photo by: Courtesy: KU Alumni Association/Dan Storey

KU Vaccine Analytics & Formulation Center staff member John Hickey, scientific assistant director, works in the lab to formulate and analyze vaccine candidates.

For U.S. research universities, there might be only one ranking these days that matter — the number of good graces you have with the Trump administration.

As we have reported, a Trump-directed policy change at the National Institutes of Health — regarding an administrative spending cap for NIH grants — is estimated to create a $30 million to $40 million budget problem for KU, if courts allow the policy change to be implemented.

Then, on Friday, the potential changes got more targeted. The Trump administration announced that it was cancelling $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University. The announcement came after several federal agencies determined the New York university had violated federal anti-discrimination laws by allowing certain pro-Gaza/Palestinian demonstrations — which some deemed to be antisemitic — to occur on campus.

What’s the next change? Unknown, but you can bet university leaders are watching for it. Top administration officials have made it clear they think higher education needs an overhaul. Before being elected vice president, J.D. Vance gave a 2021 speech entitled “Universities are the Enemy,” in which he told a crowd of conservatives that “we have to honestly and aggressively attack the universities in this country.”

So, no, research rankings are not what’s on the mind of university leaders these days.

Yet, it is research ranking season nonetheless. KU last week released its fiscal year 2024 research expenditures, which we reported topped the half billion mark for the first time in the school’s history. Normally, that annual announcement by the university is the time where we also report on KU’s standing compared to other schools in the Big 12 conference and other peer institutions. Last’s week’s article, though, didn’t dive into those comparisons because there was too much else to report on regarding the high stakes KU is facing with the changing federal research environment.

But I have now tallied those rankings, and others, and will pass them along because research funding is critically important to the university’s finances, and the university’s finances are critically important to the Lawrence economy.

When KU last week announced its research spending totals for fiscal year 2024, it said research funding supported the salaries of 5,595 KU employees. That is more than one-third of the approximately 15,000 people who are employed by KU and the KU Medical Center.

That number alone should put into perspective the potential impacts a cut in research funding could have on the economy. However, it is basketball season, so perhaps a sports comparison would be even more apt. Athletic activities at KU — through ticket sales, donor contributions, media rights and other such ventures — generated $135 million in outside funding for KU during the last fiscal year, according to reports filed by Kansas Athletics.

Research funding at KU, including the Medical Center, generated $359 million in outside funding for KU during the same time period. In other words, in terms of being a revenue generator, KU research does so at a more than two and half times larger than Kansas Athletics.

With all that in mind, here’s a look at some of the latest research numbers:

The totals

KU spent $546 million on research activities during the last fiscal year, which ended June 30. About $186 million of that amount came from the university’s own funds. The remaining $359 million came from outside grants and contracts. Here’s the breakdown of where those funds came from:

• Federal government: $245.7 million

• State and local governments (including states other than Kansas): $45.6 million

• Industry and private business: $43.7 million

• Nonprofit foundations: $15.6 million

• Other sources: $8.4 million

The topics

Federal research funds are highly competitive, and often come from several different agencies of the government. Here’s a look at where KU gets most of its federal research dollars:

• Department of Human Health and Services: $150.4 million

• National Science Foundation: $31.4 million

• Department of Education: $31.1 million

• Department of Defense: $14.9 million

• Department of Energy: $5.7 million

• NASA: $2.3 million

• Department of Transportation: $2.4 million

The categories of health, science, education and defense all posted increased funding levels from a year ago. Research funding from the defense department particularly surged. It was 86% for the year. Energy, NASA and transportation grants all declined for the years, with transportation declining the most at 33%.

Big 12 comparisons

KU’s conference added a host of former Pac 12 schools and shipped out one of the largest research universities in the country — the University of Texas. (We shipped them out, right?) KU, however, hasn’t exactly shot up to the top of the conference charts. Several former Pac 12 schools are research powerhouses.

Here’s a look at the entire Big 12 conference, including their national rank, their 2023 research expenditure total, and how much those research expenditures have grown since 2010.

