Back to Data Tables
Excel icon Download to excel

Table 6. Federally financed higher education R&D expenditures, by R&D field: FYs 2005–14

(Dollars in thousands)

Field 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
All R&D fieldsa 29,956,714 30,908,742 31,240,581 32,100,859 33,442,570 37,475,234 40,767,871 40,139,567 39,444,861 37,922,314
Science 25,056,944 25,823,786 25,974,334 26,546,800 27,541,142 30,789,451 33,375,367 32,499,478 31,768,743 30,373,434
Computer sciences 1,020,758 1,018,483 1,025,809 1,036,436 1,106,879 1,175,343 1,293,405 1,359,559 1,552,454 1,390,011
Environmental sciences 1,729,905 1,767,996 1,807,589 1,827,916 1,890,417 2,013,754 2,180,394 2,202,216 2,095,372 2,070,541
Atmospheric sciences 361,862 406,606 354,500 337,720 322,239 338,687 383,740 389,104 397,616 388,741
Earth sciences 615,785 591,714 601,326 603,171 645,073 735,094 798,325 817,035 767,118 739,515
Oceanography 545,509 560,990 671,710 686,106 711,758 666,930 705,852 673,845 662,173 663,792
Environmental sciences, nec 206,749 208,686 180,053 200,919 211,347 273,043 292,477 322,232 268,465 278,493
Life sciences 17,692,078 18,279,831 18,326,529 18,659,210 19,322,794 21,700,276 23,654,183 22,744,351 22,229,036 21,220,369
Agricultural sciences 844,413 883,383 897,109 862,443 863,378 956,744 1,042,286 1,137,251 1,111,845 1,075,127
Biological sciences 6,198,215 6,246,792 6,188,708 6,361,302 6,621,605 7,578,375 8,204,247 7,732,434 7,603,826 7,229,876
Medical sciences 9,896,496 10,438,130 10,563,126 10,748,704 11,057,535 12,068,597 13,184,515 12,681,236 12,287,731 11,699,666
Life sciences, nec 752,954 711,526 677,586 686,761 780,276 1,096,560 1,223,135 1,193,430 1,225,634 1,215,700
Mathematical sciences 345,942 374,931 408,608 447,399 368,730 417,775 458,931 490,417 464,496 441,199
Physical sciences 2,671,293 2,700,154 2,688,879 2,742,953 2,963,115 3,384,275 3,539,860 3,487,081 3,311,614 3,155,677
Astronomy 310,897 317,423 305,545 353,111 387,905 405,954 408,959 535,179 400,166 380,829
Chemistry 952,197 968,134 975,723 992,275 1,037,432 1,200,120 1,242,855 1,212,749 1,135,127 1,080,035
Physics 1,225,968 1,215,517 1,219,721 1,215,264 1,360,805 1,557,421 1,673,766 1,545,783 1,568,059 1,509,830
Physical sciences, nec 182,231 199,080 187,890 182,303 176,973 220,780 214,280 193,370 208,262 184,983
Psychology 609,456 629,253 603,423 634,857 656,196 758,520 834,911 859,224 776,470 751,215
Social sciences 697,034 712,628 762,700 816,045 854,739 900,768 948,480 917,473 897,665 919,994
Economics 108,956 120,316 124,400 127,685 121,542 127,674 148,684 144,452 137,220 138,734
Political sciences 112,124 106,991 134,811 124,970 137,282 152,542 148,523 141,211 143,516 145,686
Sociology 193,689 216,449 206,881 202,619 201,874 226,462 232,590 247,495 237,422 252,000
Social sciences, nec 282,265 268,872 296,608 360,771 394,041 394,090 418,683 384,315 379,507 383,574
Sciences, nec 290,478 340,510 350,797 381,984 378,272 438,740 465,203 439,157 441,636 424,428
Engineering 4,129,598 4,307,793 4,455,842 4,724,843 5,034,998 5,718,632 6,273,651 6,441,153 6,499,211 6,422,024
Aeronautical and astronautical engineering 335,130 287,578 340,102 399,378 431,389 466,991 504,536 501,722 513,134 474,772
Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 254,874 294,830 320,808 364,144 385,536 470,212 515,430 552,442 556,522 606,468
Chemical engineering 295,339 319,993 322,324 341,043 359,726 421,269 490,918 504,753 478,542 472,203
Civil engineering 337,133 334,655 355,597 385,333 400,280 460,880 544,965 570,271 578,414 577,789
Electrical engineering 1,046,787 1,076,684 1,065,059 1,111,187 1,200,129 1,373,311 1,511,022 1,601,474 1,642,782 1,741,191
Mechanical engineering 626,120 685,716 695,961 737,220 800,903 953,244 1,031,699 1,034,615 1,061,275 949,818
Metallurgical and materials engineering 369,238 386,147 377,631 376,879 389,255 429,412 455,214 461,739 465,634 490,649
Engineering, nec 864,977 922,190 978,360 1,009,659 1,067,780 1,143,313 1,219,867 1,214,137 1,202,908 1,109,134
Non-S&Ea 770,172 777,163 810,405 829,216 866,430 967,151 1,118,853 1,198,936 1,176,907 1,126,856
Business and management 51,912 52,569 54,612 65,318 67,456 86,440 99,717 96,712 95,300 77,536
Communications, journalism, and library science 26,392 29,915 30,998 28,652 29,609 41,339 53,266 53,337 51,094 54,407
Education 429,057 436,424 473,204 448,853 474,571 535,744 631,370 688,284 664,107 661,057
Humanities 57,903 56,216 60,071 56,090 60,248 57,510 61,420 67,714 76,876 75,507
Law 27,681 28,261 29,590 28,476 23,206 19,338 27,388 24,575 22,586 23,949
Social work 25,774 40,685 40,657 59,163 61,899 94,422 105,556 109,256 111,673 106,306
Visual and performing arts 3,999 3,604 4,012 3,722 4,193 4,843 6,514 10,429 7,056 9,106
Non-S&E, nec 147,454 129,489 117,261 138,942 145,248 127,515 133,622 148,629 148,215 118,988
nec = not elsewhere classified; S&E = science and engineering.
aPrior to FY 2010, some institution totals for all fields of R&D expenditures may be lower-bound estimates because the National Science Foundation did not attempt to estimate for nonresponse on non-S&E R&D expenditures item prior to FY 2010.
NOTE: Non-S&E detailed field data may not sum to total non-S&E R&D expenditures because some institutions reporting non-S&E R&D expenditures did not break out total and federal funds by non-S&E fields.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Higher Education Research and Development Survey.