research universities

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• NATURE INDEX
• 29 April 2020

Leading research institutions 2020

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A researcher at the University of California, San Diego, prepares to launch a 3D-printed rocket. Credit: Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Beijing has topped the Nature Index 2020 Annual Tables list as the most prolific producer of research published in the 82 selected journals tracked by the Index (see Graphic).

CAS’s Share of 1805.22 in 2019 was almost twice that of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which came in second. Research institutions from China, the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom feature among the ten most prolific institutions in the Index. See the 2020 Annual Tables Top 100 research institutions for 2019 .

(Share, formerly referred to in the Nature Index as Fractional Count (FC), is a measure of an entity’s contribution to articles in the 82 journals tracked by the index, calculated according to the proportion of its affiliated authors on an article relative to all authors on the article. When comparing data over time, Share values are adjusted to 2019 levels to account for the small annual variation in the total number of articles in the Nature Index journals. The Nature Index is one indicator of institutional research performance. See Editor’s note below.)

Source: Nature Index

Here is a selection of institutions from the top 25 of the Nature Index 2020 Annual Tables .

University of Science and Technology of China

Share: 455.82; Count: 1,231; Change in adjusted Share (2018–19): +25.6%; Place: 8th

Established by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 1958 in Beijing (then known as Peking), the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) moved to its current location in Hefei, the capital of the eastern Chinese province of Anhui, in 1970.

Today, it employs about 16,000 students, including 1,900 PhD students, as well as 1,812 faculty members, 547 of which are professors.

Nature Index 2020 Annual Tables

The institution’s strongest subjects in the Nature Index are chemistry and physical sciences. USTC is a global collaborator, counting the Max Planck Society in Munich, Germany, the University of Oxford, UK, and Stanford University in California among its close partners.

In 2019, USTC researchers were part of an international team that discovered a stellar black hole with a mass 70 times greater than that of the Sun. The findings, published in Nature , were mentioned in more than 300 tweets and nearly 200 news stories, according to Altmetric.

University of Michigan, United States

Share: 343.45; Count: 939; Change in adjusted Share (2018–19): − 3.3%; Place: 19th

Placed first among public universities in the United States for research volume, according to the US National Science Foundation, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor encompasses 260,000 square metres of lab space, which is accessed by students and staff in 227 centres and institutes across its campus.

With US$1.62 billion in research expenditure and more than 500 new invention reports in the fiscal year 2019, the University of Michigan is focused on innovative areas in research, including data science, precision health and bioscience. Its Global CO 2 Initiative, launched in 2018, aims to identify and pursue commercially sustainable approaches that reduce atmospheric CO 2 levels by 4 gigatons per year.

A 2019 study published in Science on honesty and selfishness across cultures, led by behavioural economist Alain Cohn, was covered by almost 300 online news outlets and reached more than 22 million people on Twitter, according to Altmetric. The study, which tested people’s willingness to return a dummy lost wallet, revealed a ‘high level’ of civic honesty.

University of California, San Diego, United States

Share: 340.85; Count: 1,048; Change in adjusted Share (2018–19): − 1.2%; Place: 20th

With US$1.35 billion in annual research funding, the University of California, San Diego, is a force in natural-sciences research, particularly in oceanography and the life sciences.

Its health-sciences group, which includes the School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, brought in US$761 million in research funding in the fiscal year 2019, and Scripps Oceanography, one of the world’s oldest and largest centres for research in ocean and Earth science, won $180 million in funding.

The university also has a focus on innovation, with more than 2,500 active inventions, 1,870 US and foreign patents, and 31 start-ups launched in 2018 by faculty members, students and staff. One such start-up was CavoGene LifeSciences, which aims to develop gene therapies to treat neurodegenerative disease.

Zhejiang University, China

Share: 329.82; Count: 815; Change in adjusted Share (2018–19): +10.5%; Place: 23rd

Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, is part of the Chinese government’s Double First Class Plan, which aims to develop several world-class universities by 2050. It employs 3,741 full-time faculty members and partners with nearly 200 institutions around the world.

Zhejiang’s total research funding reached 4.56 billion yuan (US$644 million) in 2018, with 926 projects supported by the Chinese National Natural Science Fund and 1,838 Chinese invention patents issued. The university is home to materials scientist Dawei Di, who was listed as a top innovator under 35 by MIT Technology Review in 2019 for his work on organic light-emitting diodes and perovskite light-emitting diodes.

In 2019, Zheijiang researchers published a Science paper with an international team that proposed a method for boosting plant growth while reducing water use, which could contribute to more sustainable agriculture practices.

Northwestern University, United States

Share: 317.12; Count: 762; Change in adjusted Share (2018–19): − 7.6%; Place: 25th

Founded as a private research university in 1851, Northwestern University, based in Evanston, Illinois, now also has campuses in Chicago and Doha, Qatar, and employs 3,300 full-time research staff. It has an annual budget of US$2 billion and attracts more than US$700 million for sponsored research each year.

The fastest-rising institution in the United States in high-quality life-sciences research output, Northwestern University was also 14th in the world in chemistry in the Nature Index 2020 Annual Tables .

Its star researchers include mathematician Emmy Murphy, one of six recipients of the 2020 New Horizons Prize for her work in the field of topology — the study of geometric properties and relationships — and physicist John Joseph Carrasco and neuroscientist Andrew Miri, who in February were awarded prestigious Sloan Research Fellowships.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-01230-x

This article is part of Nature Index 2020 Annual Tables , an editorially independent supplement. Advertisers have no influence over the content.

Editor’s note: The Nature Index is one indicator of institutional research performance. The metrics of Count and Share used to order Nature Index listings are based on an institution’s or country’s publication output in 82 natural-science journals, selected on reputation by an independent panel of leading scientists in their fields. Nature Index recognizes that many other factors must be taken into account when considering research quality and institutional performance; Nature Index metrics alone should not be used to assess institutions or individuals. Nature Index data and methods are transparent and available under a creative commons licence at natureindex.com .

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World University Rankings 2023

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023 include 1,799 universities across 104 countries and regions, making them the largest and most diverse university rankings to date.

The table is based on 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators that measure an institution’s performance across four areas: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

This year’s ranking analysed over 121 million citations across more than 15.5 million research publications and included survey responses from 40,000 scholars globally. Overall, we collected over 680,000 datapoints from more than 2,500 institutions that submitted data.

Trusted worldwide by students, teachers, governments and industry experts, this year’s league table reveals how the global higher education landscape is shifting.

View the World University Rankings 2023 methodology

The University of Oxford tops the ranking for the seventh consecutive year. Harvard University remains in second place, but the University of Cambridge jumps from joint fifth last year to joint third.

The highest new entry is Italy’s Humanitas University, ranked in the 201-250 bracket.

The US is the most-represented country overall, with 177 institutions, and also the most represented in the top 200 (58).

Mainland China now has the fourth-highest number of institutions in the top 200 (11, compared with 10 last year), having overtaken Australia, which has dropped to fifth (joint with the Netherlands).

Five countries enter the ranking for the first time – all of them in Africa (Zambia, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Mauritius).

Harvard tops the teaching pillar, while Oxford leads the research pillar. Atop the international pillar is the Macau University of Science and Technology.

Overall, 1,799 universities are ranked. A further 546 universities are listed with “reporter” status, meaning that they provided data but did not meet our eligibility criteria to receive a rank, and agreed to be displayed as a reporter in the final table.

Read our analysis of the World University Rankings 2023 results

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To raise your university’s global profile with Times Higher Education , contact [email protected]

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As  America’s first research university , we have been tackling difficult questions and finding answers since 1876.

Every day, our faculty and students work side by side in a tireless pursuit of discovery, continuing our founding mission to bring knowledge to the world. Whether you study engineering, chemistry, music, anthropology, or all of the above, every student here—no matter his or her major—is an investigator.

You can find research in whatever field you want because everyone here is doing some sort of research, and you can help out.

Explore supernovae alongside a Nobel laureate. Learn how to make music with lasers . Create devices that will save lives in impoverished countries . Take a grand tour of the cities that inspired some of the Western world’s great thinkers—Venice, Florence, Paris, or London.

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How research universities are evolving to strengthen regional economies

Subscribe to the brookings metro update, case studies from the build back better regional challenge, joseph parilla and joseph parilla senior fellow & director of applied research - brookings metro @joeparilla glencora haskins glencora haskins senior research analyst and applied research manager - brookings metro @glencorah.

February 9, 2023

When asked how to build a great city, the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, “Create a great university and wait 200 years.” Indeed, America’s network of research universities is one of its greatest sources of talent, entrepreneurship, and research and development—three inputs that in combination can fuel prosperity in the regions that surround those universities.   

Yet, while most strong regional economies have a leading research university, the reverse is not always true. That is because the link between university research, commercialization, and broader regional development is neither automatic nor immediate. Some universities are better at engaging with their surrounding industries and communities, and some regions have industries and communities that are more ready to translate the knowledge universities produce into economic development.  

The reality is that regional economies are complex, and their outcomes are influenced by countless interactions between markets and institutions—including but not limited to large research universities. Many inputs matter to regional economic development (e.g., business growth, job creation, skilled workers, well-planned built environments), but each is determined by separate regional systems that too often remain unintegrated. In other words, economic development is a “multi-system” process, but regions struggle with effective multi-system governance.   

A new wave of federal place-based economic policies led by the Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) and the National Science Foundation is seeking to change this dynamic through larger-scale, longer-term competitive challenge grants that bring together networks of institutions, including research universities, around a targeted economic opportunity. And in addition to their sizable resources, these challenge grants are designed to catalyze multi-system strategies by requiring a lead regional entity to coordinate organizations across those systems.   

While many types of regional institutions could serve this function, research universities are increasingly embracing this role because they understand that regional economic impact requires blending university-based research and talent, industry partnerships, and coordinated governance. Drawing on one of those programs—the EDA’s $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge —this post explores some of the most promising multi-system economic strategies that research universities are leading.   

Research universities’ regional economic impact depends on their relevance to surrounding industries and communities  

There is a wide body of literature documenting the positive economic impact of research universities. Regions that became home to a land grant university over a century ago have stronger economies today as a result. Increasing state funding to research universities leads to higher levels of local patenting and entrepreneurship. And for each new university patent, researchers estimate 15 additional jobs are created outside the university in the local economy. Indeed, as Daniel P. Gross and Bhaven N. Sampat write , major national research and development efforts (such as those during World War II) tend to shape the geography of American innovation via research universities.   

In a nation plagued by regional economic divides, research universities are a uniquely distributed innovation asset. Unlike innovation sector employment , high-growth startups , and venture capital , research universities are spread across the entire nation. Over 200 research universities located in all 50 states expend more than $50 million annually on research and development.   

Yet, there are limits to universities’ impact. In a comprehensive review of the literature, economists E. Jason Baron, Shawn Kantor, and Alexander Whalley offer three takeaways: “First, universities’ ability to affect their local economies solely through the supply of college graduates is limited. Second, the main channel by which universities can affect their local economies is through highly localized knowledge spillovers. Third, the literature provides little evidence that establishing a new university in the 21st century is sufficient to revitalize a lagging community and transform its economy. To help revive struggling regions, using existing nearby universities could be a far more cost-effective policy tool.”   

In other words, knowledge spillovers to surrounding firms and industries are strongest when university-generated knowledge is highly complementary to industry needs.  

Federal place-based industrial policies are linking research universities with local industry clusters and surrounding communities  

Against this backdrop, new federal programs are pushing research universities to deploy their talent and knowledge in ways that strengthen the industry clusters that surround them. Finding that knowledge-industry nexus was a central strategic exercise for the 60 finalists in the EDA’s $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC) , which asked applicants to craft five-year strategies that invest in advanced industry clusters in ways that benefit historically excluded communities.   

Research universities played a fundamental role in the competition. [1]  Among the 60 finalist coalitions, research universities served as the quarterback organization in 12, and participated in a supporting role in another 29. Over one-third of the EDA’s investments were awarded to research universities (although many universities are passing those resources on to partners).   

How did research universities propose to use that money? In our recent report analyzing the BBBRC, we categorized cluster projects into five categories: talent development; research and commercialization; infrastructure and placemaking; entrepreneurship and capital access; and governance. While research universities are, unsurprisingly, most heavily concentrated in research (41% of overall funding) and talent development (26%), they also proposed a significant number of projects related to tailored infrastructure and innovation facilities, entrepreneurship accelerators and incubators, and regional governance.   

The BBBRC exemplifies how research universities can anchor multi-system economic strategies  

Catalyzing and growing clusters requires investing in talent, research and development, entrepreneurship, and infrastructure. But regions often struggle to marshal the fiscal, political, and institutional capacity needed to overcome fragmentation in innovation, entrepreneurship, research, workforce, and industry leadership systems and act at a multi-system scale.   

Operating at a multi-system scale requires a quarterback organization to coordinate goals, strategies, and investments across those systems. Many types of entities can play this role, but research universities are natural candidates due to their relatively large scale and critical role in fueling innovation ecosystems.  

University utilization of BBBRC dollars signifies the potential for research universities to be a fulcrum for multi-system strategies. Indeed, one-third of the research universities in the BBBRC finalist coalitions proposed multi-system strategies, meaning they proposed to lead investments in at least three of the five project categories listed above.  

For example, through the New Energy New York (NENY) coalition , Binghamton University is seeking to reorganize the Southern Tier area of upstate New York into a hub for battery manufacturing and energy storage. The university’s multi-system approach will advance the cluster’s talent pool, supply chain, and supportive physical infrastructure. And through the NENY Workforce Development Initiative, the university will partner with other coalition members in higher education to expand existing workforce development programs and develop new training curricula. This partnership will implicate many of the region’s community colleges (including State University of New York [SUNY] Corning and SUNY Broome) and other research universities (including the Rochester Institute of Technology) in reducing the cluster’s barriers to entry and cultivating a diverse pool of well-trained employees to move into its high-wage jobs.  

Binghamton University will supplement these workforce development efforts through their NENY Supply Chain Program, where they will partner with the Alliance for Manufacturing and Technology (AMT), NY-BEST, Empire State Development, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), and other coalition members and industry partners to expand and improve the cluster’s supply chain. The expansion of this supply chain will enhance the region’s demand for skilled talent in the battery sector and create high-wage jobs for participants in the Workforce Development Initiative. These initiatives will support Battery-NY, the NENY coalition’s hub of infrastructure and industry experts working to advance energy storage technology, support cluster manufacturers, and attract businesses to the region.  

