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12/13/2007

Rice fares well in competition for NSF dollars

BY JADE BOYD
Rice News Staff

The latest figures from the National Science Foundation show that Rice's faculty is among the most productive in the nation when it comes to winning NSF dollars.

Despite its small size, Rice ranked 54th among all U.S. universities in total NSF funding received in 2007. The university's total of $24.5 million in NSF awards for the year was greater than the awarded dollars received by many larger schools, including Yale, New York University, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the University of Pittsburgh.

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"The National Science Foundation is a major source of funding for basic, non-medically related science in the country, and it is certainly one of the most competitive sources of funding that faculty can receive," said Vice Provost for Research Jim Coleman. "Getting NSF funding requires passing a rigorous review from many of the best scientists in the world in that field, and many programs at the NSF fund less than 10 percent of the proposals they receive.

"The fact that Rice faculty members do so well in NSF competitions is a great testament to the quality of our faculty," Coleman said. "I am sure that if you correct for Rice's success at NSF for the relatively small size of our faculty, we would be one of the best in the country on a per faculty basis."

An analysis of data from the NSF's online budget system also demonstrates Rice's clear strength within the NSF's engineering and computer sciences directorates.

Rice ranked 25th in award funding managed by the engineering directorate, with 18 awards totally $6.2 million -- totals that bested the likes of Stanford and Princeton. Rice also ranked 13th in awards managed by the computer, information science and engineering directorate, based on 34 awards totaling $8.5 million. This was ahead of Columbia, Michigan and the University of Washington.

Within the engineering directorate, Rice proved strongest in funds managed by the division of electrical, communication and cyber systems, ranking ninth. Within the computer science directorate, Rice was strongest in the division of computer and network systems, ranking fifth -- ahead of MIT, Stanford, Johns Hopkins and Cornell.

"I continue to marvel at the capabilities of my faculty," said Sallie Keller-McNulty, dean of engineering. "This record of NSF support is only one of many dimensions that highlight our excellence."