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Table 64. Statistical profile of doctorate recipients in engineering fields, by sex and field of study: 2016

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 9,469 369 1,089 923 565 1,827 256 985 1,299 2,156
Sex (%)
Male 76.9 84.8 63.1 67.8 77.5 83.9 72.3 73.4 84.4 77.7
Female 23.1 15.2 36.9 32.2 22.5 16.1 27.7 26.6 15.6 22.3
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 44.2 63.1 68.5 50.9 38.8 29.9 32.0 46.3 45.0 39.1
Temporary visa holder 51.2 32.2 27.5 43.7 54.5 63.7 64.1 50.4 50.2 57.6
Unknown 4.6 4.6 3.9 5.4 6.7 6.3 3.9 3.4 4.8 3.3
Marital status (%)
Never married 38.3 40.1 42.6 46.7 31.0 36.7 31.3 42.7 36.2 35.7
Married 41.5 36.3 36.7 32.5 48.0 41.7 50.8 36.1 42.0 47.6
Marriage-like relationship 6.6 7.3 9.3 7.7 3.9 5.3 D D 5.6 6.3
Separated, divorced, widowed 1.3 1.9 1.7 0.7 1.1 1.0 D D 1.2 2.0
Unknown 12.3 14.4 9.6 12.5 16.1 15.3 12.5 11.9 14.9 8.3
Bachelor's in same field as doctorate (%)b 75.9 75.1 73.8 83.4 77.3 79.0 69.5 65.2 82.4 72.7
Master's earned (%) 69.7 79.7 51.3 47.2 83.2 74.5 79.3 58.7 73.5 81.1
Age at doctorate (median years) 30.0 29.8 29.2 28.7 31.3 30.5 31.3 29.1 30.0 30.7
Time to doctorate (median years)
From bachelor's 7.3 7.3 6.7 6.1 8.2 7.8 8.3 6.4 7.3 8.0
From graduate school start 6.5 6.7 6.0 5.7 7.0 7.0 7.1 5.7 6.6 7.0
From doctoral program startc 5.3 5.6 5.4 5.0 4.9 5.3 5.0 5.1 5.3 5.2
Male doctorate recipients (number) 7,277 313 687 626 438 1,532 185 723 1,097 1,676
Citizenship (%)
U.S. citizen or permanent resident 43.4 63.3 68.0 53.2 36.1 30.4 33.0 46.9 44.3 38.8
Temporary visa holder 52.1 31.6 27.8 41.5 57.8 63.6 62.7 49.9 51.4 57.9
Unknown 4.5 5.1 4.2 5.3 6.2 6.1 4.3 3.2 4.3 3.3
Marital status (%)
Never married 38.3 40.9 43.1 47.8 30.8 37.1 34.1 43.6 36.1 35.0
Married 42.1 35.8 36.8 32.1 49.8 41.9 45.9 36.5 43.3 48.7
Marriage-like relationship 6.4 D 8.7 8.1 D 5.4 4.3 D D 6.3
Separated, divorced, widowed 1.1 D 1.6 D D 0.7 D D D 1.8
Unknown 12.1 13.7 9.8 D 15.1 14.9 D 11.3 14.3 8.2
Bachelor's in same field as doctorate (%)b 77.1 76.4 73.7 84.2 79.7 80.0 68.1 65.3 83.5 74.5
Master's earned (%) 70.6 79.2 52.5 46.5 84.0 74.9 75.1 57.8 73.8 80.7
Age at doctorate (median years) 30.2 29.9 29.6 28.9 31.7 30.5 31.3 29.2 30.1 30.8
Time to doctorate (median years)
From bachelor's 7.4 7.1 7.0 6.2 8.3 7.8 8.3 6.4 7.3 8.1
From graduate school start 6.7 6.6 6.2 5.6 7.2 6.9 7.0 5.8 6.7 7.0
From doctoral program startc 5.3 5.6 5.5 5.0 4.7 5.3 5.2 5.0 5.3 5.2
Female doctorate recipients (number) 2,192 56 402 297 127 295 71 262 202 480
Citizenship (%)
U.S. citizen or permanent resident 46.7 62.5 69.4 46.1 48.0 27.8 29.6 44.7 49.0 40.2
Temporary visa holder 48.3 35.7 27.1 48.1 43.3 64.4 67.6 51.5 43.6 56.5
Unknown 5.0 1.8 3.5 5.7 8.7 7.8 2.8 3.8 7.4 3.3
Marital status (%)
Never married 38.5 35.7 41.8 44.4 31.5 34.9 23.9 40.5 36.6 38.1
Married 39.2 39.3 36.6 33.3 41.7 40.7 63.4 35.1 35.1 43.8
Marriage-like relationship 7.3 D 10.2 6.7 D 4.7 D D D 6.5
Separated, divorced, widowed 2.0 D 2.0 D D 2.7 0.0 D D 2.9
Unknown 13.1 17.9 9.5 D 19.7 16.9 D 13.4 18.3 8.8
Bachelor's in same field as doctorate (%)b 72.1 67.9 74.1 81.8 69.3 74.2 73.2 64.9 76.2 66.5
Master's earned (%) 67.0 82.1 49.3 48.8 80.3 72.2 90.1 61.1 71.8 82.5
Age at doctorate (median years) 29.4 29.6 28.7 28.6 30.7 30.0 31.2 28.9 29.5 30.2
Time to doctorate (median years)
From bachelor's 7.0 7.5 6.3 6.0 8.2 7.4 8.8 6.3 7.2 7.7
From graduate school start 6.3 7.0 5.8 5.7 6.8 7.0 7.2 5.7 6.3 6.9
From doctoral program startc 5.3 5.5 5.3 5.0 5.0 5.3 5.0 5.2 5.3 5.1
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, 2016.