ACADEMIC R&D SPENDING TRENDS

26WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG OCTOBER 26, 2009

THERE’S GOOD NEWS and bad news for scientists and engineers in academe. First, the good news: Spending on science and engineering research and development by universities and colleges grew to $49.4 bil-lion in fiscal 2007, the most recent year for which data are available from the National Science Foundation. On the downside, growth in such spending slowed for the fifth year in a row. However, stimulus spending designed to help the U.S. econ-omy recover from the 2008–09 recession and the Obama Administration’s support for science could help reverse this trend in future years.

Between 1997 and 2007, academic R&D spending growth peaked at 10.9% in 2002. Increases remained generous over the next few years but slipped to 4.3% as of 2006. By 2007, the increase was just 3.5%, less than half the annual average for the prior decade.

When the effect of inflation is removed from the statistics, total academic R&D spending edged up 0.8% in terms of con-stant dollars between 2006 and 2007. Be-tween 1997 and 2007, total spending rose

61.9% in terms of constant dollars, com-pared with 102.8% in current dollars.

Basic research, which typically attracts three-quarters of the total R&D budget, accounted for some $37.6 billion in spend-ing in 2007. That outlay represented a 4.3% increase in terms of current dollars over the prior year—just half the average annual growth seen in the prior decade. Still, in-vestment growth in the sector considerably outshined that in applied R&D, which rose a mere 1.2% to $11.8 billion in 2007. During the previous decade, applied R&D funding grew at an average annual rate of 4.3%.

The source of R&D monies remains fairly steady from year to year. In 2007, the federal government provided 61.6% of the total budget. But its $30.4 billion contribution was just 1.1% higher than the prior year’s. Institutions provided 19.5% of 2007’s total R&D budget, state and lo-cal governments put in 6.4%, and industry chipped in 5.4%.

The relative share of the total budget spent on each sector of science and engi-neering is also pretty consistent over time.

Science accounted for 84.8% of total aca-demic R&D spending in 2007. Its $41.9 bil-lion expenditure represented an increase of 3.1% over the previous year. The largest sector in this category, life sciences, ab-sorbed 60.2% of the total budget. Its outlay rose 3.3% from 2006 to reach $29.8 billion.

By comparison, the physical sciences, in-cluding chemistry, physics, and astronomy, accounted for just 7.8% of the 2007 budget and eked out a measly 0.8% increase over the prior year to reach $3.8 billion. Outlays for chemistry fared a bit better than those for the physical sciences as a whole, rising 2.4% to $1.4 billion, for a 2.9% share of the total R&D budget.

On a constant-dollar basis, however, chemistry spending actually shrank 0.3% from 2006 to 2007. Between 1997 and 2007, chemical R&D spending grew a total of 40.7% in constant dollars versus 76.2% in current dollars.

R&D SPENDING in the engineering sec-tor, which accounted for 15.2% of the total budget, rose 6.0% in current dollars to $7.5 billion in 2007. But that growth was uneven: Chemical engineering spending rose a healthy 7.5% to $602 million, for a 1.2% share of the total, whereas materials engineering spending slipped 0.8% to $638 million, or 1.3% of the total.

Chemical and materials engineering also fared differently in terms of federal support. Federally financed chemical engi-neering spending grew 1.3% in 2007 to $324 million, but materials engineering spend-ing fell 1.0% to $382 million. Federal invest-

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

TOP NOTCH Chemist James D. Batteas studies surfaces and interfaces at Texas A&M, one of the top investors in chemical R&D. In the foreground is a scanning tunneling microscope.

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ACADEMIC R&D SPENDING TRENDS

OUTLAYS ROSE 2.4% FOR CHEMISTRY and grew 3.5% for science and engineering as a whole in 2007

SOPHIE L. ROVNER , C&EN WASHINGTON

For tables on postdocs and grad students; the source of academic funds; and spending on basic and applied R&D, chemical engineering, and research equipment, click on this story at www.cen-online.org.

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ment in engineering as a whole rose 3.6% to $4.5 billion.

