U. Washington, Seattle

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 14 97.2 459 24 96.2 602 5 99.6 914
2022 17 96.5 457 5 99.6 900
2021 13 97.3 447 25 95.9 583 5 99.6 908
2020 12 97.6 450 5 99.6 916
2019 14 97.1 447 23 96.3 589 5 99.6 914
2018 18 96.1 428 5 99.6 911
2017 17 96.3 425 21 96.6 575 5 99.6 898
2016 17 96.3 430 5 99.6 896
2015 15 96.7 426 22 96.4 570 3 99.8 898
2014 15 96.7 422 3 99.8 889
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 710 615 632 681 708 619 604 615 666 648
  Science and engineering 606 509 556 573 586 516 473 501 532 518
    Agricultural sciences and natural resources 8 14 10 11 12 15 9 6 14 13
      Agricultural sciences 1 2 2 1 3 2 . . . .
      Natural resources and conservation 7 12 8 10 9 13 9 6 14 13
    Biological and biomedical sciences 170 122 132 145 162 134 106 139 136 129
      Biochemistry and biophysics 20 15 10 16 17 9 9 9 7 8
      Biology and biomedical sciences, general 9 8 2 4 8 8 1 8 3 5
      Bioinformatics, biostatistics, and computational biology 24 13 13 20 23 11 13 13 13 7
      Cellular and developmental biology, and anatomy 2 1 2 1 7 3 5 6 7 4
      Ecology, evolutionary biology, and epidemiology 33 22 26 27 33 22 21 28 24 27
      Genetics and genomics 14 12 12 10 12 15 7 12 19 11
      Microbiology and immunology 22 20 19 19 18 18 18 21 17 21
      Molecular biology 24 11 18 12 14 12 9 12 15 17
      Neurobiology and neurosciences 6 8 11 13 15 14 13 10 15 13
      Pharmacology and toxicology 3 1 11 6 7 10 6 12 5 7
      Physiology, pathology, and cancer biology 9 9 4 11 3 5 . 1 7 7
      Biology and biomedical sciences, other 4 2 4 6 5 7 4 7 4 2
    Computer and information sciences 39 35 34 57 45 37 27 20 38 31
      Computer science 23 23 20 39 36 21 16 12 26 18
      Computer and information sciences, other 16 12 14 18 9 16 11 8 12 13
    Engineering 142 114 130 115 136 82 105 95 103 109
      Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 8 7 8 6 8 4 5 6 6 3
      Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 25 18 11 14 33 19 24 12 24 17
      Chemical and petroleum engineering 10 14 14 17 13 7 13 11 12 18
      Civil, environmental, and transportation engineering 16 8 15 14 20 8 8 11 7 12
      Electrical and computer engineering 41 38 46 24 24 18 20 25 18 26
      Industrial engineering and operations research 4 4 6 6 5 4 4 3 3 5
      Materials and mining engineering 10 8 9 5 7 11 3 10 8 10
      Mechanical engineering 22 16 15 23 21 11 23 16 23 17
      Engineering, other 6 1 6 6 5 . 5 1 2 1
    Geosciences, atmospheric, and ocean sciences 28 29 29 36 32 31 21 46 33 36
