U. Colorado Boulder

Rankings

Data year Earned doctorates Full-time graduate students Total R&D expenditures
Rank Percentile Institutions ranked Rank Percentile Institutions ranked Rank Percentile Institutions ranked Rank Percentile Institutions ranked
2023 43 90.9 459 60 90.3 602 52 94.5 914
2022 38 92 457 50 94.6 900
2021 36 92.2 447 61 89.8 583 52 94.4 908
2020 45 90.3 450 54 94.3 916
2019 44 90.5 447 63 89.6 589 52 94.5 914
2018 44 90 428 49 94.8 911
2017 40 90.9 425 47 92.1 575 48 94.8 898
2016 42 90.5 430 49 94.7 896
2015 39 91.2 426 47 92 570 52 94.4 898
2014 45 89.6 422 58 93.6 889
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: 2023–14
Fields 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014
All fields 409 426 394 392 388 383 392 400 418 380
  Science and engineering 337 364 315 304 318 306 307 311 331 312
    Agricultural sciences and natural resources 9 8 3 2 3 3 5 4 6 11
      Agricultural sciences 1 . . . . . . . . 2
      Natural resources and conservation 8 8 3 2 3 3 5 4 6 9
    Biological and biomedical sciences 45 34 36 26 37 42 37 39 42 48
      Biochemistry and biophysics 10 11 13 7 11 13 5 7 13 15
      Biology and biomedical sciences, general 2 2 3 3 1 2 . 7 1 .
      Bioinformatics, biostatistics, and computational biology 1 1 2 . . . 1 1 . .
      Cellular and developmental biology, and anatomy . . . 1 1 . 1 . 2 3
      Ecology, evolutionary biology, and epidemiology 15 10 5 5 5 9 12 12 13 7
      Genetics and genomics . 1 2 1 2 3 . . 1 5
      Microbiology and immunology . 1 1 2 3 1 . . 2 2
      Molecular biology 8 2 5 4 3 4 6 5 3 8
      Neurobiology and neurosciences 2 2 1 . 4 4 1 1 2 4
      Pharmacology and toxicology . . . . . . . . . 1
      Physiology, pathology, and cancer biology 4 3 1 2 6 4 6 4 4 3
      Biology and biomedical sciences, other 3 1 3 1 1 2 5 2 1 .
    Computer and information sciences 27 24 24 13 18 15 21 18 11 18
      Computer science 18 18 14 11 17 15 18 18 10 15
      Computer and information sciences, other 9 6 10 2 1 . 3 . 1 3
    Engineering 103 137 111 97 102 88 90 106 95 94
      Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 23 43 22 17 17 20 22 24 16 15
      Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 3 4 3 1 3 3 1 3 4 .
      Chemical and petroleum engineering 18 11 27 18 24 10 5 13 21 13
      Civil, environmental, and transportation engineering 11 26 20 15 22 20 27 28 19 27
      Electrical and computer engineering 20 19 15 14 14 18 17 16 18 16
      Industrial engineering and operations research . 1 . 1 1 . . . . .
      Materials and mining engineering 8 13 6 4 4 . 2 2 . 1
      Mechanical engineering 18 17 15 19 12 16 14 12 15 18
      Engineering, other 2 3 3 8 5 1 2 8 2 4
    Geosciences, atmospheric, and ocean sciences 23 18 30 25 23 21 19 25 30 25
      Geological sciences 7 8 13 9 11 9 5 13 16 10
      Ocean, marine, and atmospheric sciences 16 10 17 16 12 12 14 12 14 15
    Health sciences 1 1 . 1 3 2 5 4 2 1
      Public health . . . . 1 . 1 . . .
      Health sciences, other 1 1 . 1 2 2 4 4 2 1
    Mathematics and statistics 17 25 16 22 24 17 11 14 13 11
      Applied mathematics 11 15 7 7 12 11 2 7 8 6
      Mathematics 1 5 2 3 4 3 1 1 4 2
      Statistics 1 1 . . 1 . . 1 . .