Federal support for science R&D in academe grew just 0.6% in 2007 to $26.0 billion. Within the science sector, feder-ally backed life sciences spending edged up 0.4% to $18.3 billion. Chemistry’s $969 million outlay topped the prior year’s by a meager 0.1%.

The largest federal allotment of funding for chemical R&D in 2007 went to California Institute of Technology. Its $28.8 million allocation was very close to the prior year’s.

On the other hand, second-place Harvard University’s $25.6 million share was 19.1% slimmer than its share in 2006. The next three schools—the University of California, San Diego; the University of Illinois, Urba-na-Champaign (UIUC); and UC Berkeley—received nearly $20 million apiece.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology placed first in terms of federal support for chemical engineering R&D. It received $13.6 million in 2007, up 3.6% from 2006. Johns Hopkins University enjoyed a 26.7% boost to $11.0 million, followed in support

by Pennsylvania State University; the State University of New York, Buffalo; and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Ohio State University topped the list of schools that shelled out the most money from all sources combined for chemical engineering R&D in 2007. It more than doubled its outlay compared with 2006, to $25.6 million. The school blew past MIT, whose spending edged up 0.9% to $19.0 million to garner second place. Penn State, Georgia Institute of Technology, and SUNY Buffalo rounded out the top five.

FIELDS OF ACADEMIC R&D SPENDING On average, annual growth in spending for chemistry has lagged that for life sciences since 1997

ANNUAL CHANGE

$ MILLIONS 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2006–07 1997–2007

ALL SCIENCES $20,540 $21,797 $23,281 $25,527 $27,802 $30,880 $34,103 $36,943 $39,048 $40,651 $41,914 3.1% 7.4%Lifea 13,593 14,599 15,632 17,471 19,230 21,439 23,757 25,949 27,603 28,802 29,764 3.3 8.2Physicalb 2,372 2,484 2,606 2,713 2,806 3,017 3,277 3,547 3,702 3,812 3,842 0.8 4.9 Physics 1,059 1,079 1,149 1,208 1,241 1,287 1,418 1,522 1,597 1,610 1,613 0.2 4.3 Chemistry 821 877 920 962 1,009 1,129 1,226 1,318 1,371 1,413 1,447 2.4 5.8Environmental 1,533 1,625 1,692 1,766 1,829 2,018 2,195 2,353 2,554 2,601 2,725 4.8 5.9Psychology & social 1,522 1,577 1,717 1,816 2,027 2,270 2,445 2,458 2,510 2,577 2,645 2.6 5.7Computer 710 747 861 877 956 1,126 1,305 1,404 1,406 1,438 1,417 -1.5 7.2Mathematical 290 311 314 342 360 388 428 449 495 533 572 7.3 7.0Other 520 455 459 543 594 623 697 782 778 888 949 6.9 6.2

ALL ENGINEERING $3,840 $4,071 $4,263 $4,557 $5,022 $5,525 $5,997 $6,315 $6,745 $7,092 $7,517 6.0% 6.9%Materials 389 391 384 399 453 468 548 565 612 643 638 -0.8 5.1Chemical 317 327 349 376 414 431 453 493 506 560 602 7.5 6.6

TOTAL $24,380 $25,867 $27,544 $30,084 $32,824 $36,405 $40,100 $43,258 $45,793 $47,743 $49,431 3.5% 7.3%

NOTE: Institutional fiscal years. Totals may not add because of rounding. a Includes agricultural, biological, medical, and other life sciences. b Includes astronomy, chemistry, physics, and other physical sciences. SOURCE: National Science Foundation, WebCASPAR Database System

FEDERALLY FINANCED R&D SPENDING AT UNIVERSITIES Growth in chemistry spending, although healthy on average during the prior decade, was essentially flat in 2007

ANNUAL CHANGE

$ MILLIONS 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2006–07 1997–2007

