Pitt Among Top 10 U.S. Universities In Federal R&D Obligations

The University of Pittsburgh is among the top 10 U.S. university recipients of federal science and engineering research and development obligations, according to the National Science Foundation’s just-released annual survey, based on figures for fiscal year 2006. The ranking connotes meritorious research undertaken at an institution by tallying the competitive grants and awards faculty researchers have received for successful proposals. The new survey positions Pitt higher than last year’s 11th-place ranking, which was based on fiscal year 2005, and higher still than its 12th-place ranking in the previous two years.

“Research is the area of institutional activity that most clearly distinguishes our mission from that of most other institutions of higher learning,” said Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg. “The recent NSF ranking reflects Pitt’s continuing rise among the ranks of the country’s leading research universities. It also reflects the talent, commitment, and high academic ambition of our faculty—and represents a record of which we are extremely proud.”

Successful Pitt proposals accounted for nearly $427 million of the $25.4 billion awarded. Joining Pitt in the top 10 are Johns Hopkins University, the University of Washington, the University of Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of California at Los Angeles, Duke University, Columbia University, Stanford University, and the University of California at San Francisco.

In the survey, the schools ranked from 11th to 20th are Harvard University, Washington University in St. Louis, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California at San Diego, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Yale University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Colorado, the University of Minnesota, and Vanderbilt University.