Data

U. Colorado Boulder

Total R&D expenditures, by field: 2024–15
(Dollars in thousands)
Field 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015
  All R&D fields   717,920   651,924   611,380   547,724   525,674   513,822   514,573   499,389   453,123   420,775
    Science   496,174   441,380   383,283   341,441   336,126   333,682   316,918   297,508   301,704   294,172
      Computer and information sciences   23,615   21,212   19,612   16,468   15,627   14,909   12,028   9,179   8,701   7,865
      Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences   144,721   140,081   129,830   118,876   119,824   121,624   136,586   128,164   138,163   128,421
        Atmospheric science and meteorology   27,417   26,474   29,149   30,868   32,942   39,723   79,410   103,851   112,639   101,233
        Geological and earth sciences   21,431   19,149   17,039   12,891   13,006   11,395   10,856   9,751   12,433   14,405
        Ocean sciences and marine sciences   4,267   2,931   3,165   2,609   2,017   1,591   992   1,078   812   678
        Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences nec   91,606   91,527   80,477   72,508   71,859   68,915   45,328   13,484   12,279   12,105
      Life sciences   67,496   61,853   56,184   53,211   52,074   51,990   41,637   37,296   29,536   26,760
        Agricultural sciences   2,141   1,466   1,690   2,077   1,448   342   4   1,227   12   10
        Biological and biomedical sciences   59,173   53,109   46,086   42,368   41,081   41,686   30,851   25,393   20,691   19,044
        Health sciences   2,367   4,666   5,076   4,708   5,377   5,714   6,593   5,777   1,886   1,737
        Natural resources and conservation   3,254   1,804   1,596   1,446   1,137   497   210   8   0   0
        Life sciences nec   561   808   1,736   2,612   3,031   3,751   3,979   4,891   6,947   5,969
      Mathematics and statistics   5,477   4,116   3,616   2,857   2,659   2,711   2,409   2,434   2,237   2,056
      Physical sciences   216,801   179,084   143,342   120,677   115,340   107,416   84,938   74,376   72,578   82,039
        Astronomy and astrophysics   114,076   75,402   43,602   34,368   28,747   24,957   18,234   15,543   11,847   13,600
        Chemistry   15,407   13,610   12,345   9,383   9,041   9,650   8,937   12,078   16,961   22,995
        Materials science   3,797   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
        Physics   83,521   82,413   79,823   70,498   69,967   66,848   54,531   43,282   41,089   43,349
        Physical sciences nec   0   7,659   7,572   6,428   7,585   5,961   3,236   3,473   2,681   2,095
      Psychology   17,979   16,643   13,945   13,610   11,982   13,092   8,990   11,027   13,698   14,034
      Social sciences   17,722   16,815   15,231   14,018   16,443   18,635   17,707   16,568   12,904   13,567
        Anthropology   982   986   371   70   69   79   35   0   0   0
        Economics   160   425   436   215   557   799   301   85   3   21
        Political science and government   452   350   674   355   627   191   175   104   321   571
        Sociology, demography, and population studies   6,299   10,932   9,757   10,593   10,314   14,254   12,971   13,647   10,237   10,537
        Social sciences nec   9,829   4,122   3,993   2,785   4,876   3,312   4,225   2,732   2,343   2,438
      Sciences nec   2,363   1,576   1,523   1,724   2,177   3,305   12,623   18,464   23,887   19,430
    Engineering   177,788   175,118   191,531   177,604   160,423   152,391   171,965   176,988   132,146   109,482
      Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering   89,706   90,146   115,323   107,850   97,881   89,596   110,957   117,928   75,237   49,499
      Bioengineering and biomedical engineering   14,821   13,254   11,317   9,300   10,069   10,615   9,031   7,420   5,685   4,270
      Chemical engineering   12,434   11,811   12,273   12,578   10,701   9,858   10,524   11,998   14,307   17,613
      Civil engineering   21,306   18,504   16,411   14,432   12,731   14,035   18,345   14,041   13,418   14,572
      Electrical, electronic, and communications engineering   16,022   15,903   13,387   12,395   12,491   12,803   10,804   11,832   11,680   12,091
      Industrial and manufacturing engineering   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
      Mechanical engineering   15,923   16,876   15,740   14,703   11,878   10,195   8,551   10,252   9,232   9,034
      Metallurgical and materials engineering   1,626   2,156   1,366   1,427   1,190   950   979   1,417   720   242
      Engineering nec   5,950   6,468   5,714   4,919   3,482   4,339   2,774   2,100   1,867   2,161
    Non-S&E   43,958   35,426   36,566   28,679   29,125   27,749   25,690   24,893   19,273   17,121
      Business management and business administration   1,337   1,850   3,471   1,704   2,008   2,100   1,769   1,879   2,404   2,295
      Communication and communications technologies   3,045   835   93   296   210   299   60   144   85   125
      Education   36,652   29,644   27,118   24,388   24,361   23,049   21,671   19,215   14,367   11,710
      Humanities   1,431   1,319   2,243   889   903   575   474   564   611   452
      Law   509   334   3,326   1,189   1,397   1,664   1,668   3,044   1,497   2,261
      Social work   360   105   57   0   1   1   0   0   168   201
      Visual and performing arts   0   0   0   0   0   7   30   24   136   77
      Non-S&E nec   624   1,339   258   213   245   54   18   23   5   0

NOTES:
  • . = data were not collected at this level or institution was not eligible to participate for this survey year.
  • Prior to FY 2016, expenditures for natural resources and conservation, materials science, anthropology, and industrial and manufacturing engineering were not collected separately. 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.

SOURCE: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Higher Education R&D Survey

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