• No. 36: Arizona, $955 million, up 63% since 2010

• No. 37: Arizona State, $903 million, up 174%

• No. 47: Utah, $723 million, up 91%

• No. 49: Cincinnati, $698 million, up 70%

• No. 50: Colorado Medical Center: $686 million (2010 figures not available)

• No. 52: Colorado: $651 million, up 87%

• No. 73: KU: $466 million, up 74%

• No. 78: Iowa State, $420 million, up 68%

• No. 120: Central Florida, $247 million, up 110%

• No. 121: West Virginia, $246 million, up 59%

• No. 122: Texas Tech, $240 million, up 80%

• No. 126: Houston, $231 million, 94%

• No 129: Oklahoma State, $226 million, up 54%

• No. 135 Kansas State, $217 million, up 36%

• No. 162 BYU, $137 million, up 317%

• No. 187 Baylor, $82 million, up 651% (Note, there also is a major medical center with the Baylor name attached to it, but unlike the University of Colorado’s medical center, the Baylor center is not controlled by the university. It is its own independent entity, thus it didn’t make this list.)

A couple of things stand out on the list. KU is the largest research university still left from the old Big 12. The top part of the list is dominated by former Pac 12 schools and Cincinnati. The other item that stands out is Kansas State. Since 2010, it has had the slowest growth rate of any conference school. That may change in the future as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility has relocated to Manhattan. That facility is expected to spur more research activity at Kansas State itself, but thus far that isn’t showing up in the numbers.

The Kansas Comet

You have to look outside the Big 12 Conference, though, to find the fastest riser in the world of Kansas research. Wichita State has posted some of the most impressive numbers in the country. WSU had $366 million in research expenditures. That is up 612% since 2010. Almost all of the Shockers’ success has come through the university’s engineering school. WSU’s engineering school is now ranked No. 1 in the country in terms of aerospace engineering research and development expenditures. Wichita State had $327 million in aerospace R&D projects in 2023. That bested Georgia Tech.

The other interesting part about those numbers is that it now is conveivable that Wichita State might pass KU as the largest research university in the state. In 2023 Wichita State was $100 million behind KU, which is not an insignificant sum. However, in 2023, Wichita State increased its aerospace R&D projects by $108 million. Wichita State hasn’t yet released its 2024 totals, that I can find.

National comparison

KU is a member of the most prestigious association for research universities in North America — the Association of American Universities. Among public universities in the AAU, KU ranks in the bottom quartile in terms of overall size of research expenditures, but ranked in the middle of the pack in terms of its growth rate since 2010. Here’s a look at the 35 public universities in the AAU, with their total research expenditures and their growth rates since 2010

• Michigan: $1.9 billion, up 63%

• Washington: $1.7 billion, up 70%

• Wisconsin: $1.7 billion, up 68%

• UCLA: $1.7 billion, up 84%

• Cal-San Diego: $1.7 billion, up 81%

• North Carolina: $1.5 billion, up 105%

• Ohio State: $1.4 billion, up 92%

• Georgia Tech: $1.4 billion, 128%

• Pittsburgh: $1.3 billion, up 70%

• Maryland: $1.3 billion, NA

• Minnesota: $1.3 billion, up 68%

• Texas A&M: $1.2 billion, 85%

• Florida: $1.2 billion, up 83%

• Penn State: $1.2 billion, 57%

• Cal-Berkeley: $1.0 billion, up 55%

• Texas: $1.0 billion, 76%

• Cal-Davis: $962 million, up 42%

• Arizona: $955 million, up 63%

• Arizona State: $903 million, 174%

• Indiana: $853 million, up 381%

• Purdue: $844 million, up 54%

• Michigan State: $844 million, 96%

• Rutgers: $831 million, up 94%

• Illinois: $821 million, up 59%

• Utah: $723 million, up 91%

• Virginia: $714 million, up 159%

• Iowa: $662 million, up 49%

• Colorado: $651 million, up 87%

• Cal-Irvine: $609 million, up 86%

• Buffalo: $471 million, up 35%

• Kansas: $466 million, up 74%

• Missouri: $462 million, up 94%

• South Florida: $461 million, up 20%

• Stony Brook: $324 million, up 59%

• Cal-Santa Barbara: $305 million, up 35%

• Cal-Riverside: $214 million, up 65%

• Cal-Santa Cruz: $203 million, up 42%

• Oregon: $164 million, up 75%.

Again, these are just the public schools that are members of the AAU. In terms of the largest research university in the country, it is John Hopkins University in Baltimore — and it is not particularly close. In 2023 it had $3.8 billion in research expenditures. Next closest was the University of California — San Francisco with $2 billion.