The Department of Health and Human Services provided more than half of the federal support for overall higher-education research-and-development spending in the 2016 fiscal year, and nearly two-thirds of the support for science alone. Nearly all of that money was devoted to two life-sciences fields: health sciences, and biological and biomedical sciences. The Department of Defense gave the next-largest share of overall R&D support, followed closely by the National Science Foundation. The field of engineering received the highest share of its support from the Department of Defense.
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All figures are represented in thousands.
| Science | $31,090,354 | $1,101,099 | $2,648,073 | $1,066,021 | $19,782,880 | $970,094 | $3,581,173 | $1,941,014 |
| Percentage | 100.0% | 3.5% | 8.5% | 3.4% | 63.6% | 3.1% | 11.5% | 6.2% |
| Computer and information sciences | $1,442,771 | $3,496 | $604,318 | $58,150 | $80,198 | $16,327 | $590,084 | $90,198 |
| Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences | $1,992,990 | $31,340 | $189,304 | $106,224 | $63,175 | $353,570 | $706,103 | $543,274 |
| • Atmospheric science and meteorology | $513,275 | $3,799 | $37,474 | $26,824 | $1,781 | $136,884 | $92,425 | $214,088 |
| • Geological and earth sciences | $605,706 | $12,633 | $25,904 | $58,235 | $9,169 | $163,906 | $257,077 | $78,782 |
| • Ocean sciences and marine sciences | $665,121 | $1,611 | $106,674 | $6,439 | $9,310 | $36,833 | $292,679 | $211,575 |
| • Other geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences | $208,888 | $13,297 | $19,252 | $14,726 | $42,915 | $15,947 | $63,922 | $38,829 |
| Life sciences | $21,798,334 | $986,257 | $955,046 | $160,808 | $18,141,167 | $92,066 | $728,589 | $734,401 |
| • Agricultural sciences | $976,912 | $624,919 | $13,606 | $28,449 | $65,943 | $9,080 | $85,002 | $149,913 |
| • Biological and biomedical sciences | $7,707,943 | $186,304 | $264,868 | $82,039 | $6,428,829 | $38,942 | $512,275 | $194,686 |
| • Health sciences | $12,098,295 | $66,019 | $594,786 | $16,200 | $11,061,478 | $37,114 | $60,005 | $262,693 |
| • Natural resources and conservation | $315,559 | $96,670 | $53,708 | $18,622 | $6,445 | $5,688 | $45,846 | $88,580 |
| • Other life sciences | $699,625 | $12,345 | $28,078 | $15,498 | $578,472 | $1,242 | $25,461 | $38,529 |
| Mathematics and statistics | $444,419 | $4,891 | $120,513 | $11,666 | $46,674 | $3,146 | $229,704 | $27,825 |
| Physical sciences | $3,286,816 | $6,159 | $525,167 | $701,257 | $518,848 | $468,651 | $979,998 | $86,736 |
| • Astronomy and astrophysics | $418,147 | $32 | $9,933 | $9,686 | $620 | $294,358 | $94,380 | $9,138 |
| • Chemistry | $1,097,719 | $3,653 | $150,657 | $130,043 | $447,291 | $13,096 | $331,876 | $21,103 |
| • Materials science | $111,802 | $290 | $37,517 | $25,335 | $7,139 | $3,192 | $30,886 | $7,443 |
| • Physics | $1,523,751 | $1,929 | $302,844 | $510,994 | $56,065 | $140,224 | $472,743 | $38,952 |
| • Other physical sciences | $135,397 | $255 | $24,216 | $25,199 | $7,733 | $17,781 | $50,113 | $10,100 |
| Psychology | $761,433 | $6,785 | $69,940 | $417 | $500,097 | $21,854 | $71,102 | $91,238 |
| Social sciences | $898,576 | $50,032 | $76,852 | $10,389 | $323,353 | $7,981 | $145,351 | $284,618 |
| • Anthropology | $39,440 | $1,786 | $4,506 | $107 | $8,219 | $716 | $17,382 | $6,724 |
