (years)            |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
  Total time .....................|   7.6 |   7.9 |   8.1 |   8.1 |   8.2 |   8.5 |   8.7 |   8.8 |   9.0 |   9.1 |   9.0 |   8.7 |   8.9 |   8.7 |     8.7
  Registered time ................|   5.6 |   5.6 |   5.9 |   6.0 |   6.0 |   6.1 |   6.2 |   6.3 |   6.4 |   6.4 |   6.4 |   6.5 |   6.7 |   6.6 |     6.8
__________________________________|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_________

NOTE: Longitudinal comparisons by race/ethnicity should be done with extreme care, due to periodic changes in the survey. In particular, large numbers of Asians converted from temporary visas to permanent visas in the mid 1990s. Distribution by race/ethnicity based on U.S. citizens and those with permanent visas only. The National Research Council's classification of degrees by field differs somewhat from that in most publications of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The number of degrees also differs slightly from that reported in the NCES "Completions" survey. Detail may not sum to totals due to rounding.

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Education, National Endowment for the Humanities, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Doctorate Recipients from United States Universities, various years. (This table was prepared May 2002.)


2002 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest