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Table 64. Statistical profile of doctorate recipients in engineering fields, by sex and field of study: 2015

Characteristic All engineering fields Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering Bioengineering and biomedical engineering Chemical engineering Civil engineering Electrical, electronics, and communications engineering Industrial and manufacturing engineering Materials science engineering Mechanical engineering Other engineering
All doctorate recipients (number)a 9,897 361 1,129 1,002 633 2,004 244 874 1,467 2,183
Sex (%)
Male 76.8 85.3 62.1 68.4 72.4 85.4 63.1 74.5 86.2 76.2
Female 23.2 14.7 37.9 31.6 27.6 14.6 36.9 25.5 13.8 23.8
Unknown 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Citizenship (%)
U.S. citizen or permanent resident 42.7 59.8 64.2 48.7 36.3 31.5 26.6 43.7 42.3 39.6
Temporary visa holder 51.8 36.6 30.9 46.0 56.9 62.0 66.0 51.5 53.4 54.1
Unknown 5.6 3.6 4.9 5.3 6.8 6.4 7.4 4.8 4.3 6.2
Marital status (%)
Never married 39.0 41.0 43.8 47.1 32.7 37.6 32.0 40.2 37.8 36.6
Married 41.5 38.2 35.8 33.9 45.5 43.8 49.2 40.0 41.9 44.9
Marriage-like relationship 6.4 D 10.1 6.9 4.3 4.1 D 8.6 7.0 5.8
Separated, divorced, widowed 1.5 D 0.6 1.6 2.4 1.4 D 1.6 1.4 1.7
Unknown 11.5 10.8 9.7 10.5 15.2 13.0 13.9 9.6 11.9 10.9
Bachelor's in same field as doctorate (%)b 76.4 79.2 73.9 82.5 80.1 78.8 68.4 67.4 82.4 71.6
Master's earned (%) 70.6 79.8 52.6 47.0 83.6 77.6 81.6 56.8 75.1 80.2
Age at doctorate (median years) 30.0 29.7 29.2 28.7 31.2 30.3 31.5 29.2 30.0 30.7
Time to doctorate (median years)
From bachelor's 7.3 7.0 6.8 6.1 8.1 7.8 8.3 6.6 7.5 8.0
From graduate school start 6.7 6.7 6.0 5.7 7.2 6.9 7.2 6.0 6.7 7.1
From doctoral program startc 5.2 5.6 5.3 5.0 4.9 5.3 5.2 5.0 5.2 5.2
Male doctorate recipients (number) 7,596 308 701 685 458 1,711 154 651 1,265 1,663
Citizenship (%)
U.S. citizen or permanent resident 41.3 59.4 62.8 49.6 35.4 31.2 24.7 43.8 40.5 38.5
Temporary visa holder 53.3 36.7 33.0 45.5 59.0 62.5 70.1 51.2 55.3 55.1
Unknown 5.4 3.9 4.3 4.8 5.7 6.3 5.2 5.1 4.3 6.4
Marital status (%)
Never married 39.0 40.6 44.2 47.2 33.8 38.5 33.1 39.0 37.2 37.2
Married 42.2 39.6 36.8 34.7 46.5 43.2 50.0 41.8 42.2 45.1
Marriage-like relationship 6.0 D 9.3 D D 4.0 3.2 D D 5.4
Separated, divorced, widowed 1.4 D D D D 1.3 D D D 1.1
Unknown 11.4 9.7 D 9.9 13.1 12.9 D 9.7 12.0 11.2
Bachelor's in same field as doctorate (%)b 77.8 80.8 74.9 83.2 81.4 79.4 68.8 69.0 82.8 73.9
Master's earned (%) 71.6 80.8 52.9 46.6 85.4 78.0 83.8 58.2 75.2 79.3
Age at doctorate (median years) 30.1 29.7 29.5 28.7 31.7 30.4 32.2 29.2 30.1 30.8
Time to doctorate (median years)
From bachelor's 7.5 7.0 6.9 6.2 8.4 7.8 9.2 6.6 7.5 8.1
From graduate school start 6.7 6.7 6.2 5.7 7.4 7.0 7.3 6.0 6.7 7.2
From doctoral program startc 5.2 5.6 5.3 5.0 4.9 5.3 5.2 5.0 5.2 5.2
Female doctorate recipients (number) 2,301 53 428 317 175 293 90 223 202 520
Citizenship (%)
U.S. citizen or permanent resident 47.3 62.3 66.6 46.7 38.9 33.8 30.0 43.5 53.5 43.1
Temporary visa holder 46.5 35.8 27.6 47.0 51.4 59.0 58.9 52.5 42.1 51.2
Unknown 6.2 1.9 5.8 6.3 9.7 7.2 11.1 4.0 4.5 5.8
Marital status (%)
Never married 38.8 43.4 43.2 47.0 29.7 32.1 30.0 43.5 41.6 35.0
Married 39.5 30.2 34.1 32.2 42.9 47.1 47.8 35.0 39.6 44.2
Marriage-like relationship 8.0 9.4 11.4 D D 5.1 D D D 7.3
Separated, divorced, widowed 1.7 0.0 D D D 2.0 D D D 3.7
Unknown 12.0 17.0 D 11.7 20.6 13.7 D 9.4 11.4 9.8
Bachelor's in same field as doctorate (%)b 72.0 69.8 72.2 81.1 76.6 75.4 67.8 62.8 80.2 64.4
Master's earned (%) 67.1 73.6 52.1 47.9 78.9 75.8 77.8 52.5 74.8 82.9
Age at doctorate (median years) 29.4 29.1 28.8 28.4 30.0 30.0 30.1 28.9 29.5 30.5
Time to doctorate (median years)
From bachelor's 7.0 6.9 6.6 6.0 7.5 7.6 7.8 6.6 7.0 7.9
From graduate school start 6.3 6.3 6.0 5.5 6.7 6.9 6.8 6.0 6.7 6.9
From doctoral program startc 5.2 5.6 5.3 5.0 4.9 5.4 5.0 5.0 5.3 5.0
D = suppressed to avoid disclosure of confidential information.
a Includes respondents who did not report sex.
b A bachelor's degree is counted as "in same field as doctorate" if the fields of study for the doctorate recipient's bachelor's degree and doctorate degree are both in the same major field category of the National Science Foundation's field of study taxonomy, except for engineering and education fields where broad field categories need be the same. See table A-6 in the technical notes for a listing of major fields and their constituent subfields.
c Time to doctorate from doctoral program start is based on master's degree entry if the master's degree was at the doctoral institution in the same fine field of study or was a prerequisite to the doctorate; otherwise, it is based on doctoral program entry.
NOTE: Due to rounding, percentages may not sum to 100.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Earned Doctorates, 2015.