In the latest Higher Education Research & Development survey, recently released by the National Science Foundation, UGA placed 55th among all U.S. universities for total research and development expenditures, based on data from the 2019 fiscal year.
The ranking is an improvement of two spots over last year’s HERD report, based on 2018 fiscal year data. Also, UGA advanced four places to No. 82 for federally funded R&D expenditures. HERD data lags more than a year behind real time, however the NSF rankings still provide a useful, publicly accessible benchmark of UGA’s research growth compared to other universities, colleges and research institutions.
Last fall, UGA announced a total of $495 million in R&D spending in fiscal year 2020, a record high and nearly $18 million more than the figure on which these latest HERD rankings are based. During the seven years from FY2013 to FY2020, the university’s R&D expenditures rose by 41%.
UGA has grown its research enterprise through faculty hiring initiatives, seed grant programs, enhanced administrative support to faculty seeking external research funding, and capital projects dedicated to research, such as the ongoing effort to modernize and expand Science Hill, including the I-STEM Research Building currently under construction.