Recovery Act funds helped boost university spending on R&D in the U.S. across all fields by nearly seven percent between fiscal years 2009 and 2010, a National Science Foundation survey reported.
In that time, university R&D spending increased from $57.3 billion to $61.2 billion, the survey found. More than two-thirds of that increase – $2.7 billion – came from Recovery funds, which were distributed across a range of research fields.
Top 5 Overall Fields
- Life Sciences – Includes agricultural, biological, and medical research
- Engineering – Includes aeronautical, chemical, civil, electrical, mechanical, and metallurgical engineering
- Physical Sciences - Includes astronomy, chemistry, and physics
- Environmental Sciences - Includes oceanography along with atmospheric and earth sciences
- Non-Science - Includes business, management, communications, education, humanities, law, social work, and visual/performing arts research.
Top 5 Federal Agencies
University R&D spending draws on multiple funding sources, but the federal government does the majority of underwriting. The top five agencies providing funding between FY2009 and FY2010:
- Department of Health and Human Services - Includes the National Institutes of Health, the largest single funder of medical research in the country
- National Science Foundation
- Department of Defense
- Department of Energy
- NASA
The NSF Survey
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