In this Oct. 19, 2011 photo, Christopher Smith, a doctoral student in biomedical engineering, looks at stem cell samples through an inverted microscope in a lab at the Johns Hopkins University medical campus in Baltimore. Despite robust hiring in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, the percentage of African-Americans entering such careers has fallen during the last decade. In Smith’s field of biological and biomedical sciences, where 6,957 PhDs were awarded in 2009, only 88 went to black men.

First published in the April 26, 2012, 9:58 a.m. edition

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