Report ranks Penn State sixth among Land Grants in R&D Funds

Report ranks Penn State sixth among Land Grants in R&D Funds

University Park, Pa. -- A recently released report from the Rand Corporation shows that Penn State ranks sixth among land grant universities and 12th among all public universities in the amount of federal funds awarded to support research and development.

The report notes, "Federal R&D funds help universities advance general knowledge, support a range of federal missions, train future scientists and engineers and enhance economic growth in the communities where they operate."

Rand, a non-profit research organization, compiled the comprehensive list of all the federal R&D funds going to every university and college in the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The report, Vital Assets Federal Investment in Research and Development at the Nation's Universities and Colleges, is at http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1824/

Robert Killoren, associate vice president for research and director of the Office of Sponsored Programs, says, "Between FY 1996 and FY 2002, the period the report examines, total federal R&D funds going to Penn State increased by 70 percent."

In individual federal agency obligations, Penn State ranks ninth in National Science Foundation funding; second in Department of Defense funding; eighth in National Aeronautics and Space Administration funding, 16th in Department of Energy funding; and fourth in U.S. Department of Agriculture funding.

Killoren adds, "The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has moved up from fifth nationally in 1996 to third in 2002 because of the strength of the state's three largest research universities. Penn State ($263 million), Penn ($458 million) and Pitt ($337 million) account for $1.06 billion in federal R&D funding coming into the state or 82 percent of Pennsylvania's $1.3 billion total."