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Research Funding

How does research funding at your university stack up?

National Science Foundation data show slight increases in 2015 for academic chemistry research

by Andrea Widener
May 29, 2017 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 95, Issue 22
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Research funding is constantly on the minds of academic chemists and chemical engineers. Data from the National Science Foundation give those scientists a chance to take a closer look at their universities, including how much their departments get and their funding sources.

Spending by field

A pie chart defining the percentage of R&D funding in each research field.
The share of total funding for various disciplines has remained almost flat for years.
Note: Institutional fiscal years. Spending figures do not account for inflation. a Includes agricultural, biological, medical, and other life sciences. b Includes astronomy, physics, and other physical sciences. c Includes psychology.
Source: National Science Foundation’s WebCASPAR database, 2015 data
 
 

Chemistry department research funding

A look at 2015 (the most recent data available from NSF) shows that spending on chemistry is slightly up from previous years but hasn't returned to its 2011 peak. While total funding for chemistry remains fairly consistent overall, which schools spend the most vary widely from year to year. This year, C&EN included rankings from a decade ago as well, which gives a broader sense of how funding changes over time.

Big movers

 

Vanderbilt University moved up
20 places
in chemistry spending rankings

University of Oklahoma moved up
15 places
in chemical engineering spending rankings

Chemistry spending

[+]Enlarge
Ten-year funding peaked in 2011 and is gradually crawling back.
Note: Institutional fiscal years. Spending figures are in current dollars and do not account for inflation.
Source: National Science Foundation’s WebCASPAR database, 2015 data
A line graph showing an increase in funding during the year 2011, and how the billions of dollars spent in chemistry is returning to that level.
Ten-year funding peaked in 2011 and is gradually crawling back.
Note: Institutional fiscal years. Spending figures are in current dollars and do not account for inflation.
Source: National Science Foundation’s WebCASPAR database, 2015 data

Funding sources

[+]Enlarge
As federal funding for academic R&D has declined, institutions, industry, and nonprofits have largely picked up the slack.
Note: Institutional fiscal years beginning with 1972, the first year for which data are available. a Includes nonprofits.
Source: National Science Foundation’s WebCASPAR database, 2015 data
A graph displaying the increases in R&D funding from institutions, industry and non profits.
As federal funding for academic R&D has declined, institutions, industry, and nonprofits have largely picked up the slack.
Note: Institutional fiscal years beginning with 1972, the first year for which data are available. a Includes nonprofits.
Source: National Science Foundation’s WebCASPAR database, 2015 data
 

School spending on chemistry R&D

Take a look at the top chemistry spenders for 2015, 2014, and 2005.

RANK SPENDING, $ THOUSANDS
2015 2014 2005 INSTITUTION 2015 2014 2005
1 6 3 U of California, San Francisco $50,957 $31,267 $26,041
2 1 1 California Inst. of Technology 40,577 61,664 29,563
3 2 6 U of California, San Diego 34,573 35,526 23,028
4 3 18 Northwestern U 34,334 33,303 17,825
5 5 7 U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 32,678 31,861 22,603
6 7 2 Harvard U 32,068 31,025 26,572
7 9 5 U of California, Berkeley 31,324 27,632 25,666
8 28 78 Vanderbilt U 28,687 18,654 5,445
9 4 17 Georgia Tech 28,610 32,670 17,930
10 13 8 Texas A&M U 28,293 23,348 21,739
11 10 21 U of Michigan 24,714 25,992 16,435
12 8 9 Rutgers U 24,380 29,655 21,049
13 32 16 Massachusetts Inst. of Technology 24,143 17,699 17,984
14 16 40 Princeton U 24,018 21,810 10,843
15 21 55 Emory U 23,894 20,442 8,223
16 14 14 U of Colorado 23,855 22,289 18,251
17 27 24 U of Wisconsin, Madison 23,673 18,734 15,710
18 12 52 U of Notre Dame 23,201 24,244 8,591
19 26 50 Yale U 22,674 18,778 8,658
20 17 29 U of California, Irvine 22,280 21,393 14,192
21 11 36 Johns Hopkins USa 21,871 24,528 12,038
22 29 20 Stanford U 21,619 18,478 16,781
23 23 10 Cornell U 21,596 20,034 20,770
24 20 27 U of Minnesota 20,812 20,492 14,222
25 42 22 Ohio State U 20,443 14,192 16,378
Total, listed institutions $685,274 $645,710 $436,537
TOTAL, ALL INSTITUTIONS $1,758,127 $1,723,824 $1,371,984

Note: Institutional fiscal years. a Includes funding for the Applied Physics Laboratory.
Source: National Science Foundation’s WebCASPAR database

BY THE NUMBERS

$3.6 billion

U.S. R&D spending in chemistry, chemical engineering, and materials engineering in 2015

$63.9 billion

U.S. academic R&D spending in 2015

School spending on chemical engineering R&D

Take a look at the top chemical engineering spenders for 2015, 2014, and 2005.

RANK SPENDING, $ THOUSANDS
2015 2014 2005 INSTITUTION 2015 2014 2005
1 2 3 U of Texas, Austin $51,920 $48,858 $14,049
2 6 6 Texas A&M U 38,056 21,490 12,089
3 2 5 Massachusetts Inst. of Technology 33,225 32,844 13,737
4 3 4 Georgia Tech 32,687 31,128 13,808
5 15 26 California Inst. of Technology 27,701 14,260 5,932
6 4 2 North Carolina State U 24,744 29,521 15,231
7 5 73 U at Buffalo 23,771 24,423 1,957
8 11 16 U of Minnesota 20,823 16,590 8,718
9 13 24 U of Colorado 17,613 14,614 6,294
10 7 18 U of Delaware 14,951 17,814 7,162
11 9 46 U of Tulsa 14,328 17,112 3,790
12 17 14 U of Michigan 13,386 13,565 8,891
13 21 1 Pennsylvania State U 12,878 12,400 17,375
14 14 27 Purdue U 12,208 14,555 5,535
15 30 38 U of Oklahoma 11,835 10,360 4,356
16 28 9 Johns Hopkins Ua 11,741 10,819 9,675
17 24 51 Iowa State U 11,602 11,330 3,598
18 32 21 U of California, Santa Barbara 11,473 9,820 7,129
19 25 15 Michigan State U 11,264 11,073 8,761
20 23 31 Cornell U 10,934 11,411 4,907
21 18 50 U of Akron 10,855 13,447 3,639
22 19 19 U of Wisconsin, Madison 10,821 13,400 7,154
23 8 12 New Mexico Inst. of Mining & Technology 10,798 17,504 9,039
24 31 93 Oregon State U 10,759 10,047 673
25 20 39 Ohio U 10,602 13,303 4,255
Total, listed institutions $460,975 $441,688 $197,754
TOTAL, ALL INSTITUTIONS $914,713 $907,028 $505,975

Note: Institutional fiscal years. a Includes funding for the Applied Physics Laboratory.
Source: National Science Foundation’s WebCASPAR database

Chemical & Engineering News
ISSN 0009-2347
Copyright © 2024 American Chemical Society

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