SF State among top producers of minority STEM graduates

San Francisco State University is among the top 25 universities in the nation for awarding degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields to minorities, according to rankings released this week in Diverse Issues in Higher Education.

A photo of a student working in a labThe University ranks 23rd nationwide for awarding bachelor's degrees in mathematics and statistics to minorities, and 23rd in awarding master's degrees in physical sciences to minorities. Approximately three-quarters of SF State students identify as nonwhite.

Earlier this year, Diverse Issues in Higher Education ranked SF State as one of the nation's top producers of Asian American graduates in business and education, and in October 2014 the magazine ranked the University 13th in the nation for awarding bachelor's degrees to minorities.

Last year, SF State and the University of California, San Francisco, received a $17 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to enhance diversity in the biomedical research workforce by transforming the teaching and research environments at SF State. The project, SF BUILD, selected its first cohort of students earlier this summer. The University also partners with City College of San Francisco and Skyline College on the NIH-funded Bridges to Baccalaureate Program aimed at encouraging students from groups underrepresented in the biomedical sciences to earn their Ph.D. degree and become biomedical scientists.

-- Jonathan Morales