| • Economics | $112,338 | $19,090 | $5,245 | $3,479 | $42,180 | $133 | $19,342 | $22,869 |
| • Political science and government | $103,681 | $3,485 | $14,676 | $2,523 | $22,353 | $382 | $24,105 | $36,157 |
| • Sociology, demography, and population studies | $269,371 | $11,516 | $20,424 | $1,431 | $118,689 | $328 | $33,936 | $83,047 |
| • Other social sciences | $373,746 | $14,155 | $32,001 | $2,849 | $131,912 | $6,422 | $50,586 | $135,821 |
| Other sciences | $465,015 | $12,139 | $106,933 | $17,110 | $109,368 | $6,499 | $130,242 | $82,724 |
| Engineering | $6,583,476 | $66,402 | $2,607,806 | $697,799 | $656,987 | $512,511 | $1,270,147 | $771,824 |
| Percentage | 100.0% | 1.0% | 39.6% | 10.6% | 10.0% | 7.8% | 19.3% | 11.7% |
| Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering | $623,571 | $441 | $378,104 | $19,222 | $2,196 | $143,403 | $24,306 | $55,899 |
| Bioengineering and biomedical engineering | $650,752 | $16,326 | $124,857 | $34,047 | $379,920 | $5,026 | $74,757 | $15,819 |
| Chemical engineering | $467,678 | $7,640 | $92,231 | $117,223 | $74,069 | $7,536 | $146,370 | $22,609 |
| Civil engineering | $591,637 | $8,844 | $51,065 | $54,350 | $21,447 | $15,132 | $123,543 | $317,256 |
| Electrical, electronic, and communications engineering | $1,742,632 | $1,163 | $938,617 | $102,036 | $58,233 | $120,942 | $411,522 | $110,119 |
| Industrial and manufacturing engineering | $148,464 | $902 | $77,883 | $10,294 | $7,973 | $4,295 | $29,799 | $17,318 |
| Mechanical engineering | $860,745 | $2,267 | $369,481 | $118,755 | $46,507 | $66,281 | $187,044 | $70,410 |
| Metallurgical and materials engineering | $442,893 | $2,342 | $170,380 | $93,971 | $20,192 | $12,318 | $103,752 | $39,938 |
| Other engineering | $1,055,104 | $26,477 | $405,188 | $147,901 | $46,450 | $137,578 | $169,054 | $122,456 |
| Non-science and -engineering fields | $1,119,712 | $41,209 | $57,077 | $6,989 | $218,960 | $9,306 | $262,886 | $523,285 |
| Percentage | 100.0% | 3.7% | 5.1% | 0.6% | 19.6% | 0.8% | 23.5% | 46.7% |
| Business management and business administration | $71,124 | $1,285 | $13,556 | $2,243 | $2,799 | $963 | $18,236 | $32,042 |
| Communication and communications technologies | $36,732 | $1,779 | $2,669 | $42 | $16,052 | $190 | $7,548 | $8,452 |
| Education | $630,205 | $2,395 | $9,908 | $2,178 | $62,493 | $6,723 | $185,764 | $360,744 |
| Humanities | $54,957 | $184 | $6,489 | $599 | $9,079 | $357 | $14,745 | $23,504 |
| Law | $28,244 | $286 | $2,144 | $128 | $5,641 | $4 | $1,840 | $18,201 |
| Social work | $93,616 | $1,058 | $3,899 | $0 | $79,871 | $229 | $910 | $7,649 |
| Visual and performing arts | $10,342 | $211 | $240 | $370 | $2,738 | $61 | $2,132 | $4,590 |
| Other non-science and -engineering | $194,492 | $34,011 | $18,172 | $1,429 | $40,287 | $779 | $31,711 | $68,103 |
| All R&D fields | $38,793,542 | $1,208,710 | $5,312,956 | $1,770,809 | $20,658,827 | $1,491,911 | $5,114,206 | $3,236,123 |
| Percentage | 100.0% | 3.1% | 13.7% | 4.6% | 53.3% | 3.8% | 13.2% | 8.3% |
Note: This table covers data from the 640 institutions that reported $1 million or more in total research-and-development expenditures in the 2015 fiscal year, the one previous to the survey year covered in this analysis. Questions or comments on the Almanac should be sent to the Almanac editor.
Source: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Higher Education Research and Development Survey; Chronicle analysis data</small></p>