Pitt in Top 3 Among Public Universities, Top 5 Among All Universities in Federally Financed Research and Development Expenditures

PITTSBURGH—The University of Pittsburgh ranks third among public institutions of higher education and fifth among all universities, public and private, in its federally financed research and development (R&D) expenditures, according to the latest figures issued by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). 

The annual rankings, released by the NSF this week, cover fiscal year 2010. Pitt’s federally derived R&D expenditures for that period totaled $594.7 million; its total FY 2010 R&D expenditures added up to $822.5 million. The other two top public universities in the rankings of federally financed R&D expenditures were the University of Washington-Seattle and the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor; the top two private institutions in the rankings were Johns Hopkins University and the University of Pennsylvania. 

In last year’s NSF rankings, covering FY 2009, Pitt was eighth among public institutions and 13th among all universities, public and private, in its federally financed R&D expenditures, which totaled $463.2 million. The figure for Pitt released this week represents an increase in federally financed R&D expenditures of 28.4 percent.

“These latest rankings from the National Science Foundation are very good news indeed not only for Pitt and its sterling researchers, but for Southwestern Pennsylvania and the Commonwealth as a whole, because they represent in concrete terms the major dollars-and-cents impact that this internationally renowned public research university has made through its importation of hundreds of millions of dollars into the state, funds that support, directly and indirectly, thousands of jobs,” commented Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg. “The rankings emphasize yet again the enormous return on investment the Commonwealth receives through its support of this public institution while offering additional dramatic proof of the elite universities, both public and private, with which Pitt now keeps company.”

“The University of Pittsburgh’s remarkable success in attracting increasingly large amounts of federal support stems directly from the indefatigable efforts of our world-class faculty in pursuing trailblazing research that has made and continues to make life better for millions worldwide, from the development of the Salk polio vaccine in the 1950s to today’s advances in the health sciences, basic sciences, and engineering,” said Pitt Vice Provost for Research George E. Klinzing. “All of this is as it should be, since Pitt, as our region’s premier public research university, not only makes it possible for its students to learn in an atmosphere alive with creative ferment, but also, as part of its public mission, acts as a powerful economic engine.”

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4/16/12/mab/lks/jdh