      Mathematics and statistics, other 4 4 7 12 7 3 8 5 1 3
    Physical sciences 69 64 52 68 53 67 63 56 65 55
      Astronomy and astrophysics 12 11 5 12 3 8 13 5 6 6
      Chemistry 20 17 13 17 22 22 13 20 26 17
      Physics 37 36 34 39 28 37 37 31 33 32
    Psychology 15 9 9 12 7 21 12 11 15 15
      Clinical psychology 5 4 2 5 2 2 1 3 2 4
      Counseling and applied psychology . . . 1 . . . . 1 1
      Research and experimental psychology 9 5 4 2 3 15 5 6 6 2
      Psychology, other 1 . 3 4 2 4 6 2 6 8
    Social sciences 28 44 34 38 48 30 44 34 52 34
      Anthropology . 4 1 4 8 1 6 4 5 3
      Economics 12 11 9 4 12 4 9 6 16 8
      Political science and government 5 9 8 6 4 8 10 7 8 4
      Sociology, demography, and population studies 8 5 6 6 8 5 3 7 11 5
      Social sciences, other 3 15 10 18 16 12 16 10 12 14
  Non-science and engineering 72 62 79 88 70 77 85 89 87 68
    Business 10 3 6 6 4 12 3 7 11 7
      Business 10 3 6 6 4 12 3 7 11 7
    Education 8 13 19 10 12 13 11 22 19 11
      Education leadership and administration . 1 . . . . . . . .
      Education research 5 4 10 8 6 6 5 9 10 7
      Teacher education and teaching fields 3 6 7 . 5 5 4 10 8 1
      Education, other . 2 2 2 1 2 2 3 1 3
    Humanities and arts 39 40 46 61 47 41 60 46 51 41
      Letters 2 8 5 6 5 5 14 6 7 6
      Foreign languages and literature 1 3 6 12 8 10 6 6 9 3
      History 5 5 6 2 5 4 11 2 2 7
      Philosophy and religious studies 3 3 6 5 3 8 4 3 3 5
      Music and performing arts 23 16 22 34 21 13 25 28 27 19
      Humanities and arts, other 5 5 1 2 5 1 . 1 3 1
    Other non-science and engineering 15 6 8 11 7 11 11 14 6 9
      Communication 14 6 8 11 7 11 9 14 5 9
      Non-science and engineering, other 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: 2023–14
(Dollars in thousands)
Field 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014
  All R&D fields 651,924 611,380 547,724 525,674 513,822 514,573 499,389 453,123 420,775 379,475
    Science 441,380 383,283 341,441 336,126 333,682 316,918 297,508 301,704 294,172 269,043
      Computer and information sciences 21,212 19,612 16,468 15,627 14,909 12,028 9,179 8,701 7,865 8,191
      Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 140,081 129,830 118,876 119,824 121,624 136,586 128,164 138,163 128,421 96,539
        Atmospheric science and meteorology 26,474 29,149 30,868 32,942 39,723 79,410 103,851 112,639 101,233 31,858
        Geological and earth sciences 19,149 17,039 12,891 13,006 11,395 10,856 9,751 12,433 14,405 49,737
        Ocean sciences and marine sciences 2,931 3,165 2,609 2,017 1,591 992 1,078 812 678 521
        Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences nec 91,527 80,477 72,508 71,859 68,915 45,328 13,484 12,279 12,105 14,423
      Life sciences 61,853 56,184 53,211 52,074 51,990 41,637 37,296 29,536 26,760 28,450
        Agricultural sciences 1,466 1,690 2,077 1,448 342 4 1,227 12 10 0
        Biological and biomedical sciences 53,109 46,086 42,368 41,081 41,686 30,851 25,393 20,691 19,044 19,503
        Health sciences 4,666 5,076 4,708 5,377 5,714 6,593 5,777 1,886 1,737 441
        Natural resources and conservation 1,804 1,596 1,446 1,137 497 210 8 0 0 0
        Life sciences nec 808 1,736 2,612 3,031 3,751 3,979 4,891 6,947 5,969 8,506
      Mathematics and statistics 4,116 3,616 2,857 2,659 2,711 2,409 2,434 2,237 2,056 1,989
      Physical sciences 179,084 143,342 120,677 115,340 107,416 84,938 74,376 72,578 82,039 94,410
        Astronomy and astrophysics 75,402 43,602 34,368 28,747 24,957 18,234 15,543 11,847 13,600 31,836