      Geological sciences 11 8 5 13 13 9 7 7 11 17
      Ocean, marine, and atmospheric sciences 17 21 24 23 19 22 14 39 22 19
    Health sciences 51 28 44 45 47 46 45 36 46 27
      Nursing science 10 9 11 9 11 13 16 9 14 6
      Pharmaceutical sciences 8 2 9 13 7 9 3 3 5 2
      Public health 24 11 12 15 19 15 17 10 12 12
      Health sciences, other 9 6 12 8 10 9 9 14 15 7
    Mathematics and statistics 27 31 36 23 32 25 30 27 32 37
      Applied mathematics 9 15 12 6 5 5 13 2 6 9
      Mathematics . 3 1 1 7 10 3 7 13 10
      Statistics 10 6 6 7 10 5 5 5 7 10
      Mathematics and statistics, other 8 7 17 9 10 5 9 13 6 8
    Physical sciences 63 58 79 62 47 66 59 48 50 61
      Astronomy and astrophysics 8 3 8 4 6 9 7 5 5 4
      Chemistry 34 35 41 39 21 34 31 22 22 32
      Physics 21 20 30 19 20 23 21 21 23 25
    Psychology 21 12 14 19 16 17 17 18 12 16
      Clinical psychology 6 2 5 11 5 6 8 8 7 5
      Counseling and applied psychology 4 1 2 2 1 1 3 1 . 3
      Research and experimental psychology 7 9 5 5 9 8 5 8 4 7
      Psychology, other 4 . 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1
    Social sciences 57 66 48 60 57 63 54 66 68 59
      Anthropology 1 2 2 8 8 7 5 7 3 6
      Economics 12 14 12 11 13 15 9 14 19 16
      Political science and government 7 7 8 8 5 12 4 11 15 8
      Public policy analysis 5 6 1 4 . 3 2 4 6 4
      Sociology, demography, and population studies 4 4 5 7 6 12 11 7 11 8
      Social sciences, other 28 33 20 22 25 14 23 23 14 17
  Non-science and engineering 104 106 76 108 122 103 131 114 134 130
    Business 21 21 11 15 12 9 13 13 11 13
      Business 21 21 11 15 12 9 13 13 11 13
    Education 25 32 18 27 40 39 40 52 52 42
      Education leadership and administration 2 4 . 2 1 3 2 5 8 4
      Education research 19 19 14 21 30 30 27 28 37 29
      Teacher education and teaching fields 4 8 4 2 6 4 6 16 6 8
      Education, other . 1 . 2 3 2 5 3 1 1
    Humanities and arts 39 40 35 48 47 42 53 43 49 63
      Letters 16 19 12 23 21 17 16 21 22 25
      Foreign languages and literature 2 3 4 8 9 5 7 7 6 12
      History 8 4 5 8 6 6 8 3 10 10
      Philosophy and religious studies 4 5 3 4 1 2 3 3 4 4
      Music and performing arts 5 3 7 2 3 7 9 3 1 9
      Humanities and arts, other 4 6 4 3 7 5 10 6 6 3
    Other non-science and engineering 19 13 12 18 23 13 25 6 22 12
      Communication 5 3 3 8 6 3 6 1 6 7
      Public administration and social services 7 7 3 3 9 6 8 3 10 3
      Non-science and engineering, other 7 3 6 7 8 4 11 2 6 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

