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Table 9. Higher education R&D expenditures, by R&D field: FYs 2009–18

(Dollars in thousands)

Field 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
All R&D fieldsa 57,288,415 61,286,610 65,274,393 65,729,007 67,013,138 67,199,417 68,550,653 71,750,973 75,184,396 79,285,866
Science 46,214,473 49,061,924 51,955,472 51,914,870 52,620,458 52,790,231 53,869,197 56,251,101 58,967,933 62,293,566
Computer and information sciences 1,600,447 1,638,047 1,742,486 1,822,321 2,068,499 1,928,469 1,962,767 2,079,398 2,193,432 2,401,405
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 2,923,404 2,991,760 3,153,182 3,173,011 3,195,423 3,227,971 3,247,416 3,085,708 3,150,721 3,161,640
Atmospheric science and meteorology 416,826 429,354 481,275 476,729 493,460 501,638 573,932 626,675 623,509 608,079
Geological and earth sciences 1,019,429 1,083,993 1,142,644 1,168,945 1,163,744 1,159,360 1,113,619 999,983 1,086,492 1,134,428
Ocean sciences and marine sciences 1,077,634 1,021,856 1,049,629 1,025,472 1,051,418 1,071,412 1,050,173 1,097,963 1,098,636 1,058,656
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences, nec 409,515 456,557 479,634 501,865 486,801 495,561 509,692 361,087 342,084 360,477
Life sciences 32,778,944 34,984,282 37,337,522 37,200,171 37,565,222 37,958,077 38,781,790 40,864,082 43,129,461 45,843,545
Agricultural sciences 3,055,512 3,011,149 3,116,840 3,300,098 3,352,448 3,390,017 3,480,029 3,294,989 3,281,166 3,320,947
Biological and biomedical sciences 10,146,059 10,946,424 11,855,468 11,611,632 11,681,264 11,706,321 11,704,519 13,039,723 13,735,572 14,554,100
Health sciences 18,229,453 19,268,159 20,398,377 20,330,413 20,454,258 20,711,020 21,309,761 22,375,601 23,997,218 25,938,262
Natural resources and conservationb na na na na na na na 690,376 689,391 769,376
Life sciences, nec 1,347,920 1,758,550 1,966,837 1,958,028 2,077,252 2,150,719 2,287,481 1,463,393 1,426,114 1,260,860
Mathematics and statistics 546,915 592,184 640,460 674,461 670,801 657,923 641,083 679,582 701,007 753,197
Physical sciences 4,282,795 4,621,772 4,768,816 4,710,125 4,646,754 4,616,402 4,659,223 4,884,984 5,049,186 5,237,556
Astronomy and astrophysics 578,406 573,229 583,847 706,544 558,781 567,098 626,641 621,931 648,264 667,103
Chemistry 1,582,562 1,748,465 1,783,604 1,748,904 1,703,881 1,724,094 1,757,380 1,773,657 1,793,423 1,876,128
Materials scienceb na na na na na na na 172,259 228,176 255,930
Physics 1,869,890 1,998,732 2,108,340 1,985,954 2,097,094 2,056,344 2,047,759 2,117,020 2,152,701 2,203,732
Physical sciences, nec 251,937 301,346 293,025 268,723 286,998 268,866 227,443 200,117 226,622 234,663
Psychology 972,319 1,077,685 1,159,199 1,179,323 1,128,269 1,141,657 1,181,798 1,218,279 1,240,530 1,262,689
Social sciences 2,080,953 1,999,971 2,063,036 2,053,656 2,173,107 2,215,682 2,317,012 2,362,403 2,557,259 2,746,565
Anthropologyb na na na na na na na 95,932 111,041 121,012
Economics 379,720 352,905 387,050 383,405 408,153 428,542 456,561 398,528 434,924 464,977
Political science and government 368,887 374,913 370,704 390,074 427,522 426,781 459,416 384,061 414,049 443,172
Sociology, demography, and population studies 408,444 419,918 433,498 461,011 482,284 505,026 524,752 502,968 551,056 607,283
Social sciences, nec 923,902 852,235 871,784 819,166 855,148 855,333 876,283 980,914 1,046,189 1,110,121
Sciences, nec 1,028,696 1,156,223 1,090,771 1,101,802 1,172,383 1,044,050 1,078,108 1,076,665 946,337 886,969
Engineering 8,648,525 9,325,722 10,032,590 10,284,111 10,733,918 10,976,774 11,070,712 11,374,789 11,918,807 12,373,843
Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 613,828 635,234 667,757 662,444 689,553 662,456 734,173 883,193 991,026 1,011,811
Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 648,099 745,277 817,389 871,917 884,421 951,157 1,003,932 1,084,805 1,220,105 1,339,652
Chemical engineering 695,842 821,163 913,905 903,613 910,413 907,697 915,046 885,166 935,352 933,523
Civil engineering 980,451 1,106,759 1,208,592 1,232,944 1,296,972 1,256,881 1,287,299 1,329,785 1,302,996 1,360,174
Electrical, electronic, and communications engineering 1,844,482 2,050,292 2,206,894 2,311,665 2,408,824 2,479,789 2,492,434 2,512,462 2,727,207 2,846,600
Industrial and manufacturing engineeringb na na na na na na na 238,195 353,132 515,034
Mechanical engineering 1,243,910 1,458,382 1,556,892 1,550,151 1,647,643 1,504,293 1,514,673 1,435,654 1,537,098 1,629,349
Metallurgical and materials engineering 688,225 703,332 738,892 757,967 812,240 1,203,073 1,101,946 744,851 736,773 763,667
Engineering, nec 1,933,688 1,805,283 1,922,269 1,993,410 2,083,852 2,011,428 2,021,209 2,260,678 2,115,118 1,974,033
Non-S&Ea 2,425,417 2,898,964 3,286,331 3,530,026 3,658,762 3,432,412 3,610,744 4,125,083 4,297,656 4,618,457
Business management and business administration 343,916 370,005 400,371 443,079 476,091 482,932 569,774 642,747 726,266 786,056
Communication and communications technologies 107,484 130,393 153,741 159,920 148,900 166,910 168,525 166,326 203,255 171,314
Education 915,976 993,574 1,120,759 1,233,437 1,221,444 1,244,241 1,290,750 1,333,541 1,377,102 1,487,388
Humanities 255,289 260,338 313,022 339,633 386,759 402,242 430,204 442,946 498,597 513,085
Law 107,966 98,105 124,776 131,514 173,479 149,253 174,703 184,342 223,841 268,330
Social work 138,283 177,329 194,665 199,046 212,331 226,089 214,223 211,623 235,514 251,367
Visual and performing arts 72,867 68,709 77,353 84,596 87,765 95,819 100,656 133,835 125,355 137,364
Non-S&E, nec 483,636 800,511 901,644 938,801 951,993 664,926 661,909 1,009,723 907,726 1,003,553
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 the 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 Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, National Science Foundation, Higher Education Research and Development Survey.