Useful Stats: Federal R&D Loads for Students, Faculty by State

Most states recognize the importance university research plays in building a strong knowledge economy; it is a prominent component of the strongest regional technology clusters. Many states are increasingly focused on expanding their university research capacity and increasing the number of students in key science and engineering fields.

To help policymakers assess their relative position regarding university R&D, SSTI has through its Useful Stats column in the SSTI Weekly Digest produced or reproduced several tables standardizing relevant data across states using other commonly available data. An example includes federal research obligations or industrial R&D expenditures at institutions of higher education.

"R&D intensity" measures some data set relative to the gross state product; "per capita" simply means the  data set was characterized by a population set or subset, such as total state population or number of science and engineering doctorates. Other ratios and averages are used to standardize useful academic research data as well.

SSTI reminds readers of the above points because we are not aware of a catchy or simplified name for the statistics in this week's Useful Stats. Using data presented in Vital Assets: Federal Investment in Research and Development at the Nation’s Universities and Colleges (see related article in this issue), SSTI has produced a table presenting 2002 federal R&D obligations received by each state's higher education institutions as a function of the size of the faculty and as a function of the number of graduate and first professional degree students. States are ranked by each result.

To differentiate the measures from other academic R&D indicators, SSTI labeled them "R&D Load." For example, the U.S. average federal R&D Load per university faculty member in 2002 is $28,691. Per graduate student, the U.S. average federal R&D Load is $9,944.

Alaska captures the top spot for Federal R&D Load per graduate student at $33,030, yet ranks 25th for the faculty R&D load indicator. Maryland is first overall for faculty R&D load at $79,345 and only slips to second for grad student R&D load. Massachusetts ranks third for faculty R&D load, but falls to 14th for student R&D load.

The table is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/061404t.htm

What's it all mean? We think these might serve as another set of interesting measures for assessing a state's position relative to other states regarding university research, research infrastructure or knowledge economy inputs.

How the figures are interpreted and how they could or should affect tech-based economic development policy and programs, however, is open to much discussion. Schools building "speculative research facilities" counting on overhead from increased federal and industrial research grants to pay off the buildings could find the measure helpful in determining the validity of those approaches. Or, for example, would excluding students pursuing MBAs, law degrees or Masters of Education significantly alter the results? Would it matter if it did?

We look forward to your comments and suggestions. Please send them to usefulstats@ssti.org.