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 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 1,176,340
    Science 1,483,524 1,319,664 1,257,365 1,218,414 1,192,591 1,192,578 1,134,324 1,064,645 971,408 962,139
      Computer and information sciences 30,158 25,836 26,869 27,986 24,969 23,644 29,077 23,467 18,954 18,988
      Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 162,612 152,187 128,033 135,307 123,301 122,167 118,763 117,932 111,208 112,403
        Atmospheric science and meteorology 63,322 55,133 53,801 50,737 50,444 55,555 49,400 51,186 45,128 45,404
        Geological and earth sciences 12,991 11,151 9,406 15,129 13,901 11,822 11,995 9,584 7,123 8,468
        Ocean sciences and marine sciences 75,026 77,308 57,404 65,008 54,893 51,066 53,340 54,567 55,665 57,291
        Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences nec 11,273 8,595 7,422 4,433 4,063 3,724 4,028 2,595 3,292 1,240
      Life sciences 1,175,596 1,045,014 1,013,261 963,264 954,062 954,565 891,558 832,215 764,570 757,278
        Agricultural sciences 150 76 277 281 319 27 87 407 30,856 25,930
        Biological and biomedical sciences 358,634 322,882 286,353 260,831 257,677 288,723 255,654 239,133 185,416 184,612
        Health sciences 772,288 679,546 685,723 660,692 655,372 620,609 583,219 541,890 495,170 498,318
        Natural resources and conservation 26,473 25,597 26,061 25,112 25,301 28,867 35,347 33,734 0 0
        Life sciences nec 18,051 16,913 14,847 16,348 15,393 16,339 17,251 17,051 53,128 48,418
      Mathematics and statistics 9,783 7,095 5,778 7,120 6,102 5,678 6,415 6,088 5,802 6,452
      Physical sciences 69,424 62,596 58,664 60,477 58,166 54,074 56,292 54,819 46,940 45,040
        Astronomy and astrophysics 9,265 9,529 11,176 11,172 11,123 10,415 10,321 9,206 8,147 6,749
        Chemistry 29,048 25,922 23,508 24,008 22,113 21,246 22,484 22,724 20,420 19,361
        Materials science 2,113 2,162 1,629 1,968 1,992 1,680 1,335 1,473 0 0
        Physics 24,614 21,238 18,479 19,281 19,123 16,964 18,622 18,169 18,373 18,930
        Physical sciences nec 4,384 3,745 3,872 4,048 3,815 3,769 3,530 3,247 0 0
      Psychology 11,239 10,431 11,269 8,802 9,552 10,953 10,299 10,630 9,314 9,637
      Social sciences 23,577 16,490 13,491 15,458 16,437 21,497 21,852 19,336 14,591 12,341
        Anthropology 68 36 99 94 142 79 149 333 0 0
        Economics 92 55 57 0 2 80 33 78 89 46
        Political science and government 9,969 7,330 5,528 5,714 6,446 11,208 11,287 9,866 6,706 4,317
        Sociology, demography, and population studies 7,140 5,988 5,398 7,072 7,328 6,792 8,197 6,626 6,099 5,123
        Social sciences nec 6,308 3,081 2,409 2,578 2,519 3,338 2,186 2,433 1,697 2,855
      Sciences nec 1,135 15 0 0 2 0 68 158 29 0
    Engineering 180,277 172,004 157,622 152,919 155,076 149,931 136,318 133,128 129,670 128,996
      Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 10,606 10,064 11,149 8,328 8,713 10,262 8,980 11,181 7,677 7,921
      Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 35,227 32,757 30,131 28,542 27,716 27,087 26,482 24,706 24,185 23,753
      Chemical engineering 8,833 9,292 8,748 9,057 8,269 7,872 10,781 10,587 7,857 9,002
      Civil engineering 17,592 21,696 19,810 19,942 25,888 23,469 16,420 14,339 16,168 14,848
      Electrical, electronic, and communications engineering 42,715 41,353 38,990 41,430 37,477 32,522 31,231 32,600 33,554 33,281
      Industrial and manufacturing engineering 2,452 1,957 2,105 1,874 1,904 3,171 1,563 1,083 0 0
      Mechanical engineering 20,960 18,658 15,547 14,436 15,127 15,648 13,728 14,029 10,031 8,466
      Metallurgical and materials engineering 7,154 6,645 6,292 5,907 6,037 5,036 4,991 4,474 5,402 6,237
      Engineering nec 34,738 29,582 24,850 23,403 23,945 24,864 22,142 20,129 24,796 25,488
    Non-S&E 70,290 68,040 73,658 85,569 77,934 71,393 77,578 79,906 79,485 85,205
      Business management and business administration 135 130 100 521 870 739 682 839 1,258 1,052
      Communication and communications technologies 13,754 12,557 11,124 11,359 10,824 11,119 11,272 9,131 12,350 13,677
      Education 33,686 32,072 35,093 37,374 38,163 36,238 37,501 41,034 45,518 47,470
      Humanities 3,400 4,029 3,206 1,818 1,114 1,339 1,731 2,352 2,122 2,076
      Law 631 689 870 1,312 1,324 3,947 4,625 4,303 3,919 4,178
      Social work 16,267 13,481 14,831 14,934 13,534 10,663 13,889 14,090 13,915 15,763
      Visual and performing arts 566 1,695 530 391 474 939 659 3,634 207 165
      Non-S&E nec 1,851 3,387 7,904 17,860 11,631 6,409 7,219 4,523 196 824

