Recent science PhDs in the workforce no longer disproportionately white

Science : NSF recently released its biennial report Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. Using the report’s data, NSF statistician Daniel Foley charted the demographics of US doctoral degree recipients employed in industry and in two- and four-year academic institutions. For the cohort of scientists who received their degrees between 2006 and 2010, white scientists are no longer disproportionately the majority. Non-Hispanic white people are approximately 63% of the US population as of 2011. That is roughly the same proportion of white doctoral recipients employed at both four- and two-year institutions. In industry, they are actually underrepresented, making up only about 50% of the population. Asians have had their largest growth in employment in industry and in four-year institutions, while underrepresented minority scientistsâmdash;primarily African Americans and Hispanicsâmdash;have made their largest gains in two-year institutions.