OSU ranked No. 11 for research spending

Ohio State University has inched closer to cracking the Top 10 for research expenditures at U.S. universities.

The National Science Foundation's annual report shows Ohio State's total research expenditures in its fiscal year ended June 30, 2006 hit $652 million, a 7 percent increase from $609 million in fiscal 2005. That places Ohio State No. 11 among universities nationwide and No. 7 among public institutions in 2006, the latest figures available.

Ohio State placed 12th overall and 8th among public institutions for fiscal 2005.

Research expenditures at colleges and universities nationwide totaled $47.8 billion in fiscal 2006, a 4 percent increase from $45.8 billion in fiscal 2005. Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University had the highest total at $1.5 billion, about 3 percent of all higher education research activity.

Ohio State officials attributed much of its recent growth in research spending - which they estimate surpassed $720 million in fiscal 2007 - to the state's Third Frontier initiative, a $1.6 billion project founded in 2002 to expand the state's high-tech research capabilities and spur the creation of high-paying in-state jobs. Working from that program, the university said it has done research in medical imaging, nanotechnology and the use of soy and corn materials as petroleum subsitutes in industrial products.

Ohio State's research expenditures grew 67 percent from $391 million in fiscal 2001, an average annual increase of 13 percent. That rate outpaces research spending nationwide, which increased an average of 9 percent each year.