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 1,734,091 1,188,836 33,833 125,390 71,487 260,986 53,559
    Science 1,483,524 1,009,423 13,454 107,136 61,497 244,554 47,460
      Computer and information sciences 30,158 18,717 0 4,309 2,053 2,720 2,359
      Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 162,612 135,638 3,269 10,231 32 10,797 2,645
        Atmospheric science and meteorology 63,322 58,249 238 2,328 16 582 1,909
        Geological and earth sciences 12,991 11,003 29 1,131 0 576 252
        Ocean sciences and marine sciences 75,026 61,819 1,733 5,734 16 5,317 407
        Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences nec 11,273 4,567 1,269 1,038 0 4,322 77
      Life sciences 1,175,596 763,571 9,515 86,806 58,286 216,909 40,509
        Agricultural sciences 150 0 66 49 0 35 0
        Biological and biomedical sciences 358,634 192,842 344 44,679 5,653 95,000 20,116
        Health sciences 772,288 543,005 5,334 35,122 52,315 118,186 18,326
        Natural resources and conservation 26,473 13,908 3,234 5,658 71 1,639 1,963
        Life sciences nec 18,051 13,816 537 1,298 247 2,049 104
      Mathematics and statistics 9,783 8,377 0 231 71 1,104 0
      Physical sciences 69,424 63,604 2 1,916 1,002 2,590 310
        Astronomy and astrophysics 9,265 7,508 0 558 0 1,196 3
        Chemistry 29,048 26,560 0 786 491 983 228
        Materials science 2,113 1,424 2 151 387 70 79
        Physics 24,614 23,796 0 353 124 341 0
        Physical sciences nec 4,384 4,316 0 68 0 0 0
      Psychology 11,239 8,970 0 613 0 847 809
      Social sciences 23,577 10,546 668 2,104 53 9,378 828
        Anthropology 68 65 0 1 0 2 0
        Economics 92 13 0 74 0 5 0
        Political science and government 9,969 2,186 238 768 0 6,611 166
        Sociology, demography, and population studies 7,140 5,349 12 409 48 862 460
        Social sciences nec 6,308 2,933 418 852 5 1,898 202
      Sciences nec 1,135 0 0 926 0 209 0
    Engineering 180,277 139,691 4,815 12,898 9,288 8,229 5,356
      Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 10,606 6,387 1,094 1,599 1,384 97 45
      Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 35,227 28,531 0 1,630 1,024 3,481 561
      Chemical engineering 8,833 6,941 96 1,393 125 217 61
      Civil engineering 17,592 11,763 2,571 632 6 1,248 1,372
      Electrical, electronic, and communications engineering 42,715 31,497 214 3,315 3,211 1,607 2,871
      Industrial and manufacturing engineering 2,452 1,751 0 197 474 25 5
      Mechanical engineering 20,960 14,997 831 2,527 1,887 560 158
      Metallurgical and materials engineering 7,154 4,269 5 1,271 1,161 211 237
      Engineering nec 34,738 33,555 4 334 16 783 46
    Non-S&E 70,290 39,722 15,564 5,356 702 8,203 743
      Business management and business administration 135 0 0 17 12 106 0
      Communication and communications technologies 13,754 5,248 3,576 2,643 140 1,954 193
      Education 33,686 18,206 9,290 1,017 550 4,522 101
      Humanities 3,400 3,015 0 234 0 70 81
      Law 631 50 0 314 0 248 19
      Social work 16,267 11,578 2,695 706 0 1,087 201
      Visual and performing arts 566 189 0 53 0 176 148
      Non-S&E nec 1,851 1,436 3 372 0 40 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 1,188,836 1,083,090 1,046,377 1,024,195 992,643 989,221 952,738 946,787 906,768 909,034
  DOD 126,010 108,842 100,320 89,508 93,841 89,648 91,511 85,472 77,099 98,585
  DOE 41,413 41,060 37,322 34,131 31,613 29,031 29,484 30,932 29,302 28,695
  HHS 770,184 693,347 694,428 673,867 655,533 657,687 615,066 612,050 579,916 558,958
  NASA 22,518 20,794 20,873 22,183 20,804 20,760 19,865 16,815 15,411 13,545
  NSF 142,970 135,492 115,139 125,722 114,582 111,224 110,878 113,679 125,221 128,294
  USDA 7,610 7,702 7,815 7,016 6,650 9,197 14,651 15,404 14,029 9,999
  Other 78,131 75,853 70,480 71,768 69,620 71,674 71,283 72,435 65,790 70,958

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 14,224 2,142 12,082 .
2018 13,804 2,104 11,700 .
2017 13,694 2,104 11,590 .

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 . . 171,187 323,034
    Biological and biomedical sciences 0 . . 0 247,908
    Computer and information sciences 0 . . 0 61,000
    Engineering 46,000 . . 0 0
    Health sciences 73,000 . . 171,187 0
    Social sciences 0 . . 0 14,126

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

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