Academic science is much more diverse than it was a generation ago, even if it still has a ways to go. That’s according to a new report on women, minorities and people with disabilities from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics at the National Science Foundation. [...]

The primary purpose of the NSF's report, updated every two years, is to paint a statistical portrait of women, minorities and people with disabilities in science and engineering, so it doesn’t come with recommendations. The NSF acknowledges that its findings are nevertheless relevant to policy makers and program managers.

Other key takeaways from the report include that more women than men were enrolled in college in 2018, and that the share of Latinx undergraduate students increased from 2016 to 2018, while the share of Black students declined over the same period. Among science and engineering graduate students during that time, Latinx representation increased and Black and American Indian representation remained the same.