Georgia Tech has also proposed operating across multiple systems to bolster advanced manufacturing across the state through the Georgia AI Manufacturing (GA-AIM) coalition. To prepare the state’s future workforce, Georgia Tech will partner with Spelman College and the Technical College System of Georgia on degree and non-degree training options in artificial intelligence. As a complement, the Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) will promote the adoption of AI technology among small and medium-sized enterprises in rural communities across the state, creating demand for those newly trained workers. On governance, the Enterprise Innovation Institute’s Connect to Hire program will seek to connect historically excluded communities to these talent development and innovation initiatives. Finally, Georgia Tech is investing in new physical centers to enable commercialization and startup growth.  

Further west, the University of Nebraska is a major implementation partner to Invest Nebraska in the  Heartland Robotics Cluster ’s efforts to accelerate the state’s agricultural technology sector. The Nebraska Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NM-EP) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources will identify small, medium-sized, and startup manufacturers in rural and urban communities across the state and create a supply chain database connecting them to high-quality suppliers. In addition, the NM-EP will help these manufacturers integrate new robotics technologies into their existing production systems. And as part of the Heartland Robotics Cluster’s commitment to workforce development, the NM-EP’s technology adoption program will provide credentialing and certification to participating manufacturers for cooperative robotic technologies.  

In future work, we will profile the implementation of comprehensive university approaches to learn more about how these strategies play out. But these three examples suggest that several elements are necessary to work at a multi-system scale. First, universities must have existing innovation assets that industries value; in each example above, universities are working from existing strengths, not trying to build from scratch. Second, those universities need to have the staff, systems, and staying power to work with other organizations in the region, from government agencies to economic development organizations to community colleges, workforce boards, and community-based organizations. Often, this requires an entrepreneurial leader that can create and sustain strong working and personal relationships with other community leaders. And third, there typically needs to be an external funding source, such as a federal or state program, to rally regional actors around a more ambitious strategy. In this case, the BBBRC provided exactly that type of “jump-ball” funding effect.  

While multi-system approaches will not be feasible in every region, the BBBRC illustrates that when the conditions are ripe, universities, industry, and communities can pursue a more systemic approach to regional economic development.   

This report was prepared by Brookings Metro using federal funds under award ED22HDQ3070081 from the Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Economic Development Administration or the U.S. Department of Commerce.  

1.“Research universities” include universities that award a minimum of 20 research-based doctoral degrees and spend at least $5 million on research per academic year. Universities are categorized according to the 2021 Carnegie Classifications of Higher Education Institutions based on data collected in the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research and Development Survey.

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Universities in the United States conduct 31% of the basic and applied research in the nation, and thus, these institutions are vital in national development. Furthermore, at 56% of the national total, their contributions to basic research emphasize their importance in the nation’s knowledge buildup. 

University-led research is important because the federal government provides financial and technical support for about 60% of it! In the COVID-19 pandemic, federal government support for research universities has remained the one constant that can be relied on, too.

While federal support may have decreased since its peak in the 1960s – when it reached as much as 73% – many research universities still get the bulk of their funding from the federal government. 

Are research universities worth the money? Yes, they are! In a study , universities contributed 74% of the groundbreaking inventions in the world!

Their researchers were considered as either “most important or very important” actors in four out of 10 cases, too. These discoveries included MRI scans and polio vaccinations, both of which have revolutionized the medical industry. 

Quick audio summary:

Indeed, research universities play vital roles in society by addressing urgent challenges with research and development in particular and science in general. Academic researchers are confronting the challenges and finding solutions to world issues like climate change, freshwater, safe food, and diseases!

Here are the biggest research university breakthroughs: 

• The University of Delaware invented touch screens through funding from the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Science Foundation in the early 1990s. 
• Indiana University developed the FDA-approved fluoridated toothpaste that we use today. Procter & Gamble, the licensee for the patented product, made Crest from the formula. 
• Cornell University researchers proposed and developed the modern seat belt . 
• Harvard Business School, particularly Dan Bricklin, invented the spreadsheet students, businesses, and organizations use.
• Boston University developed a quick diagnostic system to identify malaria, Ebola, and other fevers with similar symptoms. 

In the pandemic, many research universities are also hard at work in the development of solutions. These include antiviral treatments at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, coronavirus screening tests at Johns Hopkins University, and vaccines for older adults at Harvard University Medical School. 

Despite their crucial importance in national development in diverse fields, research universities belong to a small club.

The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education reveals that only 266 universities can be considered research universities. Of this number, 131 universities are in the “R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity” category, and 135 belong to the “R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity” class. 

History of Research Universities in the U.S.

In the 19th century, Wilhelm von Humboldt advocated for the union of teaching and research (Einheit von Lehre und Forschung in German). This was the precursor of the modern research university, where education focused on accumulating knowledge in social sciences, natural sciences, and humanities. 

In the United States, Johns Hopkins is considered the first research university . For over 140 years, the university has maintained its standing as a world leader in research and education. Today, it has nine academic divisions dedicated to research and education and a non-academic division, the Applied Physics Laboratory, for civilian R&D. 

Roger L. Geiger has also proposed that the model for research universities in the U.S. was established by: 

• Five colonial colleges (Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, and Pennsylvania) 
• Five state universities (Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, California, and Minnesota) 
• Five private institutions were established as research universities (Cornell, MIT, Stanford, Chicago, and Johns Hopkins) 

Each of these universities played vital roles in different fields in the 20th century. Hollywood, for example, was strengthened through the works of Harvard and Columbia. Silicon Valley owes its existence partly to Stanford and Berkeley research, while Stanford and MIT were instrumental in creating the American military-industrial complex. 

Nowadays, most of the best research universities belong to the Association of American Universities (AAU), which has a 64-strong membership in the U.S. These are a select group of research universities dedicated to advancing robust academic education and research. Membership is in itself a badge of distinction among research universities. 

Characteristics of Research Universities

In a Hefei statement issued by the AAU, the ten characteristics of modern research universities were defined. These included the pursuit of excellence, major research efforts, and a commitment to teaching and research training.

In a National Academies report, research universities are defined as possessing values of excellence, initiative and creativity, and intellectual freedom. The conduct of research, faculty engagement in research and education, and the emphasis on the undergraduate residency experience are also emphasized. 

From these definitions, we can also surmise the following characteristics of the quintessential American research university. 

• The university has state-of-the-art facilities from which researchers produce new and exciting research. Keep in mind that basic and applied research is the main goal of research universities. Undergraduate and graduate education are also a priority, but research comes first, although it must also be said that both work hand in hand. 
• The faculty members possess professional credentials that make them experts in their field. Most, if not all, of them have made significant contributions to their fields, too, including published research. The professorial positions are also highly coveted because of the opportunities for career advancement and research funding. Many professors are also Nobel Prize winners in chemistry, physics, and medicine, among other internationally renowned achievements. 
• The students can choose from a wide range of areas of study, including the arts and sciences, STEM, and business and accounting, to name a few. The research areas are then just as diverse as the degree programs offered by the university, which means higher productivity levels. 
• The undergraduate students have more opportunities for professional interactions with graduate students, a symbiotic relationship in knowledge sharing, and research collaborations. The graduate students also have viable opportunities to participate in and contribute to possibly breakthrough research. Take note, too, that graduate students may teach the undergraduates resulting in the professors having more time for research activities. 

Research universities are also recognized worldwide for their academic excellence and breakthrough discoveries in science and technology, the social sciences, and the arts and humanities. Indeed, the best of them are considered the elites of the academic world with names that are as familiar as brands like Coca-Cola and Nestle! 

Where does the funding for research go in these universities?

The research expenditures cover costs related to the salaries of the researchers, the operations and maintenance of the facilities, and the supplies and equipment.

The funding may also be used in securing and maintaining patents, copyrights, and trademarks in line with intellectual property laws. There are also expenses for scholarships and grants, and incentives to attract and retain exceptional talent. 

While there are issues about research universities favoring research over education, it may not seem as big a deal considering their symbiotic relationship. With faculty members engaged in research, their works expand and enhance the foundations of knowledge taught at their institutions. Their work enriches the breadth and depth of teaching and learning in all institutions outside of their universities, too. 

Graduate students who participate in research projects become more knowledgeable and skilled in their areas of study, thanks partly to working alongside field experts. Graduate education is also enriched through basic and applied research.

In turn, research becomes more invigorated because graduate students bring their energy, enthusiasm, and creativity. 

These benefits are true, albeit to a more limited extent for undergraduate students. Many research universities provide undergraduate students with opportunities to contribute to the research process. As a result, their education becomes enriched through a first-hand understanding of the rewards and demands of a research career. 

Aside from their roles in breakthrough research in diverse fields, research universities also perform other equally crucial roles in society. First, researchers in social sciences, sociology, and political sciences, among other fields, provide new insights and analyses into issues and their possible solutions.

With a greater understanding of our society and its ills comes the opportunity to undertake new endeavors, move in new directions, and hope for new peace. 

Many of our current issues and solutions result from research conducted by social scientists, economists, and psychologists. Climate change, for example, may not seem like the realm of social scientists, but it will affect human migrations. This, in turn, can profoundly impact the political, social, and economic spheres of human life worldwide. 

Social scientists research so that humanity will have a deeper understanding of these issues and develop viable solutions to current and emerging issues. 

Second, research universities enrich human existence and experience through their contributions to the arts and humanities. Indeed, research isn’t just about science and technology because man cannot live by STEM alone.

Humanists work towards better interpretation and preservation of the world’s cultures, and their research enhances our appreciation of disparate cultures. Their work is a valuable tool in countering the religious and national extremism that hinders worldwide cooperation. 

Research in the humanities also enriches the American experience! We have a greater understanding of the origins and experiences that influenced our own American identity. We can then act in appropriate ways toward using our nation’s prominence in world affairs. 

Third, research universities have made and continue to make profound contributions to civic life, including economics and politics. By protruding well-educated graduates in diverse fields, these institutions are instrumental in creating new industries and maintaining existing ones.

While a college education isn’t a precursor to success, studies have proven the most successful individuals in current standards have a college degree. 

And with the U.S. being a bastion of freedom and democracy in the modern world, research universities are also doing their part in this aspect! These institutions are considered agents of a free society through their academic independence, particularly from government control, despite receiving federal funding.

Their self-governance was just a manifestation of their broad autonomy gained partly from the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Dartmouth College case. 

With that being said, however, not every undergraduate and graduate student will benefit from being in a research university, not even if it’s among the best. While individual circumstances will vary, you may be a good fit in a research university if you have these characteristics: 

• You plan to pursue graduate and post-graduate studies, which have a substantial focus on research (i.e., dissertations). 
• You have a keen interest in pursuing research in STEM, arts, and humanities, and the social sciences, whether basic or applied. You will find exceptional resources and support in research universities for this purpose. 
• You want to gain insights from the experts in the field, perhaps even work alongside them starting in your undergraduate years. 
• You have the academic ability and willingness to undertake a rigorous curriculum and undergo extensive training in your field. 

Keep in mind that the best research universities are among the world’s top universities for a reason! These are highly selective institutions that only accept the cream of the crop – and then boot out the ones who can’t keep up. 

METHODOLOGY

The research universities featured on this list are classified as doctorate-granting universities in the R1 category of the Carnegie Classification. These institutions are characterized by their: 

• Gives research the highest priority
• Full range of undergraduate programs 
• Proven commitment to excellence in graduate education
• Awards 50 or more doctorate degrees every year 
• Receives at least $40 million in federal funding every year  

These universities were also chosen based on these aspects: 

• The institution has at least one research institute or center with broad autonomy from the university but still under its general jurisdiction. 
• The undergraduates and graduates have the opportunity to observe, participate in and contribute to research projects done by the university and its attached institute. 

The overall prestige and the number and quality of breakthrough research were also considered in the listing. 

Top 25 Research Universities

Massachusetts institute of technology.

Cambridge, Massachusetts 

No other name is as resounding as MIT when it comes to research in universities! For 160 years, MIT has adopted a research-heavy approach with equal importance to basic and applied science. Furthermore, academic excellence is of crucial importance with an emphasis on learning by doing. 

While tenured professors, professional researchers, and graduate students engage the most in research, undergraduates are also provided with opportunities to participate. Through its Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), most undergraduates enjoy an enriched education through frontline research. 

MIT’s long list of distinguished individuals is only rivaled by its equally long list of notable innovations and inventions in diverse fields.

With 97 Nobel laureates and the Turing Award, National Medals of Technology and Innovation, and National Medal of Science and recipients, the AAU member’s record is astounding! MIT’s alumni have founded trailblazing companies like Koch Industries, Raytheon, and Intel, even in the business world. 

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Department of Defense (DOD), and NASA grant federal funds for MIT-led research. In 2019, MIT spent $773.9 million in research costs from various sponsors.

Cash income and royalties also beef up its research funds, and MIT faculty and researchers can use their research for profitable means. 

MIT has 30 departments that conduct their research projects, along with dozens of laboratories, centers, and programs dedicated to research. The interdisciplinary approach magnifies their research projects’ intellectual and practical applications, many of which address urgent societal issues. 

Aside from the on-campus research resources, MIT has allied organizations, like the MIT Lincoln Library, Center for Computational Engineering, and Clinical Research Center. MIT researchers are also known for their successful collaborations with leading organizations like the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, and Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. 

As an institution and in partnership with numerous organizations, MIT’s list of accomplishments makes it the best research university globally, hands down! A few of the most notable due to their profound impact on modern society are: 

• Sonar 
• High-speed photography 
• Genetic bases for Huntington’s disease, ALS, and cancer 
• Thermal death time used in canning food, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices 
• Content delivery network, an invention responsible for at least 15% of modern web traffic 
• Flight recorder with applications in NASA’s guidance computer systems 

STEM may be MIT’s strength, but its contributions to the arts and humanities cannot be undermined either! Morris Halle and Noam Chomsky are known for their work on phonology and generative grammar. 

Harvard University

As an AAU founding member, Harvard is known worldwide for its comprehensive programs in STEM, arts and humanities, and health sciences. The basic and applied research conducted here ranges from archival research to laboratory studies in basic and applied research.

Funding sources come from the federal government, industry organizations, and even private endowments that enable researchers to pursue their specific interests. 

Harvard Medical School (HMS) conducts groundbreaking biomedical research that results in the advancement of human life and stimulates the regional economy. The federal government is funding a majority of the research conducted here.

In 2019, about 70% of the $800 million-plus research funding came from the federal government. In the same year, the NIH or National Institutes of Health) awarded $1.65 billion in grants to HMS and its 15 affiliate hospitals and research centers. 