ALL SCIENCES $12,065 $12,805 $13,663 $14,967 $16,390 $18,640 $21,156 $23,736 $25,072 $25,819 $25,979 0.6% 8.0%Lifea 7,765 8,335 8,959 10,070 11,202 12,857 14,652 16,667 17,692 18,279 18,348 0.4 9.0Physicalb 1,684 1,762 1,864 1,916 1,974 2,132 2,357 2,569 2,672 2,699 2,677 -0.8 4.7 Physics 803 818 869 902 927 975 1,088 1,169 1,227 1,215 1,219 0.3 4.3 Chemistry 552 587 618 632 661 737 820 921 952 968 969 0.1 5.8Environmental 1,013 1,077 1,103 1,135 1,187 1,292 1,446 1,596 1,730 1,768 1,835 3.8 6.1Psychology & social 681 725 782 842 947 1,094 1,222 1,284 1,308 1,341 1,355 1.0 7.1Computer 506 514 583 584 644 770 937 1,025 1,022 1,017 1,014 -0.3 7.2Mathematical 202 214 210 230 242 269 295 318 346 375 408 8.8 7.3Other 215 179 162 191 195 227 247 276 302 340 342 0.6 4.8

ALL ENGINEERING $2,256 $2,355 $2,448 $2,581 $2,854 $3,233 $3,614 $3,908 $4,131 $4,305 $4,462 3.6% 7.1%Materials 222 222 218 227 241 263 314 352 369 386 382 -1.0 5.6Chemical 166 169 180 196 215 230 248 268 295 320 324 1.3 6.9

TOTAL $14,321 $15,159 $16,112 $17,548 $19,244 $21,873 $24,771 $27,644 $29,203 $30,124 $30,441 1.1% 7.8%ANNUAL CHANGE 3.5% 5.9% 6.3% 8.9% 9.7% 13.7% 13.2% 11.6% 5.6% 3.2% 1.1%

NOTE: Institutional fiscal years. Totals may not add because of rounding. a Includes agricultural, biological, medical, and other life sciences. b Includes astronomy, chemistry, physics, and other physical sciences. SOURCE: National Science Foundation, WebCASPAR Database System



SCHOOL SPENDING ON CHEMICAL R&D Growth at top 50 schools was much slower in 2007 than the annual average for the prior decade

RANK % FEDERALFUNDS, 2007a

ANNUAL CHANGE

2007 2006 $ THOUSANDS 1997 2003 2004 2005 2006 20072007A

2006–07 1997–2007

1 1 California Inst. of Technology $17,600 $18,099 $22,968 $29,563 $34,322 $35,420 81.4% 3.2% 7.2%2 2 Harvard U 9,495 19,456 22,135 26,572 33,943 29,029 88.3 -14.5 11.83 3 U of California, Berkeley 18,305 24,907 25,984 25,666 27,315 28,283 69.2 3.5 4.44 5 U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 13,606 20,949 21,217 22,603 25,034 27,981 70.3 11.8 7.55 10 Texas A&M U 11,133 19,703 19,475 21,739 22,448 23,651 43.2 5.4 7.86 8 Georgia Inst. of Technology 10,816 9,652 14,528 17,930 22,837 23,356 48.2 2.3 8.07 4 U of California, San Francisco na 28,798 29,609 26,041 25,664 22,601 70.6 -11.9 nm8 11 U of California, San Diego 9,956 17,530 19,638 23,028 21,789 22,599 87.2 3.7 8.59 18 U of California, Los Angeles 10,220 19,607 20,453 18,377 18,381 22,325 76.7 21.5 8.1

10 6 U of Texas, Austin 11,328 23,382 24,154 25,818 24,247 21,782 65.1 -10.2 6.8Total, first 10 institutions $112,459 $202,083 $220,161 $237,337 $255,980 $257,027 70.9% 0.4% 8.6%

11 7 Rutgers, State U of New Jersey 8,130 15,552 16,416 21,049 23,629 21,128 79.0 -10.6 10.012 20 Massachusetts Inst. of Technology 9,440 20,184 20,926 17,984 18,142 20,620 89.5 13.7 8.113 21 Northwestern U 7,848 16,108 17,704 17,825 17,258 20,435 72.4 18.4 10.014 12 U of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 7,788 16,045 16,186 18,521 21,280 20,166 80.6 -5.2 10.015 29 Purdue U 12,254 13,268 12,776 13,070 13,723 19,605 64.9 42.9 4.816 9 Pennsylvania State U 12,883 18,214 22,330 20,711 22,652 18,796 54.2 -17.0 3.817 13 Cornell U 11,380 20,804 20,600 20,770 21,090 18,380 62.0 -12.8 4.918 16 U of Washington, Seattle 6,341 16,947 19,354 18,154 18,716 17,843 87.4 -4.7 10.919 15 U of Colorado 11,026 15,164 14,960 18,251 19,274 17,672 85.4 -8.3 4.820 24 U of California, Irvine 8,724 10,856 11,315 14,192 16,186 17,129 65.5 5.8 7.0

