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Table 11. Nonfederally financed 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 23,845,845 23,809,028 24,506,142 25,586,784 27,567,207 29,237,379 30,701,825 32,972,764 34,947,406 37,340,784
Science 18,673,331 18,270,345 18,582,425 19,417,860 20,855,631 22,389,231 23,549,192 25,162,432 26,768,607 28,681,809
Computer and information sciences 493,568 462,704 448,206 461,891 516,198 538,494 543,708 636,635 695,757 770,765
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 1,032,987 978,006 971,976 969,612 1,100,733 1,178,457 1,181,449 1,092,349 1,106,800 1,113,059
Atmospheric science and meteorology 94,587 90,667 97,535 87,634 95,840 112,264 120,222 113,400 120,162 122,342
Geological and earth sciences 374,356 348,899 342,738 350,160 395,974 418,751 414,559 393,923 399,211 435,123
Ocean sciences and marine sciences 365,876 354,926 343,777 351,584 389,199 408,333 403,054 432,824 441,834 410,500
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences, nec 198,168 183,514 187,926 180,234 219,720 239,109 243,614 152,202 145,593 145,094
Life sciences 13,456,150 13,282,157 13,674,114 14,446,569 15,337,944 16,688,457 17,610,930 19,067,896 20,375,492 21,896,530
Agricultural sciences 2,192,134 2,053,439 2,074,100 2,162,369 2,241,442 2,306,455 2,384,260 2,316,959 2,301,028 2,364,887
Biological and biomedical sciences 3,524,454 3,367,228 3,641,934 3,870,192 4,076,478 4,467,576 4,601,001 5,332,889 5,548,599 5,965,052
Health sciences 7,171,918 7,199,500 7,213,782 7,648,898 8,166,850 8,967,954 9,578,480 10,280,172 11,312,425 12,485,116
Natural resources and conservationb na na na na na na na 375,181 419,307 454,428
Life sciences, nec 567,644 661,990 744,298 765,110 853,174 946,472 1,047,189 762,695 794,133 627,047
Mathematics and statistics 178,185 174,409 181,494 183,927 206,193 216,509 216,383 235,122 263,763 296,047
Physical sciences 1,319,680 1,237,497 1,241,486 1,235,539 1,335,717 1,460,853 1,547,518 1,598,748 1,670,294 1,765,896
Astronomy and astrophysics 190,501 167,275 174,884 171,364 158,341 186,191 223,588 204,002 206,731 212,709
Chemistry 545,130 548,345 539,837 535,409 568,936 643,729 662,255 676,132 695,343 739,811
Materials scienceb na na na na na na na 60,457 85,710 93,882
Physics 509,085 441,311 447,963 453,342 529,157 546,358 584,606 593,315 609,187 638,866
Physical sciences, nec 74,964 80,566 78,802 75,424 79,283 84,575 77,069 64,842 73,323 80,628
Psychology 316,123 319,165 323,751 319,823 351,867 390,731 419,858 455,601 479,409 500,785
Social sciences 1,226,214 1,098,962 1,115,860 1,137,782 1,275,503 1,294,121 1,397,082 1,464,590 1,625,723 1,801,087
Anthropologyb na na na na na na na 56,331 72,328 77,605
Economics 258,178 225,047 238,313 238,959 270,917 289,592 306,906 286,155 324,291 362,924
Political science and government 231,605 222,366 222,061 248,807 284,147 281,039 322,881 280,380 310,126 345,083
Sociology, demography, and population studies 206,570 193,456 200,664 213,272 244,805 253,194 262,477 234,158 270,433 321,908
Social sciences, nec 529,861 458,093 454,822 436,744 475,634 470,296 504,818 607,566 648,545 693,567
Sciences, nec 650,424 717,445 625,538 662,717 731,476 621,609 632,264 611,491 551,369 537,640
Engineering 3,613,527 3,606,870 3,757,042 3,841,125 4,234,411 4,552,197 4,611,760 4,790,535 5,087,589 5,280,552
Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 182,439 168,243 163,221 160,722 176,419 187,833 218,122 259,622 331,186 333,724
Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 262,563 274,845 301,778 319,362 327,770 344,214 397,236 433,404 495,070 552,652
Chemical engineering 336,116 399,894 422,987 398,860 431,871 435,873 452,013 417,503 463,475 471,849
Civil engineering 580,171 645,879 663,600 662,641 718,582 678,917 716,873 738,068 745,287 767,778
Electrical, electronic, and communications engineering 644,353 676,981 695,436 709,748 766,053 737,453 720,845 769,838 835,633 864,801
Industrial and manufacturing engineeringb na na na na na na na 89,731 165,236 208,338
Mechanical engineering 443,007 505,138 524,251 514,600 586,373 557,491 557,319 574,839 599,108 635,666
Metallurgical and materials engineering 298,970 273,920 283,170 295,721 346,583 708,668 600,751 301,958 295,492 298,686
Engineering, nec 865,908 661,970 702,599 779,471 880,760 901,748 948,601 1,205,572 1,157,102 1,147,058
Non-S&Ea 1,558,987 1,931,813 2,166,675 2,327,799 2,477,165 2,295,951 2,540,873 3,019,797 3,091,210 3,378,423
Business management and business administration 276,460 283,565 300,710 346,420 380,864 405,675 499,940 574,490 657,216 714,350
Communication and communications technologies 77,875 89,054 100,475 106,583 97,840 112,573 126,062 129,579 141,978 137,035
Education 441,405 457,830 488,642 544,377 554,858 581,459 647,973 714,194 731,285 813,614
Humanities 195,041 202,828 251,602 271,941 309,955 327,126 370,240 385,796 439,563 463,088
Law 84,760 78,767 97,388 106,939 150,957 125,519 150,287 158,268 190,823 217,196
Social work 76,384 82,907 89,004 89,687 100,638 116,905 112,554 116,303 124,796 137,294
Visual and performing arts 68,674 63,866 70,832 74,161 80,726 86,769 92,049 125,248 117,019 126,535
Non-S&E, nec 338,388 672,996 768,022 787,691 801,327 539,925 541,768 815,919 688,530 769,311
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.