Undergraduates can participate in research projects by inquiring about opportunities at three main offices: 

• The Harvard College Research Program (HCRP) provides the professors and departments with ongoing or planned projects. Summer grants and term-time are available for students collaborating with faculty mentors on independent research. 
• The MMUF or The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program provides about 20 juniors and seniors with a term-time stipend in the spring term. Summer research funds are also available. 
• The Faculty Aide Program connects undergraduates who want to work as research assistants and professors looking for them (The Student Employment Office runs the program). 

Students may also research credit, but the policies are different between programs. Summer research can encompass diverse subjects from science and engineering to humanities and arts. 

Harvard has over two dozen buildings within its sprawling campus exclusively dedicated to scientific research. Their interconnected design allows several laboratories and offices to engage in collaborations across disciplines.

Research projects are characterized by multidisciplinary approaches in chemical, physical, and biological engineering, even computational sciences. Researchers may even be working on the same topic but with different perspectives, such as neuroscience research. 

The university’s research centers include the Harvard Mind/Brain/Behavior Initiative, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, and Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology. Harvard also has affiliated hospitals in and out of the country, such as Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Boston Children’s Hospital.

Harvard’s list of research-borne accomplishments is impressive, too, and contributes to its rightful reputation as among the world’s top research universities. These include the first transgenic mouse in cancer research, the decoding of gene structure now used in medical diagnoses, and the pacemaker development. 

Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, Maryland 

With its reputation as America’s first research university, Johns Hopkins continues to exceed expectations! Since 1876, JHU has remained true to its mission of sharing what it has learned through research and, thus, making the world better. With more than 1,300 research sites worldwide, the JHU name is a leader in global research across disciplines.  

The list of innovations brought about by JHU-led research is awe-inspiring, considering their profound impact on the betterment of humanity. These include creating a modern water purification process, the launch of genetic engineering, and the invention of CPR, rubber surgical gloves, and saccharine. 

Such is JHU’s commitment to research that it spent a record $2.917 billion on research and development in 2019, the highest spending for 41 consecutive years! This amount was an increase of 9.6% from 2018. More than $2.48 billion was funded by federal government agencies like NIH and National Science Foundation (NSF). 

JHU has nine academic divisions that conduct research programs, both as independent entities and as collaborators. These include the School of Medicine, the School of Engineering, and the School of Advanced International Studies. The Applied Physics Laboratory is noteworthy for its accomplishments, too. The interdisciplinary approach ensures that research studies are worth every cent poured into them. 

Researchers also work in collaboration with JHU-affiliated organizations resulting in a diverse range of projects. These organizations are well-recognized on their own, too, such as the Berman Institute of Bioethics, Space Telescope Science Institute, and Center for a Livable Future. 

JHU considers its faculty members to be its greatest asset for good reasons! Many of its past and present faculty members have made significant contributions to the betterment of humanity through their research projects. Their roster includes winners of the Nobel Prize, the National Medal of Science, and the Berlin Prize, a testament to JHU’s leadership across disciplines. 

Undergraduates have ample opportunities to engage in independent research, and about 80% of them take the opportunity multiple times during their stay. The early training has resulted in JHU boasting several faculty and alumni with memberships in the Howard National Academy of Engineering, Hughes Medical Institute Investigators, and National Academy of Sciences. 

JHU is also among the world’s most-cited institutions in the global research industry, aside from publishing more than 54,000 papers – and counting. The number of utility patents held by JHU and its researchers was also among the world’s top five in 2020.

The university’s Signature Initiatives for the Rising to the Challenge campaign, launched in 2013, is also making significant changes in global health, space exploration, and the science of learning. 

University of California – Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California 

UCLA is a top research university partly because of its huge research funding at $1.4 billion (2019-2020), a 38% increase since 2015 and the third consecutive year of increase. Such is its research spending that it’s #3 in total research expenditures among all American universities. The funding came from federal agencies (60%) and industries, nonprofits and charitable organizations, higher education institutions, and the state government. 

Such strong funding support isn’t surprising considering that UCLA’s research projects range from arts and humanities to engineering, medicine, and technology. With more than 330 degree programs, undergraduate and graduate students also have diverse topics for research.

UCLA’s faculty and alumni have the “who’s who” of elite individuals, too, with Nobel laureates, Turing Award winners, and members of national academies in sciences, engineering, and medicine. 

UCLA is also home to more than 350 organizations dedicated to research and its allied disciplines! Of these research labs and centers, there are 280 medical centers with more than 1,800 inventions. In 2020 alone, 394 inventions were recorded by the entire UCLA machinery. 

Many of the world’s greatest discoveries have also been made at UCLA. These include being the internet’s birthplace , making the first AIDS diagnosis , and pioneering PET scanning in brain function. Many of its alumni and faculty members have also made their mark in American society , from space exploration to biochemistry. 

Undergraduates have ample opportunities to become research assistants In such a research-friendly environment. The opportunities come in varied forms, too, including conference presentations, faculty assistantships, and authorship of works published in the Undergraduate Science Journal. 

The Summer Programs for Undergraduate Research (SPUR) are an excellent introduction to the graduate school experience. Graduate students are also provided with similar opportunities, not to mention that many research projects welcome visiting students. 

The range of research projects undertaken by students is a testament to UCLA’s open-minded approach. Students in digital humanities may work on African-American silent films while students in environmental science study oil drilling. Such wide-ranging studies are made possible through two Undergraduate Research Centers – first, in sciences; and second, in humanities, arts, and social sciences. 

UCLA also provides resources through its comprehensive library collections, including books and ebooks to clay tablets, scrolls, and data sets. With more than 13 million books – and counting – the UCLA Library is a researcher’s dream! Research support is also available.  

Georgia Institute of Technology

Atlanta, Georgia 

In recent years, Georgia Tech received more than $1 billion in annual research funding, launched 300 startups, and received 74 patents. Nine research institutes report to the Executive Vice President for Research, whose responsibilities include direct reporting to the University President. 

The oldest and most prominent research institute is the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), a nonprofit organization involved in applied research. Its research includes several disciplines, including homeland security, mobile, and wireless technologies, and public health, with the Department of Defense and Georgia as its major customers. Its funding comes largely from defense agencies, but it’s also involved in economics and policy research.  

The other research institutions are Georgia Tech Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology, Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering & Bioscience, and Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems. Each institute works as a fairly autonomous unit with the capacity for collaborative work with the others. 

Georgia Tech is at the forefront of many current issues affecting the public, either independently or in collaboration with others. In 2019, it received $21.9 million for the development of new techniques in flu pandemic control. It has also received $13.5 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to reinvent the toilet. Its frugal science approach has also resulted in many practical innovations, including a 3D-printed wheel made for just one dollar. 

While Georgia Tech evokes images of STEM innovations, it’s actually among the best universities for entrepreneurship! The Yellow Jackets have them covered, from researching the best business practices to contract and technology licensing. These are done through various entities, including the VentureLab, Advanced Technology Development Center, and Georgia Tech Research Corporation. 

Undergraduates are encouraged to join faculty-led research, too, usually alongside graduate students. The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program is a scholarship program for undergraduates involved in research. The package includes salaries, travel expenses, credits, and the opportunity to be a published author in an undergraduate research journal. 

Georgia Tech also has strong partnerships for research purposes with other educational institutions. Examples include the  Emory-Georgia Tech Predictive Health Institute, the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering with Emory University and Peking University, and The Centre for Next Generation Logistics with the National University of Singapore. 

Princeton University

Princeton, New Jersey 

Seeking knowledge and solutions is the motto by which Princeton researchers perform basic and applied research. The comprehensive scope of its research areas includes social sciences, humanities, natural sciences, and engineering. Undergraduate and graduate students have numerous research opportunities, from their capstone projects and dissertations to institutional research. 

Princeton is home to the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL). These are national laboratories managed in partnership with DOE and NOAA, respectively. PPPL is engaged in plasma physics and fusion energy research, while GFDL is known for its climate research. 

Funding for PPPL represents a substantial part of Princeton’s research funding – in 2020, it was $120 million for the total research funding of $370 million. More than 81% of its research funding comes from the federal government. The rest comes from foundations (12%), industry (5%), and private sources (1%).

With more than 120 members in the National Academy, Princeton is in the nation’s top 10 for most members. The Ivy League institution also holds the distinction of membership in the New Jersey Space Grant Consortium. 

The AAU member has several research facilities on its campus, too, each with its specific areas of interest, including: 

• The Confocal Microscopy Facility has outstanding light-microscope resolution equipment with medical and non-medical applications. 
• The Genomics Core Facility has state-of-the-art high-throughput sequencing technologies used in data analysis, microarray labeling, and experimental design consultation. 
• The Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials specializes in materials science and photonics, with its particular strength being in the marriage of “hard” and “soft” materials.  

Such is the huge impact of Princeton-led discoveries . These are evident not just among the R&D community but also in supermarkets and stores! 

Undergraduates can ask for the assistance of the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) in finding programs, getting started with projects, and accessing evidence. Funding for research is available, too, via the office. The Princeton Correspondents on Undergraduate Research acts as a support group for undergraduates looking for first-hand research experiences. 

The Princeton Research Day celebrates researchers through campus-wide presentations and other activities. The ReMatch program matches first-year students and sophomores with graduate students who act as mentors in academic research. There’s a nine-week paid summer research project for qualified undergraduates, too, under the ReMatch+ program. 

The Student Initiated Internship Program, an OUR-managed program, provides grants to undergraduates (non-seniors only) with the opportunity to present their projects at a mini-academic conference. Princeton also has several paid research assistant positions and fellowship opportunities, as well as research-focused student organizations. 

Stanford University

Stanford, California

Stanford’s body of research rests on its underlying principle of ” inquiry, investigation, and discovery.” Faculty members and students are encouraged to participate in original research and scholarship through funding and technical support. With 20 libraries filled with more than 9.5 volumes, research materials and subjects are abundant, too. 

The 2020 sponsored research budget of $1.93 billion proves that Stanford’s reputation for financial integrity and breakthrough innovations is well-deserved. With 18 institutes committed to life-changing innovations, Stanford researchers have made several discoveries and inventions, too! 

The research institutes include: 

• The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, a DOE-owned national lab managed by Stanford, is known for its materials and energy sciences, chemistry, and high-energy physics. 
• The Hoover Institution engages in studies of national and international affairs. 
• The Stanford Humanities Center expands humanity’s understanding of its earthly experience in the realms of history, literature, and philosophy. 

Other notable institutes are the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford Bio-X, and Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI). Stanford is also part of the Biohub in partnership with UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley; Biohub is a medical science research center funded by the husband-and-wife team of Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan. 

Stanford’s robust research support has resulted in numerous notable inventions , including antibody therapies, artificial facet joints, and data analytics. Many of today’s technologies are also the product of its researchers’ work, including digital music, digital subscriber lines (DSL), and Google. The university’s best medical inventions are the tuberculosis test, recombinant DNA, and the 293T cell line used in cell and gene therapy. 

Stanford offers undergraduate research opportunities and provides intensive support in different ways. Students can develop professional mentor relationships with faculty members and gather their research toolbox. Undergraduates have several grants for pursuing their research, such as the Chappell Lougee for Arts and Humanities. 

There are small and major grants, conference grants, and Beagle II grants for voyages of discovery. Departmental funding is also available with areas of study covered, including bioengineering, economics, and linguistics. 

University of Wisconsin – Madison

UW–Madison, an AAU founding member, is a Public Ivy institution known as much for its academic excellence and its prestigious accomplishments in the world of research. While the university’s ranking in terms of research spending has taken a hit recently, it’s still in the top 10 of NSF rankings. 

The 2020 research spending reached nearly $1.3 billion , still a staggering amount and an increase of 7.6% from 2019 figures. Since 2010, UW-Madison has increased its R&D spending by 26%. The university’s standing as a leader in research and innovation in the Badger State and the country is intact and growing stronger. 

The Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education (VCRGE) is the oversight organization charged with addressing the challenges faced by researchers. Aside from overseeing the research budget and expenditures, it also manages the 17 research centers across Purdue’s campuses. With its army of master’s and doctorate students who perform independent research, the Graduate School is also under its watch. 

Research funding for faculty-led research is also under the VCRGE. The annual Fall Research Competition, a cross-campus event, provides researchers with the opportunity to secure funding for travel and other expenses. Assistance for transfer technologies is also done through VCRGE funding programs. 

Undergraduates have opportunities to gain research skills through assistantships and self-directed projects. There are plenty of projects designed specifically for them, too: 

• Hilldale Undergraduate/Faculty Research Fellowships
• Holstrom Environmental Research Fellowship
• Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program (Open for low-income students and other underrepresented or disadvantaged groups) 
• Summer Research Opportunity Program 
• Undergraduate Research Scholars (Open for first-year students and sophomores) 
• Wisconsin Idea Undergraduate Fellowships (Project length varies from one semester to one academic year. Areas of study include health, community development, and the arts) 

UW researchers have made numerous scientific discoveries that changed the world in many ways. These include the discovery of Vitamin A, the revolutionary technique in canned vegetable production, and the mass production of penicillin. The university has also earned millions in income from patents on a blood-thinning agent, the synthetic form of dicumarol. 

California Institute of Technology   

Pasadena, California 

CalTech, an AAU member, is best known for its STEM research and its commitment to excellence in instruction in basic and applied sciences. Even without a medical school, its innovations and inventions influence the health sciences, partly because of its more than $270 million annual research expenditure. NASA, NSF, DHHS, and DOE are its largest federal funding sources for physical sciences, life sciences, and engineering, among other areas. 

National laboratories are among the research institutions that CalTech operates in partnership with the federal government. The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory is the most famous, but the Palomar Observatory, W. M. Keck Observatory, and Kerckhoff Marine Laboratory perform vital work, too. The Kavli Nanoscience Institute and Einstein Papers Project call CalTech their home, and it has an on-campus TCCON station, too. 

With over 50 research institutes and centers, graduate and undergraduate students have abundant opportunities for research work. About 90% of undergraduates are engaged in research during their stay.

A worthwhile endeavor made easier with brilliant mentorship from its distinguished faculty. CalTech is affiliated with Nobel laureates, Turing Award recipients, and members of national academies and ranked first among universities with the highest percentage of doctoral graduates. 

CalTech has several dedicated undergraduate research programs that have been externally recognized for their exceptional performance. The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) program welcomes CalTech and visiting students to work with experienced mentors throughout the research process.

The SURF@JPL is intended for aspiring engineers and scientists in space explorations, and it lasts for ten exciting weeks during the summer. 

