In this dissertation, I examine STEM fields' academic and occupational contexts in relation to the post-baccalaureate trajectories of US college graduates. In three empirical chapters focusing on STEM doctorate fields, STEM occupational fields, and these fields' changes over time, respectively, I pay particular attention to three demographic groups that are traditionally underrepresented yet are recently rising in US STEM higher education and workplaces: women, Asians, and non-US citizens. The first empirical chapter argues that STEM paths are outcomes of the interaction between individuals and fields. It examines STEM doctorate fields' openness to different academic preparations and career interruptions by analyzing NSF's 2017 NSCG data on baccalaureate major fields and the BA-PhD time gaps of STEM PhDs between 1995 and 2014. Findings reveal field-specific associations between academic openness and demographic inclusivity. While the bio/life sciences field is more open to PhDs who have non-STEM baccalaureates and inclusive of women, the physical/chemical sciences field is academically and demographically homogeneous as many of its PhDs are white US citizens and have baccalaureates in the identical physical/chemical field. The computer/mathematics field is more inclusive of non-US citizens and more open to prolonged BA-PhD paths, while engineering is less inclusive of Asian PhDs with career interruptions despite their baccalaureates in the identical engineering field. My findings suggest that minorities, non-STEM majors, and returning students attain more degrees in STEM fields which are more open to diverse trajectories. The second empirical chapter focuses on STEM occupational fields' contexts of openness and compensation. It investigates STEM fields' openness to workers with different baccalaureate fields and highest degree levels and examines STEM fields' compensation for employees with a variety of academic training. Analyses of the 2009-2018 ACS data on US college graduate STEM workers age 26-35 show field-specific associations between openness to academic trainings and demographic wage differences. In the bio/life sciences field which is open to students with diverse academic training, people employed in jobs that Census classes as being in this field earn wages are relatively independent of individuals' academic and demographic backgrounds; by contrast, in the physical/chemical sciences field doctorate-holding women earn less than baccalaureate-only men, despite the field's openness to employing people of diverse degree levels. In engineering, which includes jobs for baccalaureate-only workers with preparation in that field, non-US citizen workers earn as much as their US citizen coworkers, whereas in the computer/mathematics field, which provides jobs to people with diverse baccalaureate fields, Asian and non-US citizen workers earn more than their white and US citizen coworkers with equivalent academic training. These findings indicate that STEM occupational fields' contexts have field-specific implications for the STEM careers of minorities, non-STEM major college graduates, and baccalaureate-only workers. The third empirical chapter pays attention to changes over time. It illustrates change patterns of typical BA-PhD trajectories and median wages in each field. The physical/chemical sciences field in particular has dramatically changed over the last decades to include more diverse career timelines in recent doctorate cohorts. Nonetheless, gender wage gaps have remained significant in the physical/chemical sciences occupational field through the past ten years. The gaps are so severe that doctorate-holding women working in the physical/chemical sciences earned less than their baccalaureate-only male coworkers who had academic training in equivalent fields. These findings indicate that despite women's increasing entry into and advancement in STEM higher education, progress toward gender equity is much slower in some STEM workplaces than in others. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]