during 2001 to 2003, nelson surveyed department chairs in order to collect headcounts of tenured and tenure-track university faculty members of the "top 50" departments in each of 14 science and engineering disciplines (chemistry fy2001, physics, mathematics, chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, political science, sociology, economics, biological sciences, psychology, and astronomy fy2003). data were collected about race/ethnicity, rank, and gender, and are complete populations, rather than samples. consequently, they accurately reveal the small number or complete absence of underrepresented groups. data for all disciplines were obtained in a relatively short time and by a consistent protocol and are therefore comparable across this relatively large number of disciplines. this entire data set became known as the fy2002 nelson diversity surveys (nds).