Page 11 - October 2010

Fig. 2. Residency and Ethnicity of Degree Recipients in Selected Subjects, Weighted by Highest Degree to Reflect ASA Membership, 2005–2007.
of ASA members have earned doctorates. Given the high proportion of temporary residents among doctoral degree recipients in physics and engineering, we calculate that about 40% of the degree recipients whose characteristics match the ASA membership profile (by highest degree and subject) are foreign nationals. Thus, we have ethnicity data only for about 60% of the degree recipient pool.
Figure 2 shows the residency and ethnicities of degree recipients in subjects traditionally associated with acoustics for 2005–2007; these data have been weighted by highest degree to reflect the degree distribution among ASA mem- bers. We see that the proportion of temporary residents varies widely by subject.
If we consider only U.S. citizens and permanent residents earning degrees in these subjects, we can examine the eth- nicities of these degree recipients. Figure 3 includes only U.S. citizens in selected fields in 2005–2007. The difference between Figures 2 and 3 is that foreign students have been removed from Figure 3.
These data can be further com-
bined to examine ethnic diversity
among degree recipients whose profile
matches the ASA membership profile
by highest degree and by academic sub-
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ject area.
As seen in Figure 4, the pro-
portion of whites among U.S. citizens
receiving degrees in the subjects con-
sistent with the ASA membership pro-
file (as first shown in Table 1)
decreased between 1995-97 and 2005-
07; that is, this group became more
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In addition, the proportion of degree recipients who were U.S. citi- zens or permanent residents also fell from 70% in the earlier time frame to 62% in the latter. Figure 5 provides a further breakdown of the non-white U.S. citizens and permanent residents who received degrees. We see that the
diverse.
10 Acoustics Today, October 2010
proportion who are Asian decreased, while the proportion who are Black and Hispanic increased.
Since we are using data which includes U.S. degree recipients, we will compare the ethnic diversity in acoustics to the diversity within the U.S. population as a whole. In Figure 6, we see that Blacks and Hispanics are greatly underrepresented in fields tra- ditionally associated with acoustics. American Indians are also underrepre- sented, and Asians are overrepresented.
U.S. ethnicity data are from the American Community Survey and are
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among U.S. degree recipients in subject areas that match the ASA membership profile, weighting for both the subject
area and the highest degree distribution among ASA mem- bers. In doing so, we see that Blacks and Hispanics are under- represented when compared to the U.S. population as a whole. This suggests that the Committee on Diversity in Acoustics (CDA) should work with the entire membership of the ASA to increase the representation of these groups in acoustics if its goal is to have a membership that reflects the diversity in the U.S. population.
Many ASA members reside outside the U.S., and a dis- cussion about ethnic diversity in other countries requires a different language. According to the World Factbook, among the ethnic groups in Germany are German, Turkish, Greek, Italian, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croation, and Spanish. In the United Kingdom, the white ethnic groups include English, Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish; other ethnicities com- prise Black, Indian, Pakistani, and more.15 Since almost 70% of ASA members are from the U.S., the CDA will likely focus on U.S. diversity initially. Since ethnic diversity is not a phe-
not limited to degree holders.
We have examined ethnic diversity
Fig. 3. Ethnicity of U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents among Degree Recipients in Selected Subjects, Weighted by Highest Degree to Reflect ASA Membership, 2005–2007.
(Numbers in parentheses indicate the percentage of degree recipients in that field who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents.)