Table 311.90.

Graduate enrollment in research-based programs in engineering, natural and social sciences, mathematics and computer sciences, and selected health fields in degree-granting postsecondary institutions, by discipline division: Selected years, fall 2007 through fall 2015

Discipline division	2007	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	20141	2015
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Total, all surveyed discipline divisions	619,499	631,645	632,652	626,820	627,243	633,010	666,586	685,397
Engineering	131,676	144,677	149,241	146,501	148,385	153,049	164,488	169,354
Aerospace	4,616	5,266	5,540	5,691	5,069	5,181	5,116	5,345
Agricultural	1,126	1,303	1,457	1,656	1,552	1,642	1,740	1,630
Architecture	4,601	6,804	6,795	3,111	2,363	2,176	1,817	1,565
Biomedical	6,904	7,904	8,497	9,175	9,157	9,198	9,510	9,761
Chemical	7,584	8,188	8,668	8,828	9,222	9,698	9,870	10,008
Civil	16,071	18,638	19,559	19,596	19,922	20,110	20,789	20,978
Electrical	40,588	41,218	41,336	41,580	42,347	45,562	51,909	52,940
Engineering science, mechanics, and physics	1,806	2,168	2,071	2,101	2,227	2,142	2,162	1,708
Industrial/manufacturing	14,474	15,825	15,205	14,494	14,469	14,363	14,845	16,284
Mechanical	18,347	21,243	22,509	21,883	23,088	24,087	25,651	27,314
Metallurgical/materials	5,314	5,863	6,274	6,649	6,985	7,144	7,518	7,741
Mining	222	312	419	500	356	357	396	407
Nuclear	1,180	1,243	1,459	1,499	1,513	1,459	1,467	1,449
Petroleum	1,014	1,190	1,295	1,301	1,525	1,609	2,056	2,021
Other engineering	7,829	7,512	8,157	8,437	8,590	8,321	9,642	10,203
Natural and social sciences
Agricultural sciences	13,528	15,200	15,656	16,129	16,234	16,429	17,505	18,610
Biological sciences	71,932	73,304	74,928	75,423	76,447	76,649	78,490	80,096
Anatomy	867	833	849	762	700	527	554	594
Biochemistry	5,853	5,271	5,308	5,183	5245	4,970	5,025	4,793
Biology	15,898	16,840	17,210	16,911	16321	16,004	16,697	16,612
Biometry/epidemiology	5,694	5,739	6,398	6,786	7800	8,478	8,326	8,987
Biophysics	1,193	1,042	1,072	1,016	976	952	877	919
Botany and plant biology	1,821	1,831	1,863	1,915	1852	1,878	1,877	1,869
Cell and molecular biology	6,839	7,153	7,047	6,905	6799	6,543	6,214	6,450
Ecology	2,026	1,746	1,828	1,713	1667	1,437	1,416	1,302
Entomology/parasitology	1,078	1,079	1,116	1,119	1187	1,278	1,304	1,285
Genetics	2,120	2,242	2,333	2,403	2342	2,315	2,411	2,412
Microbiology, immunology, and virology	5,212	4,968	4,896	5,031	4,950	4,961	4,670	4,571
Nutrition	4,890	5,330	5,548	5,345	5,336	5,387	5,868	5,705
Pathology	1,580	1,450	1,376	1,313	1,196	1,112	1,036	1,046
Pharmacology	3,013	3,163	3,101	3,053	3,088	2,979	2,916	2,817
Physiology	2,738	2,866	2,879	3,000	3,046	3,224	3,415	3,795
Zoology	1,108	875	896	1,060	1,083	1,188	1,093	998
Other biosciences	10,002	10,876	11,208	11,908	12,859	13,416	14,791	15,941
Communication	7,303	9,418	9,825	11,029	11,010	11,114	11,942	11,759
Earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences	14,100	14,839	15,655	15,820	16,069	15,816	15,710	15,447
Atmospheric sciences	1,178	1,355	1,455	1,513	1,546	1,534	1,466	1,387
Geosciences	7,020	7,539	8,251	8,361	8,659	8,754	8,821	8,876
Oceanography	2,615	2,633	2,556	2,680	2,642	2,682	2,666	2,574
Other earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences	3,287	3,312	3,393	3,266	3,222	2,846	2,757	2,610
