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Table 10. Federally financed higher education R&D expenditures, by R&D field: FYs 2008–17

(Dollars in thousands)

Field 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
All R&D fieldsa 32,100,859 33,442,570 37,477,582 40,768,251 40,142,223 39,445,931 37,960,175 37,848,828 38,778,392 40,237,645
Science 26,546,800 27,541,142 30,791,579 33,373,047 32,497,010 31,764,827 30,399,130 30,320,005 31,089,085 32,181,878
Computer and information sciences 1,036,436 1,106,879 1,175,343 1,294,280 1,360,430 1,552,301 1,389,979 1,419,059 1,442,759 1,496,593
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 1,827,916 1,890,417 2,013,754 2,181,206 2,203,399 2,094,690 2,049,492 2,065,967 1,993,472 2,043,970
Atmospheric science and meteorology 337,720 322,239 338,687 383,740 389,095 397,620 389,375 453,710 513,275 503,531
Geological and earth sciences 603,171 645,073 735,094 799,906 818,785 767,770 740,580 699,060 606,170 687,222
Ocean sciences and marine sciences 686,106 711,758 666,930 705,852 673,888 662,219 663,083 647,119 665,139 656,741
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences, nec 200,919 211,347 273,043 291,708 321,631 267,081 256,454 266,078 208,888 196,476
Life sciences 18,659,210 19,322,794 21,702,125 23,663,408 22,753,602 22,227,278 21,267,744 21,170,860 21,796,132 22,741,395
Agricultural sciences 862,443 863,378 957,710 1,042,740 1,137,729 1,111,006 1,083,578 1,095,769 978,030 980,108
Biological and biomedical sciences 6,361,302 6,621,605 7,579,196 8,213,534 7,741,440 7,604,786 7,237,072 7,103,518 7,706,715 8,186,264
Health sciences 10,748,704 11,057,535 12,068,659 13,184,595 12,681,515 12,287,408 11,742,842 11,731,281 12,095,429 12,670,933
Natural resources and conservationb na na na na na na na na 315,195 270,059
Life sciences, nec 686,761 780,276 1,096,560 1,222,539 1,192,918 1,224,078 1,204,252 1,240,292 700,763 634,031
Mathematics and statistics 447,399 368,730 417,775 458,966 490,534 464,608 441,417 424,700 444,471 437,227
Physical sciences 2,742,953 2,963,115 3,384,275 3,527,330 3,474,586 3,311,037 3,155,561 3,111,705 3,286,761 3,379,321
Astronomy and astrophysics 353,111 387,905 405,954 408,963 535,180 400,440 380,907 403,053 418,150 441,944
Chemistry 992,275 1,037,432 1,200,120 1,243,767 1,213,495 1,134,945 1,080,371 1,095,125 1,097,829 1,098,431
Materials scienceb na na na na na na na na 111,802 142,464
Physics 1,215,264 1,360,805 1,557,421 1,660,377 1,532,612 1,567,937 1,509,991 1,463,153 1,523,705 1,543,233
Physical sciences, nec 182,303 176,973 220,780 214,223 193,299 207,715 184,292 150,374 135,275 153,249
Psychology 634,857 656,196 758,520 835,448 859,500 776,402 750,929 761,940 762,617 761,049
Social sciences 816,045 854,739 901,009 947,176 915,874 897,604 921,567 919,930 897,776 927,572
Anthropologyb na na na na na na na na 39,564 38,548
Economics 127,685 121,542 127,858 148,737 144,446 137,236 138,951 149,655 112,373 110,633
Political science and government 124,970 137,282 152,547 148,643 141,267 143,375 145,742 136,535 103,681 100,126
Sociology, demography, and population studies 202,619 201,874 226,462 232,834 247,739 237,479 251,832 262,275 268,810 280,623
Social sciences, nec 360,771 394,041 394,142 416,962 382,422 379,514 385,042 371,465 373,348 397,642
Sciences, nec 381,984 378,272 438,778 465,233 439,085 440,907 422,441 445,844 465,097 394,751
Engineering 4,724,843 5,034,998 5,718,852 6,275,548 6,442,986 6,499,507 6,424,577 6,458,952 6,584,089 6,809,025
Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 399,378 431,389 466,991 504,536 501,722 513,134 474,623 516,051 623,571 659,834
Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 364,144 385,536 470,432 515,611 552,555 556,651 606,943 606,696 651,348 726,031
Chemical engineering 341,043 359,726 421,269 490,918 504,753 478,542 471,824 463,033 467,678 471,862
Civil engineering 385,333 400,280 460,880 544,992 570,303 578,390 577,964 570,426 591,638 556,875
Electrical, electronic, and communications engineering 1,111,187 1,200,129 1,373,311 1,511,458 1,601,917 1,642,771 1,742,336 1,771,589 1,742,632 1,891,492
Industrial and manufacturing engineeringb na na na na na na na na 148,464 181,506
Mechanical engineering 737,220 800,903 953,244 1,032,641 1,035,551 1,061,270 946,802 957,354 860,745 938,158
Metallurgical and materials engineering 376,879 389,255 429,412 455,722 462,246 465,657 494,405 501,195 442,893 441,399
Engineering, nec 1,009,659 1,067,780 1,143,313 1,219,670 1,213,939 1,203,092 1,109,680 1,072,608 1,055,120 941,868
Non-S&Ea 829,216 866,430 967,151 1,119,656 1,202,227 1,181,597 1,136,468 1,069,871 1,105,218 1,246,742
Business management and business administration 65,318 67,456 86,440 99,661 96,659 95,227 77,259 69,834 68,257 69,120
Communication and communications technologies 28,652 29,609 41,339 53,266 53,337 51,060 54,337 42,463 36,747 61,268
Education 448,853 474,571 535,744 632,117 689,060 666,586 662,789 642,777 619,347 645,652
Humanities 56,090 60,248 57,510 61,420 67,692 76,804 75,116 59,964 57,082 58,939
Law 28,476 23,206 19,338 27,388 24,575 22,522 23,734 24,416 26,074 33,043
Social work 59,163 61,899 94,422 105,661 109,359 111,693 109,187 101,669 95,320 110,797
Visual and performing arts 3,722 4,193 4,843 6,521 10,435 7,039 9,051 8,607 8,587 8,333
Non-S&E, nec 138,942 145,248 127,515 133,622 151,110 150,666 124,995 120,141 193,804 259,590
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 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.
b Prior to FY 2016, expenditures for natural resources and conservation, materials science, anthropology, and industrial and manufacturing engineering were not collected separately. See the FY 2016 Technical Notes, Appendix A (https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/herd/2016) for information detailing where these fields were previously reported.
NOTES: FY 2016 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 the FY 2016 Technical Notes, Appendix A (https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/herd/2016) for specific details about discipline changes.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Higher Education Research and Development Survey.