U. Washington, Seattle

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 17 96.5 459 8 99.2 925
2023 14 97.2 459 5 99.6 911 24 96.2 602
2022 17 96.5 457 5 99.6 900
2021 13 97.3 447 5 99.6 908 25 95.9 583
2020 12 97.6 450 5 99.6 916
2019 14 97.1 447 5 99.6 914 23 96.3 589
2018 18 96.1 428 5 99.6 911
2017 17 96.3 425 5 99.6 898 21 96.6 575
2016 17 96.3 430 5 99.6 896
2015 15 96.7 426 3 99.8 898 22 96.4 570
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 686 710 615 632 681 708 619 604 615 666
  Science and engineering 589 606 509 556 573 586 516 473 501 532
    Agricultural sciences and natural resources 9 8 14 10 11 12 15 9 6 14
      Agricultural sciences 1 1 2 2 1 3 2 . . .
      Natural resources and conservation 8 7 12 8 10 9 13 9 6 14
    Biological and biomedical sciences 158 170 122 132 145 162 134 106 139 136
      Biochemistry and biophysics 8 20 15 10 16 17 9 9 9 7
      Biology and biomedical sciences, general 4 9 8 2 4 8 8 1 8 3
      Bioinformatics, biostatistics, and computational biology 16 24 13 13 20 23 11 13 13 13
      Cellular and developmental biology, and anatomy . 2 1 2 1 7 3 5 6 7
      Ecology, evolutionary biology, and epidemiology 35 33 22 26 27 33 22 21 28 24
      Genetics and genomics 12 14 12 12 10 12 15 7 12 19
      Microbiology and immunology 27 22 20 19 19 18 18 18 21 17
      Molecular biology 21 24 11 18 12 14 12 9 12 15
      Neurobiology and neurosciences 22 6 8 11 13 15 14 13 10 15
      Pharmacology and toxicology 5 3 1 11 6 7 10 6 12 5
      Physiology, pathology, and cancer biology 5 9 9 4 11 3 5 . 1 7
      Biology and biomedical sciences, other 3 4 2 4 6 5 7 4 7 4
    Computer and information sciences 49 39 35 34 57 45 37 27 20 38
      Computer science 33 23 23 20 39 36 21 16 12 26
      Computer and information sciences, other 16 16 12 14 18 9 16 11 8 12
    Engineering 142 142 114 130 115 136 82 105 95 103
      Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 8 8 7 8 6 8 4 5 6 6
      Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 22 25 18 11 14 33 19 24 12 24
      Chemical and petroleum engineering 17 10 14 14 17 13 7 13 11 12
      Civil, environmental, and transportation engineering 14 16 8 15 14 20 8 8 11 7
      Electrical and computer engineering 43 41 38 46 24 24 18 20 25 18
      Industrial engineering and operations research 10 4 4 6 6 5 4 4 3 3
      Materials and mining engineering 11 10 8 9 5 7 11 3 10 8
      Mechanical engineering 13 22 16 15 23 21 11 23 16 23
      Engineering, other 4 6 1 6 6 5 . 5 1 2
    Geosciences, atmospheric, and ocean sciences 31 28 29 29 36 32 31 21 46 33
      Geological sciences 8 11 8 5 13 13 9 7 7 11
      Ocean, marine, and atmospheric sciences 23 17 21 24 23 19 22 14 39 22
    Health sciences 42 51 28 44 45 47 46 45 36 46
      Nursing science 11 10 9 11 9 11 13 16 9 14
      Pharmaceutical sciences 9 8 2 9 13 7 9 3 3 5
      Public health 16 24 11 12 15 19 15 17 10 12
      Health sciences, other 6 9 6 12 8 10 9 9 14 15
    Mathematics and statistics 32 27 31 36 23 32 25 30 27 32
      Applied mathematics 8 9 15 12 6 5 5 13 2 6
      Mathematics 6 . 3 1 1 7 10 3 7 13
      Statistics 5 10 6 6 7 10 5 5 5 7
      Mathematics and statistics, other 13 8 7 17 9 10 5 9 13 6
    Physical sciences 64 63 58 79 62 47 66 59 48 50
      Astronomy and astrophysics 7 8 3 8 4 6 9 7 5 5
      Chemistry 30 34 35 41 39 21 34 31 22 22
      Physics 27 21 20 30 19 20 23 21 21 23
    Psychology 18 21 12 14 19 16 17 17 18 12
      Clinical psychology 6 6 2 5 11 5 6 8 8 7
      Counseling and applied psychology 3 4 1 2 2 1 1 3 1 .
      Research and experimental psychology 6 7 9 5 5 9 8 5 8 4
      Psychology, other 3 4 . 2 1 1 2 1 1 1
    Social sciences 44 57 66 48 60 57 63 54 66 68
      Anthropology 3 1 2 2 8 8 7 5 7 3
      Economics 7 12 14 12 11 13 15 9 14 19
      Political science and government 8 7 7 8 8 5 12 4 11 15
      Public policy analysis 3 5 6 1 4 . 3 2 4 6
      Sociology, demography, and population studies 5 4 4 5 7 6 12 11 7 11
      Social sciences, other 18 28 33 20 22 25 14 23 23 14
  Non-science and engineering 97 104 106 76 108 122 103 131 114 134
    Business 10 21 21 11 15 12 9 13 13 11
      Business 10 21 21 11 15 12 9 13 13 11
    Education 40 25 32 18 27 40 39 40 52 52
      Education leadership and administration 3 2 4 . 2 1 3 2 5 8
      Education research 25 19 19 14 21 30 30 27 28 37
      Teacher education and teaching fields 10 4 8 4 2 6 4 6 16 6
      Education, other 2 . 1 . 2 3 2 5 3 1
    Humanities and arts 33 39 40 35 48 47 42 53 43 49
      Letters 16 16 19 12 23 21 17 16 21 22
      Foreign languages and literature 2 2 3 4 8 9 5 7 7 6
      History 6 8 4 5 8 6 6 8 3 10
      Philosophy and religious studies 2 4 5 3 4 1 2 3 3 4
      Music and performing arts 4 5 3 7 2 3 7 9 3 1
      Humanities and arts, other 3 4 6 4 3 7 5 10 6 6
    Other non-science and engineering 14 19 13 12 18 23 13 25 6 22
      Communication 7 5 3 3 8 6 3 6 1 6
      Public administration and social services 5 7 7 3 3 9 6 8 3 10
      Non-science and engineering, other 2 7 3 6 7 8 4 11 2 6

