Funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) increased current-dollar federal obligations to academic institutions for science and engineering (S&E) activities by $5.9 billion in FY 2009. ARRA funding accounted for 16.2% of the $36.2 billion obligated to 1,447 academic institutions. This total represents a 27.2% increase in current dollars over FY 2008.
Total inflation-adjusted (or constant) federal obligations rose to $32.8 billion between FY 2008 and FY 2009. Excluding the funding provided by ARRA, federal support for science and engineering to academic institutions increased by $1.4 billion (5.2%) over the same time period. This is the only constant-dollar increase in obligations between FY 2005 and FY 2009 (table 1).
TABLE 1. Federal academic S&E obligations, by activity: FY 2005–09
All federal obligations
Research and development
R&D plant
Facilities and equipment for instruction in S&E
Fellowships, traineeships, and training grants
General support for S&E
Other S&E activities
Fiscal year
ARRA
Non-
ARRA
ARRA
Non-
ARRA
ARRA
Non-
ARRA
ARRA
Non-
ARRA
ARRA
Non-
ARRA
ARRA
Non-
ARRA
ARRA
Non-
ARRA
Current $millions
2005
na
28,042
na
24,684
na
422
na
40
na
1,046
na
389
na
1,462
2006
na
28,265
na
24,992
na
309
na
17
na
1,037
na
323
na
1,588
2007
na
28,182
na
24,998
na
279
na
13
na
1,101
na
222
na
1,569
2008
na
28,425
na
25,482
na
275
na
4
na
862
na
300
na
1,502
2009
5,868
30,300
5,201
27,221
404
386
0
5
22
873
45
197
194
1,618
Constant 2005 $millions
2005
na
28,042
na
24,684
na
422
na
40
na
1,046
na
389
na
1,462
2006
na
27,330
na
24,166
na
299
na
16
na
1,003
na
312
na
1,535
2007
na
26,452
na
23,463
na
262
na
12
na
1,033
na
208
na
1,473
2008
na
26,083
na
23,382
na
252
na
4
na
791
na
275
na
1,378
2009
5,314
27,438
4,710
24,650
366
350
0
5
20
791
41
178
176
1,465
na = not applicable.
ARRA = American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009; S&E = science and engineering.
NOTES: Gross domestic product implicit price deflators were used to convert current to constant dollars. Detail may not sum to total due to rounding.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation/National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions.
These data are the most recent statistics from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions.
Categories of Academic S&E Support
Federal academic S&E obligations include six categories: research and development (88%–90% annually of total federal academic S&E obligations over the past 5 years); R&D plant; facilities and equipment for instruction in S&E; fellowships, traineeships, and training grants (FTTGs); general support for S&E; and other S&E activities (table 1).
Federal academic R&D obligations reached $32.4 billion in FY 2009 with $5.2 billion coming from ARRA funds, a 27.2% current-dollar increase (25.6% in constant dollars) over the prior year. Excluding ARRA funding, federal academic R&D obligations showed a 6.8% increase over FY 2008 in current dollars (5.4% in constant dollars). Federal obligations for general support for S&E fell by 19.3% in current dollars between FY 2008 and FY 2009 to $242 million (table 1).
Each of the four remaining S&E categories showed increased current-dollar funding levels in FY 2009 compared with FY 2008. The largest gain was $515 million (187.3%) in funding for R&D plant projects, of which most—$404 million (78.4%)—was from ARRA funds (table 1).
Agency Sources for Academic S&E Support
Collectively, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), NSF, and the Department of Defense (DOD) provided 86.5% of all federal and 90.2% of ARRA-funded academic S&E obligations in FY 2009. Of these agencies, HHS accounted for 58.8% of all federal and 53.8% of ARRA-funded obligations (current dollars); NSF, 18.9% of all federal and 36.3% of ARRA-funded obligations; and DOD, 8.8% of all federal and 0.1% of ARRA-funded obligations. The Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration provided most of the remaining academic S&E total (10.3% of all federal and 8.8% of ARRA-funded obligations). Even without the additional funds provided by ARRA, all six agencies showed increased constant-dollar levels for academic S&E in FY 2009 (table 2).