Total, first 20 institutions $208,273 $365,225 $392,728 $417,864 $447,930 $448,801 72.3% 0.2% 8.0%

21 19 U of Wisconsin, Madison 11,437 15,546 17,115 15,710 18,348 17,122 59.7 -6.7 4.122 23 Stanford U 12,199 18,097 18,863 16,781 16,283 17,056 76.5 4.7 3.423 34 Johns Hopkins Ub 9,264 11,330 11,890 12,038 12,693 16,376 96.4 29.0 5.924 17 U of Michigan 6,834 15,191 14,901 16,435 18,472 15,939 71.3 -13.7 8.825 25 Louisiana State U 5,893 14,200 13,409 19,134 15,998 15,848 54.1 -0.9 10.426 48 Emory U 7,337 10,667 7,734 8,223 9,290 15,700 46.8 69.0 7.927 31 Michigan State U 5,856 13,230 13,234 13,692 12,927 14,443 51.3 11.7 9.428 46 State U of New York, Stony Brook 5,439 9,007 10,656 10,191 9,388 14,383 44.1 53.2 10.229 26 U of Utah 6,366 12,247 13,477 14,251 15,136 14,312 69.6 -5.4 8.430 30 U of Chicago 8,730 8,802 10,083 12,108 13,261 14,187 62.1 7.0 5.0


31 28 U of Arizona 5,045 10,874 11,312 13,046 13,734 14,094 75.4 2.6 10.832 22 U of Pennsylvania 11,579 11,165 12,435 14,751 16,459 13,998 87.0 -15.0 1.933 41 Virginia Polytechnic Inst. &

State U7,538 11,694 11,332 11,382 10,828 13,685 53.8 26.4 6.1

34 33 U of Florida 9,779 11,594 13,011 16,153 12,828 13,417 63.9 4.6 3.235 51 Princeton U 8,123 11,278 12,491 10,843 8,915 13,313 56.9 49.3 5.136 38 U of Akron 8,395 11,260 10,299 10,618 11,645 13,169 36.0 13.1 4.637 39 State U of New York, Buffalo 5,538 12,382 11,898 11,158 11,625 13,148 45.6 13.1 9.038 35 U of South Carolina 4,645 8,911 10,515 8,801 12,627 13,008 45.4 3.0 10.839 50 U of Southern Mississippi 4,693 7,637 8,110 9,408 9,029 11,840 79.2 31.1 9.740 37 U of Pittsburgh 7,316 9,630 13,025 14,031 12,524 11,793 88.5 -5.8 4.9


41 27 U of Minnesota 7,662 9,569 12,018 14,222 14,204 11,677 65.5 -17.8 4.342 14 Indiana U 10,889 14,701 15,642 11,734 19,684 11,336 40.8 -42.4 0.443 32 Arizona State U, Tempe 8,227 10,162 11,376 14,196 12,840 11,300 73.5 -12.0 3.244 36 Ohio State U 9,291 15,512 14,423 16,378 12,574 11,168 71.0 -11.2 1.945 40 U of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras 1,960 2,439 3,244 5,011 10,843 11,056 99.3 2.0 18.946 58 U of Southern California 7,203 8,890 9,418 8,615 7,432 10,520 52.9 41.6 3.947 54 U of Maryland, College Park 9,822 10,067 9,432 9,543 8,510 10,274 59.1 20.7 0.548 43 U of Texas M. D. Anderson

Cancer Centerna na 8,465 9,041 10,790 10,149 63.2 -5.9 nm

49 45 U of Notre Dame 7,053 10,657 11,325 8,591 9,731 10,071 88.7 3.5 3.650 44 U of Georgia 6,512 7,521 8,349 8,511 10,437 9,502 33.6 -9.0 3.9