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 1,691,302 1,734,091 1,559,708 1,488,645 1,456,902 1,425,601 1,413,902 1,348,220 1,277,679 1,180,563
    Science 1,440,042 1,483,524 1,319,664 1,257,365 1,218,414 1,192,591 1,192,578 1,134,324 1,064,645 971,408
      Computer and information sciences 35,541 30,158 25,836 26,869 27,986 24,969 23,644 29,077 23,467 18,954
      Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 163,878 162,612 152,187 128,033 135,307 123,301 122,167 118,763 117,932 111,208
        Atmospheric science and meteorology 54,175 63,322 55,133 53,801 50,737 50,444 55,555 49,400 51,186 45,128
        Geological and earth sciences 17,671 12,991 11,151 9,406 15,129 13,901 11,822 11,995 9,584 7,123
        Ocean sciences and marine sciences 91,677 75,026 77,308 57,404 65,008 54,893 51,066 53,340 54,567 55,665
        Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences nec 355 11,273 8,595 7,422 4,433 4,063 3,724 4,028 2,595 3,292
      Life sciences 1,114,297 1,175,596 1,045,014 1,013,261 963,264 954,062 954,565 891,558 832,215 764,570
        Agricultural sciences 63 150 76 277 281 319 27 87 407 30,856
        Biological and biomedical sciences 381,471 358,634 322,882 286,353 260,831 257,677 288,723 255,654 239,133 185,416
        Health sciences 707,603 772,288 679,546 685,723 660,692 655,372 620,609 583,219 541,890 495,170
        Natural resources and conservation 23,449 26,473 25,597 26,061 25,112 25,301 28,867 35,347 33,734 0
        Life sciences nec 1,711 18,051 16,913 14,847 16,348 15,393 16,339 17,251 17,051 53,128
      Mathematics and statistics 12,015 9,783 7,095 5,778 7,120 6,102 5,678 6,415 6,088 5,802
      Physical sciences 76,002 69,424 62,596 58,664 60,477 58,166 54,074 56,292 54,819 46,940
        Astronomy and astrophysics 10,569 9,265 9,529 11,176 11,172 11,123 10,415 10,321 9,206 8,147
        Chemistry 30,216 29,048 25,922 23,508 24,008 22,113 21,246 22,484 22,724 20,420
        Materials science 2,166 2,113 2,162 1,629 1,968 1,992 1,680 1,335 1,473 0
        Physics 33,051 24,614 21,238 18,479 19,281 19,123 16,964 18,622 18,169 18,373
        Physical sciences nec 0 4,384 3,745 3,872 4,048 3,815 3,769 3,530 3,247 0
      Psychology 13,489 11,239 10,431 11,269 8,802 9,552 10,953 10,299 10,630 9,314
      Social sciences 24,820 23,577 16,490 13,491 15,458 16,437 21,497 21,852 19,336 14,591
        Anthropology 1,149 68 36 99 94 142 79 149 333 0
        Economics 182 92 55 57 0 2 80 33 78 89
        Political science and government 7,013 9,969 7,330 5,528 5,714 6,446 11,208 11,287 9,866 6,706
        Sociology, demography, and population studies 11,206 7,140 5,988 5,398 7,072 7,328 6,792 8,197 6,626 6,099
        Social sciences nec 5,270 6,308 3,081 2,409 2,578 2,519 3,338 2,186 2,433 1,697
      Sciences nec 0 1,135 15 0 0 2 0 68 158 29
    Engineering 188,972 180,277 172,004 157,622 152,919 155,076 149,931 136,318 133,128 129,670
      Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 9,132 10,606 10,064 11,149 8,328 8,713 10,262 8,980 11,181 7,677
      Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 33,129 35,227 32,757 30,131 28,542 27,716 27,087 26,482 24,706 24,185
      Chemical engineering 10,965 8,833 9,292 8,748 9,057 8,269 7,872 10,781 10,587 7,857
      Civil engineering 18,283 17,592 21,696 19,810 19,942 25,888 23,469 16,420 14,339 16,168
      Electrical, electronic, and communications engineering 47,715 42,715 41,353 38,990 41,430 37,477 32,522 31,231 32,600 33,554
      Industrial and manufacturing engineering 1,874 2,452 1,957 2,105 1,874 1,904 3,171 1,563 1,083 0
      Mechanical engineering 16,582 20,960 18,658 15,547 14,436 15,127 15,648 13,728 14,029 10,031
      Metallurgical and materials engineering 6,497 7,154 6,645 6,292 5,907 6,037 5,036 4,991 4,474 5,402
      Engineering nec 44,795 34,738 29,582 24,850 23,403 23,945 24,864 22,142 20,129 24,796
    Non-S&E 62,288 70,290 68,040 73,658 85,569 77,934 71,393 77,578 79,906 79,485
      Business management and business administration 347 135 130 100 521 870 739 682 839 1,258
      Communication and communications technologies 1,883 13,754 12,557 11,124 11,359 10,824 11,119 11,272 9,131 12,350
      Education 36,680 33,686 32,072 35,093 37,374 38,163 36,238 37,501 41,034 45,518
      Humanities 2,859 3,400 4,029 3,206 1,818 1,114 1,339 1,731 2,352 2,122
      Law 662 631 689 870 1,312 1,324 3,947 4,625 4,303 3,919
      Social work 14,785 16,267 13,481 14,831 14,934 13,534 10,663 13,889 14,090 13,915
      Visual and performing arts 386 566 1,695 530 391 474 939 659 3,634 207
      Non-S&E nec 4,686 1,851 3,387 7,904 17,860 11,631 6,409 7,219 4,523 196