TABLE 2. Federal academic S&E obligations, by agency in FY 2009 rank order: FY 2005–09
All agencies
HHS
NSF
DOD
DOE
USDA
NASAa
Otherb
Fiscal year
ARRA
Non-
ARRA
ARRA
Non-
ARRA
ARRA
Non-
ARRA
ARRA
Non-
ARRA
ARRA
Non-
ARRA
ARRA
Non-
ARRA
ARRA
Non-
ARRA
ARRA
Non-
ARRA
Current $millions
2005
na
28,042
na
17,216
na
3,950
na
2,396
na
940
na
1,229
na
1,091
na
1,221
2006
na
28,265
na
17,163
na
4,099
na
2,570
na
902
na
1,263
na
975
na
1,293
2007
na
28,182
na
17,527
na
4,210
na
2,820
na
814
na
1,253
na
553
na
1,005
2008
na
28,425
na
17,180
na
4,404
na
2,823
na
1,089
na
1,251
na
673
na
1,003
2009
5,868
30,300
3,155
18,107
2,132
4,697
5
3,174
504
1,172
0
1,302
11
721
60
1,128
Constant 2005 $millions
2005
na
28,042
na
17,216
na
3,950
na
2,396
na
940
na
1,229
na
1,091
na
1,221
2006
na
27,330
na
16,595
na
3,963
na
2,485
na
872
na
1,221
na
943
na
1,250
2007
na
26,452
na
16,451
na
3,952
na
2,647
na
764
na
1,176
na
519
na
943
2008
na
26,083
na
15,764
na
4,041
na
2,590
na
999
na
1,148
na
618
na
920
2009
5,314
27,438
2,857
16,397
1,931
4,253
5
2,874
456
1,061
0
1,179
10
653
54
1,021
na = not applicable.
ARRA = American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009; DOD = Department of Defense; DOE = Department of Energy; HHS = Department of Health and Human Services; NASA = National Aeronautics and Space Administration; NSF = National Science Foundation; S&E = science and engineering; USDA = U.S. Department of Agriculture.
a NASA's R&D obligations decreased between FY 2006 and FY 2007 both because NASA excluded projects that were operational in nature in FY 2007 that were not excluded in FY 2006 and because of an overall decrease in obligations between FY 2006 and FY 2007. b Includes data for these agencies: Departments of Commerce, Education, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, and Transportation; Agency for International Development; Environmental Protection Agency; Appalachian Regional Commission; Nuclear Regulatory Commission; Office of Justice Programs (part of Department of Justice); and Social Security Administration.
NOTES: Gross domestic product implicit price deflators were used to convert current to constant dollars. Detail may not sum to total due to rounding.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation/National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions.
The Johns Hopkins University (including its Applied Physics Laboratory) continued to be the leading academic recipient of federal S&E obligations: $1.6 billion in FY 2009. Together HHS and DOD provided Johns Hopkins with 83.3% of its federal S&E funds. The leading 20 universities, ranked in terms of federal academic S&E obligations, accounted for 34.4% of this FY 2009 federal total (including ARRA). Nineteen of these institutions were also ranked among the top 20 recipients in FY 2008. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's rank fell from 17 to 21 in FY 2009 and the University of Colorado all campuses' rank rose from 21 to 19 (table 3).
