Classification of the following engineering fields occurred through an examination of course catalogs for the eight universities in this study. Science Nuclear Eng. Computer Architectural Materials Sci. The mid-range fields on the right lean toward PBE fields. The engineering fields listed under PBE and non-PBE fields fell under these classifications for every university examined.
Women comprise about nineteen percent of undergraduate engineering majors.
In majors such as chemical and industrial engineering, women form about one third of the students. In PBE majors such as aerospace, electrical, and mechanical engineering, the fraction of women drops to less than one sixth. The number of women in large PBE majors, such as electrical and mechanical engineering, is quite high compared to the enrollment of women in other engineering disciplines. The under-representation of women in PBE majors has persisted for twenty years. Enrollment figures taken from Engineering and Technology Enrollments.