        Chemistry 13,610 12,345 9,383 9,041 9,650 8,937 12,078 16,961 22,995 21,466
        Materials science 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
        Physics 82,413 79,823 70,498 69,967 66,848 54,531 43,282 41,089 43,349 38,424
        Physical sciences nec 7,659 7,572 6,428 7,585 5,961 3,236 3,473 2,681 2,095 2,684
      Psychology 16,643 13,945 13,610 11,982 13,092 8,990 11,027 13,698 14,034 15,675
      Social sciences 16,815 15,231 14,018 16,443 18,635 17,707 16,568 12,904 13,567 15,292
        Anthropology 986 371 70 69 79 35 0 0 0 0
        Economics 425 436 215 557 799 301 85 3 21 225
        Political science and government 350 674 355 627 191 175 104 321 571 831
        Sociology, demography, and population studies 10,932 9,757 10,593 10,314 14,254 12,971 13,647 10,237 10,537 12,305
        Social sciences nec 4,122 3,993 2,785 4,876 3,312 4,225 2,732 2,343 2,438 1,931
      Sciences nec 1,576 1,523 1,724 2,177 3,305 12,623 18,464 23,887 19,430 8,497
    Engineering 175,118 191,531 177,604 160,423 152,391 171,965 176,988 132,146 109,482 93,839
      Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 90,146 115,323 107,850 97,881 89,596 110,957 117,928 75,237 49,499 36,827
      Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 13,254 11,317 9,300 10,069 10,615 9,031 7,420 5,685 4,270 3,124
      Chemical engineering 11,811 12,273 12,578 10,701 9,858 10,524 11,998 14,307 17,613 14,614
      Civil engineering 18,504 16,411 14,432 12,731 14,035 18,345 14,041 13,418 14,572 16,145
      Electrical, electronic, and communications engineering 15,903 13,387 12,395 12,491 12,803 10,804 11,832 11,680 12,091 11,471
      Industrial and manufacturing engineering 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      Mechanical engineering 16,876 15,740 14,703 11,878 10,195 8,551 10,252 9,232 9,034 9,870
      Metallurgical and materials engineering 2,156 1,366 1,427 1,190 950 979 1,417 720 242 0
      Engineering nec 6,468 5,714 4,919 3,482 4,339 2,774 2,100 1,867 2,161 1,788
    Non-S&E 35,426 36,566 28,679 29,125 27,749 25,690 24,893 19,273 17,121 16,593
      Business management and business administration 1,850 3,471 1,704 2,008 2,100 1,769 1,879 2,404 2,295 2,111
      Communication and communications technologies 835 93 296 210 299 60 144 85 125 138
      Education 29,644 27,118 24,388 24,361 23,049 21,671 19,215 14,367 11,710 12,208
      Humanities 1,319 2,243 889 903 575 474 564 611 452 269
      Law 334 3,326 1,189 1,397 1,664 1,668 3,044 1,497 2,261 1,524
      Social work 105 57 0 1 1 0 0 168 201 327
      Visual and performing arts 0 0 0 0 7 30 24 136 77 16
      Non-S&E nec 1,339 258 213 245 54 18 23 5 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

Total R&D expenditures, by source of funds and R&D field: 2023
(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 651,924 538,715 5,264 42,462 15,045 18,275 32,163
    Science 441,380 382,506 2,108 21,082 2,950 12,003 20,731
      Computer and information sciences 21,212 19,774 45 445 629 82 237
      Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 140,081 134,584 89 3,491 541 657 719
        Atmospheric science and meteorology 26,474 25,653 0 290 0 11 520
        Geological and earth sciences 19,149 17,360 23 801 499 435 31
        Ocean sciences and marine sciences 2,931 2,617 0 87 0 148 79
        Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences nec 91,527 88,954 66 2,313 42 63 89
      Life sciences 61,853 51,966 289 4,774 764 3,323 737
        Agricultural sciences 1,466 635 10 398 110 313 0
        Biological and biomedical sciences 53,109 45,839 273 3,697 465 2,276 559
        Health sciences 4,666 4,109 6 201 189 155 6
        Natural resources and conservation 1,804 895 0 323 0 579 7
        Life sciences nec 808 488 0 155 0 0 165
      Mathematics and statistics 4,116 3,900 0 7 113 67 29
      Physical sciences 179,084 146,786 1,454 7,119 903 4,112 18,710
        Astronomy and astrophysics 75,402 58,334 87 488 0 303 16,190
        Chemistry 13,610 9,936 205 1,134 0 1,074 1,261
        Materials science 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
        Physics 82,413 71,502 1,162 5,196 903 2,391 1,259
        Physical sciences nec 7,659 7,014 0 301 0 344 0
      Psychology 16,643 12,204 0 3,093 0 1,280 66
      Social sciences 16,815 12,038 107 1,986 0 2,451 233
        Anthropology 986 923 0 16 0 47 0
        Economics 425 420 0 5 0 0 0
        Political science and government 350 0 0 128 0 5 217
        Sociology, demography, and population studies 10,932 8,026 34 1,228 0 1,632 12
        Social sciences nec 4,122 2,669 73 609 0 767 4
      Sciences nec 1,576 1,254 124 167 0 31 0
    Engineering 175,118 140,779 1,362 12,067 9,204 1,917 9,789
      Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 90,146 73,910 29 6,151 1,459 0 8,597
      Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 13,254 10,892 258 974 335 626 169
      Chemical engineering 11,811 9,708 72 727 1,036 156 112
      Civil engineering 18,504 15,791 323 1,033 689 624 44
      Electrical, electronic, and communications engineering 15,903 12,066 211 1,156 2,236 144 90
      Industrial and manufacturing engineering 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      Mechanical engineering 16,876 11,067 280 1,750 3,047 146 586
      Metallurgical and materials engineering 2,156 2,077 0 79 0 0 0
      Engineering nec 6,468 5,268 189 197 402 221 191
    Non-S&E 35,426 15,430 1,794 9,313 2,891 4,355 1,643
      Business management and business administration 1,850 1,334 278 212 0 0 26
      Communication and communications technologies 835 765 1 12 0 2 55
      Education 29,644 11,686 1,373 8,422 2,891 3,821 1,451
      Humanities 1,319 205 6 548 0 530 30
      Law 334 0 136 115 0 2 81
      Social work 105 105 0 0 0 0 0
      Visual and performing arts 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      Non-S&E nec 1,339 1,335 0 4 0 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: 2023–14
(Dollars in thousands)
Source of funds 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014
Federal Agencies 538,715 507,892 459,816 427,869 412,691 391,817 374,209 371,995 353,341 314,890
  DOD 41,391 38,946 41,850 40,468 39,172 32,749 33,301 30,380 29,814 26,422
  DOE 34,983 31,077 27,891 25,970 25,423 21,452 22,858 24,057 22,271 19,743
  HHS 70,737 63,352 59,581 56,267 56,794 49,313 50,395 47,855 45,700 45,445
  NASA 166,802 166,203 148,496 126,185 110,640 107,891 97,305 102,176 97,729 86,500
  NSF 119,866 106,602 87,115 82,731 81,711 81,475 78,114 79,795 76,939 75,806
  USDA 1,640 2,075 2,059 1,705 1,832 1,484 1,145 1,230 906 260
  Other 103,296 99,637 92,824 94,543 97,119 97,453 91,091 86,502 79,982 60,714

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: 2023–17 [temporarily discontinued]
Year
2023 . . . .
2022 . . . .
2021 . . . .
2020 . . . .
2019 5,977 1,351 4,626 .
2018 5,789 1,260 4,529 .
2017 3,132 1,741 1,391 .

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 . . 9,528 53,400
    Biological and biomedical sciences 0 . . 0 20,000
    Engineering 0 . . 9,528 33,400
    Mathematics and statistics 56,507 . . 0 0
    Physical sciences 56,507 . . 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