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Table 11. Nonfederally 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 20,349,436 22,012,891 23,845,845 23,809,028 24,506,142 25,586,784 27,567,207 29,236,362 30,718,338 33,039,766
Science 16,003,317 17,367,500 18,673,331 18,270,345 18,582,425 19,417,444 20,856,200 22,388,192 23,553,217 25,200,308
Computer and information sciences 404,851 435,018 493,568 462,704 448,206 461,889 516,217 538,495 543,768 635,113
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 873,884 970,834 1,032,987 978,006 971,976 969,519 1,100,730 1,178,464 1,181,449 1,094,784
Atmospheric science and meteorology 91,684 85,335 94,587 90,667 97,535 87,634 95,840 112,264 120,222 113,243
Geological and earth sciences 309,560 347,460 374,356 348,899 342,738 350,160 396,013 418,753 414,559 393,645
Ocean sciences and marine sciences 320,774 365,030 365,876 354,926 343,777 351,508 389,164 408,336 403,054 432,743
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences, nec 151,866 173,009 198,168 183,514 187,926 180,217 219,713 239,111 243,614 155,153
Life sciences 11,478,799 12,533,706 13,456,150 13,282,157 13,674,114 14,446,533 15,338,473 16,687,438 17,616,142 19,089,516
Agricultural sciencesc 2,016,151 2,133,075 2,192,134 2,053,439 2,074,100 2,162,369 2,241,442 2,306,461 2,384,260 2,316,180
Biological and biomedical sciences 3,018,885 3,398,797 3,524,454 3,367,228 3,641,934 3,870,192 4,076,639 4,467,581 4,600,135 5,341,038
Health sciences 5,990,490 6,505,457 7,171,918 7,199,500 7,213,782 7,648,898 8,167,194 8,967,962 9,575,725 10,295,421
Natural resources and conservationd na na na na na na na na na 374,166
Life sciences, nec 453,273 496,377 567,644 661,990 744,298 765,074 853,198 945,434 1,056,022 762,711
Mathematics and statistics 164,462 172,455 178,185 174,409 181,494 183,911 206,194 216,510 216,383 237,242
Physical sciences 1,174,390 1,188,880 1,319,680 1,237,497 1,241,486 1,235,391 1,335,705 1,460,817 1,547,574 1,606,749
Astronomy and astrophysics 162,059 186,001 190,501 167,275 174,884 171,364 158,341 186,194 223,599 203,861
Chemistry 484,692 494,446 545,130 548,345 539,837 535,390 568,954 643,690 662,298 677,352
Materials scienced na na na na na na na na na 60,284
Physics 396,045 391,733 509,085 441,311 447,963 453,213 529,127 546,358 584,608 600,347
Physical sciences, nec 131,594 116,700 74,964 80,566 78,802 75,424 79,283 84,575 77,069 64,905
Psychology 269,124 290,212 316,123 319,165 323,751 319,789 351,865 390,733 419,969 457,288
Social sciences 1,040,415 1,133,696 1,226,214 1,098,962 1,115,860 1,137,766 1,275,543 1,294,126 1,397,191 1,467,995
Anthropologyd na na na na na na na na na 57,065
Economics 224,913 271,045 258,178 225,047 238,313 238,959 270,927 289,593 306,906 284,055
Political science and government 213,499 214,324 231,605 222,366 222,061 248,791 284,148 281,039 322,881 281,564
Sociology, demography, and population studies 190,867 200,607 206,570 193,456 200,664 213,272 244,814 253,194 262,488 235,223
Social sciences, nec 411,136 447,720 529,861 458,093 454,822 436,744 475,654 470,300 504,916 610,088
Sciences, nec 597,392 642,699 650,424 717,445 625,538 662,646 731,473 621,609 630,741 611,621
Engineering 3,061,420 3,232,661 3,613,527 3,606,870 3,757,042 3,841,125 4,234,411 4,552,197 4,613,604 4,798,251
Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 130,995 137,873 182,439 168,243 163,221 160,722 176,419 187,833 218,053 259,689
Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 218,329 237,764 262,563 274,845 301,778 319,362 327,770 344,214 397,394 433,603
Chemical engineering 276,620 314,560 336,116 399,894 422,987 398,860 431,871 435,873 452,171 417,595
Civil engineering 506,663 539,287 580,171 645,879 663,600 662,641 718,582 678,917 717,020 739,518
Electrical, electronic, and communications engineering 571,924 593,766 644,353 676,981 695,436 709,748 766,053 737,453 720,836 774,515
Industrial and manufacturing engineeringd na na na na na na na na na 90,614
Mechanical engineering 430,765 425,208 443,007 505,138 524,251 514,600 586,373 557,491 557,399 575,083
Metallurgical and materials engineering 255,310 269,644 298,970 273,920 283,170 295,721 346,583 708,668 600,832 328,790
Engineering, nec 670,814 714,559 865,908 661,970 702,599 779,471 880,760 901,748 949,899 1,178,844
Non-S&Eb 1,284,699 1,412,730 1,558,987 1,931,813 2,166,675 2,328,215 2,476,596 2,295,973 2,551,517 3,041,207
Business management and business administration 221,668 264,613 276,460 283,565 300,710 346,425 380,879 405,678 499,977 578,732
Communication and communications technologies 59,834 60,551 77,875 89,054 100,475 106,592 97,841 112,573 126,062 132,129
Education 432,043 419,977 441,405 457,830 488,642 544,896 554,874 581,465 648,371 722,445
Humanities 181,612 190,623 195,041 202,828 251,602 271,941 309,949 327,128 370,246 380,122
Law 45,219 62,431 84,760 78,767 97,388 106,954 150,957 125,520 150,297 162,199
Social work 52,883 64,821 76,384 82,907 89,004 89,949 100,638 116,907 112,655 115,353
Visual and performing arts 42,143 55,563 68,674 63,866 70,832 74,177 80,729 86,771 92,049 132,103
Non-S&E, nec 249,187 294,023 338,388 672,996 768,022 787,281 800,729 539,931 551,860 818,124
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.