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Table 11. Nonfederally 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 22,012,891 23,845,845 23,809,028 24,506,142 25,586,784 27,567,207 29,236,362 30,701,825 33,016,883 34,937,296
Science 17,367,500 18,673,331 18,270,345 18,582,425 19,417,860 20,855,631 22,388,192 23,549,192 25,177,576 26,750,198
Computer and information sciences 435,018 493,568 462,704 448,206 461,891 516,198 538,495 543,708 635,395 695,169
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 970,834 1,032,987 978,006 971,976 969,612 1,100,733 1,178,464 1,181,449 1,092,152 1,110,476
Atmospheric science and meteorology 85,335 94,587 90,667 97,535 87,634 95,840 112,264 120,222 113,182 120,340
Geological and earth sciences 347,460 374,356 348,899 342,738 350,160 395,974 418,753 414,559 393,894 399,160
Ocean sciences and marine sciences 365,030 365,876 354,926 343,777 351,584 389,199 408,336 403,054 432,824 444,884
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences, nec 173,009 198,168 183,514 187,926 180,234 219,720 239,111 243,614 152,252 146,092
Life sciences 12,533,706 13,456,150 13,282,157 13,674,114 14,446,569 15,337,944 16,687,438 17,610,930 19,072,175 20,353,800
Agricultural sciences 2,133,075 2,192,134 2,053,439 2,074,100 2,162,369 2,241,442 2,306,461 2,384,260 2,316,959 2,302,689
Biological and biomedical sciences 3,398,797 3,524,454 3,367,228 3,641,934 3,870,192 4,076,478 4,467,581 4,601,001 5,337,670 5,522,279
Health sciences 6,505,457 7,171,918 7,199,500 7,213,782 7,648,898 8,166,850 8,967,962 9,578,480 10,279,544 11,312,616
Natural resources and conservationb na na na na na na na na 375,181 416,670
Life sciences, nec 496,377 567,644 661,990 744,298 765,110 853,174 945,434 1,047,189 762,821 799,546
Mathematics and statistics 172,455 178,185 174,409 181,494 183,927 206,193 216,510 216,383 237,091 263,858
Physical sciences 1,188,880 1,319,680 1,237,497 1,241,486 1,235,539 1,335,717 1,460,817 1,547,518 1,601,991 1,669,854
Astronomy and astrophysics 186,001 190,501 167,275 174,884 171,364 158,341 186,194 223,588 203,951 206,800
Chemistry 494,446 545,130 548,345 539,837 535,409 568,936 643,690 662,255 676,947 694,307
Materials scienceb na na na na na na na na 61,512 85,218
Physics 391,733 509,085 441,311 447,963 453,342 529,157 546,358 584,606 594,729 610,919
Physical sciences, nec 116,700 74,964 80,566 78,802 75,424 79,283 84,575 77,069 64,852 72,610
Psychology 290,212 316,123 319,165 323,751 319,823 351,867 390,733 419,858 456,815 481,804
Social sciences 1,133,696 1,226,214 1,098,962 1,115,860 1,137,782 1,275,503 1,294,126 1,397,082 1,470,509 1,622,601
Anthropologyb na na na na na na na na 57,074 72,651
Economics 271,045 258,178 225,047 238,313 238,959 270,917 289,593 306,906 286,877 324,110
Political science and government 214,324 231,605 222,366 222,061 248,807 284,147 281,039 322,881 281,624 304,386
Sociology, demography, and population studies 200,607 206,570 193,456 200,664 213,272 244,805 253,194 262,477 235,121 271,022
Social sciences, nec 447,720 529,861 458,093 454,822 436,744 475,634 470,300 504,818 609,813 650,432
Sciences, nec 642,699 650,424 717,445 625,538 662,717 731,476 621,609 632,264 611,448 552,636
Engineering 3,232,661 3,613,527 3,606,870 3,757,042 3,841,125 4,234,411 4,552,197 4,611,760 4,797,094 5,088,372
Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 137,873 182,439 168,243 163,221 160,722 176,419 187,833 218,122 259,623 334,588
Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 237,764 262,563 274,845 301,778 319,362 327,770 344,214 397,236 433,401 494,420
Chemical engineering 314,560 336,116 399,894 422,987 398,860 431,871 435,873 452,013 417,429 461,914
Civil engineering 539,287 580,171 645,879 663,600 662,641 718,582 678,917 716,873 739,140 745,223
Electrical, electronic, and communications engineering 593,766 644,353 676,981 695,436 709,748 766,053 737,453 720,845 774,551 836,006
Industrial and manufacturing engineeringb na na na na na na na na 90,316 162,718
Mechanical engineering 425,208 443,007 505,138 524,251 514,600 586,373 557,491 557,319 574,945 592,934
Metallurgical and materials engineering 269,644 298,970 273,920 283,170 295,721 346,583 708,668 600,751 301,440 295,318
Engineering, nec 714,559 865,908 661,970 702,599 779,471 880,760 901,748 948,601 1,206,249 1,165,251
Non-S&Ea 1,412,730 1,558,987 1,931,813 2,166,675 2,327,799 2,477,165 2,295,973 2,540,873 3,042,213 3,098,726
Business management and business administration 264,613 276,460 283,565 300,710 346,420 380,864 405,678 499,940 579,601 662,748
Communication and communications technologies 60,551 77,875 89,054 100,475 106,583 97,840 112,573 126,062 131,125 144,293
Education 419,977 441,405 457,830 488,642 544,377 554,858 581,465 647,973 718,432 734,569
Humanities 190,623 195,041 202,828 251,602 271,941 309,955 327,128 370,240 388,913 439,761
Law 62,431 84,760 78,767 97,388 106,939 150,957 125,520 150,287 158,514 190,786
Social work 64,821 76,384 82,907 89,004 89,687 100,638 116,907 112,554 116,600 125,272
Visual and performing arts 55,563 68,674 63,866 70,832 74,161 80,726 86,771 92,049 130,021 122,474
Non-S&E, nec 294,023 338,388 672,996 768,022 787,691 801,327 539,931 541,768 819,007 678,823
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. 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.