How does Virginia measure up in university research investment?
Virginia ranks 14th but has scarcely moved over the past decade in the National Science Foundation’s research and development expenditures, the latest of which have been released covering FY2015.
Total R&D expenditures in Virginia grew by 40 percent from 2006 to 2015, just above the national growth rate of 38 percent. However, other states such as North Carolina, Georgia, and Maryland spend more on R&D and have grown faster than Virginia since 2006.
All the expenditures at Virginia public institutions total about $1.4 billion, just over the amount spent at the University of Michigan. The four Virginia institutions with the highest research classification from Carnegie (which includes Mason) spent $1.2 billion on R&D in FY2015, an amount just greater than at the University of Washington.
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