The WAVE Fellows Program promotes diversity in the research community by welcoming underrepresented minorities, disadvantaged students, and first-generation college students. The Amgen Scholars Program is for visiting students interested in chemistry, biology, and other biotechnical fields.

The exchange programs are for CalTech students who will participate in research projects at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology and the University of Iceland. 

Summer isn’t the only term for great research opportunities as Caltech has a wide range of academic year projects. Independent research is encouraged, while collaborative researchers can rely on strong university support. 

The Office of Technology Transfer is in charge of the licensing and technology transfer of CalTech’s innovations and inventions . The protection and management of intellectual property aren’t just for pride but also for profitability (i.e., royalties). From 1969 to the present, more than 1,800 patents have been granted to its researchers.  

Columbia University

New York, New York 

Columbia University has an AAU founding member with a $1 billion-plus annual research funding from federal government agencies and other sources. Its researchers discover 350 inventions across diverse disciplines every year, while its distinguished roster of faculty and alumni includes 84 Nobel laureates. 

There are more than 200 research centers and institutes under the Columbia umbrella. Their researchers and scholars have led or contributed to scientific breakthroughs, among them many firsts, including the first nuclear fission reaction, nuclear pile, and evidence for the continental drift theory. Other Columbia-led innovations are the laser and maser , brain-computer interface , and nuclear magnetic resonance. 

Ordinary consumers have also benefited from Columbia’s inventions or innovations, which were made from its discoveries through consumer products sold in pharmacies and supermarkets. Examples include pharmaceutical products used to treat arthritis, glaucoma, blood clot complications, and cancer therapy. 

Columbia Technology Ventures is the management arm for the active license agreements and patents held by the university and its researchers. The university earns more than $1.75 billion in annual gross revenue from these intellectual property rights, too, while also making significant contributions to humanity’s welfare. 

There are several research centers and institutions under the Columbia brand, too, such as: 

• The Center for Climate Systems Research engaged in cutting-edge climate change studies, collaborating with academic and government partners, including NASA. 
• The Seymour, Paul, and Gloria Milstein Division of Cardiology have more than 180 active clinical trials and research studies collaborating with other Columbia schools. 
• The Celiac Disease Center is dedicated to finding treatments for celiac disease. 
• The Columbia Quantum Initiative promotes quantum technology for mass applications in health, information science, and meteorology. 

Columbia has several on-campus and online resources for its researchers. The Columbia University Library has more than 14.5 million volumes, the third largest of its kind in the country. 

Undergraduates have diverse research opportunities in arts and humanities, engineering and science, and social sciences. Fellowships are available in these three areas of study, the most notable of which are the John W. Kluge Research Fellowship and the Weatherhead Undergraduate Training Grant. Engineering students have about 400 research opportunities exclusively available for them. 

Publications of undergraduate research are also an honored tradition at Columbia. The student publications, such as the Columbia Science Review and Columbia Journal of Literary Criticism, have high standards for research papers. 

Cornell University

Ithaca, New York 

Cornell’s founding mission hasn’t changed much in its 156-year history! Then and now, it’s known for its excellence in education and research in diverse fields of knowledge, from the humanities to the sciences, as well as the theoretical and applied. Its researchers, including graduate and undergraduate students, work toward practical research applications, particularly in measurable ways. 

An AAU member, Cornell is also known for being among the world’s largest producers of graduates who have pursued doctoral degrees in natural sciences, engineering, and other fields. Indeed, research is an integral part of its culture and it has a $1.19 billion total research spending in 2020, ranked first in the State of New York. The DHHS, NFS, and DOD are the top three federal government sources, while the top non-federal sources are foundations, New York State, and corporations. 

Such huge research spending is manifested in the number of patents in its name and the number of startup companies it has formed through the years. In the 2004-2005 period alone, Cornell filed more than 200 patent applications, received 200 disclosures for inventions, and made 77 license agreements. Of course, its inventors and research units benefit from these license agreements through royalties in the millions! 

Cornell’s research-related achievements are grounded on Earth and in space, too. These include its long-term participation in the Mars mission, the discovery of Uranus” rings, and contributions to nuclear physics. 

Cornell’s campus has two national research centers – the Cornell NanoScale Facility and the  Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source, serving several scientific companies. The R&D community here is invigorated by research centers and institutes engaged in diverse fields, many unique. The Duck Research Laboratory, Virtual Embodiment Lab, and Equine Drug Testing Laboratory are a few examples. 

Undergraduates work with the Office of Undergraduate Research in taking advantage of the wide range of research programs and projects throughout the year. The scope and duration of research projects vary, but the typical ones welcome juniors and seniors willing to spend 10-15 hours every week on faculty-led projects. 

The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, a foremost cross-cultural initiative, adopts a multidisciplinary approach in research of development, international and thematic studies. Undergraduates may earn credits for research during the academic year as well as during the summer term. The Cornell Cooperative Extension Summer Internships, Cornell Agri-Tech Summer Research Scholars Program, and Cornell Center for Materials Research offer 8-week to 10-week programs. 

Duke University

Durham, North Carolina

Duke has a highly selective admissions process, with only 5.7% of applicants accepted for the Class of 2025. Such selectivity also applies to its research programs where the cream of the crop vies for spots. Duke faculty includes Nobel laureates, Turing Award recipients, and Rhodes Scholars! With distinguished faculty members and researchers, undergraduate and graduate students have exceptional mentoring opportunities. 

In the fiscal year 2019, Duke’s total R&D spending reached $1.226 billion , the tenth among all universities in the country. The university made it to the top 10 federally funded institutions and ranked fourth for funding for life sciences research. Business research funding isn’t far behind with $236 million in spending; corporate sources are among Duke’s largest contributors. The Duke Clinical Research Institute receives a large bulk of the funds for its clinical trials.

Duke’s track record in scientific breakthroughs is just as impressive! Its biomedical engineering department created the first engineered stents and blood vessels and the first real-time 3D ultrasound diagnostic system. The mapping of the final human chromosome completed the Human Genome Project. Its pioneering studies on chaos, nonlinear dynamics, and complex systems are recognized in the scientific community. 

The Office for Research & Innovation (OR&I) is responsible for overseeing the university’s research enterprises. The promotion and protection, including licensing of Duke’s intellectual property, also falls on its shoulders. 

The Undergraduate Research Support Office (URS) facilitates undergraduate research, including workshops, funding sources, and research assistantships. The yearly Visible Thinking Symposium showcases undergraduate research and an opportunity to forge connections in research. 

There are several undergraduate research programs administered by the URS, including: 

• URS Conference Grants are for expenses related to the attendance and presentation of research at regional and national meetings. 
• URS Assistantships are intended for research assistants needing financial aid. 
• The Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Fellowship (B-SURF) is for sophomores interested in biological and biomedical sciences research. Students spend eight weeks in the summer at Duke’s science laboratories and participate in faculty-led research. 

Undergraduates have also made their mark on the international stage! In July 2019, the Duke Electric Vehicles (DEV) club broke its world record when it traveled at 797 mph. The record was for electric vehicle efficiency. 

University of California – Berkeley

Berkeley, California 

UC Berkeley’s R&D operations are supported by external sponsorships as well as internal funding, including royalties. As of June 30, 2021, it received more than $1 billion in new research funding. More than 61% came from the federal government, while the rest came from California state agencies, industry, and nonprofits. The NIH, NSF, and NASA were the largest donors, and many of their research projects cover multiple years. 

As a Public Ivy and an AAU founding member, UC Berkeley has several research centers and institutes performing vital work in diverse fields. These include the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, Space Sciences Lab, Center for New Music and Audio Technologies, and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is also its partner in several major research projects like the Joint BioEnergy Institute. 

UC Berkeley’s researchers have made numerous innovations and inventions that have changed society and individual lives. While a few have debatable benefits, such as the atomic bomb, most have positive impacts that have lasted into present times. Among these are the immunotherapy of cancer, the discovery of 16 chemical elements, and the launch of the open-source revolution. 

Many Golden Bears alumni have also started their business revolutions! The Berkeley SkyDeck is a startup incubator that assists entrepreneurs in establishing their businesses through groundbreaking research, among other services. The most famous companies founded by alumni are Apple (Steve Wozniak), eBay (Pierre Omidyar), Intel (Gordon Moore and Andy Grove), and Tesla (Marc Tarpenning). 

Faculty members carry on the tradition of R&D excellence in over 80 multidisciplinary research units and 130 academic departments. Many of the faculty members are Nobel laureates, American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows, members of national academies, and Guggenheim Fellows, among other distinguished titles. 

Undergraduate research is also a staple of university life, and it’s just as diverse as the professional R&D programs. STEM topics are popular, but the same can also be said for music, language, and history. Law, politics, and literature are also favorite subject matters, and it’s proof of UC Berkeley’s love for knowledge in all areas. 

With three main libraries, expert faculty, and large budgets, undergraduate research is a rewarding experience for un undergraduates. The first-hand experiences enhance not only R&D skillsets but also open doors of opportunities for paid research positions in the future. The Haas Scholars Program, Berkeley Summer Bioengineering Program, and Townsend Center Research Apprenticeship are a few undergraduate programs. 

University of Michigan

Ann Arbor, Michigan

UMich, a founding AAU member, offers graduate programs in social sciences, STEM, and humanities, of which 102 programs are in the nation’s top 10. Indeed, its graduate students are among the pillars of R&D, and it’s thanks to the academic rigor and high standards of research integrity! 

With $1.62 billion in annual research expenditures, UMich is among the big spenders of research universities. The Medical School takes the largest share, followed by the College of Engineering, as UMich’s strongest suit. Among their notable accomplishments are the development of the gastroscope and EKG and the virtual memory architectural model.  

The technology transfer office, in turn, ensures that the university’s inventions will have commercial value and lawful protection. With 502 invention disclosures in 2019 alone, UMich scientists are among the most prolific in the state, if not the country. 

UMich has 227 research institutes and centers on its main campus. The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index, National Election Studies, Life Sciences Institute, and  Institute for Social Research are examples. Major research centers are on wireless integrated microsystems, reconfigurable manufacturing systems, optics, and the social sciences. 

The interdisciplinary research initiatives are as diverse as the degree programs offered at UMich, too. The current ones are in precision health, biosciences, sport science, poverty solutions, and global CO2. The humanities collaboratory provides generous grants for scholars engaged in the humanities and whose research will positively impact the human experience. 

Researchers and scholars have an extensive UMich library system to count on for their sources. There are 24 separate collections and 19 separate libraries within the system resulting in about 13.3 volumes. The JSTOR database called UMich is the original home, too, while the University of Michigan Press continues to produce old and new editions. 

The Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) is committed to creating effective research collaborations between UMich researchers and undergraduates. The latter learn from mentors whose expertise in their fields is respected by their peers. 

First-year students, sophomores, and transfer students have opportunities to develop their research skills, too, during the academic year. The reasonable requirements include attendance in research seminars where skillsets and ethics are emphasized. The Summer Research Fellowship programs are 10-week programs where students engage in full-time independent research. Funding support is available for supplies and travel expenses related to presentations or performances. 

University of Washington

Seattle, Washington

The state of Washington has a consistent presence in lists of the best universities and most innovative universities globally for good reasons. In 2019, for example, Reuters ranked the public university #1 among public institutions for its innovations and #5 worldwide. 

Such a brilliant performance in R&D isn’t surprising considering the amount of funding Washington receives from external sources. In 2020, the total amount in sponsored grants and contracts amounted to $1.63 billion . Of this amount, $1.23 billion came from federal government agencies and over $399 million from non-federal sources. 

Washington, an AAU member and the flagship institution in Washington’s public university system has contributed major innovations in engineering and medical sciences. Many of these have a significant impact on the quality of life among humans, including: 

• Professor Ben Hall led a research team that was successful in the genetic engineering of protein production. The process was used in Hepatitis B vaccine production that UW licensed to several biotechnical and pharmaceutical companies. 
• Professor R. Palmer Beasley advocated newborn inoculation against Hepatitis B and proved that Hepatitis B is the underlying cause of hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common type of liver cancer. 
• William Foege developed an innovative technique in smallpox vaccinations that resulted in eliminating the disease by 1979. 
• Don Baker came up with the concept of using pulse Doppler ultrasound which resulted in its use as a cost-effective diagnostic today. 
• Belding Scribner proposed Teflon shunt implantation in patients with chronic kidney failure, and Professor Albert Babb aided in inventing a home dialysis machine. 

Washington has also been instrumental in launching successful business ventures through its computer labs and other research facilities. Bill Gates and Paul G. Allen are among the best examples. Washington also has long-standing partnerships with corporate titans like Amazon, Microsoft, and Boeing. 

Undergraduate research is as much a part of Washington’s success, research-wise, as its professional researchers, faculty, and graduate students. Summer research opportunities abound, and these have fixed terms with full-time demands. These can last for 9-10 weeks and require 30 to 40 hours per week of research-related time. 

Undergraduates also cover most areas of research undertaken by Washington’s professional researchers. In the arts and humanities, the programs include UW-Exploration Seminars and Travel and Study Programs at UW Tacoma. The medicine and health programs are at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, and Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center. 

Yale University

New Haven, Connecticut

The 320-year-old Ivy League university has academic and research ventures across numerous departments, schools and colleges, and affiliated institutions. The cross-disciplinary collaborative research projects can be overwhelming due to the myriad of people, policies, and funding involved. But Yale is Yale, and its army of researchers has made and continues to make advances in the diverse fields of the arts and sciences.  

Yale also has its alumni and faculty as Nobel laureates, Abel Prize laureates, and Turing Award recipients. Yale is among the nation’s largest producers of bachelor’s degree holders who have achieved doctorate degrees. Many faculty members are also national academies in the sciences, engineering, and arts and sciences. 

The AAU member is also prolific in its research work, with many of the world’s greatest inventions made by its researchers within its historical halls. These include the invention of the first submarine (1775), the first cotton gin patent (1792), and the first Ph.D. in engineering (1852).  

In the art department, Yale isn’t a slouch either! Faculty at the English and Comparative Literature departments were behind the New Criticism and deconstruction movements. The Music School and Department nurtured music theory and established the Journal of Music Theory, the oldest and among the most influential of its kind.

Yale’s enormous R&D spending – approximately $1.07 billion in 2019 – is evident in its researchers’ consistent stream of inventions, innovations, and discoveries. The amount is also a huge jump from its 2006 spending of about $462.08 million. 

Undergraduate research is as robust as its professional research part, too! First-year students can even apply for the 100-plus summer research fellowships for the sciences and engineering. The research experience rewards 95% of undergraduates with science majors participate in faculty-led research. There’s also more than $1 million in annual funding for undergraduate science research. 

