Top U.S universities for federal R&D grants and expenditures by academic institutions

Top U.S universities for federal R&D grants

By Monica Vendituoli
OpenSecrets.org

Federal research and development funds benefit a disproportionately small number of universities which in turn spend disproportionately on lobbying and campaign contributions. A study by the National Science Foundation found that about 20 percent of the more than $40 billion in federal funds given to universities for R&D went to just 10 of the 896 university recipients of such funds. While the study was based on data from fiscal year 2011, Ronda Britt, a statistician who oversaw the study, told 24/7 Wall Street that the top 10 universities consistently receive large sums.

Many of the top 10 university recipients of government R&D grants also were top spenders on lobbying compared with other universities — and also were big contributors to federal candidates, parties and outside groups in the 2012 campaign cycle, OpenSecrets.org data shows. Half of these recipients were among the top 25 university spenders on lobbying in 2012 as well as the first quarter of 2013.

Six of the top 10 recipients of federal R&D money were among the top 10 university contributors to candidates, parties and outside groups in the 2012 cycle, and two were in the top 25.

All of the universities in the top 10 above receive more than 50 percent of their research and development funding from the federal government. Despite that the education industry as a whole is spending less on lobbying so far this year, putting it on track, if the pattern continues, to spend about $84 million in 2013. The industry spent more than $90.5 million on lobbying in 2012.
___________________

Campaign contributions and lobbying expenditures by the top 10 R&D grant recipients:

Universities	2011 Federal Funding	2013 and 2012 Lobbying	2012 Contributions
Johns Hopkins University	$1,880,000,000	$800,000	$502,291
University of Washington	$949,000,000	$650,000	$674,959
University of Michigan	$820,000,000	$335,000	$651,142
University of Pennsylvania	$707,000,000	$913,358	$693,455
University of Pittsburgh	$662,000,000	$670,000	$243,612
Stanford University	$656,000,000	$470,000	$2,369,449
Columbia University	$645,000,000	$104,145	$1,116,537
University of California	$637,000,000	$1,000,000	$3,144,466
University of Wisconsin	$594,000,000	$400,000	$495,984
Duke University	$585,000,000	$570,873	$441,051

In 2011, Johns Hopkins University received $1.88 billion in federal research and development money, just shy of 5 percent of all federal R&D funding given to universities that year. In the first quarter of 2013, Hopkins spent $160,000 on lobbying, tying the school for 8th place among universities that quarter. Last year, Hopkins spent $640,000 lobbying, coming in at 7th. In the 2012 campaign cycle, the Baltimore-based school contributed more than $507,000 to federal candidates, parties, and outside groups, ranking 19th among university donors.

Duke University, which received $585 million in 2011 for R&D, is also a bit of an outlier in this group of top recipients. Duke spent just shy of $120,000 on lobbying in the first quarter of 2013 and spent more than $450,000 in 2012, enough to place 23rd among universities. But it was not among the universities that contributed most in the 2012 cycle.

Source: OpenSecrets.org
___________
Video: National Science Foundation

____________
Video: Potential Impacts of Sequestration Cuts on Education and Research at Universities and Colleges in the United States
President of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

_____________

Survey of Research and Development Expenditures at Universities and Colleges

A Brief Comparison of R&D Funding in the U.S. House, U.S. Senate, and Obama Administration Budgets

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Survey of Research and Development Expenditures at Universities and Colleges (academic R&D expenditures survey) is the primary source of information on separately budgeted research and development (R&D) expenditures by academic institutions in the United States and outlying areas. Conducted annually since fiscal year (FY) 1972, the survey collects information on R&D expenditures by academic field as well as by source of funds. The results of the survey are primarily used to assess trends in R&D expenditures across the fields of science and engineering (S&E). This information is vital for decision making by federal, state, and academic planners regarding future R&D funding priorities.

Respondents
The academic R&D expenditures survey is an establishment survey completed by institutional coordinators at U.S. universities and colleges. The majority of respondents for academic institutions work in one of the following institutional offices: accounting, grants and contracts, controller, financial, institutional research, or sponsored programs.

The academic R&D expenditures survey requests data from institutions on their R&D expenditures in the following categories:
•R&D expenditures by source of funds (federal, state and local, industry, institutional, or other)
•R&D expenditures by character of work (basic research versus applied research and development)
•R&D expenditures passed through to subrecipients
•R&D expenditures received as a subrecipient
•Total and federally funded R&D expenditures by S&E field
•Total and federally funded R&D expenditures by non-S&E field (optional prior to FY 2003)
•Total and federally funded R&D equipment expenditures by S&E field
•Federally funded expenditures by S&E field and federal agency (optional prior to FY 2003)

Other key variables include:
•Academic institution
•Institutional characteristics (highest degree granted, historically black college or university (HBCU), public or private control)
•Geographic location (within the United States)

Top R&D expenditures at some of the HBCUs

Click images below to enlarge. Click your back arrow to return to Dilemma X