That could mean compromising on or forgoing minority-focused research interests in the early stages of one’s career, Abraham said.

“You’ve got to survive in your profession, but maybe you’ve got to compromise on what you’re doing at the moment until you position yourself to be able to do that,” Abraham said. “You may have to play the game really smartly until you get tenure, and then you can indulge and engage in the kind of research you want to do without fear of someone outing you or ousting you from your job.”

Not all students who go through the SREB-State Doctoral Scholars Program are willing to make such compromises or sacrifices, Abraham says, and don’t complete as a result.

Among other things, the NSF brief found that of the 291,000 SEH (science, engineering and health) doctorates that were employed in educational settings in 2008, about 221,000 were employed as faculty in universities and colleges. Of those, the brief states, 13 percent were Asian, 4 percent were Black, 4 percent were Hispanic and 1 percent two or more races, while less than 1 percent belonged to other races or ethnicities, that is, American Indian/Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.

The brief also found that lower percentages of Black faculty than of White, Asian or Hispanic faculty earned their doctorate at RUVH institutions, while higher percentages of Blacks earned their doctorates at research universities, high research activity (RUHs), or doctoral/research universities (DRUs). Specifically, whereas 80 percent, 79.3 percent and 77.1 percent of White, Asian and Hispanic faculty, respectively, earned their degrees from RUVHs, only 62.7 percent of Blacks had earned their doctorates from RUVHs.

Consequently, the study found, lower percentages of Blacks were employed at RUVHs. “Faculty with SEH (science, engineering and health) doctorates who earned doctorates at RUVH institutions tend to teach at RUVH institutions,” the report states.