'U' leads nation in research spending with $500M By Michael Grass Daily Staff Reporter Among universities across the nation, the University of Michigan remains the nation's top spender of research dollars - with nearly $500 million in expenditures last year. According to recently released numbers from the National Science Foundation, the University spent $496.7 million for its 1998-99 fiscal year. Factoring in additional areas of research not considered by the NSF, the University actually spends almost $499.7 million, according to a report from the Office of the Vice President for Research. University research expenditures comprise about 31 percent of the University's $1.1 billion budget. That figure excludes expenditures for the University Hospitals. University Vice President for Research Fawwaz Ulaby told the University Board of Regents at their December meeting that funds from federal agencies increased last year to $342 million - comprising 68.5 percent of the funding sources. Ulaby said the remainder of money comes from University funds, industrial sources, non-profit groups and other sources. Almost half the University's total research expenditures are spent on life sciences studies. "If we look at expenditures by fields of study, life sciences remain the largest fraction overall, now accounting for 47 percent of total research spending," Ulaby said. In May, the University approved the administration's $200 million plan to establish an institute to study the life sciences. University President Lee Bollinger said an advisory committee is currently reviewing a list of five to 10 candidates for the institute's director. "My hope is that we will be able to identify a director by the end of the academic year," Bollinger said. After the life sciences, engineering research comprises 19.6 percent of the expenditures while 13.7 percent of research dollars is spent on social science research. When Ulaby delivered his annual research report to the board last month, the NSF numbers for the fiscal year had not been released. Ulaby used the most current rankings available at the time, from Fiscal Year 1997-98, which is fairly similar to the most recent rankings. The University of Michigan considers itself the top spender, but if research and development expenditures for the federal government's Applied Physics Laboratory, located on the campus of Johns Hopkins University is factored into the university's overall expenditures, it outranks the University of Michigan. Ulaby told the regents of any the nation's public institutions, the University is number one. Following the University of Michigan and Johns Hopkins in research expenditures are the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the University of Washington, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of California at San Diego, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and Texas A&M University. In terms of overall scientific impact, the University's research ranks fifth in the nation. The Institute for Scientific Information, the international organization that determined the rankings, put the University behind Harvard University, Stanford University the California Institute of Technology and Yale University. "Without a doubt, the (University) is a great institution populated by intelligent, creative people whose work creates vibrancy that is found in only a very few universities around the world," Ulaby said. And if the dollar amount does not testify enough to the University's commitment to research, the number of people involved in research activities certainly does, Ulaby said. About 24,000 staff and students in the University community are connected to research some manner. About 3,100 faculty members, 2,500 research staff members, 15,000 graduate students, 1,100 post-doctoral scholars and 2,000 undergraduate students conduct research on campus, Ulaby said. Top 10 universities in research expenditures 1. University of Michigan 2. Johns Hopkins University1 3. University of California at Los Angeles 4. University Wisconsin at Madison 5. University of Washington 6. University of California at Berkeley 2 7. University of California at San Diego 8. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology 2 9. Stanford University 10. Texas A&M 1 Does not include $443 million from the federal government's Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins 2 Does not include research and development expenditures at university-associated federally funded research and development institutions. SOURCE: Office for the Vice President for Research, National Science Foundation Originally on page 7A in the 1-5-2000 issue of the Daily.