Each November, the Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey is published by the National Science Foundation (NSF). This survey collects information from U.S. colleges and universities on research and development (R&D) expenditures, broken out by field of research and source of funds. The most recent survey was released last week. Given that universities just finished their fiscal years at the end of June, the HERD results are a measure of research activity from the previous year. An important takeaway from the survey is that funding of higher education R&D increased across all sources this year by $4.1B, which is the third straight year of growth. Total expenditures are now at $79.3B across the country.
For FY18, Carolina has once again been ranked 5th in the nation for R&D expenditures funded by the federal government, which is a tribute to the creative thinking of our faculty, staff, and trainees, and their success in obtaining federal grants and awards. Carolina also ranks 12th in the nation for overall expenditures, which includes those derived with funds from federal, state and local government, institutional funds, business, non-profit, and all other sources. These results are only one indicator of research productivity, but they do imply that the work coming from our faculty, staff, and trainees is having a major impact.
Coincidentally, the HERD Survey was published at the same time that Holden Thorp, former UNC-CH chancellor and current editor-in-chief at Science, published an editorial focused on university R&D funding. In his piece, Thorp points out that one of the joys of being a university provost/president is learning about all the new ideas generated by university communities. He also points out that, “universities are trying to compete with each other in every area,” and that “very few are willing to have a strategy that focuses on a particular area of scholarship or educational function,” but he indicates that would be a productive measure.
A key to Carolina’s success has been exactly that — a focused approach that turns aspirational goals into readily implementable initiatives. Interim Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz and Provost Robert Blouin have been leading an effort to articulate a 3-year, university-wide plan known as Carolina Next: Innovations for Public Good. The goal is to highlight the strengths and interests of our university community and to focus on areas where Carolina has the greatest chance to create change and shape the future. By doing so, we are meeting Thorp’s challenge “to focus resources in areas where you can be the best.”