Download Research Expenditures and Productivity in the University of Alaska System and more Essays (high school) Logistics in PDF only on Docsity!
Research in the UA System
Presented to the University of Alaska Board of Regents
Academic and Student Affairs Committee
December, 2012
Prepared by Ian Olson, Director of UAF Planning and Institutional Research, PAIR staff members Laura
Delisle and Heike Merkel, Director of UAF Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Activity Barbara
Taylor, UAS Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences and Vice Provost for Research and Creative
Expression Dr. Marsha Sousa, UAA Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Studies Dr. Helena
Wisniewski , and UAF Provost Dr. Susan Henrichs.
Table of Contents
- Strategic Directions in Research
- Research Funding
- Total Research Expenditures .............................................................................................
- Research Funding Sources.................................................................................................
- Trends in Research Expenditures ......................................................................................
- Research Funding Impacts
- Students and Research
- Graduate Students ............................................................................................................
- Undergraduate Students ...................................................................................................
- Research Facilities
- Locations of UAF Research Facilities .................................................................................
- Research Productivity and Quality
- Method ..............................................................................................................................
- Results and Analysis ..........................................................................................................
- Creative and Scholarly Activity......................................................................................
- UAA ....................................................................................................................................
- UAF ....................................................................................................................................
- UAS ....................................................................................................................................
- Intellectual Property and Commercialization
- UAA ....................................................................................................................................
- UAF ....................................................................................................................................
- The Future of UA Research
faculty and students contribute to the university, communities and the State through Creative and Scholarly Activity. UA, and particularly UAF, has extensive and in some cases unique Research Facilities and ready access to a vast natural laboratory of tundra, boreal and temperate forests, volcanoes and glaciers, coasts and bordering oceans and seas. Given these strengths, UA research is poised to make strong contributions to the goals of UA Strategic Directions.
Research Funding
Total Research Expenditures
The UA system has long used sponsored research expenditures as a means of monitoring research
activity, and this is a commonly used measure at other universities as well.
UAF has 90% of the federally sponsored research expenditures for the UA system. UAA has 9% and UAS
1%. UAF’s FY12 figure includes $7.6M in ARRA funds. The UA research expenditures report was
prepared by the method used for the NSF Higher Education Research and Development Survey. Information provided by UA Information Systems, Banner Extracts 2012.
FY12 Federally Sponsored Research
Expenditures by MAU (Millions of $)
UAF
UAA
UAS
Research Funding Sources
UAF secures its federal research funding from many agencies. In FY12 the National Science Foundation
(NSF) and NASA were the leading sources, but accounted for only 42% of the total. Department of
Interior (DoI), Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS
including NIH), and Department of Commerce (DoC, primarily NOAA) were also major contributors.
The Department of Education (DoE), Department of Agriculture (DoA), Department of Transportation
(DoT), and other agencies together provided a total of $16M. The UA research expenditures report was
prepared by the method used for the NSF Higher Education Research and Development Survey.
Information provided by UA Information Systems, Banner Extracts 2012.
UAF FY12 Federal Research Expenditures by Source
(Millions of $)
NSF
NASA
DoI
DoD
DHHS
DoC
DoE
DoA
DoT
Other
UAS secured about $1M in federally sponsored research, and half of that was from NSF. The UA
research expenditures report was prepared by the method used for the NSF Higher Education Research
and Development Survey. Information provided by UA Information Systems, Banner Extracts 2012.
UAS FY12 Federal Research Expenditures by Source
(Millions of $)
NSF
NASA
DoI
DHHS
DoC
DoA
DoT
Other
UAF research is supported predominantly by federal funds and by UA unrestricted funds. The State of
Alaska provides about 10% of UAF’s restricted research funding. The UA research expenditures report
was prepared by the method used for the NSF Higher Education Research and Development Survey. Information provided by UA Information Systems, Banner Extracts 2012.
UAF FY12 Research Expenditures by Source Type
(Millions of $)
Federal
ARRA Funds
State/Local
RSA Funds
Business
Non-profit
Other
Institutional
UAS research is supported almost entirely by federal funds and by UA unrestricted funds. The UA
research expenditures report was prepared by the method used for the NSF Higher Education Research
and Development Survey. Information provided by UA Information Systems, Banner Extracts 2012.
