U. Colorado Denver

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 | 118 | 74.7 | 459 | 481 | 20.9 | 602 | 293 | 68.3 | 914 | |||
2022 | 129 | 72.2 | 457 | 301 | 67 | 900 | ||||||
2021 | 120 | 73.6 | 447 | 288 | 68.7 | 908 | ||||||
2020 | 154 | 66.3 | 450 | |||||||||
2019 | 146 | 67.8 | 447 | |||||||||
2018 | 151 | 65.2 | 428 | |||||||||
2017 | 146 | 66.1 | 425 | |||||||||
2016 | 150 | 65.6 | 430 | |||||||||
2015 | 156 | 63.9 | 426 | |||||||||
2014 | 133 | 69 | 422 |
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

Fields | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All fields | 146 | 122 | 129 | 100 | 105 | 97 | 100 | 103 | 96 | 114 |
Science and engineering | 134 | 108 | 114 | 88 | 96 | 89 | 89 | 96 | 81 | 108 |
Agricultural sciences and natural resources | . | . | 1 | 1 | 1 | . | 1 | . | 1 | . |
Agricultural sciences | . | . | . | . | 1 | . | . | . | . | . |
Natural resources and conservation | . | . | 1 | 1 | . | . | 1 | . | 1 | . |
Biological and biomedical sciences | 85 | 65 | 59 | 45 | 55 | 45 | 64 | 56 | 41 | 63 |
Biochemistry and biophysics | 2 | . | . | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
Biology and biomedical sciences, general | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | . | 2 | 2 | . | 1 |
Bioinformatics, biostatistics, and computational biology | 5 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
Cellular and developmental biology, and anatomy | 10 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 7 |
Ecology, evolutionary biology, and epidemiology | 5 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
Genetics and genomics | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
Microbiology and immunology | 14 | 9 | 13 | 6 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 15 |
Molecular biology | 12 | 14 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 7 |
Neurobiology and neurosciences | 12 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 6 |
Pharmacology and toxicology | 8 | 9 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 |
Physiology, pathology, and cancer biology | 10 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 6 |
Biology and biomedical sciences, other | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | 2 | 1 | 2 |
Computer and information sciences | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | . | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
Computer science | 1 | 1 | . | 1 | . | . | 1 | . | 2 | . |
Computer and information sciences, other | 3 | . | 3 | . | . | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Engineering | 10 | 14 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 11 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 11 |
Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering | . | 1 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
Bioengineering and biomedical engineering | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
Civil, environmental, and transportation engineering | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 9 |
Electrical and computer engineering | . | 4 | 3 | . | . | 1 | 1 | 1 | . | . |
Mechanical engineering | . | . | 3 | 3 | 3 | . | 1 | 1 | . | . |
Engineering, other | 3 | . | . | . | 1 | 1 | . | 1 | . | . |
Health sciences | 22 | 17 | 26 | 22 | 28 | 20 | 8 | 18 | 18 | 23 |
Nursing science | 10 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 11 |
Pharmaceutical sciences | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4 |
Public health | 5 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 4 |
Health sciences, other | 4 | 6 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
Mathematics and statistics | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
Applied mathematics | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Mathematics | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | 1 | 1 |
Statistics | . | . | . | . | 1 | . | . | . | . | . |
Mathematics and statistics, other | . | 1 | . | . | . | . | . | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Physical sciences | . | . | . | 1 | . | . | 1 | . | . | . |
Chemistry | . | . | . | . | . | . | 1 | . | . | . |
Physics | . | . | . | 1 | . | . | . | . | . | . |
Psychology | 7 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 2 | . |
Clinical psychology | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | . | 2 | 1 | . |
Counseling and applied psychology | 2 | . | 3 | 1 | 1 | . | . | 2 | 1 | . |
Research and experimental psychology | 2 | . | 1 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
Psychology, other | . | . | . | . | . | . | 3 | 1 | . | . |
Social sciences | 1 | 5 | 2 | . | 1 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 6 |
Anthropology | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
Political science and government | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | 1 |
Public policy analysis | 1 | 3 | 1 | . | . | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
Social sciences, other | . | 2 | 1 | . | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
Non-science and engineering | 12 | 14 | 15 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 11 | 7 | 15 | 6 |
Business | 1 | 1 | . | . | 1 | 2 | 2 | . | 3 | 1 |
Business | 1 | 1 | . | . | 1 | 2 | 2 | . | 3 | 1 |
Education | 8 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 3 |
Education leadership and administration | 3 | . | 1 | 2 | . | 2 | . | . | 4 | 3 |
Education research | 3 | 1 | . | 1 | . | . | . | . | 1 | . |
Teacher education and teaching fields | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | . | 2 | 1 | 2 | . |
Education, other | 1 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 1 | . | . | 2 | . | . |
Humanities and arts | . | . | 1 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
Philosophy and religious studies | . | . | 1 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
Other non-science and engineering | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 2 |