TABLE 3. Federal academic S&E obligations, including ARRA, to the 20 universities receiving the largest amounts, by agency: FY 2009
(Current dollars in millions)
Institution
All federal
obligations
DOD
DOE
HHS
NASA
NSF
USDA
Other
agenciesa
All institutions
36,167.9
3,179.1
1,675.7
21,261.7
732
6,829.5
1,301.9
1,188
Top 20 institutions
12,433.3
1,107.3
401.2
8,741.5
321.4
1,497.1
143.6
221.1
Johns Hopkins U., Theb
1,565.5
522.4
4.9
782.4
203
45.3
0.6
7.0
U. MI all campuses
777.5
36.4
38.1
561.6
9.7
116
0.8
14.7
U. WA
761.8
50.8
20.5
536.1
6.6
117.5
4.9
25.4
U. PA
669.9
35.7
10.7
570.9
1.8
48.4
0.1
2.3
Columbia U. in the City of New York
667.9
13.2
25.9
499.9
8.3
104.4
0.0
16.1
U. CA, San Diego
662.1
48.2
19.4
432.2
3.4
131.1
0.0
27.8
U. CA, Los Angeles
619.4
27.8
22.1
462.6
11.7
94.6
0.2
0.3
U. WI-Madison
597.6
11.5
60.2
354.2
7.9
122.5
30.6
10.6
U. CA, San Francisco
567.3
1.6
0.4
560.6
0.6
3.2
0.0
0.9
Harvard U.
554.0
21.6
5.7
454.1
5.8
60.6
0.0
6.2
U. Pittsburgh all campuses
546.9
15.1
3.5
498
0.2
27.5
0.0
2.6
Duke U.
540.6
38.7
9.7
443.1
0.9
44.9
0.0
3.2
U. NC Chapel Hill
508.8
7.9
23.2
429.0
0.5
33.7
0.0
14.5
U. MN all campuses
500.8
7.1
51.0
304.9
4.0
83.7
32.1
18.1
Washington U. St. Louis
497.6
3.1
7.4
459.6
5.1
22.4
0.0
0.0
Stanford U.
497.5
39.6
14.8
366.2
11.7
63.5
0.0
1.8
Cornell U. all campuses
492.5
15.1
28.5
223.4
4.0
177.5
37.6
6.5
Yale U.
483.0
9.8
11.3
417.8
0.5
42.1
1.0
0.3
U. CO all campuses
469.7
15.5
9.8
271.1
27.8
88.6
1.0
56.0
PA State U. all campuses
452.7
186.2
33.8
113.7
7.9
69.5
34.8
6.7
All other academic institutions
23,734.6
2,071.8
1,274.5
12,520.2
410.6
5,332.4
1,158.3
966.9
ARRA = American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009; DOD = Department of Defense; DOE = Department of Energy; HHS = Department of Health and Human Services; NASA = National Aeronautics and Space Administration; NSF = National Science Foundation; S&E = science and engineering; USDA = U.S. Department of Agriculture.
a Includes data for these agencies: Departments of Commerce, Education, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, and Transportation; Agency for International Development; Environmental Protection Agency; Appalachian Regional Commission; Nuclear Regulatory Commission; Office of Justice Programs (part of Department of Justice); and Social Security Administration. b Includes funding for Applied Physics Laboratory.
NOTE: Detail may not sum to total due to rounding.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation/National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions, FY 2009.
NSF collects statistics on federal obligations to independent nonprofit institutions for two of the six S&E categories—R&D and R&D plant. During FY 2009 federal agencies obligated $8.3 billion to 1,459 nonprofit institutions, an increase of 28.6% over the $6.5 billion reported in FY 2008 (current dollars). ARRA funds accounted for $966.3 million, or 11.6%, of the FY 2009 total. The main source of the increase in funding (78.3%) was HHS. Massachusetts General Hospital received the most federal R&D and R&D plant funds ($383 million) among nonprofits in FY 2009, with HHS providing 94.4% of this funding (table 4).