UAS FY12 Research Expenditures by Source Type
(Millions of $)
Federal
State/Local
Non-Profit
Institutional
Table 1. Research Expenditure Sources for UAF and UAA Peers
Federal % State % Institutional % Business % UAF Peer Average 60% 13% 21% 3% UAA Peer Average 63% 8% 20% 3% Leading Research Universities in the West Average 62% 7% 16% 6% Data are from the NSF Higher Education Research and Development Survey results (http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf12330/). Foundation and other funding sources are not shown.
UA research funding sources are very similar to those of peer institutions, as shown above. UAA peers are on the right half of the graph, and UAF peers on the left. UAA and UAF are marked by green circles and blue diamonds, respectively. No matter the size of the institution, federal funding is dominant. Institutions with a lower proportion of federal support generally have higher levels of institutional and state support for research. Business and industry provide less than 10%, and for UAF peers, less than 5%, of total funding. UAA and UAF fall within the range of peers on state/local and institutional support of research. For larger research institutions, the proportion of federal support averages about the same as for UA peers, while institutional support is a slightly smaller percentage.
% of Total R&D Expenditures
Millions of $
National Rank of Total R&D Expenditures
Research Funding Sources, UA Peers
% Federal
% Institutional
% State &
Local Gvmt.
% Business
All R&D
Expenditures
UAS’ sponsored research total is small enough so that just one or two grants can cause a large relative change in research expenditures. Unrestricted funds are UAS General Fund. Information provided by UA Information Systems, Banner Extracts 2012.
Research Funding Impacts
The information in this section is taken from the report “University of Alaska Research: An Economic Enterprise”, by Scott Goldsmith, Professor of Economics, Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), University of Alaska Anchorage, which was published in March 2007. He discusses the term research multiplier, defined as the ratio of total research dollars to internal (institutional) university funding. Nationally the multiplier is between 5 and 6. As reported in UA in Review 2012 (Fig. 49, based on FY 11 figures), the NGF:GF (non General Fund to General Fund) ratio is 5.5 for UAF, 2.4 for UAA, and 13.1 for UAS, which limits its General Fund expenditures on research. These ratios differ somewhat from what the “Research Expenditures by Source Type” graphs would indicate, because the multiplier calculation does not include some institutional contributions such as under-recovered indirect cost recovery.
Goldsmith (2007) points out that most of the research expenditures, totaling close to $190 million in FY12 including the institutional funding of research, are salary and wages for faculty and staff. Those individuals, in turn, spend a large portion of this money on goods, services, and housing in their home communities. The impact is proportionally largest in Fairbanks, because UAF has the largest research expenditures and Fairbanks is a smaller community than Anchorage. Fairbanks Economic Development Corporation (http://www.investfairbanks.com/sites/default/files/documents/Economic%20Model%202- 23-10.pdf) reports that UA pays $219M in annual payroll in the FNSB, wherein the total payroll is $2760M. So if research is responsible for half of UA wages in FNSB, this is about 4% of all wages paid. UA is the second largest payroll, after the military. Goldsmith (2007) estimated that for every 100 University jobs, 85 additional jobs are generated through UA employee spending. UA employs over 3000 people in the FNSB, and so is responsible for about 5550 jobs total.
$
$
$1,
$1,
$2,
$2,
FY07 FY08 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY
Thousands of $
UAS Research Expenditures
Unrestricted
Capital Sponsored Research
Non-capital Sponsored Research
Favorable Characteristics of Research as an Economic Enterprise (quoted from Goldsmith, 2007)
- Labor Intensive—Over 1/3 of the revenues from this industry (38 percent) went directly into payroll.
- High Wage—The average wage is higher than the economy-wide average.
- Quality Jobs—Most jobs come with a full benefits package that adds considerable value over and above the wage.
- Year-Round Employment—Although some jobs are seasonal or only for the academic year, most are year-round, and may offset the summer seasonal decline in teaching activity at the university.
