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Federal Academic Science and Engineering Obligations Increased 10 Percent in FY 2000The National Science Foundation (NSF) has collected annual data on the Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions since 1965. The latest data indicate that Federal agencies obligated a new high of $19.9 billion for academic science and engineering (S&E) activities in fiscal year (FY) 2000an increase of $1.8 billion, or 10 percent (8 percent when adjusted for inflation) over FY 1999 levels. The increase follows a 12-percent current-dollar increase (11 percent in real dollars) in total Federal academic S&E support between FYs 1998 and 1999. Categories of SupportFederal support for academic S&E activities mostly funds research and development (R&D) projects, which have accounted for 84 to 87 percent of total Federal academic S&E support over the last decade (figure 1). A new high of $17.3 billion was reached in Federal academic R&D support in FY 2000, representing an 11-percent current-dollar increaseand a 9-percent increase in real dollarsover the previous year (table 1). The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) accounted for three-fifths ($10.5 billion) of all Federal academic R&D obligations in FY 2000 and more than four-fifths of the total R&D increase. Federal support for academic S&E activities covers five other categories as well (1) fellowships, traineeships, and training grants; (2) R&D plant; (3) facilities and equipment for S&E instruction; (4) general support for S&E; and (5) other S&E activities. Funding levels for four of these categories increased in FY 2000:
Table 1 Source Data: Excel file Agency SourcesHHS accounted for 57 percent of all Federal FY 2000 academic S&E obligations. HHS, NSF, and DOD together provided 81 percent of total Federal academic S&E funding. S&E funds obligated by HHS grew by 15 percent in current dollars. DOD and NSF reported S&E support level increases of 11 percent and 5 percent, respectively, in current dollars. USDA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Department of Energy (DOE) provided 75 percent of the remaining academic S&E total. Of those three agencies, only NASA showed a current-dollar decrease: its obligations fell by 2 percent. USDA and DOE support increased by 14 percent and 7 percent, respectively, in current dollars. University SharesThe Johns Hopkins University (including its Applied Physics Laboratory) continued to be the leading academic recipient of Federal S&E support in FY 2000 (table 2), with HHS and DOD together providing 86 percent of its Federal S&E obligations. About $6 of every $7 in the university's $933 million total Federal S&E obligations supported R&D projects, with most of the remainder allocated to other S&E activities. The top 20 universities, ranked by Federal academic S&E obligations, accounted for 36 percent of the Federal total. All but one of the top 20 recipients in FY 2000 were also among the top 20 universities in FY 1999. The new entrant was the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (20th after being 22nd the prior year); it replaced Duke University (21st after being 20th). Table 2 Source Data: Excel fileUser NotesThe Federal academic S&E obligations data presented in this InfoBrief were obtained from 18 agencies that participated in the FY 2000 Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions. Data from this annual survey allow Federal S&E support to be reported by funding agency, type of institution, institutional ranking, and geographic distribution. The full set of Detailed Statistical Tables on the FY 2000 Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions will be available online (http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/). NSF makes available computer-generated Institutional Profiles for individual doctorate-granting institutions and for schools with S&E departments that grant master's degrees. These profiles contain data from this survey and from NSF's other two academic S&E surveys: the Survey of Research and Development Expenditures at Universities and Colleges, and the Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering. Data from the three surveys are also available via the World Wide Web (http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/) and the Computer-Aided Science Policy Analysis and Research (WebCASPAR) database system, a Web tool for retrieval and analysis of statistical data on academic S&E resources (http://webcaspar.nsf.gov). This InfoBrief was prepared by Richard J. Bennof | ||||||||||||