There’s no shortage of research laboratories at Yale, too, thanks to its 800 math, science, and engineering labs. These labs are in addition to the professional and graduate school facilities used for research purposes. Yale’s libraries are a goldmine of information, too, with a staggering 15 million volumes. 

Yale has its Science, Technology, and Research Scholars (STARS) Program, a nationally recognized initiative established to promote diversity in research. Study groups, faculty mentoring, and assistance for original research are among the services provided to its freshmen and sophomore scholars. Juniors and seniors can participate in the STARS II program for the continuation of their research. 

University of California – Davis

Davis, California 

UC Davis is also a strong magnet for research funding from external sources! The 2020-2021 fiscal year received $968 million in sponsored funds, increasing $27 million from the previous fiscal year. With its $514 million fund transfer, the federal government is the largest source, followed by $164 million from California. Industry sources contributed $116 million to the overall award amount. 

UC Davis can engage in R&D projects to advance human and animal health, food security, and environmental sustainability with such enormous funding. Of these research areas, public health and medicine received the highest increase in funding, with The School of Medicine receiving $368 million. COVID-19-related research, including testing, vaccination, and treatment, received $42 million. UC Davis’ College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the School of Veterinary Medicine, the College of Engineering, and the College of Biological Sciences also received their fair share. 

UC Davis’ status as a Public Ivy and an AAU member partly contributed to its R&D funding success. It also has several members of national academies, the Institute of Medicine, and Nobel laureates are also instrumental. In university research, the quality of faculty members has a profound influence on the quality of research. 

UC Davis also supports several research laboratories and centers. The California National Primate Research Center, Center for Poverty Research, and CalEPR Center are examples. Research with possible impact on humanity is also being done at the John Muir Institute of the Environment, UC Solar Energy Center, and Western Institute for Food Safety and Security. 

Undergraduate research at UC Davis is filled with viable opportunities, not barriers that often characterize undergraduate research in many universities. The course-based undergraduate research experiences (CURE) are classes where undergraduates and faculty collaborate on original research. This is aimed at newcomers and transfer students so that their UC Davis experience will be more meaningful. 

With numerous undergraduate research programs, it isn’t surprising that nearly 50% of undergraduates have participated in faculty-led research, including creative projects. The combination of research, mentoring and advisement, and academic enrichment is a major draw, too. 

The Mentorships for Undergraduate Research in Agriculture, Letters and Science (MURALS) are intended for students with plans to achieve a doctorate. The Biology Undergraduate Scholars Program (BUSP) is for students interested in research biology, and it involves a year-long seminar course. The NSF-CAMP or California Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation includes a 40-hour week of research work during the summer term and a 10-hour week at other terms. 

Michigan State University

East Lansing, Michigan 

MSU, an AAU member, has consistently increased its R&D spending in the past decade, a testament to its enduring commitment to world-class research. For 2019, its total research spending was $725.7 million , of which $331 million was spent on federally-funded research. The DOE, NSF, and DHHS are among the largest federal contributors, followed by the Department of Agriculture (DA), USAID, DOD, and Department of Education (DoEd).  

According to Nature Index, in terms of its contributions to the world’s prestigious scientific journals, MSU is one of the five leading U.S. universities. The number of primary articles is proof of its researchers’ prolific productivity in diverse fields including life sciences, Earth and environmental science, and the physical sciences. 

MSU is also a hub for scientific research within its sprawling 5,300-acre campus. The cutting-edge facilities include the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, and the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory. The W. J. Beal Botanical Garden, Wharton Center for Performing Arts, and Abrams Planetarium are also notable structures on campus. 

The Public Ivy is also a member of consortiums with other institutions of higher education and government agencies. The Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope (SOAR) was built with the Brazilian government and the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. The Michigan Life Sciences Corridor is a partnership with the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, Van Andel Institute, and Wayne State University. 

The MSU Innovation Center is in charge of the university’s tech transfers and innovation stewardships. In 2020 alone, it received 69 applications for new patents and received 62 issued patents. The innovations are a source of pride and profit for the university for this reason. The prolific productivity attracted $20.3 million in corporate funding and generated $4.3 million in licensing income, including royalties. 

MSU is also known for its support of entrepreneurship ventures that have earned it several accolades. The Outstanding Contributions to Venture Creation from the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers is a great example. 

The list of MSU innovations in its 166-year history is as impressive as it comes, too! The creation of hybrid corn, the improvement in milk homogenization, and the development of cisplatin and carboplatin (cancer-fighting drugs) are notable. 

MSU’s research programs are overseen by the Office of Research and Innovation, particularly research fund administration. Other services include licensing inventions, providing support services, and ensuring regulatory compliance and integrity. 

As for undergraduate research, the two main avenues are the University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum and the Mid-Michigan Symposium for Undergraduate Research Experiences.

Emory University

Atlanta, Georgia

Emory University, an AAU member, values independent and collaborative research in its students, faculty, and professional researchers. With ample opportunities for research, including consistent financial support, Emory’s research community is among the most productive in the country. 

In 2020, Emory received over $831 million in research funding for its diverse projects. Of its research initiatives, its health programs get the largest share of funding at $507 million from the NIH alone. About 20% of the NIH funding was poured into COVID-19 research in line with Emory’s thrust toward addressing the most pressing issues.  

And its health researchers are among the most successful, too, in terms of getting value for the money! Baricitinib, which Emory researchers first tested, has huge potential to become a COVID-19 treatment option. Its efficacy among hospitalized patients with a high need for respiratory support is promising. 

Emory scientists are also on the heels of finding solutions to the mosquito menace through big data and exploring the genetic lineage of modern populations. Through documentation of slave voyages, researchers also provided useful information about the arrival of enslaved Africans to the Americas. 

Many research centers on diseases and vaccines are affiliated with Emory, including the Winship Career Institute, the National Ebola Training, and Education Center, and the Tuberculosis Research Units Program. The CDC or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also works with the university by funding the Emory Center for Injury Control and Emory University Prevention Research Center. 

Emory’s Office of Research Administration and Woodruff Health Sciences Center are collaborative research projects’ frontline. These partnerships with educational and medical institutions like Morehouse School of Medicine, Georgia Tech, and Atlanta’s Children’s Healthcare. The Atlantic Pediatric Device Consortium, Translational Science Alliance, and the Center for Nanobiology of the Macromolecular Assembly Disorders are prime examples. 

The Undergraduate Research Programs complement the faculty, graduate, and professional research projects, partly by strengthening the talent pool. There are more Kirschstein-National Research Service Award pre-doctoral fellowship awardees at Emory than most research universities, too. The best ones are: 

• The SURE or Summer Undergraduate Research Experience program is intended for full-time summer researchers. 
• The Scholarly Inquiry and Research Experience (SIRE) Program connects undergraduates with faculty researchers looking for assistants. Undergraduates improve their skill sets through weekly classes, hands-on experiences, and professional interactions with faculty mentors. 

Graduate fellows work with undergraduate researchers, too, on diverse programs in the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. 

Ohio State University

Columbus, Ohio 

Ohio State’s enviable reputation among the world’s top research universities is cast in stone with its long list of inventions and innovations. Many of these inventions positively impact our daily lives, including freon for refrigeration, a vaccine for cancer prevention in cats, and processes for clean energy conversion. 

With $968.3 million in total R&D spending in 2020, it isn’t just a well-supported institution but also considered among the nation’s most innovative universities. Federal funding amounted to $539.4 million, and industry funding was $150.2 million.OSU’s research spending has also increased every year, from $875 million in 2018 and $929 million in 2019 to its current $968.3 million. Federal agencies that provided funding included the NIH, NSF, and the Department of Education. 

OSU’s extensive scope of subjects is due to its commitment to academic and research excellence, particularly in promoting change and innovation. There are 15 different colleges with specific research programs, including an international academic medical center and health sciences colleges. The latter include medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, public health, nursing, and veterinary medicine. 

Wexner Medical Center is noteworthy for its excellent rankings in 10 specialties, including cancer, diabetes and endocrinology, and neurology and neurosurgery. Researchers engage in life-changing studies that contribute to better patient care. 

Aside from health and wellness, OSU is also known for its research on food and agriculture through the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. Research on sustainability is conducted as an interdisciplinary science with the President and Provost’s Council on Sustainability and the Sustainability Institute at the helm. 

The research facilities at OSU reflect the breadth of its research initiatives. Examples are the Byrd Polar Research Center, David Heart, Lung Research Institute, and Aeronautical/Astronautical Research Laboratory. 

OSU also provides extensive resources to its researchers, including access to research tools including Buck-IRB, e-Tools, and PI Portal. These resources are also available to undergraduates engaged in research, usually under the supervision of faculty members. The Office of Undergraduate Research & Creative Inquiry offers grants that support undergraduate research.  

The Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (URAP) accepts applications for undergraduate research, too. The Department of Political Science has its Honors Research Distinction in Political Science and Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP). The Department of Psychology has numerous projects on human behavior, a few of which are for paid participants. 

Brown University

Providence, Rhode Island

Brown University’s track record in creating knowledge is tried and tested with its researchers engaged in cutting-edge studies throughout its history. As an AAU member, it has remained true to its mission of addressing the biggest challenges society faces through knowledge, too. 

In 2019, its R&D spending amounted to $256.95 million . This is a significant leap from its 2006 R&D spending of $195.7 million, and it’s the kind of spending with concrete and positive results. 

Brown has more than a few “first” distinctions, notably the first engineering program offered among the Ivy League and the first medical programs in New England. Its long history in the engineering and medical fields contributed to its prominence in research in these areas. Even its master’s and doctoral degree programs are among the oldest in the country, some of which date back to 134 years old! 

Becoming an undergraduate researcher at Brown is as challenging as gaining admission! Brown is a highly selective university with a reported 5.4% acceptance rate in 2021! Undergraduates compete for slots in several research opportunities, including fellowships and grants like: 

• The Karen T. Romer Undergraduate Teaching and Research Awards (UTRAs) program supports undergraduates working on faculty-led research and teaching projects. These are available during the academic year, including the summer term. 
• The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF) welcomes applicants from underrepresented populations who want to pursue doctorate degrees in key fields. 
• The Brown Venture Launch Fund (BVLF) assists student entrepreneurs in launching their new ventures. The fund uses a gated award system with three levels.

The VPR or Office of the Vice President for Research provides useful services to students and faculty engaged in research projects. The assistance includes idea conceptualization, knowledge dissemination, and compliance with regulations. There are also services related to funding, awards management, and commercialization of discoveries.

Brown also has an annual Research Achievement Award that honors the exceptional achievements of its researchers. The high-impact research covers various disciplines from engineering, computer science, and pediatrics to visual arts. 

There are also several research institutes on Brown’s campus. The Cogut Institute for the Humanities is dedicated to innovations in humanities, including curriculum advancements. The Institute at Brown for Environment and Society (IBES) studies the interactions between the human and natural systems. The Institute for Molecular and Nanoscale Innovation (IMNI) is an umbrella organization assisting centers involved in molecular, nanoscience, and materials sciences. 

University of Florida

Gainesville, Florida

UF holds the distinction of being the only AAU member in the Sunshine State. The public land grant university is among the country’s most comprehensive institutions, with numerous institutes and centers and 16 colleges on its main campus alone. The comprehensive range means that interdisciplinary research projects are the norm, not the exception, at UF. 

Researchers at UF are also well-funded due to the university’s enormous budget for the R&D sector. In 2020, total research spending increased by 1.5% from the previous year and reached $942.2 million . This was impressive considering a two-month pause on most research projects because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The federal government made its largest contribution of $397.2 million, while state and local governments spent $169.2 million. 

UF researchers are currently working on nearly 8,000 projects, including: 

• The 1FloridaAlzheimer’s Disease Research Center seeks treatments and preventive measures for Alzheimer’s and related dementias. This is a UF-organized partnership with Miami, Mount Sinai Medical Center, and  Florida International University. Funding comes from the NIH National Institute on Aging. 
• The Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering trains 100 teachers using probes and sensors for STEM education purposes. Funding comes from the DoEd.  
• The UF/IFAS TREC or Tropical Research and Education Center focuses on pest eradication and management of the avocado industry. The State of Florida and DA provide funding support. 

UF researchers and innovators don’t rest on their laurels either! In 2020 alone, the university, through UF Innovation, received about 400 invention disclosures. Its number of patents awarded is also among the highest in the country on a year-to-year basis. 

UF is also at the forefront of biotechnology research transfers, particularly in the commercialization of its innovations and inventions. This also applies to business startups, and UF has helped in launching 190 startups in 15 years. UF Innovate is the driving force behind new business launchings, aside from the venture capital and business incubators.

Licensing income contributes substantial amounts to UF’s gross annual revenues. The highest income generators are Gatorade, the famous sports drink; Trusopt, a glaucoma drug; and Sentricon, a system for termite elimination. 

The Center for Undergraduate Research (CUR) is in charge of matters related to undergraduate research, including coordination of activities and expansion of opportunities.  Undergraduates have various programs to choose from, such as the Undergraduate Research Assistantship Program and InvestiGators Research Honor Society. 

University of Virginia  

Charlottesville, Virginia

Thomas Jefferson must be so proud of what UVA has become in its 200-year-old history! As an AAU member and the State of Virginia’s flagship university, its track record in R&D is unparalleled in the Old Dominion. Its research programs have identified five priority areas – democracy, precision medicine, digital technology, environmental resilience and sustainability, and society. UVA encourages a coordinated approach between its research centers, institutes, and labs to amplify their impact. 

UVA’s annual research proposal budget is $2.02 billion, a combination of internal and external funding. In 2020, it received $436 million in sponsored research awards. Its School of Engineering was among the schools with the highest funding at $83 million. UVA reported 172 invention disclosures, too. 

North Fork – A UVA Discovery Park is a sprawling research park operated by the University of Virginia Foundation. Science and technology firms, academic institutions, government contractors, nonprofits, and startups make their home here. Many of these organizations have collaborated with UVA’s faculty, students, and researchers on diverse issues, too. These include developing a treatment for diabetes, cancer, and alcohol addiction, unmanned, autonomous systems, and cyber hygiene and resiliency tools. 

Among the organizations at North Fork are the MITRE Corporation, Battelle, and Signature Science. The UVA Applied Research Institute also makes its home here. 

UVA also recognizes faculty members who have made outstanding contributions to their fields and whose research and scholarly works have a profound impact. The annual Research Achievement Awards is the venue for said recognition. 

