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At Vanderbilt, students are constantly surrounded by the effects of research funding. From posters advertising new breakthroughs, emails detailing newsworthy projects, or even the paragraph-long official titles of professors. The research ecosystem of elite universities like Vanderbilt is constantly publicized. At innovative universities like Vanderbilt, research is a business. With national academic research expenditures totaling more than $75 billion, universities race to obtain maximum funding from as many sources as possible.
Research success at universities attracts both students and faculty. Research experience is a critical component of many graduate applications, such as those for medical school and Ph.D. programs, so high school seniors considering graduate school consider research availability as they make their college decisions. The innovative and dynamic faculty desired by a university also view research resources as a motivator. Climbing in rankings like those of the infamous (to Vanderbilt students at least) U.S. News and World Report requires a university to maintain faculty who publish nationally-recognized research projects. These rankings are often used by students to compare potential universities during the application process. To a university like Vanderbilt, research is therefore a critical component of branding that draws interest and applications.
In the national competition for research prestige, Vanderbilt is a leader. Vanderbilt is one of only 39 private universities, and 146 universities in total, that receives the “Very High Research Activity” classification from the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education and the American Council on Education. Following classification methodology changes set to be implemented in 2025, this coveted title, known colloquially as “R1” status, will require a university to spend at least $50 million in research expenditures and grant at least 70 research doctorate degrees (such as the Ph.D. degree) per year. In 2021, the 131 “R1” universities contributed 75% of the nationwide research expenditures of U.S. academic institutions. Similarly, the “R1” institutions also possessed 80% of the science and engineering research doctorate students nationally in 2021.
Vanderbilt’s research expenditures (combined with those of Vanderbilt University Medical Center) totaled over $1 billion in FY 2022, and the university granted 281 Ph.D. degrees in 2020.
VUMC and VU are separate entities, but VU and VUMC partner for numerous medical research projects. The National Science Foundation ranked Vanderbilt and VUMC as 24th in their national rankings of research expenditures by universities. With these impressive achievements, the university greatly exceeds the standards for the “R1” designation. However, these staggering numbers leave one question: Who pays for it?
Costs of a Research Project
The personnel costs of a research project usually funded by a grant include paying short-term consultants for specific project needs, funding faculty salaries, hiring postdoctoral students, funding stipends for graduate students, or paying undergraduates in research-for-pay programs. Additional costs include any technical expenses (especially for scientific projects requiring specialized equipment) or travel expenses.
Sources of Research Funding
The various funding mechanisms for faculty-led research projects derive from Vanderbilt itself and from external sources, such as the federal government and private companies. Vanderbilt’s internal funding system combines short-term funding designed to kickstart new projects with longer term endowed funding mechanisms.
What is the Endowment and How Does it Fund Research at Vanderbilt?
In 2021, 25% of the funding for academic research projects nationwide was provided by universities, totaling $19 billion. Vanderbilt’s $10.25 billion endowment combines thousands of monetary contributions from donors. The university invests these funds and distributes approximately 5% of the endowment per year to the university. These endowment returns are a critical source of funding for research opportunities for students and faculty. For faculty, the endowment funds research grants and endowed chairs that, according to the Office of the Provost, allows the university’s “recruitment and retention of gifted faculty.”
Vanderbilt’s Internal Funding Programs
Vanderbilt’s Office of Research Development and Support houses the Internal Funding Programs. These grants from the university to faculty are generally short-term (usually providing one to two years of funding) and offered to faculty beginning a new project as they aim to secure long-term funding from external grants.
Vanderbilt has also established continuing grants for research across all fields. The Scaling Success Grant, for example, provides funding to faculty hoping to “scale up to increasingly impactful team research, scholarship, and creative works, including larger awards from external sponsors.” Vanderbilt funds grants that respond to emerging technologies or current events. For another example, the Generative AI Seed Grant was created in response to the release of AI models like ChatGPT to encourage faculty to study these models. Supported by the resources of the endowment, Vanderbilt’s internal funding for research is therefore designed to be a springboard, encouraging faculty to dive into new research areas.
Endowed Chairs and Professorships at Vanderbilt
Endowed chairs and professorships are prestigious positions for university faculty that are funded annually by external donors or the endowment fund. These positions are awarded to Vanderbilt’s most outstanding faculty members to permanently fund their salaries and research. As of 2019, Vanderbilt possesses 434 endowed chairs. Endowed faculty positions, guaranteeing faculty the permanent capability to pursue their research interests, are powerful attractors promoted by universities to recruit excellent professors.
Federal Funding for Research
The federal government is the largest funding source for academic research, contributing 55% of US research expenditures in 2021, totaling $41.6 billion. Specific divisions of the federal government that contribute significant amounts of research funding include the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Energy. These federal funds are primarily distributed through grants from specific arms of the federal government like these departments.
At a research university, a grant proposal involves numerous steps. To gain federal funding for a research project, the researcher must first identify grants offered by federal agencies that are applicable to their specific project. Researchers then create a detailed grant application explaining the goals, processes, and timeline of the project. These applications may also be followed by requirements like a project site visit by an official of the agency.
After a federal grant is approved for a project, funding is provided to the project in two forms: direct cost and indirect cost funding. Funding for “direct costs” is paid upfront by the agency. These “direct costs” include salaries, stipends, travel expenses, and equipment costs. “Direct cost” funding is paid directly to the research project, not to the overall university.
Universities also incur overarching fees, such as utilities and waste disposal costs, while maintaining numerous research projects. These indirect costs, officially called “Facilities and Administration” or “F&A” costs, are decided by the university and the federal government. Every four years, the university and government calculate the value of the university resources that are directed towards these “F&A” costs of all federally funded projects, and the government reimburses the university for a percentage of “F&A” costs eligible for grant funding.
Private Funding for Research
The private sector is also involved in academic research. Private companies fund 6% of academic research in collaboration with universities. The intention behind private research funding is different from that of government funding. While the government is more open to supporting abstract and long-term research that explores new frontiers, private companies primarily fund narrower research that produces specific, marketable deliverables.
An example of this divide is found in the types of scientific research. According to Boston University, traditional academic research primarily focuses on “the enhancement of knowledge” in science. This type of research is usually federally funded. Private companies, however, usually fund applied research, in which researchers attempt to “apply newly emerging science and technology to solve an existing scientific problem.” Private companies often fund projects through contract funding instead of grants. These contracts have set milestones for the creation of products, and funding may be withheld if the production targets are not met by the target. As with government-funded research, the university owns any technological intellectual property produced by the research, but the company usually receives rights to use the IP to create the marketable product. A famous example of the implementation of university research into a private product was the creation of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines through a licensing agreement with Penn Medicine.
Conclusion
As a core component of the college experience for many Vanderbilt students, research drives innovation and collaboration on campus. Research projects at Vanderbilt occur through dynamic partnerships between the university, the federal government, and the private sector, providing opportunities for interested prospective students and attracting outstanding faculty members to bring their expertise to Nashville.