TABLE 4. Federal research and development and R&D plant obligations, including ARRA, to the 10 independent nonprofit institutions receiving the largest amounts, by agency: FY 2009
(Current dollars in thousands)
Institution
All federal
obligations
DOD
DOE
HHS
NASA
NSF
Other
agenciesa
All nonprofit institutions
8,319,542
1,507,481
316,896
5,467,554
187,826
553,849
285,936
Top 10 nonprofit institutions
2,517,870
855,476
27,877
1,455,202
0
158,068
21,245
Massachusetts General Hospital
382,563
17,383
0
361,207
0
3,972
0
MITRE Corp.
344,765
343,612
4
0
0
50
1,099
Brigham and Women's Hospital
324,852
6,372
0
318,080
0
400
0
Battelle Memorial Institute
302,914
255,179
27,573
1,847
0
0
18,314
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Ctr.
263,980
0
0
263,792
0
188
0
IIT Research Institute
232,359
229,505
0
2,853
0
0
0
Mayo Foundation
212,380
1,362
0
210,984
0
34
0
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Ctr.
152,205
923
0
149,541
0
1,741
0
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
150,944
1,140
300
146,898
0
2,607
0
Associated Universities Inc.
150,908
0
0
0
0
149,076
1,832
All other nonprofit institutions
5,801,672
652,005
289,019
4,012,352
187,826
395,781
264,691
ARRA = American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009; DOD = Department of Defense; DOE = Department of Energy; HHS = Department of Health and Human Services; NASA = National Aeronautics and Space Administration; NSF = National Science Foundation.
a Includes data for these agencies: Departments of Commerce, Education, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, and Transportation; Agency for International Development; Environmental Protection Agency; Appalachian Regional Commission; Nuclear Regulatory Commission; Office of Justice Programs (part of Department of Justice); and Social Security Administration.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation/National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions, FY 2009.
In FY 2009 the 10 leading nonprofit institutions in terms of these federal funds received 30.3% of the total funding to all nonprofits. Six of these recipients were hospitals or medical research institutes. Nine of these leading 10 nonprofits in FY 2009 also ranked among the top 10 in the prior year. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (ranked 8th in FY 2009 and 12th in FY 2008) moved into the top 10, and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (ranked 11th in FY 2009 and 7th in FY 2008) fell out of the top 10 (table 4).
Data Sources, Limitations, and Availability
Gross domestic product implicit price deflators were used to convert current to constant dollars in this report. The data on federal S&E obligations to academic and nonprofit institutionspresented here were obtained from 19 agencies that responded to the FY 2009 Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions. The survey collects federal S&E support data by funding agency, institution, type of activity, type of institution, and geographic location.
The six funding categories of federal S&E support are defined as follows.
Research and development includes all direct, indirect, incidental, or related costs resulting from or necessary to perform R&D by private individuals and organizations under grant, contract, or cooperative agreement.
R&D plant includes all projects whose principal purpose is to provide support for construction, acquisition, renovation, modification, repair, or rental of facilities, land, works, or fixed equipment for use in scientific or engineering R&D.
Facilities and equipment for S&E instruction includes all programs whose principal purpose is to provide support for construction, acquisition, renovation, modification, repair, or rental of facilities, land, works, or equipment for use in instruction in S&E.
Fellowships, traineeships, and training grants includes all fellowship, traineeship, and training grant programs that are directed primarily toward the development and maintenance of the scientific workforce.
General support for S&E is funds used for scientific projects and support for activities within a specified discipline; explicit purpose is not specified.
Other S&E activities includes all academic S&E obligations that cannot be assigned elsewhere and activities in support of technical conferences, teacher institutes, and programs aimed at increasing precollege and undergraduate students' scientific knowledge.
The full set of detailed statistical tables on the FY 2009 Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions will be available online at http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/fedsupport/. Individual tables may be available in advance of the full report. For more information, please contact the author.
Notes
[1] Michael Yamaner, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 965, Arlington, VA 22230 (myamaner@nsf.gov; 703-292-7815).
National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics ARRA Provided $5.9 Billion in Federal Science and Engineering Obligations to Universities and Colleges in FY 2009
Arlington, VA (NSF 12-320) [June 2012]