TOTAL, ALL INSTITUTIONS $821,223 $1,226,022 $1,318,180 $1,370,949 $1,413,123 $1,447,351 67.0% 2.4% 5.8%

NOTE: Institutional fiscal years. a Share of total expenditures funded by the federal government. b Includes funding for the Applied Physics Lab. na = not available. nm = not meaningful. SOURCE: National Science Foundation, WebCASPAR Database System


SCHOOLS WITH MOST FEDERAL SUPPORT FOR CHEMICAL R&D Federal funding fell at 21 of the top 50 schools in 2007

RANK ANNUAL CHANGE

2007 2006 $ THOUSANDS 1997 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2006–07 1997–2007

1 2 California Inst. of Technology $15,200 $15,279 $19,685 $25,171 $28,662 $28,822 0.6% 6.6%2 1 Harvard U 8,128 17,490 19,617 24,109 31,683 25,629 -19.1 12.23 6 U of California, San Diego 7,922 12,749 14,648 18,133 17,451 19,701 12.9 9.54 8 U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 8,174 12,336 14,295 15,694 16,496 19,674 19.3 9.25 4 U of California, Berkeley 13,714 17,078 19,988 19,200 19,891 19,561 -1.7 3.66 9 Massachusetts Inst. of Technology 8,823 17,551 18,774 16,149 16,004 18,449 15.3 7.77 16 U of California, Los Angeles 8,728 14,598 15,453 14,666 13,491 17,123 26.9 7.08 5 Rutgers, State U of New Jersey 5,763 10,992 12,276 16,893 17,695 16,696 -5.6 11.29 10 U of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 5,672 12,455 12,753 14,707 15,757 16,263 3.2 11.1

10 3 U of California, San Francisco na 22,787 22,215 19,621 19,962 15,957 -20.1 nmTotal, first 10 institutions $82,124 $153,315 $169,704 $184,343 $197,092 $197,875 0.4% 9.2%

11 20 Johns Hopkins Ua 8,981 10,753 11,028 11,316 11,875 15,787 32.9 5.812 11 U of Washington, Seattle 4,521 12,522 17,900 15,212 15,243 15,592 2.3 13.213 7 U of Colorado 8,762 13,251 12,843 15,716 16,842 15,084 -10.4 5.614 15 Northwestern U 5,166 11,484 13,631 14,549 13,767 14,785 7.4 11.115 12 U of Texas, Austin 6,872 15,122 16,136 16,523 15,163 14,173 -6.5 7.516 17 Stanford U 10,449 15,496 16,668 14,250 12,970 13,052 0.6 2.217 31 Purdue U 8,260 8,219 8,419 8,931 9,604 12,721 32.5 4.418 13 U of Pennsylvania 10,423 9,505 10,852 12,352 14,892 12,182 -18.2 1.619 14 Cornell U 8,065 15,897 15,350 13,398 14,528 11,387 -21.6 3.520 18 U of Michigan 5,058 11,202 11,701 12,628 12,962 11,371 -12.3 8.4

Total, first 20 institutions $158,681 $276,766 $304,232 $319,218 $334,938 $334,009 -0.3% 7.7%

21 24 Georgia Inst. of Technology 5,067 4,934 8,500 10,201 10,360 11,260 8.7 8.322 22 U of California, Irvine 6,646 7,175 6,931 10,281 10,901 11,227 3.0 5.423 23 U of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras 1,860 2,380 3,117 4,951 10,779 10,978 1.8 19.424 25 U of Arizona 3,400 8,174 8,758 9,587 10,235 10,630 3.9 12.125 28 U of Pittsburgh 5,968 8,516 11,283 11,800 10,037 10,437 4.0 5.726 21 U of Wisconsin, Madison 7,693 9,174 10,830 9,696 11,624 10,230 -12.0 2.927 27 Texas A&M U 6,252 8,532 8,652 11,642 10,098 10,219 1.2 5.028 19 Pennsylvania State U 8,631 11,001 14,573 13,227 12,082 10,184 -15.7 1.729 26 U of Utah 5,493 7,902 9,164 9,421 10,130 9,963 -1.6 6.130 40 U of Southern Mississippi 3,770 5,636 5,861 7,741 6,991 9,376 34.1 9.5