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 1,691,302 1,135,734 49,220 122,931 77,432 228,765 77,220
    Science 1,440,042 960,160 24,538 101,502 69,541 216,419 67,882
      Computer and information sciences 35,541 22,582 1,466 1,330 2,116 4,210 3,837
      Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 163,878 141,390 2,866 5,360 163 10,277 3,822
        Atmospheric science and meteorology 54,175 50,384 46 499 10 1,006 2,230
        Geological and earth sciences 17,671 10,788 1,662 197 0 3,978 1,046
        Ocean sciences and marine sciences 91,677 79,965 1,135 4,654 153 5,255 515
        Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences nec 355 253 23 10 0 38 31
      Life sciences 1,114,297 697,305 17,918 86,445 65,910 189,975 56,744
        Agricultural sciences 63 26 37 0 0 0 0
        Biological and biomedical sciences 381,471 205,482 11,155 33,720 9,132 92,912 29,070
        Health sciences 707,603 473,104 4,803 51,906 56,725 95,743 25,322
        Natural resources and conservation 23,449 18,148 1,923 819 53 1,318 1,188
        Life sciences nec 1,711 545 0 0 0 2 1,164
      Mathematics and statistics 12,015 9,998 325 974 32 657 29
      Physical sciences 76,002 65,355 1,092 3,612 736 3,738 1,469
        Astronomy and astrophysics 10,569 8,232 119 647 21 1,259 291
        Chemistry 30,216 25,043 145 1,964 367 1,892 805
        Materials science 2,166 1,120 84 215 262 183 302
        Physics 33,051 30,960 744 786 86 404 71
        Physical sciences nec 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      Psychology 13,489 9,745 448 1,992 11 516 777
      Social sciences 24,820 13,785 423 1,789 573 7,046 1,204
        Anthropology 1,149 154 28 89 0 5 873
        Economics 182 0 0 17 0 155 10
        Political science and government 7,013 2,254 45 165 51 4,406 92
        Sociology, demography, and population studies 11,206 8,554 1 1,318 522 731 80
        Social sciences nec 5,270 2,823 349 200 0 1,749 149
      Sciences nec 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
    Engineering 188,972 144,745 12,387 9,277 7,199 7,613 7,751
      Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 9,132 5,681 1,678 471 1,053 0 249
      Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 33,129 28,472 130 802 834 1,514 1,377
      Chemical engineering 10,965 8,365 774 1,083 102 384 257
      Civil engineering 18,283 11,657 2,111 2,145 101 1,629 640
      Electrical, electronic, and communications engineering 47,715 34,843 1,545 2,257 2,773 2,222 4,075
      Industrial and manufacturing engineering 1,874 1,477 22 101 100 158 16
      Mechanical engineering 16,582 14,438 64 408 1,107 475 90
      Metallurgical and materials engineering 6,497 3,360 251 646 786 548 906
      Engineering nec 44,795 36,452 5,812 1,364 343 683 141
    Non-S&E 62,288 30,829 12,295 12,152 692 4,733 1,587
      Business management and business administration 347 0 0 1 134 212 0
      Communication and communications technologies 1,883 1,121 123 228 44 237 130
      Education 36,680 16,422 10,958 5,454 514 2,441 891
      Humanities 2,859 1,654 242 422 0 124 417
      Law 662 315 0 138 0 188 21
      Social work 14,785 8,230 939 4,148 0 1,382 86
      Visual and performing arts 386 268 0 57 0 60 1
      Non-S&E nec 4,686 2,819 33 1,704 0 89 41