Public administration and social services | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
Non-science and engineering, other | 1 | . | 1 | 2 | . | 2 | 2 | . | 2 | . |
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
Field | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All R&D fields | 22,530 | 18,080 | 18,039 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Science | 11,960 | 9,217 | 9,372 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Computer and information sciences | 573 | 687 | 475 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences | 893 | 650 | 379 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Atmospheric science and meteorology | 880 | 608 | 379 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Geological and earth sciences | 13 | 42 | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Ocean sciences and marine sciences | 0 | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences nec | 0 | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Life sciences | 5,291 | 2,804 | 4,284 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Agricultural sciences | 0 | 29 | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Biological and biomedical sciences | 799 | 1,076 | 1,012 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Health sciences | 4,468 | 1,635 | 3,149 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Natural resources and conservation | 24 | 50 | 106 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Life sciences nec | 0 | 14 | 17 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Mathematics and statistics | 1,613 | 989 | 1,122 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Physical sciences | 1,924 | 1,895 | 1,574 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Astronomy and astrophysics | 0 | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Chemistry | 1,400 | 1,187 | 1,157 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Materials science | 0 | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Physics | 524 | 708 | 417 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Physical sciences nec | 0 | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Psychology | 1,218 | 1,554 | 1,179 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Social sciences | 432 | 638 | 359 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Anthropology | 92 | 135 | 63 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Economics | 98 | 81 | 53 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Political science and government | 6 | 21 | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Sociology, demography, and population studies | 162 | 172 | 119 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Social sciences nec | 74 | 229 | 124 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Sciences nec | 16 | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Engineering | 4,511 | 3,906 | 3,695 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering | 0 | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Bioengineering and biomedical engineering | 543 | 438 | 286 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Chemical engineering | 0 | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Civil engineering | 1,656 | 972 | 772 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Electrical, electronic, and communications engineering | 647 | 952 | 1,067 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Industrial and manufacturing engineering | 0 | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Mechanical engineering | 1,239 | 1,097 | 1,266 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Metallurgical and materials engineering | 0 | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Engineering nec | 426 | 447 | 304 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Non-S&E | 6,059 | 4,957 | 4,972 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Business management and business administration | 361 | 377 | 333 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Communication and communications technologies | 16 | 42 | 35 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Education | 3,354 | 2,804 | 2,579 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Humanities | 0 | 77 | 111 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Law | 25 | 220 | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Social work | 37 | 46 | 59 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Visual and performing arts | 160 | 100 | 94 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Non-S&E nec | 2,106 | 1,291 | 1,761 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
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
Field | All R&D expenditures | Federal government | State and local government | Institution funds | Business | Nonprofit organizations | All other sources | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All R&D fields | 22,530 | 17,181 | 2,387 | 513 | 846 | 1,258 | 345 | |||||||
Science | 11,960 | 9,419 | 774 | 152 | 704 | 786 | 125 | |||||||
Computer and information sciences | 573 | 554 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||||
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences | 893 | 887 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | |||||||
Atmospheric science and meteorology | 880 | 876 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |||||||
Geological and earth sciences | 13 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||||||
Ocean sciences and marine sciences | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences nec | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
Life sciences | 5,291 | 3,659 | 632 | 98 | 397 | 444 | 61 | |||||||
Agricultural sciences | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
Biological and biomedical sciences | 799 | 687 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 105 | 0 | |||||||
Health sciences | 4,468 | 2,948 | 632 | 91 | 397 | 339 | 61 | |||||||
Natural resources and conservation | 24 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
