The University of Louisiana at Lafayette has taken its place in the top level of the nation’s research institutions
Research funding in NSF top 10 for business share
Mon, 09/30/2013 - 4:58pm
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette is among the top 10 universities in the United States for its percentage of research and development expenditures funded by business.
The National Science Foundation announced its recently published findings. Its September 2013 report shows that businesses provided 19.3 percent of UL Lafayette’s total $69.9 million in research and development funding. Based on research and development expenditures in fiscal year 2011, the overall U.S. average was 4.9 percent.
UL Lafayette was the only university on the Gulf Coast to make the top 10.
“This ranking is significant because it conveys the strong relationship that the University has with business and industry. It shows that companies support our researchers’ work because it is valuable,” said University President Dr. Joseph Savoie.
Dr. Ramesh Kolluru, interim vice president for Research at the University, said research is especially rewarding when it is used to help businesses find solutions to real-world problems.
“This makes UL Lafayette a go-to partner for business and industry,” he said.
“While pushing the frontiers of basic science every day through their exemplary scholarship, our researchers are tremendously committed to applying their capabilities to provide solutions to problems. Our faculty live the research mission of the University, which states that UL Lafayette is Committed to Research for a Reason.”
Kolluru noted that the University recognizes that federal and state governments’ research funding is vulnerable when the national economy is unstable.
“Universities cannot rely on government funding alone for research during times of national economic uncertainty. So, while we continue to push to expand our federally funded R&D portfolio, it’s healthier for our university to have a mix of public and private funding sources.”
Businesses that partnered with UL Lafayette in 2011 represented a range of fields, from pharmaceutical companies to energy, digital media, petrochemical and manufacturing.
The other nine of the top 10 universities in the United States with the highest percentage of research and development expenditures funded by business are:
- Witchita State University;
- University of Tulsa;
- State University of New York, College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering;
- Columbia University, Teachers College;
- Ball State University;
- Mercer University;
- Colorado School of Mines
- Duke University;
- Polytechnic Institute of New York University.·
Clarkson University, Creighton University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) were ranked 11-13.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering.