U. Colorado Boulder

Rankings

Data year Earned doctorates Full-time graduate students Total R&D expenditures Research space
Rank Percentile Institutions ranked Rank Percentile Institutions ranked Rank Percentile Institutions ranked Rank Percentile Institutions ranked
2024 37 92.2 459 51 94.6 925
2023 43 90.9 459 52 94.4 911 60 90.3 602
2022 38 92 457 50 94.6 900
2021 36 92.2 447 52 94.4 908 61 89.8 583
2020 45 90.3 450 54 94.3 916
2019 44 90.5 447 52 94.5 914 63 89.6 589
2018 44 90 428 49 94.8 911
2017 40 90.9 425 48 94.8 898 47 92.1 575
2016 42 90.5 430 49 94.7 896
2015 39 91.2 426 52 94.4 898 47 92 570
2014
NOTES:
  • 1. See TableBuilder for the prior year data.
  • 2. Blank white cells indicate data not available, not applicable, or institution not eligible for survey.
  • 3. Data from the Survey of Science and Engineering Research Facilities is collected every two years.

Data

Number of earned doctorates, by trend major field of study of recipients: 2024–15
Fields 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015
All fields 447 409 426 394 392 388 383 392 400 418
  Science and engineering 364 337 364 315 304 318 306 307 311 331
    Agricultural sciences and natural resources 6 9 8 3 2 3 3 5 4 6
      Agricultural sciences 3 1 . . . . . . . .
      Natural resources and conservation 3 8 8 3 2 3 3 5 4 6
    Biological and biomedical sciences 48 45 34 36 26 37 42 37 39 42
      Biochemistry and biophysics 10 10 11 13 7 11 13 5 7 13
      Biology and biomedical sciences, general 4 2 2 3 3 1 2 . 7 1
      Bioinformatics, biostatistics, and computational biology 2 1 1 2 . . . 1 1 .
      Cellular and developmental biology, and anatomy . . . . 1 1 . 1 . 2
      Ecology, evolutionary biology, and epidemiology 12 15 10 5 5 5 9 12 12 13
      Genetics and genomics . . 1 2 1 2 3 . . 1
      Microbiology and immunology . . 1 1 2 3 1 . . 2
      Molecular biology 14 8 2 5 4 3 4 6 5 3
      Neurobiology and neurosciences 1 2 2 1 . 4 4 1 1 2
      Pharmacology and toxicology . . . . . . . . . .
      Physiology, pathology, and cancer biology 3 4 3 1 2 6 4 6 4 4
      Biology and biomedical sciences, other 2 3 1 3 1 1 2 5 2 1
    Computer and information sciences 27 27 24 24 13 18 15 21 18 11
      Computer science 20 18 18 14 11 17 15 18 18 10
      Computer and information sciences, other 7 9 6 10 2 1 . 3 . 1
    Engineering 137 103 137 111 97 102 88 90 106 95
      Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 38 23 43 22 17 17 20 22 24 16
      Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 4 3 4 3 1 3 3 1 3 4
      Chemical and petroleum engineering 19 18 11 27 18 24 10 5 13 21
      Civil, environmental, and transportation engineering 28 11 26 20 15 22 20 27 28 19
      Electrical and computer engineering 15 20 19 15 14 14 18 17 16 18
      Industrial engineering and operations research . . 1 . 1 1 . . . .
      Materials and mining engineering 8 8 13 6 4 4 . 2 2 .
      Mechanical engineering 24 18 17 15 19 12 16 14 12 15
      Engineering, other 1 2 3 3 8 5 1 2 8 2
    Geosciences, atmospheric, and ocean sciences 25 23 18 30 25 23 21 19 25 30
      Geological sciences 12 7 8 13 9 11 9 5 13 16
      Ocean, marine, and atmospheric sciences 13 16 10 17 16 12 12 14 12 14
    Health sciences 1 1 1 . 1 3 2 5 4 2
      Public health . . . . . 1 . 1 . .
      Health sciences, other 1 1 1 . 1 2 2 4 4 2
    Mathematics and statistics 13 17 25 16 22 24 17 11 14 13
      Applied mathematics 4 11 15 7 7 12 11 2 7 8
      Mathematics . 1 5 2 3 4 3 1 1 4
      Statistics 1 1 1 . . 1 . . 1 .
      Mathematics and statistics, other 8 4 4 7 12 7 3 8 5 1
    Physical sciences 68 69 64 52 68 53 67 63 56 65
      Astronomy and astrophysics 9 12 11 5 12 3 8 13 5 6
      Chemistry 15 20 17 13 17 22 22 13 20 26
      Physics 44 37 36 34 39 28 37 37 31 33
    Psychology 12 15 9 9 12 7 21 12 11 15
      Clinical psychology 3 5 4 2 5 2 2 1 3 2
      Counseling and applied psychology . . . . 1 . . . . 1
      Research and experimental psychology 5 9 5 4 2 3 15 5 6 6
      Psychology, other 4 1 . 3 4 2 4 6 2 6
    Social sciences 27 28 44 34 38 48 30 44 34 52
      Anthropology 5 . 4 1 4 8 1 6 4 5
      Economics 6 12 11 9 4 12 4 9 6 16
      Political science and government 4 5 9 8 6 4 8 10 7 8
      Sociology, demography, and population studies 3 8 5 6 6 8 5 3 7 11
      Social sciences, other 9 3 15 10 18 16 12 16 10 12
  Non-science and engineering 83 72 62 79 88 70 77 85 89 87
    Business 6 10 3 6 6 4 12 3 7 11
      Business 6 10 3 6 6 4 12 3 7 11
    Education 16 8 13 19 10 12 13 11 22 19
      Education leadership and administration . . 1 . . . . . . .
      Education research 7 5 4 10 8 6 6 5 9 10
      Teacher education and teaching fields 6 3 6 7 . 5 5 4 10 8
      Education, other 3 . 2 2 2 1 2 2 3 1
    Humanities and arts 37 39 40 46 61 47 41 60 46 51
      Letters 5 2 8 5 6 5 5 14 6 7
      Foreign languages and literature 3 1 3 6 12 8 10 6 6 9
      History 2 5 5 6 2 5 4 11 2 2
      Philosophy and religious studies 1 3 3 6 5 3 8 4 3 3
      Music and performing arts 20 23 16 22 34 21 13 25 28 27
      Humanities and arts, other 6 5 5 1 2 5 1 . 1 3
    Other non-science and engineering 24 15 6 8 11 7 11 11 14 6
      Communication 23 14 6 8 11 7 11 9 14 5
      Non-science and engineering, other 1 1 . . . . . 2 . 1