Life sciences nec | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
Mathematics and statistics | 1,613 | 1,533 | 58 | 5 | 0 | 17 | 0 | |||||||
Physical sciences | 1,924 | 1,809 | 0 | 7 | 43 | 65 | 0 | |||||||
Astronomy and astrophysics | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
Chemistry | 1,400 | 1,301 | 0 | 6 | 28 | 65 | 0 | |||||||
Materials science | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
Physics | 524 | 508 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
Physical sciences nec | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
Psychology | 1,218 | 673 | 0 | 33 | 260 | 252 | 0 | |||||||
Social sciences | 432 | 288 | 67 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 60 | |||||||
Anthropology | 92 | 92 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
Economics | 98 | 44 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 46 | |||||||
Political science and government | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | |||||||
Sociology, demography, and population studies | 162 | 149 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 10 | |||||||
Social sciences nec | 74 | 3 | 67 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
Sciences nec | 16 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
Engineering | 4,511 | 3,868 | 450 | 75 | 101 | 6 | 11 | |||||||
Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
Bioengineering and biomedical engineering | 543 | 504 | 0 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
Chemical engineering | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
Civil engineering | 1,656 | 1,294 | 335 | 22 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |||||||
Electrical, electronic, and communications engineering | 647 | 635 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11 | |||||||
Industrial and manufacturing engineering | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
Mechanical engineering | 1,239 | 1,167 | 61 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
Metallurgical and materials engineering | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
Engineering nec | 426 | 268 | 54 | 9 | 94 | 1 | 0 | |||||||
Non-S&E | 6,059 | 3,894 | 1,163 | 286 | 41 | 466 | 209 | |||||||
Business management and business administration | 361 | 361 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
Communication and communications technologies | 16 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
Education | 3,354 | 2,333 | 323 | 128 | 41 | 355 | 174 | |||||||
Humanities | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
Law | 25 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 23 | 0 | |||||||
Social work | 37 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 35 | |||||||
Visual and performing arts | 160 | 160 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
Non-S&E nec | 2,106 | 1,040 | 825 | 153 | 0 | 88 | 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
Source of funds | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Federal Agencies | 17,181 | 12,668 | 11,866 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
DOD | 669 | 610 | 535 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
DOE | 330 | 210 | 109 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
HHS | 8,429 | 5,461 | 4,799 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
NASA | 111 | 267 | 287 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
NSF | 4,345 | 3,900 | 4,029 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
USDA | 11 | 55 | 87 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | ||||||||||
Other | 3,286 | 2,165 | 2,020 | . | . | . | . | . | . | . |
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
Year | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2023 | . | . | . | . | ||||
2022 | . | . | . | . | ||||
2021 | . | . | . | . | ||||
2020 | . | . | . | . | ||||
2019 | . | . | . | . | ||||
2018 | . | . | . | . | ||||
2017 | . | . | . | . |
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
Field, medical school space, and research animal space | 2023 | 2021 | 2019 | 2017 | 2015 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All research space | 37 | . | . | . | . | |||||
Agricultural sciences | 0 | . | . | . | . | |||||
Biological and biomedical sciences | 6 | . | . | . | . | |||||
Computer and information sciences | 0 | . | . | . | . | |||||
Engineering | 15 | . | . | . | . | |||||
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences | 0 | . | . | . | . | |||||
Health sciences | 3 | . | . | . | . | |||||
Mathematics and statistics | 1 | . | . | . | . | |||||
Natural resources and conservation | 0 | . | . | . | . | |||||
Physical sciences | 7 | . | . | . | . | |||||
Psychology | 2 | . | . | . | . | |||||
Social sciences | 4 | . | . | . | . | |||||
Other | 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.
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.
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 | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | |||||
Agricultural sciences | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | |||||
Biological and biomedical sciences | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | |||||
Computer and information sciences | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | |||||
Engineering | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | |||||
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | |||||
Health sciences | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | |||||
Mathematics and statistics | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | |||||
Natural resources and conservation | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | |||||
Physical sciences | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | |||||
Psychology | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | |||||
Social sciences | 0 | 0 | . | . | . | |||||
Other | 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.