Total, first 30 institutions $213,461 $350,190 $391,901 $417,765 $438,175 $438,513 0.1% 7.5%

31 34 U of Notre Dame 6,390 9,559 10,204 7,730 8,768 8,929 1.8 3.432 38 U of Chicago 7,487 6,775 7,315 8,213 7,792 8,805 13.0 1.633 32 U of Florida 5,332 7,262 9,667 10,427 9,237 8,580 -7.1 4.934 30 Louisiana State U 3,105 7,470 8,454 10,293 9,789 8,567 -12.5 10.735 33 Arizona State U, Tempe 3,760 5,513 6,259 8,430 8,886 8,303 -6.6 8.236 37 Ohio State U 6,291 8,271 9,461 9,612 7,916 7,924 0.1 2.337 29 U of Minnesota 6,290 7,051 8,956 11,026 10,014 7,643 -23.7 2.038 48 Princeton U 5,961 7,397 8,271 7,065 6,158 7,576 23.0 2.439 35 Michigan State U 3,935 7,452 8,358 8,112 8,235 7,413 -10.0 6.540 51 Virginia Polytechnic Inst. & State U 4,105 6,598 6,218 5,477 6,015 7,360 22.4 6.0

Total, first 40 institutions $266,117 $423,538 $475,064 $504,150 $520,985 $519,613 -0.3% 6.9%

41 36 Emory U 5,338 5,729 6,764 7,345 8,127 7,344 -9.6 3.242 52 Vanderbilt U 2,344 3,714 3,587 4,835 6,014 6,940 15.4 11.543 66 New Mexico State U 1,058 4,901 5,270 6,554 4,786 6,874 43.6 20.644 43 Colorado State U 5,414 5,372 6,005 6,531 6,624 6,677 0.8 2.145 57 U of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer

Centerna na 5,586 4,445 5,799 6,410 10.5 nm

46 42 U of California, Davis 3,153 5,488 6,628 6,004 6,908 6,360 -7.9 7.347 49 State U of New York, Stony Brook 3,552 6,287 7,060 6,486 6,094 6,349 4.2 6.048 39 Columbia U 6,531 7,341 6,655 7,253 7,167 6,298 -12.1 -0.449 45 Yale U 5,863 5,991 6,348 6,534 6,456 6,193 -4.1 0.550 59 U of Maryland, College Park 6,039 7,448 7,324 6,634 5,324 6,074 14.1 0.1

Total, first 50 institutions $305,409 $475,809 $536,291 $566,771 $584,284 $585,132 0.1% 6.7%

TOTAL, ALL INSTITUTIONS $551,904 $819,638 $921,226 $952,126 $967,923 $969,150 0.1% 5.8%

NOTE: Institutional fiscal years. a Includes funding for the Applied Physics Lab. na = not available. nm = not meaningful. SOURCE: National Science Foundation, WebCASPAR Database System


For the third year in a row, Caltech spent more than any other school on chemi-cal R&D. Its $35.4 million investment in 2007 represented a 3.2% expansion over 2006. Harvard came in second, also for the third year in a row, despite a 14.5% drop in spending to $29.0 million. UC Berkeley also maintained its third-place ranking by increasing its outlay 3.5% to $28.3 million.

UIUC rose a spot to fourth place with $28.0 million in spending. A modest in-crease to $23.7 million boosted Texas A&M University from 10th to fifth place. Georgia Tech; UC San Francisco; UC San Diego; UCLA; and the University of Texas, Austin, followed. Both UC San Diego and UCLA were new to the top 10 list of spenders in 2007, displacing Rutgers and Penn State.

As a group, colleges and universities spent $111.1 million on chemical research equipment in 2007, 7.8% less than in the

prior year. That economizing wasn’t evi-dent at the top 25 schools, which boosted spending 31.6% to $43.6 million.

