NSB Report on U.S. Science and Engineering Released Amid Dismissals

By: Galen Cobb
Friday, May 15, 2026
The 2026 State of U.S. Science and Engineering report, a biannual congressionally mandated publication from the National Science Board (NSB), was released on May 4 — ten days after the dismissal of all 22 NSB members. The NSB serves as the governing body of the National Science Foundation and provides oversight and strategic guidance on U.S. science and engineering policy. The report covers trends across STEM research and development, publications, education, workforce, and global science and technology output.

Among the report's headline findings, China surpassed the U.S. in total R&D performance for the first time in 2024. Together, the U.S. and China now account for 59 percent of global R&D expenditures, with China's share having grown dramatically from 5 percent in 2000 to 30 percent in 2024. The report also notes that the U.S. S&E enterprise is increasingly driven by the private sector, with businesses performing 77 percent and funding 75 percent of total U.S. R&D in 2024. Despite this trend, the federal government remains the largest funder of basic research, accounting for 40.6 percent (i.e., $58.8 billion) of the total in 2024. 

Federal agencies supported approximately 14 percent of graduate students in science, engineering, and health fields in 2024, with the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation accounting for more than half of federally supported trainees. International S&E enrollment at U.S. institutions declined 9 percent between 2024 and 2025, driven primarily by a 24 percent drop in master's degree students from India. At the same time, temporary visa holders continue to represent a substantial share of U.S. doctoral degree recipients in engineering, computer science, and mathematics, underscoring the continued importance of international talent to the U.S. research enterprise. This report also highlights continued declines in K-12 mathematics and science performance compared to pre-pandemic levels. These trends are raising questions about the long-term health of the U.S. research pipeline.

The report contains several findings of particular relevance to the biomedical research community. The life sciences remain the primary focus of U.S. academic R&D, accounting for 57 percent of total academic R&D expenditures in FY 2024 ($67.3 billion), and health sciences represented 36% of all domestic S&E publications in 2024 — making it the most prolific field for U.S. researchers. U.S. biomedical research also continues to lead the world in influence: the U.S. share of highly cited articles — the top 1 percent globally — in health and biological sciences outpaces that of China, the EU-27, and India. The commercial impact of this research is equally notable, with 57 percent of all citations in U.S. patents to domestic academic research drawing from articles in biological, biomedical, and health sciences.

Taken together, these findings underscore both the outsized contribution of biomedical research to U.S. scientific and economic leadership and the risks posed by recent disruptions to federal research funding and workforce pipelines. The full report is available on the NSB website.