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 1,135,734 1,188,836 1,083,090 1,046,377 1,024,195 992,643 989,221 952,738 946,787 906,768
  DOD 143,424 126,010 108,842 100,320 89,508 93,841 89,648 91,511 85,472 77,099
  DOE 39,844 41,413 41,060 37,322 34,131 31,613 29,031 29,484 30,932 29,302
  HHS 701,279 770,184 693,347 694,428 673,867 655,533 657,687 615,066 612,050 579,916
  NASA 21,359 22,518 20,794 20,873 22,183 20,804 20,760 19,865 16,815 15,411
  NSF 147,697 142,970 135,492 115,139 125,722 114,582 111,224 110,878 113,679 125,221
  USDA 7,414 7,610 7,702 7,815 7,016 6,650 9,197 14,651 15,404 14,029
  Other 74,717 78,131 75,853 70,480 71,768 69,620 71,674 71,283 72,435 65,790

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
2024 . . . .
2023 . . . .
2022 . . . .
2021 . . . .
2020 . . . .
2019 14,224 2,142 12,082 .
2018 13,804 2,104 11,700 .

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 2,246 2,142 2,135 2,002 1,935
    Agricultural sciences 0 0 0 57 87
    Biological and biomedical sciences 404 397 497 395 398
    Computer and information sciences 68 39 15 27 14
    Engineering 373 392 370 294 289
    Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 145 120 117 117 116
    Health sciences 883 883 842 821 769
    Mathematics and statistics 0 0 0 0 0
    Natural resources and conservation 103 78 85 26 0
    Physical sciences 191 164 162 201 199
    Psychology 25 28 29 30 28
    Social sciences 32 18 18 32 34
    Other 23 22 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

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 119,000 0 0 171,187 323,034
    Agricultural sciences 0 0 0 0 0
    Biological and biomedical sciences 0 0 0 0 247,908
    Computer and information sciences 0 0 0 0 61,000
    Engineering 46,000 0 0 0 0
    Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 0 0 0 0 0
    Health sciences 73,000 0 0 171,187 0
    Mathematics and statistics 0 0 0 0 0
    Natural resources and conservation 0 0 0 0 0
    Physical sciences 0 0 0 0 0
    Psychology 0 0 0 0 0
    Social sciences 0 0 0 0 14,126
    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 5,360 11,283 31,335 21,647 39,279
    Agricultural sciences 0 0 0 0 0
    Biological and biomedical sciences 275 0 0 285 0
    Computer and information sciences 0 0 439 0 0
    Engineering 1,840 914 5,830 692 38,500
    Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 0 4,900 333 442 0
    Health sciences 1,100 3,569 19,904 20,229 779
    Mathematics and statistics 0 0 0 0 0
    Natural resources and conservation 1,275 0 1,654 0 0
    Physical sciences 870 1,900 3,177 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

Open printer friendly view

Back to Top of page.