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Table 9. 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 51,590,017 54,113,750 57,288,415 61,286,610 65,274,393 65,729,007 67,013,138 67,196,537 68,566,890 71,833,308
Science 41,977,651 43,914,300 46,214,473 49,061,924 51,955,472 51,914,454 52,621,027 52,787,322 53,873,278 56,290,662
Computer and information sciences 1,430,660 1,471,454 1,600,447 1,638,047 1,742,486 1,822,319 2,068,518 1,928,474 1,962,827 2,077,884
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 2,681,473 2,798,750 2,923,404 2,991,760 3,153,182 3,172,918 3,195,420 3,227,956 3,247,416 3,087,774
Atmospheric science and meteorology 446,184 423,055 416,826 429,354 481,275 476,729 493,460 501,639 573,932 626,518
Geological and earth sciences 910,886 950,631 1,019,429 1,083,993 1,142,644 1,168,945 1,163,783 1,159,333 1,113,619 999,351
Ocean sciences and marine sciences 992,484 1,051,136 1,077,634 1,021,856 1,049,629 1,025,396 1,051,383 1,071,419 1,050,173 1,097,864
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences, nec 331,919 373,928 409,515 456,557 479,634 501,848 486,794 495,565 509,692 364,041
Life sciences 29,805,328 31,192,916 32,778,944 34,984,282 37,337,522 37,200,135 37,565,751 37,955,182 38,787,071 40,887,850
Agricultural sciencesc 2,913,260 2,995,518 3,055,512 3,011,149 3,116,840 3,300,098 3,352,448 3,390,039 3,480,029 3,293,092
Biological and biomedical sciences 9,207,593 9,760,099 10,146,059 10,946,424 11,855,468 11,611,632 11,681,425 11,704,653 11,702,462 13,048,981
Health sciences 16,553,616 17,254,161 18,229,453 19,268,159 20,398,377 20,330,413 20,454,602 20,710,804 21,304,898 22,393,716
Natural resources and conservationd na na na na na na na na na 689,725
Life sciences, nec 1,130,859 1,183,138 1,347,920 1,758,550 1,966,837 1,957,992 2,077,276 2,149,686 2,299,682 1,462,336
Mathematics and statistics 573,070 619,854 546,915 592,184 640,460 674,445 670,802 657,927 641,083 681,661
Physical sciences 3,863,269 3,931,833 4,282,795 4,621,772 4,768,816 4,709,977 4,646,742 4,616,378 4,659,279 4,893,565
Astronomy and astrophysics 467,604 539,112 578,406 573,229 583,847 706,544 558,781 567,101 626,652 622,008
Chemistry 1,460,415 1,486,721 1,582,562 1,748,465 1,783,604 1,748,885 1,703,899 1,724,061 1,757,423 1,775,071
Materials scienced na na na na na na na na na 172,086
Physics 1,615,766 1,606,997 1,869,890 1,998,732 2,108,340 1,985,825 2,097,064 2,056,349 2,047,761 2,124,098
Physical sciences, nec 319,484 299,003 251,937 301,346 293,025 268,723 286,998 268,867 227,443 200,302
Psychology 872,547 925,069 972,319 1,077,685 1,159,199 1,179,289 1,128,267 1,141,662 1,181,909 1,218,721
Social sciences 1,803,115 1,949,741 2,080,953 1,999,971 2,063,036 2,053,640 2,173,147 2,215,693 2,317,108 2,366,571
Anthropologyd na na na na na na na na na 96,505
Economics 349,313 398,730 379,720 352,905 387,050 383,405 408,163 428,544 456,561 396,393
Political science and government 348,310 339,294 368,887 374,913 370,704 390,058 427,523 426,781 459,416 385,245
Sociology, demography, and population studies 397,748 403,226 408,444 419,918 433,498 461,011 482,293 505,026 524,763 504,594
Social sciences, nec 707,744 808,491 923,902 852,235 871,784 819,166 855,168 855,342 876,368 983,834
Sciences, nec 948,189 1,024,683 1,028,696 1,156,223 1,090,771 1,101,731 1,172,380 1,044,050 1,076,585 1,076,636
Engineering 7,517,262 7,957,504 8,648,525 9,325,722 10,032,590 10,284,111 10,733,918 10,976,774 11,072,232 11,381,727
Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 471,097 537,251 613,828 635,234 667,757 662,444 689,553 662,456 734,104 883,260
Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 539,137 601,908 648,099 745,277 817,389 871,917 884,421 951,157 1,003,766 1,084,355
Chemical engineering 598,944 655,603 695,842 821,163 913,905 903,613 910,413 907,697 915,204 885,273
Civil engineering 862,260 924,620 980,451 1,106,759 1,208,592 1,232,944 1,296,972 1,256,881 1,287,446 1,331,155
Electrical, electronic, and communications engineering 1,636,983 1,704,953 1,844,482 2,050,292 2,206,894 2,311,665 2,408,824 2,479,789 2,492,317 2,517,147
Industrial and manufacturing engineeringd na na na na na na na na na 239,078
Mechanical engineering 1,126,726 1,162,428 1,243,910 1,458,382 1,556,892 1,550,151 1,647,643 1,504,293 1,514,753 1,435,828
Metallurgical and materials engineering 632,941 646,523 688,225 703,332 738,892 757,967 812,240 1,203,073 1,102,027 771,683
Engineering, nec 1,649,174 1,724,218 1,933,688 1,805,283 1,922,269 1,993,410 2,083,852 2,011,428 2,022,615 2,233,948
Non-S&Eb 2,095,104 2,241,946 2,425,417 2,898,964 3,286,331 3,530,442 3,658,193 3,432,441 3,621,380 4,160,919
Business management and business administration 276,280 329,931 343,916 370,005 400,371 443,084 476,106 482,937 569,811 649,856
Communication and communications technologies 90,832 89,203 107,484 130,393 153,741 159,929 148,901 166,910 168,525 168,861
Education 905,247 868,830 915,976 993,574 1,120,759 1,233,956 1,221,460 1,244,254 1,291,062 1,352,650
Humanities 241,683 246,713 255,289 260,338 313,022 339,633 386,753 402,244 430,210 435,079
Law 74,809 90,907 107,966 98,105 124,776 131,529 173,479 149,254 174,734 190,443
Social work 93,540 123,984 138,283 177,329 194,665 199,308 212,331 226,094 214,381 208,969
Visual and performing arts 46,155 59,285 72,867 68,709 77,353 84,612 87,768 95,822 100,656 142,445
Non-S&E, nec 366,448 432,965 483,636 800,511 901,644 938,391 951,395 664,926 672,001 1,012,616
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. 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 expenditures by non-S&E fields.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Higher Education Research and Development Survey.