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Table 10. Federally financed higher education R&D expenditures, by R&D field: FYs 2007–16

(Dollars in thousands)

Fielda 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
All R&D fieldsb 31,240,581 32,100,859 33,442,570 37,477,582 40,768,251 40,142,223 39,445,931 37,960,175 37,848,552 38,793,542
Science 25,974,334 26,546,800 27,541,142 30,791,579 33,373,047 32,497,010 31,764,827 30,399,130 30,320,061 31,090,354
Computer and information sciences 1,025,809 1,036,436 1,106,879 1,175,343 1,294,280 1,360,430 1,552,301 1,389,979 1,419,059 1,442,771
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 1,807,589 1,827,916 1,890,417 2,013,754 2,181,206 2,203,399 2,094,690 2,049,492 2,065,967 1,992,990
Atmospheric science and meteorology 354,500 337,720 322,239 338,687 383,740 389,095 397,620 389,375 453,710 513,275
Geological and earth sciences 601,326 603,171 645,073 735,094 799,906 818,785 767,770 740,580 699,060 605,706
Ocean sciences and marine sciences 671,710 686,106 711,758 666,930 705,852 673,888 662,219 663,083 647,119 665,121
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences, nec 180,053 200,919 211,347 273,043 291,708 321,631 267,081 256,454 266,078 208,888
Life sciences 18,326,529 18,659,210 19,322,794 21,702,125 23,663,408 22,753,602 22,227,278 21,267,744 21,170,929 21,798,334
Agricultural sciencesc 897,109 862,443 863,378 957,710 1,042,740 1,137,729 1,111,006 1,083,578 1,095,769 976,912
Biological and biomedical sciences 6,188,708 6,361,302 6,621,605 7,579,196 8,213,534 7,741,440 7,604,786 7,237,072 7,102,327 7,707,943
Health sciences 10,563,126 10,748,704 11,057,535 12,068,659 13,184,595 12,681,515 12,287,408 11,742,842 11,729,173 12,098,295
Natural resources and conservationd na na na na na na na na na 315,559
Life sciences, nec 677,586 686,761 780,276 1,096,560 1,222,539 1,192,918 1,224,078 1,204,252 1,243,660 699,625
Mathematics and statistics 408,608 447,399 368,730 417,775 458,966 490,534 464,608 441,417 424,700 444,419
Physical sciences 2,688,879 2,742,953 2,963,115 3,384,275 3,527,330 3,474,586 3,311,037 3,155,561 3,111,705 3,286,816
Astronomy and astrophysics 305,545 353,111 387,905 405,954 408,963 535,180 400,440 380,907 403,053 418,147
Chemistry 975,723 992,275 1,037,432 1,200,120 1,243,767 1,213,495 1,134,945 1,080,371 1,095,125 1,097,719
Materials scienced na na na na na na na na na 111,802
Physics 1,219,721 1,215,264 1,360,805 1,557,421 1,660,377 1,532,612 1,567,937 1,509,991 1,463,153 1,523,751
Physical sciences, nec 187,890 182,303 176,973 220,780 214,223 193,299 207,715 184,292 150,374 135,397
Psychology 603,423 634,857 656,196 758,520 835,448 859,500 776,402 750,929 761,940 761,433
Social sciences 762,700 816,045 854,739 901,009 947,176 915,874 897,604 921,567 919,917 898,576
Anthropologyd na na na na na na na na na 39,440
Economics 124,400 127,685 121,542 127,858 148,737 144,446 137,236 138,951 149,655 112,338
Political science and government 134,811 124,970 137,282 152,547 148,643 141,267 143,375 145,742 136,535 103,681
Sociology, demography, and population studies 206,881 202,619 201,874 226,462 232,834 247,739 237,479 251,832 262,275 269,371
Social sciences, nec 296,608 360,771 394,041 394,142 416,962 382,422 379,514 385,042 371,452 373,746
Sciences, nec 350,797 381,984 378,272 438,778 465,233 439,085 440,907 422,441 445,844 465,015
Engineering 4,455,842 4,724,843 5,034,998 5,718,852 6,275,548 6,442,986 6,499,507 6,424,577 6,458,628 6,583,476
Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 340,102 399,378 431,389 466,991 504,536 501,722 513,134 474,623 516,051 623,571
Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 320,808 364,144 385,536 470,432 515,611 552,555 556,651 606,943 606,372 650,752
Chemical engineering 322,324 341,043 359,726 421,269 490,918 504,753 478,542 471,824 463,033 467,678
Civil engineering 355,597 385,333 400,280 460,880 544,992 570,303 578,390 577,964 570,426 591,637
Electrical, electronic, and communications engineering 1,065,059 1,111,187 1,200,129 1,373,311 1,511,458 1,601,917 1,642,771 1,742,336 1,771,481 1,742,632
Industrial and manufacturing engineeringd na na na na na na na na na 148,464
Mechanical engineering 695,961 737,220 800,903 953,244 1,032,641 1,035,551 1,061,270 946,802 957,354 860,745
Metallurgical and materials engineering 377,631 376,879 389,255 429,412 455,722 462,246 465,657 494,405 501,195 442,893
Engineering, nec 978,360 1,009,659 1,067,780 1,143,313 1,219,670 1,213,939 1,203,092 1,109,680 1,072,716 1,055,104
Non-S&Eb 810,405 829,216 866,430 967,151 1,119,656 1,202,227 1,181,597 1,136,468 1,069,863 1,119,712
Business management and business administration 54,612 65,318 67,456 86,440 99,661 96,659 95,227 77,259 69,834 71,124
Communication and communications technologies 30,998 28,652 29,609 41,339 53,266 53,337 51,060 54,337 42,463 36,732
Education 473,204 448,853 474,571 535,744 632,117 689,060 666,586 662,789 642,691 630,205
Humanities 60,071 56,090 60,248 57,510 61,420 67,692 76,804 75,116 59,964 54,957
Law 29,590 28,476 23,206 19,338 27,388 24,575 22,522 23,734 24,437 28,244
Social work 40,657 59,163 61,899 94,422 105,661 109,359 111,693 109,187 101,726 93,616
Visual and performing arts 4,012 3,722 4,193 4,843 6,521 10,435 7,039 9,051 8,607 10,342
Non-S&E, nec 117,261 138,942 145,248 127,515 133,622 151,110 150,666 124,995 120,141 194,492
na = not applicable; separate data for natural resources and conservation, materials science, anthropology, and industrial and manufacturing engineering were not collected prior to FY 2016.
nec = not elsewhere classified; S&E = science and engineering.
a As part of the reclassification of disciplines, some R&D field names have changed. See Technical Notes, Appendix A for details.
b Prior to FY 2010, some institution totals for all fields of R&D expenditures may be lower-bound estimates because the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics did not attempt to estimate for nonresponse on non-S&E R&D expenditures item prior to FY 2010.
c R&D expenditures in agricultural sciences decreased in FY 2016 because a number of disciplines previously reported in that field are now reported separately under natural resources and conservation.
d Prior to FY 2016, expenditures for natural resources and conservation, materials science, anthropology, and industrial and manufacturing engineering were not collected separately. See Technical Notes, Appendix A for information detailing where these fields were previously reported.
NOTES: R&D expenditure amounts in various fields may show increases or decreases from amounts reported in FY 2015 because of the reclassification of disciplines. See Technical Notes, Appendix A for specific details about discipline changes.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Higher Education Research and Development Survey.