NOTE:
  • . = data were not collected at this level or institution was not eligible to participate for this survey year.

SOURCE: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Earned Doctorates

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

NOTE:
  • . = 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

Total R&D expenditures, by source of funds and R&D field: 2024
(Dollars in thousands)
Field All R&D expenditures Federal government State and local government Institution funds Business Nonprofit organizations All other sources
  All R&D fields . . . . . 0 0
    Science . . . . . 0 0
      Computer and information sciences . . . . . 0 0
      Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences . . . . . 0 0
        Atmospheric science and meteorology . . . . . 0 0
        Geological and earth sciences . . . . . 0 0
        Ocean sciences and marine sciences . . . . . 0 0
        Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences nec . . . . . 0 0
      Life sciences . . . . . 0 0
        Agricultural sciences . . . . . 0 0
        Biological and biomedical sciences . . . . . 0 0
        Health sciences . . . . . 0 0
        Natural resources and conservation . . . . . 0 0
        Life sciences nec . . . . . 0 0
      Mathematics and statistics . . . . . 0 0
      Physical sciences . . . . . 0 0
        Astronomy and astrophysics . . . . . 0 0
        Chemistry . . . . . 0 0
        Materials science . . . . . 0 0
        Physics . . . . . 0 0
        Physical sciences nec . . . . . 0 0
      Psychology . . . . . 0 0
      Social sciences . . . . . 0 0
        Anthropology . . . . . 0 0
        Economics . . . . . 0 0
        Political science and government . . . . . 0 0
        Sociology, demography, and population studies . . . . . 0 0
        Social sciences nec . . . . . 0 0
      Sciences nec . . . . . 0 0
    Engineering . . . . . 0 0
      Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering . . . . . 0 0
      Bioengineering and biomedical engineering . . . . . 0 0
      Chemical engineering . . . . . 0 0
      Civil engineering . . . . . 0 0
      Electrical, electronic, and communications engineering . . . . . 0 0
      Industrial and manufacturing engineering . . . . . 0 0
      Mechanical engineering . . . . . 0 0
      Metallurgical and materials engineering . . . . . 0 0
      Engineering nec . . . . . 0 0
    Non-S&E . . . . . 0 0
      Business management and business administration . . . . . 0 0
      Communication and communications technologies . . . . . 0 0
      Education . . . . . 0 0
      Humanities . . . . . 0 0
      Law . . . . . 0 0
      Social work . . . . . 0 0
      Visual and performing arts . . . . . 0 0
      Non-S&E nec . . . . . 0 0

