November 26, 2024 UW-Madison moves to 6th in national research ranking Written By: Staff Categories: Grants|Research The University of Wisconsin–Madison has moved up two places to sixth out of 920 public and private universities in the United States in university research expenditures, according to the National Science Foundation’s annual rankings. For the first time, the university has topped $1.7 billion in research expenditures, according to the NSF Higher Education Research and Development (HERD), released Nov. 25, 2024. “UW-Madison has been a research powerhouse for generations,” says UW–Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin. “This latest increase in both our research expenditures and our HERD ranking is further evidence of our deep commitment to bringing incredible UW-Madison expertise across disciplines to the grand challenges of our time and to translating our discoveries to improve lives at home in Wisconsin and beyond.” Nearly half of UW Madison’s expenditures comes from awards from federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense. The College of Engineering is a strong contributor, earning a multitude of multi-million-dollar federal awards annually. Among recent major grants: A $29 million award from the National Institutes of Health will study and treat diseases known to cause blindness. More than $17 million to support treatment for substance-abuse disorder and mental health conditions. A $15 million award from the U.S. Office of Naval Research for pioneering efforts to understand, detect and prevent traumatic brain injuries. A $10 million grant to develop technology for using clean hydrogen to decarbonize steel production. While academic research funding at UW-Madison comes primarily from federal government and institutional support, the university also relies on state and local government, industry, nonprofit and foundation support. The two most significant nonprofit contributors of research funding at UW-Madison are the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and the UW Foundation. In 2025, WARF’s support for UW–Madison research will total $159.8 million. WARF has also committed $15 million over the next three years to extend UW–Madison’s strength in artificial intelligence research and education by supporting the university’s Research, Innovation and Scholarly Excellence Initiative focus on AI, called RISE-AI. The College of Engineering is a key contributor in RISE—an initiative focused on strategic faculty hiring, enhancing research infrastructure, improving interdisciplinary collaboration and increasing student and educational opportunities. In addition to AI, the initiative also includes RISE-EARTH to address challenges and opportunities related to the environment, and RISE-THRIVE, which is prioritizing investments into research to improve the human health span. About HERD: The annual survey is the primary source of research expenditure data at American universities and colleges and is just one way to measure academic research activity. Each year, it collects information on expenditures by research field and funding sources among institutions that spend at least $150,000 on separately budgeted research and development in a fiscal year. The survey also compiles information on the types of research expenses and the number of research and development personnel at each institution. Featured image caption: A new helmet liner system prototype that the company Team Wendy manufactured as a direct outcome from the UW-Madison-led PANTHER research program, which aims to understand, detect and prevent traumatic brain injuries. Photo courtesy of Team Wendy.