The VPR or Office of the Vice President for Research oversees the research programs at UVA, including providing support and safeguarding intellectual property. The UVA Undergraduate Student Opportunities in Academic Research Program (USOAR) welcomes first-year students and sophomores and transfer students under the Federal Work-Study program to apply for paid research positions. Students spend between five and ten hours every week on faculty-led research projects during the fall and spring terms. 

The Office of Undergraduate Research offers grants for student-led research, too. The Double Hoo, Harrison Undergraduate Research Award, and Kenan Fellowship are a few examples. The University Award for Arts Projects is notable for its focus on showcasing the arts-related accomplishments of deserving undergraduates. 

Rutgers University

New Brunswick, New Jersey

Rutgers University, a land-grant and sea-grant university with AAU membership, lives up to its reputation as the best and largest public university in the Garden State. With more than 170 academic departments, there’s an abundance of opportunities for exceptional R&D projects in the Public Ivy. 

The percentage of sponsored research in Rutgers” annual budget is nearly 14%, a significant chunk dedicated to advancing arts and humanities, social sciences, and STEAM. Rutgers also has a sizable endowment of more than $1.4 billion, and it’s also a source of funding for its pioneering research. 

Such is the brilliance of its researchers that Rutgers is the place where many life-changing inventions and discoveries were made! Several antibiotics, such as streptothricin, actinomycin, clavacin, neomycin, and candicidin, were discovered here by Selman Waksman, who won the 1952 Nobel Prize for Medicine. Researchers also developed robotic hands, tetraploids, and water-soluble sustained-release polymers here. 

The Rutgers University Center for Cognitive Science, where researchers in fields as diverse as electric engineering, philosophy, and linguistics work together. Such diversity in research comes far easier for Rutgers researchers because of the numerous research centers, institutes, and laboratories within its campuses. The RCSB Protein Data Bank, awarded $34.5 million in grants in 2019, transforms medicine and biology through impactful research, including drug discoveries. 

The Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository is the largest of its kind globally, and it’s instrumental in understanding the genetic causes of diseases. The organization also undertakes collaborative projects with other researchers, mainly by providing biomaterials and bio-banking services. 

Undergraduate research opportunities are provided in most of the academic departments, too. Students work alongside faculty members and researchers, resulting in enhanced academic experiences. The Robert Wood Johnson Medical School requires independent research among undergraduates with the stipulation of appropriate faculty supervision. Other notable research programs are: 

• The Undergraduate Research Fellowships provide funding for student-led research. 
• The Summer Science Program is for sophomores only, and it’s designed as a full-time, intensive, on-campus research experience. Students learn from mentors as well as participate in seminars, workshops, and social events. 
• The Summer Undergraduate Research Program in Neuroscience chooses 12 students for its 10-week, hands-on research experience. 
• The Rutgers RiSE program is a 10-week program where students learn about cutting-edge research in diverse fields from physical sciences to engineering. 

Purdue University

West Lafayette, Indiana

Purdue University, an AAU member and a public land-grant university, truly makes an effort to secure funding for its wide range of research areas. For 2019, more than  $520 million was secured in research funding, a substantial increase from 2018’s $454.5 million funding. 

The largest sponsors were from the corporate and foundation sectors (28%), while the federal government through the NSF and DHHS contributed 29% in total. Even DOD funding has increased to $54 million, an increase of 39% that Purdue has put to good use in programs like: 

• The Partners for University-led Solutions Engine (PULSE), a project financed by a $22 million infusion from USAID and intended for research development in developing countries.
• The $15.2 million fund infusion from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services was used in information dissemination related to Medicaid technical assistance, quality patient care, and opioid addiction recovery. 
• The DOE contributed $9.3 million to a new national center dedicated to a theoretical and experimental physics program. 

Purdue’s commitment to high-impact research has resulted in 135 research institutes and centers on its main campus. Each of these organizations addresses particular needs and issues in society, but collaborative projects are common.

Purdue’s Discovery Park is home to several research centers and allows multidisciplinary groups to work on collaborative projects. Large and grassroots centers operate from Discovery Park; large organizations typically have external funding, while grassroots centers have departmental funding. 

A few of these organizations are: 

• A.H. Ismail Center for Health, Exercise, and Nutrition is the venue for fitness and exercise studies.  
• Advanced Aviation Analytics Institute for Research promotes research in aviation/aerospace, applied engineering and management, and leadership. 
• Advanced Lyophilization Technology Hub promotes research in freeze-drying/lyophilization. 
• Bindley Bioscience Center performs research on life sciences and engineering. 

The extensive university library system provides reliable and relevant information sources for researchers in and out of Purdue. There are 15 separate libraries on the West Lafayette campus, including an undergraduate library and a special collections and archives research center. Libraries with specific subject matters are also accessible. There are more than four million traditional and digital volumes in Purdue’s collections. 

The Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) is the oversight organization that recognizes original research, creative work, and scholarship among undergraduates. Annual but non-renewable academic scholarships are provided to deserving students who work as full-time researchers. 

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In many lists of colleges, research universities are listed or ranked separately from other schools that focus exclusively on the undergraduate experience, like liberal arts colleges. Why? What's the point?

In this article, I’ll list the main characteristics of research universities, give you some information about what life is like at a few different schools, and help you decide whether a research university is the right choice for you.

What Is a Research University?

As you may have guessed from the name, research universities are universities where the main focus is on the research of professors and graduate students.   These universities may be less oriented towards undergraduate teaching, but they can still provide excellent experiences for students who are willing and able to seek out the resources they offer.

Here are some of the main characteristics of research universities:  

More Interaction with Graduate Students

Since all research universities have graduate programs associated with them, you’ll have more opportunities to interact with grad students as an undergraduate.  This may give you insight into your future or lead to collaboration on research projects conducted by more advanced students.  

State-of-the-Art Research Facilities

The main mission of a research university is to produce new and exciting research, and to do that it needs to provide the best equipment to its students and professors.  This is a big plus for students focused on the hard sciences because large research universities will usually have access to the latest technology.    

Wide Variety of Majors 

Research universities, due to their size and diversity, offer a wide range of majors to students.  Although it’s sometimes more difficult to change your major or create your own major at these universities due to a large bureaucracy, you’ll have lot of choice in the first place.  

Larger Class Sizes with Less Individual Attention

For most research universities, large class sizes, particularly at the introductory level, are common.  You may find yourself in lecture halls with more than 100 students, which means less attention and personalized feedback.

However, most of these large classes are split off into discussion sections taught by graduate students, so you'll get a chance to interact with other students and TAs.  Also, a s you take more advanced classes, class sizes will shrink.  Many of these universities also offer honors programs to qualified students where the environment is more like that of a small college.  

Distinguished Faculty

Research universities attract well-known faculty because of the resources and opportunities they offer.  You'll have the chance to network with very important people in fields that interest you. You may even be able to work side by side with high profile researchers on lab projects and become a coauthor on published research.   

International Reputation

Research universities have better reputations on a global scale than smaller teaching colleges. Since big discoveries and scientific breakthroughs often take place at research universities, they get more recognition abroad than other colleges that might have excellent undergraduate programs but less robust research capabilities.

Advantages for Future Graduate Students

Spending four years as an undergraduate at a research university can give you a leg up in the competition for graduate school admissions.  You can get letters of recommendation from top researchers in your field that will encourage other universities to accept you based on reputation. 

What Is the Student Experience Like?

The learning environment at a research university will be different from  the learning environment at a small college in most cases.  Here are a few examples of research universities along with some details on what the student experience is like. All student quotes are from the  Fiske Guide to Colleges 2015 :

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Learning at MIT is based on research and hands-on experimentation.  Students in electrical engineering and computer science have the option of pursuing a five-year degree , meaning they obtain a masters upon completion of their studies. One student says, “The average MIT student can be characterized as having a passion and singular drive for what they really want in life.” 

The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program facilitates student/faculty research projects and allows students to earn course credit and stipends for research. There are nine Nobel laureates on the MIT faculty at present.

MIT is home to many, many different research facilities. Currently under construction is a $350 million facility called MIT.nano, which will provide resources for students to do research in the exciting new field of nanotechnology. 

University of Colorado - Boulder

At UC Boulder, the 45,000 square foot Discovery Learning Center has 12 labs where engineering students can work on different technological challenges with high-tech capabilities and video conferencing.  A student says that “professors and graduate student instructors alike have taken a keen interest in students’ progress, success, and learning, making themselves available to students as a valuable resource for extra assistance with class concepts and assignments.” 

Programs such as the Special Undergraduate Enrichment Program and Presidents Leadership Class give high-performing students the ability to stand out from the crowd.  Students say that “It’s such a large, broad campus that just about any sort of student can be found” and  “every student, teacher, and department always has something new and exciting going on. It would be very hard to get bored here.”

Washington University in St. Louis

Students say that Washington University in St. Louis is “a place to grow and learn while having an unbelievably fun time.”  Undergraduates enroll in one of five schools: arts and sciences, architecture, art, business, or engineering , and the University also accommodates interdisciplinary majors and double majors.  

The medical school runs a faculty exchange program with the undergraduate biology department , giving biology majors the opportunity to conduct advanced lab research.  A program called the University Scholars Program allows students to apply for both undergraduate and graduate admission before entering college.

Unlike some research universities, Washington University in St. Louis gives students the chance to have one on one mentoring relationships with impressive faculty members.   According to one student, “one of my classes was a 150-person lecture class, and another was a 12-person seminar...despite these disparate class sizes, I was on a first-name basis with both of the professors.”

Should You Consider a Research University?

You may still be unsure about whether a research university is the right choice for you.  If these characteristics apply to you, you should consider research universities as options in your college search:

You Plan to Go to Grad School

As mentioned above, many research universities have programs that will put you on track for a strong graduate school application or even provide extended five-year programs that allow you to graduate with a masters.  These schools offer a more streamlined path to graduate school considering their reputable faculty and research opportunities. 

You’re Interested in the Sciences

The advanced facilities and resources at research universities will make the most difference to students who are interested in the sciences. Th e most cutting-edge scientific discoveries are occurring at these universities , so you'll have many opportunities to meet people who are leaders in their fields (and even collaborate with them on projects).

Libraries at research universities are excellent, but at most colleges you'll be able to get the resources you’re looking for in the humanities. If you’re interested in science, however, other colleges might not give you access to the same high tech equipment available at research universities. 

You Want to Do Research as an Undergraduate 

It should come as no surprise to you that research universities are the best places to do research!   This goes hand in hand with a desire to continue your education past an undergraduate degree.  If you plan on going on to grad school (particularly in the sciences), you will almost certainly be expected to do research as an undergraduate for your thesis and other projects. 

If you fit these characteristics, a research university may be the right choice for you, but it’s not necessarily the only good choice.  There are many small colleges that will afford you similar opportunities on a slightly smaller scale and may give you more one-on-one time with professors and a stronger advising system.  Students sometimes have to be very independent at research universities since the focus is not explicitly on undergraduate teaching.  However, these schools offer great opportunities to gather hands-on experience in the subject areas that interest you and connect with the brightest minds in any field.

What's Next?

Still trying to decide what type of college you want to attend? One factor you might consider besides a school's research capabilities is its status as a public or private institution. Read this article to find out which is a better fit for you.

If you're thinking of attending a research university, you may be looking at schools that are far from your home town. Learn more about the pros and cons of going to school out of state.

Not sure whether a large university is the right choice for you? Take a look at this article to see whether a big or small college will be a better fit for you.

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The ivy-covered campus of Princeton University, a private institution, is located in the quiet town of Princeton, New Jersey. Princeton was the first university to offer a "no loan" policy to financially needy students, giving grants instead of loans to accepted students who need help paying tuition.

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Though the Massachusetts Institute of Technology may be best known for its math, science and engineering education, this private research university also offers architecture, humanities, management and social science programs. The school is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, just across the Charles River from downtown Boston.

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Harvard University is a private institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston. This Ivy League school is the oldest higher education institution in the country and has the largest endowment of any school in the world.

Stanford, CA

The sunny campus of Stanford University is located in California’s Bay Area, about 30 miles from San Francisco. The private institution stresses a multidisciplinary combination of teaching, learning, and research, and students have many opportunities to get involved in research projects.

New Haven, CT

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Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut, offers a small college life with the resources of a major research institution. Yale students are divided into 14 residential colleges that foster a supportive environment for living, learning and socializing.

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Founded by Benjamin Franklin, the University of Pennsylvania is a private institution in the University City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Students can study in one of four schools that grant undergraduate degrees: Arts and Sciences, Nursing, Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Wharton.

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The California Institute of Technology focuses on science and engineering education and has a low student-to-faculty ratio of 3:1. This private institution in Pasadena, California, is actively involved in research projects with grants from NASA, the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Located in Durham, North Carolina, Duke University is a private institution that has liberal arts and engineering programs for undergraduates. The Duke Blue Devils sports teams have a fierce rivalry with the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill Tar Heels and are best known for their outstanding men's basketball program.

Providence, RI

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At Brown University, undergraduate students are responsible for designing their own academic study with more than 80 concentration programs to choose from. Another unique offering at this private, Ivy League institution in Providence, Rhode Island, is the Program in Liberal Medical Education, which grants both a bachelor’s degree and medical degree in eight years.

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Opinion | Biden administration proposal threatens…

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Opinion | Biden administration proposal threatens innovative research at universities across the country

UCLA just purchased a 700,000-square-foot property in Westwood that it’s planning to remodel into a state-of-the-art research park for quantum science, immunology, immunotherapy, and other high-tech fields. UCLA has billed the park as the “future home of discoveries that will change the world.”

Despite such visionary local leadership, however, policymakers in Washington are poised to scuttle innovation at universities across the country. The Biden administration plans to reinterpret a decades-old law, the Bayh-Dole Act, that is at the heart of university-based research and development.

The proposal would affect patents on any invention arising from federally funded research. It asserts the federal government’s supposed authority to “march in” and effectively seize patents when officials think a product’s price is too high.

In essence, the federal government wants to control the price of university-based innovations. Doing so would blow up the “technology transfer” system that turns breakthrough discoveries into real solutions. Products on the chopping block include life-saving therapies and quantum computers.

This would set us back to before 1980, when the government maintained control over all patents associated with federal funding. Because Washington had neither the capacity nor incentive to commercialize these inventions, and universities cannot make and sell products on their own, publicly funded breakthroughs rarely yielded tangible benefits.

Bayh-Dole solved this problem by allowing universities and other federally funded research institutions to retain patent rights for their discoveries. That enabled them to partner with private businesses that bring their inventions to market. In turn, universities collect royalties that support more students and more research, creating a continuous cycle of innovation.