- Diverse Job Mix—The variety of research activities generates a diverse mix among the private sector jobs that depend on research spending.
- High Resident Job Share—Residents hold most of the jobs in university research.
- Stable—Spending on university research nationally has increased each year for at least the last 50 years and for at least the last 10 within Alaska.
- Footloose—Research can be conducted wherever there is a decent laboratory with support for the scientists. It need not be located in proximity to resource deposits, as is the case for our natural resource industries, or close to markets, as is the case for most services.
- Environmentally Benign—University research is a clean industry with minimal effects on the quality of the environment.
- Non-Competitive with Other Industry—University research does not generate conflicts over appropriate and conflicting uses of the environment and natural resources.
- Stable Potential Tax Base—Although it does not directly create a product that is taxable, the large payroll and in-state procurement per dollar of spending on research create potential tax bases of personal and business income.
- Backward Linkages—Unlike some industries (like oil and gas and rural tourism) that are “enclaves” physically located in Alaska but not linked to the rest of the economy through purchases of local inputs, the large procurement budget and urban location for most research activities result in strong backward linkages that foster economic activity in support industries.
- Forward Linkages—There are no direct forward linkages in the form of sales to other sectors of the economy from university research, but most of Alaska’s resource industries also lack forward linkages.
There are two broad categories of Master’s degrees: research Master’s (such as the MA, MS and MFA),
for which research and a thesis are usually required, and professional Master’s (such as the MBA and
MEd), which usually require a project or capstone course rather than a thesis. UAF awards mainly
research Master’s, while UAA awards mainly professional Master’s, although each of these institutions
awards a substantial number of both types of degrees. UAS awards only professional Master’s degrees,
and is quite productive in those degrees per capita faculty. For simplicity all MA, MS, and MFA degrees
were classified as “thesis”, although a small minority require only a project. Similarly, all MEd degrees
are classified as “project/capstone”, although a few MEd students complete a thesis. Information
provided by UA Information Systems, Banner Extracts 2012.
FY12 Master's Degrees Awarded
UAA Project/Capstone UAA Thesis
UAF Project/Capstone UAF Thesis UAS Project/Capstone
UAF has most of the graduate student research assistants in the UA system. In this chart, only full time
graduate students who were supported with a stipend and tuition paid from a grant or contract or
unrestricted funds are counted. Fellowship recipients and teaching assistants are not included, nor are
other categories of UA employees (such as adjunct faculty) who may also be graduate students. UAF
graduate research assistants are all funded from external grants and contracts. Information provided by UA Information Systems, Banner Extracts 2012.
Number of Graduate Student Research Assistants in
FY
SPS
UAA
UAF
UAS
Undergraduate Students
The chart reports undergraduate student credit hours in courses numbered 498 or 499, which are course numbers generally used for research or thesis. Not all undergraduate students engaged in research register for such credits. Also, some degree programs have different course numbers for senior thesis or other research-based courses. Information provided by UA Information Systems, Banner Extracts 2012.
Undergraduate Students – UAA
The UAA Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship (OURS), housed within the University Honors College, bridges learning and discovery. OURS advances the involvement of UAA undergraduates in research and creative activities—whether they be independent or working in collaboration with UAA faculty. OURS supports a wide variety of opportunities for UAA undergraduates, including several campus-wide award programs, an annual Undergraduate Research Symposium and the University Honors College.
The University Honors College has been increasing its financial support of undergraduate research. During FY12 59 students were awarded support for their research activities. Another indicator of increasing undergraduate research activity is the number of participants in the Undergraduate Research and Discovery Symposium, which has increased from only 15 in FY05 to 84 in FY12.
Undergraduate Research Student Credit Hours
UAA
UAF
UAS
Undergraduate Students - UAF
Because of increasing UAF emphasis on undergraduate research, in July 2011 the Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Activity (URSA) was established. URSA has a mission to support, develop and institutionalize UAF's diverse and robust programs of undergraduate research and scholarly activity. The primary means by which URSA fulfills its mission are: funding undergraduate students and faculty who collaborate on research and creative projects; serving as a clearinghouse for projects that