NOTE:
  • . = 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

Federally funded R&D expenditures, by federal agency: 2024–15
(Dollars in thousands)
Source of funds 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015
Federal Agencies . 538,715 507,892 459,816 427,869 412,691 391,817 374,209 371,995 353,341
  DOD . 41,391 38,946 41,850 40,468 39,172 32,749 33,301 30,380 29,814
  DOE . 34,983 31,077 27,891 25,970 25,423 21,452 22,858 24,057 22,271
  HHS . 70,737 63,352 59,581 56,267 56,794 49,313 50,395 47,855 45,700
  NASA . 166,802 166,203 148,496 126,185 110,640 107,891 97,305 102,176 97,729
  NSF . 119,866 106,602 87,115 82,731 81,711 81,475 78,114 79,795 76,939
  USDA . 1,640 2,075 2,059 1,705 1,832 1,484 1,145 1,230 906
  Other . 103,296 99,637 92,824 94,543 97,119 97,453 91,091 86,502 79,982

NOTE:
  • . = data were not collected at this level or institution was not eligible to participate for this survey year.

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

Headcount of R&D personnel: 2024–18 [temporarily discontinued]
Year
2023 . . . .
2022 . . . .
2021 . . . .
2020 . . . .
2019 5,977 1,351 4,626 .
2018 5,789 1,260 4,529 .

NOTE:
  • . = data were not collected at this level or institution was not eligible to participate for this survey year.

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

Science and engineering research space in academic institutions, by field: 2023–14
(Net assignable square feet in thousands)
Field, medical school space, and research animal space 2023 2021 2019 2017 2015
  All research space 1,099 1,080 988 1,226 1,254
    Agricultural sciences 0 0 0 0 0
    Biological and biomedical sciences 229 191 176 250 355
    Computer and information sciences 22 24 23 20 2
    Engineering 282 272 282 237 277
    Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 207 175 135 82 127
    Health sciences 9 8 8 4 40
    Mathematics and statistics 3 4 3 6 7
    Natural resources and conservation 47 46 40 8 15
    Physical sciences 179 279 252 499 289
    Psychology 65 69 58 86 59
    Social sciences 11 11 10 17 63
    Other 45 0 0 18 19

NOTE:
  • . = data were not collected at this level or institution was not eligible to participate for this survey year.
  • Data from the Survey of Science and Engineering Research Facilities is collected every two years.

SOURCE: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Science and Engineering Research Facilities

New construction of science and engineering research space, by field and time of construction: 2025–16
(Net assignable square feet in thousands)
Field, medical school space, and research animal space Planned to start in FY 2024 or FY 2025 Started in FY 2022 or FY 2023 Started in FY 2020 or FY 2021 Started in FY 2018 or FY 2019 Started in FY 2016 or FY 2017
  All research space 113,014 0 0 9,528 53,400
    Agricultural sciences 0 0 0 0 0
    Biological and biomedical sciences 0 0 0 0 20,000
    Computer and information sciences 0 0 0 0 0
    Engineering 0 0 0 9,528 33,400
    Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 0 0 0 0 0
    Health sciences 0 0 0 0 0
    Mathematics and statistics 56,507 0 0 0 0
    Natural resources and conservation 0 0 0 0 0
    Physical sciences 56,507 0 0 0 0
    Psychology 0 0 0 0 0
    Social sciences 0 0 0 0 0
    Other 0 0 0 0 0

NOTE:
  • . = data were not collected at this level or institution was not eligible to participate for this survey year.
  • Data from the Survey of Science and Engineering Research Facilities is collected every two years.

SOURCE: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Science and Engineering Research Facilities

Costs for repair and renovation of science and engineering research space in academic institutions, by field and time of repair and renovation: 2025–16
(Dollars in thousands)
Field, medical school space, and research animal space Planned to start in FY 2024 or FY 2025 Started in FY 2022 or FY 2023 Started in FY 2020 or FY 2021 Started in FY 2018 or FY 2019 Started in FY 2016 or FY 2017
  All research space 16,966 5,385 5,536 13,492 31,527
    Agricultural sciences 0 0 0 0 0
    Biological and biomedical sciences 525 878 0 797 2,368
    Computer and information sciences 0 0 0 0 2,254
    Engineering 0 1,105 1,349 5,163 16,967
    Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 0 2,960 2,887 5,541 1,149
    Health sciences 0 0 0 0 764
    Mathematics and statistics 0 0 0 0 580
    Natural resources and conservation 0 442 259 316 816
    Physical sciences 11,983 0 339 1,037 5,945
    Psychology 0 0 701 638 684
    Social sciences 4,458 0 0 0 0
    Other 0 0 0 0 0

NOTE:
  • . = data were not collected at this level or institution was not eligible to participate for this survey year.
  • Data from the Survey of Science and Engineering Research Facilities is collected every two years.

SOURCE: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Science and Engineering Research Facilities