Bayh-Dole unlocked the vast innovation potential of America’s universities. Before Bayh-Dole, federally funded research had produced roughly 30,000 patents, but the government had licensed fewer than 1,500 for commercialization. In comparison, 2022 alone saw nearly 17,000 patent applications filed for federally funded discoveries and almost 10,000 licenses executed. The Act supports millions of jobs, has helped launch over 17,000 start-ups, and has contributed around $2 trillion to U.S. output.

UCLA’s new research park helps illustrate Bayh-Dole’s influence. Google, which supported UCLA’s acquisition of the site, was founded to commercialize a patented search engine algorithm from Stanford University. Meanwhile, it was a revolutionary drug developed by UCLA faculty that sparked the launch of the field of cancer immunotherapy, a primary focus of the new park.

Private sector partners are critical for bringing such university innovations to market, and they rely on patents to justify their investment. If the government casts doubt on the reliability of these patents, firms will hesitate to license and develop early-stage research. Unfortunately, the new patent seizure plan will do just that.

The administration maintains it will only exercise this newfound authority when prices are “unreasonable,” whatever that means. But if the government can decide the level of profitability, especially based on such arbitrary, unpredictable standards, the private sector will avoid all promising inventions generated from federal funds. In the end, they will not reach the public.

Not only is the proposal bad policy, it is also illegal. The Bayh-Dole Act does not give the administration price-control authority. In fact, the law’s bipartisan architects, Senators Birch Bayh and Bob Dole, explicitly cautioned against it. And every single presidential administration, from both parties, has consistently declined to use the law to regulate prices.

UCLA envisions the new research park as “bring[ing] scholars from different higher education institutions, corporate partners, government agencies and startups together to…achieve breakthroughs that will serve our global society.” This type of cooperation has become the norm under Bayh-Dole. It will end abruptly if the Biden administration rewrites the rules of the game.

Fortunately, there are better approaches to improving access to drugs and other technologies. UCLA, for example, recently partnered with the UN’s Medicines Patent Pool and the student-led UAEM (Universities Allied for Essential Medicines) to require that licenses include an Affordable Access Plan for low- and middle-income countries. Leaving the crafting of such plans to private-public partnerships makes more sense than Washington big-footing it.

UCLA is investing $500 million in developing the new research park. The private sector will add much more. But for these investments to ultimately benefit the public, the Biden administration must lay off Bayh-Dole.

Amir Naiberg serves as associate vice chancellor and president & CEO of UCLA Technology Development Corporation. Andrei Iancu served as the undersecretary of Commerce for intellectual property and director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from 2018 to 2021 and serves as board co-chair of the Council for Innovation Promotion.

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FutureVU: Sustainability

Vanderbilt creates Center for Sustainability, Energy and Climate

Posted by hamiltcl on Monday, April 1, 2024 in featured , FutureVU , GHG , Research .

Vanderbilt University will harness its global expertise in scientific discovery, technological innovation, public policy, law and education to launch the Vanderbilt Center for Sustainability, Energy and Climate (VSEC).

The multimillion-dollar investment follows a recommendation by an interdisciplinary working group to address the crucial societal challenge of ensuring a sustainable world. It is the latest center to be launched through  Discovery Vanderbilt , an initiative of the  Office of the Provost  and one of three pathways in the university’s  Dare to Grow  campaign to support and extend the resources underpinning Vanderbilt’s most innovative research and education.

Previously announced centers include the  Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research , the  Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator , and the  Vanderbilt Center for Research on Inequality and Health .

“One of the defining hallmarks of Vanderbilt is our spirit of ‘radical collaboration’ where researchers across a wide range of disciplines join together with local and global partners to tackle some the most urgent issues of our time,” Provost C. Cybele Raver. “VSEC exemplifies this spirit, where this group of brilliant faculty members are taking on and solving complex and pressing challenges for climate, energy, and sustainability. It makes me so proud to see Vanderbilt so powerfully positioned to make tremendous contributions in these areas.”

Raver added that the university is embarking on a global search for an accomplished researcher and administrative leader to direct the center.

VSEC’s primary mission will focus on advancing multidisciplinary research that includes partnerships with communities, government, industry, national laboratories and other research universities. The center will also engage Vanderbilt’s world-class engineering, science, law, policy and education expertise to investigate areas such as:

• Energy Integration
• Resource Sustainability
• Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation
• Systems Risk, Reliability, and Resilience

“Vanderbilt’s School of Engineering is the ideal setting for this forward-thinking cross-disciplinary center,” said  Hiba Baroud , who co-led the strategic planning committee that recommended the creation of VSEC and who is serving as its interim director, said the center is unique because it tackles complex challenges that require advances in basic science as well as broad interdisciplinary applied research.

“We are taking a holistic approach to achieve sustainable development by examining how different aspects of climate change mitigation and adaptation affect each other,” said Baroud, who is the A. James and Alice B. Clark Foundation Faculty Fellow and Associate Chair of the Department of Civil Engineering. “We envision the center doing this not just in terms of making advances in different focus areas, but by pairing scientific discoveries and transformative technologies with implementation and policy adoption.”

Jonathan Gilligan , who was vice chair of the strategic planning committee and is director of the Vanderbilt Climate and Society Grand Challenge Initiative, said it is imperative for VSEC to view sustainability solutions through a wide lens, engaging all the schools and disciplines of the university on equal footing, as well as connecting with community, industry, and government partners.

“VSEC’s success will be measured by how deeply it engages the expertise of the entire university, including engineering, natural and social sciences, humanities, and professional disciplines such as law, management, and healthcare,” said Gilligan, professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences whose work explores the intersection of the natural sciences, social sciences, engineering, and public policy. “Its success will not be measured solely by the number of academic papers published or the amount of grant money it attracts, but on its ability to draw upon Vanderbilt’s distinctive strengths in trans-institutional and trans-disciplinary collaboration in order to advance the frontiers of transdisciplinary research on sustainability, to provide students with a world-class holistic education on climate change and environmental sustainability, and to apply the results of its research to delivering tangible benefits to society.”

Already, the center’s strategic planning committee has identified opportunities to perform rigorous testing of novel concepts and technologies by leveraging existing testbeds at Vanderbilt and developing new ones that address sustainable transportation, materials science, microgrid energy development and biomanufacturing.

The university seeks to hire a permanent director. Interested candidates should contact  [email protected] .

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NIH honors Vanderbilt with prestigious research prize 

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Mar 29, 2024, 2:45 PM

Vanderbilt University has been awarded a prize from the National Institutes of Health for its creation of the LGBTQ+ Policy Lab, which advances a culture of inclusion for sexual and gender minority individuals through interdisciplinary research and collaboration. The award—from the NIH Institutional Excellence in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility in Biomedical and Behavioral Research Prize Competition —recognizes specific interventions by academic institutions that promote inclusion within institutions and in the workforce at large.  

“Vanderbilt is relentlessly committed to inclusive excellence in pursuit of our academic mission. The LGBTQ+ Policy Lab powerfully underscores the ways that universities can benefit the wider world by bringing together diverse perspectives and experiences through rigorous inquiry and policy analysis. I am so proud that the NIH has honored Vanderbilt with this prestigious prize,” Provost C. Cybele Raver said.  

The NIH competition, announced in 2023 , is built on the NIH’s long-standing commitment to overcoming demographic disparities in STEMM workforces. Vanderbilt is one of 10 academic institutions honored and will receive a $100,000 cash prize from the NIH.  

Vanderbilt established the LGBTQ+ Policy Lab in 2017 as an interdisciplinary hub for researchers, students and community members interested in the causes and consequences of LGBTQ+ policies. The lab seeks to advance research in four ways: building an interdisciplinary research network, improving training and retention of sexual- and gender-minority scholars, diversifying the pipeline of high school and undergraduate students interested in careers in LGBTQ+-related research, and enhancing and scaling inclusion programs at the institutional level. Faculty in the lab have received more than $6 million dollars in external funding and published in leading journals and news publications, including Harvard Law Review, The Journal of the American Medical Association, NBC News and The Atlantic .  

“I’m honored that the NIH has awarded us this prize and hope our work at the Policy Lab can serve as a blueprint for other institutions working to increase support for and collaboration in LGBTQ+-related fields of study,” said Kitt Carpenter, University Distinguished Professor in Economics and Health Policy and director of the LGBTQ+ Policy Lab.  

In its prize memo , the NIH celebrated the LGBTQ+ Policy Lab’s interconnected work on multiple fronts, including:   

• Enhanced financial and mentoring support of postdoctoral scholars, graduate students and undergraduate trainees in SGM research.   
• Increased collaboration between SGM-related scholars on campus.   
• Transformative partnerships with allied organizations to advance SGM perspectives in policies and public discourse.   

Faculty from the LGBTQ+ Policy Lab will join other winners of the NIH DEIA Prize Competition at a virtual symposium in June 2024, where they will have the opportunity to present on the LGBTQ+ Policy Lab’s research and practices, as well as learn from other institutions.   

“For those of us engaged in LGBTQ+ health research at Vanderbilt, the NIH prize is a welcome affirmation of our deep, daily commitment to improving the physical and mental health of LGBTQ+ people,” said Tara McKay, associate director of the LGBTQ+ Policy Lab. “This work informs policies that save lives and improve health outcomes for LGBTQ+ people, and I cannot wait to share more about what we do with the other prize winners.”  

Visit the LGBTQ+ Policy Lab online to learn more about the team and their research.   

Keep Reading

Vanderbilt researcher wins grant to study risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease, dementia in older LGBTQ+ adults; experts present at Alzheimer’s conference

Vanderbilt launches Center for Research on Inequality and Health to study causes and consequences of health-related inequalities

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UB awarded $1.25 million grant to create clean energy research hub

The center will support upstate New York’s transition to an economy focused on clean energy, semiconductor research and artificial intelligence. 

The project, supported by Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, will tap UB’s expertise in materials science, advanced manufacturing, AI and more

By Cory Nealon

Release Date: April 1, 2024

Krishna Rajan

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Developing critical infrastructure for the emerging hydrogen fuel economy. Building energy-efficient microelectronics. Reducing the steel industry’s carbon footprint. Manufacturing the next generation of sustainable solar panels.

All are ambitious projects that University at Buffalo researchers and partner organizations will advance thanks to a new $1.25 million grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

UB will use the award, which was championed by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, to establish a research center that taps into the university’s expertise in materials science, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence and other fields.

The center will leverage partnerships with IBM, Linde, National Fuel and other firms – all in an effort to discover new materials that support upstate New York’s transition to an economy focused on clean energy, semiconductor research and manufacturing, artificial intelligence and other industries.

“On behalf of UB, I would like to thank Senator Schumer for his support for federally funded academic research, including this $1.25 million congressionally directed spending request. With Senator Schumer’s support, this new Center for Accelerated Innovation through Materials will establish a materials innovation hub that will help UB lead the state and nation’s transition to a clean energy economy.”

The Center for Accelerated Innovation through Materials (AIM) will be led by Krishna Rajan, ScD, Erich Bloch Chair of the UB Department of Materials Design and Innovation.

“With this funding, UB will establish a materials science research hub that connects industry, educational, workforce and community partners to state-of-the-art equipment and faculty expertise that accelerates the transition of cutting-edge technology into goods and services that benefit the American people,” says Rajan, who is a SUNY Distinguished Professor and SUNY Empire Innovation Professor.

UB will use the grant to purchase equipment – microscopes, spectrometers and more – to study in real-time the behavior of materials when exposed to gases and other environmental conditions. It will also fund the studies of graduate students, and support workforce training programs.

Initially, the center will target several areas of research, including developing infrastructure for hydrogen-based fuels, which are a green energy alternative that has the potential to supplant fossil fuels that power plants, vehicles, buildings and other systems rely upon.

Researchers will work with industry to explore new materials for pipelines to safely and effectively transport hydrogen fuel, which degrades when exposed to stainless steel and other materials commonly used in natural gas pipelines.

Another area of research will be microelectronics. The growing demand for computing power, including supercomputing facilities that support AI systems, is taxing the nation’s energy grid. AIM researchers will explore new materials for chips and other electronic components that more efficiently use electricity.

AIM also will work with the iron and steel industries, which account for 7% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Department of Energy. These industries could reduce their emissions by using hydrogen fuel instead of fossil fuels when converting iron ore to iron. AIM will work on new materials and processes for this transition.

The center will also study use AI and high-performance computing – specifically the fields of computational chemistry and materials informatics – to sleuth for eco-friendly materials to be used in solar cells.

A unique aspect of AIM, Rajan says, is that it integrates its experimental infrastructure with materials informatics, AI and high-performance computing to accelerate innovation in discovery and design of materials to establish a clean energy economy.

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March 27, 2024

Building the first highway segment in the U.S. that can charge electric vehicles big and small as they drive

Purdue University engineers John Haddock (left), Nadia Gkritza, Dionysios Aliprantis and Steve Pekarek stand in the lab where they are testing technology they designed to enable all electric vehicle classes to receive power from the road. (Purdue University photo/Vincent Walter)

Construction to begin on test bed in Indiana to develop wireless charging for electric vehicles traveling at highway speeds

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — At the “Crossroads of America,” Purdue University engineers and the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) are working to make it possible for electric vehicles ranging from tractor-trailers to passenger cars to wirelessly charge while driving on highways.

Construction begins as soon as April 1 on a quarter-mile test bed on U.S. Highway 231/U.S. Highway 52 in West Lafayette that the team will use for testing how well a patent-pending system designed by Purdue engineers can provide power to a heavy-duty electric truck traveling at highway speeds.

“Thanks once again to some engineers and pioneers from Purdue, we’re developing the world’s first highway test bed for wireless charging,” said Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb to attendees of COP27 , a United Nations environmental conference that took place in Egypt in 2022. “Please remember that one. Yes, we will be testing whether concrete can charge passing trucks — and don’t bet against a Purdue Boilermaker.”

The electric truck, provided by Indiana-based company Cummins Inc., will drive over the test bed as part of a pilot program tentatively planned to start next year. The hope is to electrify a section of an Indiana interstate in the next four to five years. 

A few other states and countries have also begun testing roads that wirelessly charge EVs. But making this possible for highways — and heavy-duty trucks in particular — is a unique challenge. Because vehicles travel so much faster on highways than city roads, they need to be charged at higher power levels.

The Purdue-designed wireless charging system is intended to work at power levels much higher than what has been demonstrated in the U.S. so far. By accommodating the higher power needs for heavy-duty vehicles, the design is also able to support the lower power needs of other vehicle classes.

