Duke University was the fifth-largest research university in the nation in fiscal year 2010, with $983 million in research expenditures, according to a preliminary analysis from the National Science Foundation's Higher Education Research and Development Survey.
The university's research expenditures for FY 2010 grew by 21.6 percent from the previous fiscal year, although part of that growth resulted from a change in how NSF collected data. The study showed the national total for university research and development spending growing by 6.9 percent during the same period.
National research expenditures, a number that reflects actual activity rather than grants awarded, totaled $61.2 billion for FY 2010.
In addition to the accounting change, much of the growth can be attributed to the federal stimulus program, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which accounted for $2.7 billion in reported expenditures during the year. Duke won grants totaling nearly $220 million from the ARRA program.
"Leaving aside the accounting changes, the results of the NSF survey reflect the overall ability of Duke faculty to secure a growing amount of research funding, including stimulus funds, in an increasingly competitive environment," said James Siedow, vice provost for research at Duke.
Duke's ranking is led by $234 million in private-sector funding for research, much of it through the Duke Clinical Research Institute, which does clinical drug trials and medical outcomes research. In federally funded research expenditures, Duke ranks 13th nationally.
"This is a great reminder of the vital importance of the relationship between Duke and the federal government and the high regard federal funding agencies have for the work of our faculty and students," said Christopher Simmons, associate vice president for federal relations at Duke.
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NSF press release on the study: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf12313/
Infographic: A Decade of Research Growth at Duke http://today.duke.edu/2012/03/researchgrowth (Data is through FY 2009)