Indiana University again took top honors by shelling out $3.1 million, and the University of Akron placed second by spending $2.8 million. They were followed by UC San Diego; Rutgers; and the Univer-sity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

FEDERAL SUPPORT for chemical research equipment slid 8.2% to $72.2 million in 2007. Again, the top 25 schools were in-sulated from this retrenchment; they re-ceived $29.7 million thanks to a 25.3% hike in their funding. The largest federal grants went to UC San Diego, UNC Chapel Hill, UIUC, Purdue University, and Rutgers.

The long-term slow growth in the num-ber of students seeking graduate degrees in chemistry ended quietly in 2007 with

the number of candidates slipping 0.2% to 21,298. On the other hand, 7,584 chemical engineering students pursued graduate degrees, 4.4% more than in the prior year. As usual, half the chemical engineering stu-dents and more than one-third of the chem-istry students were from outside the U.S.

Postdoctoral appointments in chem-istry declined 2.3% to 3,952, but chemical engineers fared better, with appointments expanding 7.5% to 790.

Data for this article were drawn primar-ily from NSF’s WebCASPAR database of ac-ademic science and engineering statistics, which can be accessed online at webcaspar.nsf.gov. Further information came from NSF’s annual “Academic Research & Devel-opment Expenditures” report, which can be viewed at www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf09303.

Note that numbers from different tables may not match because of rounding. ■


TOP 25 UNIVERSITIES IN 2007 R&D SPENDING Top schools invested only 2.3% of their R&D funds in chemistry

RANK LIFESCIENCESa

PHYSICALSCIENCESb

ENVIRON-MENTAL

SCIENCES

MATH & COMPUTER OTHER

SCIENCES2007 2006 $ MILLIONS ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY c SCIENCES TOTAL

1 1 Johns Hopkins Ud $692 $535 $129 $16 $42 $106 $49 $1,5542 5 U of California, San Francisco 820 0 23 23 0 0 0 8433 2 U of Wisconsin, Madison 541 93 56 17 77 21 51 8414 3 U of California, Los Angeles 612 53 64 22 10 21 62 8235 4 U of Michigan 480 162 38 16 12 12 104 809

6 7 U of California, San Diego 446 88 52 23 133 60 21 7997 10 Duke U 669 40 19 7 15 11 28 7828 6 U of Washington, Seattle 514 81 34 18 92 7 29 7579 11 Ohio State U 398 160 27 11 10 42 83 720

10 8 Stanford U 408 143 65 17 23 27 21 688

11 13 Pennsylvania State U 203 235 57 19 56 53 49 65212 9 U of Pennsylvania 526 31 29 14 1 10 51 64813 12 Cornell U 410 78 87 18 6 27 34 64214 15 U of Minnesota 456 64 25 12 14 25 41 62415 17 Texas A&M U 265 165 39 24 113 15 24 622

16 14 Massachusetts Inst. of Technology

192 216 99 21 26 51 30 614

17 16 U of California, Davis 441 66 23 9 28 11 31 60118 18 U of Florida 418 94 31 13 10 10 30 59319 19 Washington U 515 17 15 8 6 8 13 57320 22 U of Pittsburgh 489 21 18 12 1 7 23 559

21 20 U of California, Berkeley 175 153 96 28 11 8 110 55222 23 Columbia U 381 41 31 7 56 11 27 54623 21 U of Arizona 275 58 153 14 13 7 25 53224 24 U of Colorado 295 43 65 18 91 11 23 52825 30 U of Southern California 322 51 14 11 19 87 16 508

Total, listed institutions $10,944 $2,688 $1,289 $397 $865 $645 $978 $17,408

TOTAL, ALL INSTITUTIONS $29,764 $7,517 $3,842 $1,447 $2,725 $1,988 $3,594 $49,431

NOTE: Institutional fiscal years. Totals may not add because of rounding. a Includes agricultural, biological, medical, and other life sciences. b Includes astronomy, chemistry, physics, and other physical sciences. c Included in physical sciences. d Includes Applied Physics Lab expenditures. SOURCE: National Science Foundation, WebCASPAR Database System

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ACADEMIC R&D SPENDING TRENDS