Researchers at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine recently developed a new molecule that targets certain cells that contribute to the progression of heart failure. This drug molecule may one day help millions of Americans suffering from chronic heart inflammation linked to high blood pressure and coronary artery disease. The university has patented the molecule and it is planning soon to conduct clinical trials in humans.
The central role of a university is to provide students with the vocational and critical thinking skills to help them pursue their occupational goals. But as the research into heart failure at OSU shows, another major role of many universities is to bring together scholars, facilities, and students into an environment that allows them to engage in research and development for clinical and commercial purposes. (These are the easiest colleges to get into with the smartest applicants.)
Research universities incubate startups and develop patents, often with the financial support of federal agencies like the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and others. Patents are often licensed to private companies.
Ohio State University is one of 25 U.S. universities that spend the most on research and development. According to the National Science Foundation, the university spent $968 million on R&D in 2020, more than half of that budget on life sciences development.
To determine the 25 universities that spend the most on research and development, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed 2020 data on R&D spending, in total and by field, from the National Science Foundation. Data on student enrollment for fall 2020, acceptance rate for the 2020-2021 school year, and the most popular major during the 2018-2019 academic year came from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Most of these 25 schools devoted more than a billion dollars toward R&D in 2020, led by the $3.1 billion spent by Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University, the country’s first and oldest research university. Four of these big R&D spenders are located in California, including Stanford and UCLA. New York and Pennsylvania have three universities on this list each. Together, these 25 universities spent $32.1 billion on research and development in 2020.
The costliest university R&D programs are the ones that require laboratories, especially in medical and science, technology, and engineering-related fields. (These are the highest and lowest paying college majors in America.)
Here are the schools spending the most on research
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25. New York University
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $947.29 million
> Area with most R&D spending: Life Sciences ($644 million)
> Acceptance rate: 21.1%
> Most popular major: Visual And Performing Arts
> Total student enrollment: 52,775
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24. Ohio State University
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $968.26 million
> Area with most R&D spending: Life Sciences ($590 million)
> Acceptance rate: 68.5%
> Most popular major: Business, Management, Marketing, And Related Support Services
> Total student enrollment: 61,369
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23. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $987.97 million
> Area with most R&D spending: Engineering ($420 million)
> Acceptance rate: 7.3%
> Most popular major: Engineering
> Total student enrollment: 11,254
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22. Pennsylvania State University
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $991.92 million
> Area with most R&D spending: Engineering ($368 million)
> Acceptance rate: 56.1%
> Most popular major: Business, Management, Marketing, And Related Support Services
> Total student enrollment: 46,313
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21. Columbia University in the City of New York
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $1.03 billion
> Area with most R&D spending: Life Sciences ($744 million)
> Acceptance rate: 6.7%
> Most popular major: Social Sciences
> Total student enrollment: 30,135
Source: Courtesy of University of Minnesota Twin Cities
20. University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $1.04 billion
> Area with most R&D spending: Life Sciences ($722 million)
> Acceptance rate: 69.6%
> Most popular major: Business, Management, Marketing, And Related Support Services
> Total student enrollment: 52,017
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19. Georgia Institute of Technology
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $1.05 billion
> Area with most R&D spending: Engineering ($695 million)
> Acceptance rate: 21.3%
> Most popular major: Engineering
> Total student enrollment: 39,771
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18. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $1.05 billion
> Area with most R&D spending: Life Sciences ($981 million)
> Acceptance rate: N/A
> Most popular major: Health Professions And Related Programs
> Total student enrollment: 358
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17. Yale University
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $1.09 billion
> Area with most R&D spending: Life Sciences ($944 million)
> Acceptance rate: 6.5%
> Most popular major: Social Sciences
> Total student enrollment: 12,060
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16. University of Maryland-College Park
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $1.10 billion
> Area with most R&D spending: Life Sciences ($594 million)
> Acceptance rate: 51.0%
> Most popular major: Social Sciences
> Total student enrollment: 40,709
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15. University of Pittsburgh
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $1.11 billion
> Area with most R&D spending: Life Sciences ($954 million)
> Acceptance rate: 63.9%
> Most popular major: Engineering
> Total student enrollment: 32,277
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14. Texas A&M University-College Station
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $1.13 billion
> Area with most R&D spending: Life Sciences ($502 million)
> Acceptance rate: 63.3%
> Most popular major: Business, Management, Marketing, And Related Support Services
> Total student enrollment: 70,418
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13. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $1.16 billion
> Area with most R&D spending: Life Sciences ($868 million)
> Acceptance rate: 25.0%
> Most popular major: Social Sciences
> Total student enrollment: 30,092
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12. Cornell University
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $1.19 billion
> Area with most R&D spending: Life Sciences ($822 million)
> Acceptance rate: 10.7%
> Most popular major: Engineering
> Total student enrollment: 23,620
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11. Duke University
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $1.20 billion
> Area with most R&D spending: Life Sciences ($991 million)
> Acceptance rate: 7.7%
> Most popular major: Social Sciences
> Total student enrollment: 16,172
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10. Stanford University
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $1.20 billion
> Area with most R&D spending: Life Sciences ($836 million)
> Acceptance rate: 5.2%
> Most popular major: Engineering
> Total student enrollment: 15,953
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9. Harvard University
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $1.24 billion
> Area with most R&D spending: Life Sciences ($684 million)
> Acceptance rate: 5.0%
> Most popular major: Social Sciences
> Total student enrollment: 30,391
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8. University of Wisconsin-Madison
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $1.36 billion
> Area with most R&D spending: Life Sciences ($839 million)
> Acceptance rate: 57.2%
> Most popular major: Business, Management, Marketing, And Related Support Services
> Total student enrollment: 44,640
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7. University of California-Los Angeles
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $1.39 billion
> Area with most R&D spending: Life Sciences ($990 million)
> Acceptance rate: 14.3%
> Most popular major: Social Sciences
> Total student enrollment: 44,589
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6. University of California-San Diego
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $1.40 billion
> Area with most R&D spending: Life Sciences ($828 million)
> Acceptance rate: 36.6%
> Most popular major: Biological And Biomedical Sciences
> Total student enrollment: 39,576
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5. University of Washington
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $1.46 billion
> Area with most R&D spending: Life Sciences ($963 million)
> Acceptance rate: 55.9%
> Most popular major: Social Sciences
> Total student enrollment: 48,149
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4. University of Pennsylvania
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $1.58 billion
> Area with most R&D spending: Life Sciences ($1.2 billion)
> Acceptance rate: 9.0%
> Most popular major: Business, Management, Marketing, And Related Support Services
> Total student enrollment: 26,552
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3. University of California-San Francisco
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $1.65 billion
> Area with most R&D spending: Life Sciences ($1.6 billion)
> Acceptance rate: 18.2%
> Most popular major: N/A
> Total student enrollment: 3,201
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2. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $1.67 billion
> Area with most R&D spending: Life Sciences ($968 million)
> Acceptance rate: 26.1%
> Most popular major: Engineering
> Total student enrollment: 47,907
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1. Johns Hopkins University
> Amount spent on R&D in 2020: $3.11 billion
> Area with most R&D spending: Engineering ($1.2 billion)
> Acceptance rate: 11.1%
> Most popular major: Biological And Biomedical Sciences
> Total student enrollment: 28,890
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