Family and consumer science/human science	2,780	3,794	4,191	4,509	4,110	4,014	4,302	4,134
Multidisciplinary/interdisciplinary studies	4,484	6,557	7,944	6,537	6,038	5,892	7,196	8,138
Neurobiology and neuroscience	1,584	2,356	2,798	4,117	4,547	4,795	4,923	5,002
Physical sciences	36,824	38,149	38,973	39,694	39,928	40,019	40,332	40,386
Astronomy and astrophysics	1,232	1,409	1,331	1,345	1,278	1,250	1,241	1,273
Chemistry	21,298	22,094	22,436	22,802	23,117	22,949	22,936	22,840
Physics	13,816	14,060	14,507	14,829	14,940	15,239	15,564	15,609
Other physical sciences	478	586	699	718	593	581	591	664
Psychology2	59,617	56,184	53,419	54,486	54,117	54,102	48,833	49,740
Social sciences	103,150	107,820	109,220	111,661	108,169	107,278	105,742	102,706
Agricultural economics	1,989	2,222	2,180	2,095	2,045	1,916	1,931	2,056
Economics (except agricultural)	12,597	13,993	14,317	14,920	14,959	14,819	14,604	14,299
Geography	4,660	4,810	5,059	5,188	5,016	4,891	4,810	4,434
Linguistics	2,879	3,170	3,132	3,219	3,256	3,509	3,489	3,370
Political science and government	41,349	43,919	45,045	49,660	48,855	48,411	47,370	45,781
Sociology and anthropology	18,453	18,666	18,740	18,365	17,404	17,360	16,789	16,104
Other social sciences	21,223	21,040	20,747	18,214	16,634	16,372	16,749	16,662
Mathematics and computer sciences
Mathematics and statistics	20,975	22,226	23,136	23,801	24,575	24,804	25,874	26,444
Mathematics and applied mathematics	16,528	17,204	17,589	18,157	18,577	18,323	18,863	18,737
Statistics	4,447	5,022	5,547	5,644	5,998	6,481	7,011	7,707
Computer sciences	48,246	51,161	51,546	51,234	51,789	56,339	76,546	86,192
Selected health fields3	103,300	85,960	76,120	65,879	65,825	62,710	64,703	67,389
Clinical medicine fields	22,751	24,125	25,699	26,634	26,798	26,362	27,048	28,606
Other health fields4	80,549	61,835	50,421	39,245	39,027	36,348	37,655	38,783

1 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 2 institutions offering mostly practitioner-based graduate degrees were determined to be ineligible.

2 Excludes PsyD (Doctor of Psychology) programs, which focus on training for clinical practice. Enrollment declines after 2007 may be due to more rigorous follow-up with institutions to exclude such programs.

3 Excludes enrollments in practitioner-oriented programs, which have the primary purpose of providing the knowledge and skills required for credentials or licensure to practice in a medical or other health field. Examples of excluded clinical medicine programs are those leading to MD (Doctor of Medicine) and DDS (Doctor of Dental Surgery) degrees. Examples of excluded programs in other health fields are those leading to DNP (Doctor of Nursing Practice) and DPT (Doctor of Physical Therapy) degrees.

4 For years after 2007, enrollment declines in other health fields such as nursing may be due to more rigorous follow-up with institutions to exclude enrollments in practitioner-oriented graduate degree programs.

NOTE: The survey on which this table is based includes all institutions in the United States and its territories (Guam and Puerto Rico) that grant research-based master's degrees or doctorates in science, engineering, and selected health fields.

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, NSF-NIH Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering, 2007 through 2015. (This table was prepared March 2017.)