Why design electrified highways for trucks first?

An electrified highway in Indiana would serve much of the nation’s traffic. Eighty percent of the U.S. can be reached within a day’s drive from the state’s pass-through highways. 

Building electrified highways with heavy-duty trucks in mind would maximize greenhouse gas reductions and the economic feasibility of developing infrastructure for EVs.

Heavy-duty trucks are one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions for the U.S. transportation sector because they make up a large portion of interstate traffic. Compared to passenger cars, these trucks also need a lot more fuel so that they can constantly transport everything from the packages we order to groceries.

“The so-called ‘middle mile’ of the supply chain, which refers to all the travel heavy-duty trucks have to do to carry goods from one major location to another, is the most challenging part of the transportation sector to decarbonize,” said Nadia Gkritza , a Purdue professor of civil engineering and agricultural and biological engineering .

But if electric heavy-duty trucks could charge or maintain their state-of-charge using highways, their batteries could be smaller in size and they could carry more cargo, significantly reducing the costs of using EVs for freight transportation. Since trucking contributes the most to U.S. gross domestic product compared to other modes of freight transportation, lowering costs for heavy-duty electric trucks could help attract more investment into electrifying highways that all vehicle classes would share.

“We’re developing a system that has the power to charge semitractor-trailers as they move 65 miles per hour down the road,” John Haddock , a professor in Purdue’s Lyles School of Civil Engineering, told U.S. News & World Report .

Highways that charge EVs like a smartphone

The technology Purdue is developing would enable highway pavement to provide power to EVs similarly to how newer smartphones use magnetic fields to wirelessly charge when placed on a pad.

“If you have a cellphone and you place it on a charger, there is what’s called magnetic fields that are coming up from the charger into that phone. We’re doing something similar. The only thing that’s different is the power levels are higher and you’re going out across a large distance from the roadway to the vehicle,” said Steve Pekarek , Purdue’s Edmund O. Schweitzer, III Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering , in an episode of “American Innovators,” a Made in America series by Consensus Digital Media . “This is a simple solution. There are complicated parts of it, and that we leave to the vehicle manufacturers.”

In the wireless charging system that Purdue researchers have designed, transmitter coils would be installed in specially dedicated lanes underneath normal concrete pavement and send power to receiver coils attached to the underside of a vehicle.

Other wireless EV charging efforts are also using transmitter and receiver coils, but they haven’t been designed for the higher power levels that heavy-duty trucks need. The Purdue-designed coils accommodate a wider power range — larger vehicles wouldn’t need multiple low-power receiver coils on the trailer to charge from the road, which has been proposed to meet the high-power demands. Instead, in the Purdue design, a single receiver coil assembly is placed under the tractor, greatly simplifying the overall system.

Purdue researchers have also designed the transmitter coils to work within concrete pavement, which makes up 20% of the U.S. interstate system . Other coil designs have only been developed for use in asphalt pavement. 

“The whole idea is if you can charge your car on the road while in motion, then you’re basically riding for free,” Aaron Brovont , a Purdue research assistant professor in Purdue’s Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, explained in a Scripps news segment .

The team has completed testing of how well 20-foot-long sections of concrete and asphalt could handle heavy loads with the transmitter coils embedded. The researchers imitated truck traffic by having a machine repeatedly drive a loaded one-half semi axle over the pavements.

Alongside the pavement mechanical tests, the team has also done lab tests verifying the electromagnetic performance of the bare transmitter coils and the receiver coils.

Laying the groundwork for highways that recharge EVs everywhere  

As reported by The New York Times , CNBC , Scripps , Popular Mechanics and other news outlets, the research has the potential to define what EV charging looks like on highways.

The team’s partnerships are not just in Indiana, but also throughout the country. In addition to its funding from INDOT through the Joint Transportation Research Program at Purdue, the project is affiliated with a fourth-generation National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center called Advancing Sustainability through Powered Infrastructure for Roadway Electrification (ASPIRE) , dedicated to progressing the field of electrified transportation in all its forms.

Most real-world deployments of wireless pavement charging in the U.S. are led by members of ASPIRE. Purdue is a founding member of ASPIRE and Gkritza is the campus director of ASPIRE’s Purdue location.

Headquartered at Utah State University, ASPIRE integrates academia, scientific research, and real-world tests and deployments across more than 400 members from 10 partner universities: Purdue, the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Texas at El Paso, the University of Auckland in New Zealand, Colorado State University, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Virginia Tech, Cornell University, and the University of Utah. These universities are joined by more than 60 industry, government and nonprofit members across all sections of the electric transportation ecosystem, as well as community partners and advisors.

ASPIRE’s members at Purdue and Cummins are also leading a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to develop an EV charging and hydrogen fueling plan for medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks on the Midwest’s Interstate 80 corridor. The corridor serves Indiana, Illinois and Ohio. The plan will examine the use of the wireless power transfer technology that Gkritza and her team are testing in West Lafayette.

“We don’t envision 100% of the roads being electrified,” Gkritza said in an episode of “Resources Radio,” a podcast by Washington, D.C., research institution Resources for the Future . “But we see the potential for dynamic wireless power pavement technology as complementary to an expanding network of EV charging stations that we will see very soon here in the U.S. We feel it would be useful in areas where charging stations are scarce in underserved communities, even supporting transit routes where initial charging at the depots and terminal stations might not be enough and there might need to be some charging in between the routes.”

The researchers anticipate that it may be 20 to 30 years before EVs can receive the full power they need while driving at highway speeds. It is up to EV manufacturers to decide whether to incorporate receiver coils into their vehicles.

“The technical obstacles that we need to overcome are not insurmountable. Those can be overcome with proper design,” Dionysios Aliprantis , a Purdue electrical and computer engineering professor, told The New York Times .

The team hopes that the results of their experiments could help convince the industry that electrified highways could work.

“We are Purdue University, where the difficult is done today and the impossible takes a bit longer,” Haddock said. 

ASPIRE’s Purdue location is part of a new Purdue Engineering Initiative, Leading Energy-Transition Advances and Pathways to Sustainability (LEAPS) . The initiative’s mission is to spark and nurture innovations within Purdue to create scalable technologies for the energy transition, transform the nature of energy-focused learning, and accelerate the translation of these technologies through academic-industry synergies. 

The researchers have disclosed their innovation to the Purdue Innovates Office of Technology Commercialization , which has applied for a patent on the intellectual property. Industry partners interested in developing or commercializing the work should contact Matt Halladay, senior business development manager and licensing manager, physical sciences, at [email protected] about track codes 2022-ALIP-69682, 2024-PEKA-70401 and 2024-PEKA-70402.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the new Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, and Purdue Computes — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives . 

Writer/Media contact: Kayla Albert, 765-494-2432, [email protected]

Nadia Gkritza, [email protected]

John Haddock, [email protected]

Dionysios Aliprantis, [email protected]

Steve Pekarek, [email protected]

Aaron Brovont, [email protected]

Note to journalists: Photos and video of the researchers and their experiments , in addition to b-roll of Purdue University’s campus , are available via Google Drive.

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Research Associate (Social Science Research Professional 2)

🔍 dean of research, stanford, california, united states.

SCHOOL/UNIT DESCRIPTION:

The Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) addresses critical issues affecting the countries of Asia, their regional and global affairs, and U.S.-Asia relations. As Stanford University’s hub for the interdisciplinary study of contemporary Asia, the Center produces policy-relevant research, provides education and training to students, scholars, and practitioners, and strengthens dialogue and cooperation between counterparts in the Asia-Pacific and the United States.

The Korea Program at Shorenstein APARC focuses on issues such as North Korea and inter-Korean relations, cooperation and security in East Asia, and the social, economic, and political forces affecting South Korea’s present and shaping its future. We collaborate with academic and policy institutions in Korea and elsewhere, and publish books, policy reports, and journal articles.

The Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab (SNAPL), a new initiative committed to addressing emergent social, cultural, economic, and political challenges in Asia through interdisciplinary, problem-oriented, policy-relevant, and comparative studies and publications.  The lab functions as a platform that facilitates network-based collaboration with academic and policy research institutions in Asia.

Our VPDoR Diversity Journey:

• We create a hub of innovation through the power of diversity of disciplines and people. 
• We provide equitable access and opportunity to all members of the community in order to do their best work, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
• We listen to and value all colleagues who bring diverse perspectives to the advancement and development of a respectful community.  
• We promote a culture of belonging, equity, and safety.
• We embed these values in excellence of education, research, and operation.

POSITION SUMMARY: The Research Associate, reporting to the Korea Program and SNAPL Director, will collaborate with the Korea Program faculty, and researchers.  S/he will undertake academic research projects regarding Korean Studies and Social Sciences, identify possible areas of research and evaluate research needs to address important and relevant policy issues related to Korea and Asia. 

On the research side, s/he will be responsible for identifying and evaluating potential research topics related to Korea and Asia; developing and undertaking research projects together with the Program Director; drafting/co-authoring content of the research projects and/or opinion pieces for media outlets; keeping up to date with research literature and Korean and Asian current affairs relevant to the Program’s research initiatives. On the programmatic side, this position will be responsible for assisting the Program Director in preparation for meetings, conferences, and classes; organizing events and conferences of the Korea Program; acting as a liaison between the Program and external partners or collaborators; and providing logistic support to the Program whenever requested and necessary. This position also occasionally requires traveling (domestic and international) for field research and/or to attend meetings and conferences. 

This is a 100% FTE, fixed term position. The term concludes two years from the start date and may be extended based on program need and funding availability.

For consideration, please submit resume and a cover letter. All final candidates must complete a background check.

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position. All candidates must be eligible to work in the US.

CORE DUTIES:

• Assist in designing experiments, exercising independent initiative and judgment gained from completing a variety of high-level assignments, including activities such as defining variables, formulating hypotheses, and selecting subjects, sources of information, or planning and coordinating experimental protocols.
• Adapt or work out the details of new, nonstandard procedures, with the supervisor providing only general guidance and suggestions.
• Interpret, synthesize, and analyze data using scientific or statistical techniques.
• Solve problems and make decisions which affect the direction of the research and result in independent contributions to the overall project.
• Select and apply standard calculations and formulas independently to compile data or process documents; often serve as a resource for research methods and numerical analyses.
• Co-author sections of research publications and regulatory reports as needed.
• Complete project-related administrative and budgetary responsibilities of a limited scope as needed.
• Supervise staff or students as needed, including oversight and instruction on techniques, as well as consultation on project work.

Additional duties include:

• Providing editorial support to the Korea Program and SNAPL.
• Representing the Program Director at various public functions, including program alumni meetings abroad and meetings with program donors.
• Assisting the Director in preparations for meetings, conferences, seminars, media interviews, and lectures.
• Handling media requests on Korean affairs in the absence of the Program Director.
• Assisting with the planning and organizing of Korea Program seminars and conferences and serving as a contact point for stakeholders. 

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: Education & Experience:

• Bachelor of Arts degree in an applicable social science related field and two years applicable experience, or combination of education and relevant experience in an applicable social science. 

Preferred Qualifications:

• Graduate degree in social science or relevant field is preferred.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Comprehensive understanding of scientific theory and methods.
• General computer skills and ability to quickly learn and master computer programs.
• Strong analytical skills and excellent judgment.
• Ability to work under deadlines with general guidance.
• Excellent organizational skills and demonstrated ability to complete detailed work accurately.
• Demonstrated oral and written communication skills.
• Ability to work with human study participants.
• Developing supervisory skills.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS*:

• Frequently perform desk-based computer tasks, grasp lightly/fine manipulation, lift/carry/push/pull objects that weigh up to 10 pounds.
• Occasionally stand/walk, sit, use a telephone, writing by hand, and sort/file paperwork or parts.

* - Consistent with its obligations under the law, the University will provide reasonable accommodation to any employee with a disability who requires accommodation to perform the essential functions of the job.

WORKING CONDITIONS:

• May be required to work non-standard, extended or weekend hours in support of research work.

WORK STANDARDS:

• Interpersonal Skills: Demonstrates the ability to work well with Stanford colleagues and clients and with external organizations.
• Promote Culture of Safety: Demonstrates commitment to personal responsibility and value for safety; communicates safety concerns; uses and promotes safe behaviors based on training and lessons learned.
• Subject to and expected to comply with all applicable University policies and procedures, including but not limited to the personnel policies and other policies found in the University’s Administrative Guide, http://adminguide.stanford.edu .

  For On-site or Hybrid positions:

The expected pay range for this position is $76,000 to $92,000 per annum. Stanford University provides pay ranges representing its good faith estimate of what the university reasonably expects to pay for a position. The pay offered to a selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the qualifications of the selected candidate, departmental budget availability, internal equity, geographic location and external market pay for comparable jobs.

At Stanford University, base pay represents only one aspect of the comprehensive rewards package. The Cardinal at Work website ( https://cardinalatwork.stanford.edu/benefits-rewards ) provides detailed information on Stanford’s extensive range of benefits and rewards offered to employees. Specifics about the rewards package for this position may be discussed during the hiring process.

Why Stanford is for You Imagine a world without search engines or social platforms. Consider lives saved through first-ever organ transplants and research to cure illnesses. Stanford University has revolutionized the way we live and enrich the world. Supporting this mission is our diverse and dedicated 17,000 staff. We seek talent driven to impact the future of our legacy. Our culture and unique perks empower you with:

• Freedom to grow. We offer career development programs, tuition reimbursement, or audit a course. Join a TedTalk, film screening, or listen to a renowned author or global leader speak.
• A caring culture. We provide superb retirement plans, generous time-off, and family care resources.
• A healthier you. Climb our rock wall, or choose from hundreds of health or fitness classes at our world-class exercise facilities. We also provide excellent health care benefits.
• Discovery and fun. Stroll through historic sculptures, trails, and museums.
• Enviable resources. Enjoy free commuter programs, ridesharing incentives, discounts and more!

The job duties listed are typical examples of work performed by positions in this job classification and are not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, tasks, and responsibilities. Specific duties and responsibilities may vary depending on department or program needs without changing the general nature and scope of the job or level of responsibility. Employees may also perform other duties as assigned. Consistent with its obligations under the law, the University will provide reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities. Applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process should contact Stanford University Human Resources at [email protected] . For all other inquiries, please submit a contact form . Stanford is an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

• Schedule: Full-time
• Job Code: 4187
• Employee Status: Fixed-Term
• Requisition ID: 102753
• Work Arrangement : Hybrid Eligible

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