photo by: University of Kansas

The University of Kansas Medical Center campus in Kansas City, Kan. is pictured.

The University of Kansas set a new record for research dollars last year, and the latest comprehensive figures show KU is close to becoming one of the 60 most active research universities in the U.S..

KU — both on the Lawrence campus and its Kansas City medical center — received and spent $610 million in research funding during the last fiscal year, which topped last year’s record-setting total by nearly $65 million.

A separate but related set of numbers showed that KU ranked No. 63 among public and private universities in total research spending, and the figures also showed KU’s recent research activity has grown by the second largest amount of any Big 12 University.

“As one of America’s leading research universities, KU is tackling the toughest challenges of our time — and doing so in ways that strengthen our communities and fuel the state’s economy,” Matthias Salathe, KU’s chief research officer, said in a press release.

Two sets of numbers related to KU research recently have been released. The first set measures the amount of research spending KU undertook in fiscal year 2025, which ended in June. The $610.6 million was a new record for the university, and was 12% higher than the previous record-setting amount that was tallied in fiscal year 2024.

Not all universities across the country, however, have yet released their 2025 research totals, thus it isn’t possible to compare KU with other universities based on 2025 activity. Rather, the national entity that compiles such figures operates about a year behind, and earlier this month released university rankings based on 2024 activity levels.

It was in those rankings by the Higher Education Research and Development Survey that KU landed as the 63rd largest research university in the country. It now ranks just one spot below Princeton University and eight spots ahead of Carnegie Mellon, both of which have been historic research institutions.

The rankings also listed KU as having above-average growth rates for research activity, especially recently. In 2024, KU add $79 million of new research funding and spending to its enterprises, which was second in the Big 12 Conference only to Arizona State University, which added $99 million.

The report also provided data for the last 10 years, and that broader picture shows KU has grown its research activities at a pace slightly above that of its peers in the Big 12 Conference. From 2014 to 2024, KU added $244 million of new research funding, which was sixth highest among Big 12 universities.

The 2024 rankings keep KU as the largest research university in Kansas, but the figures also show that it has real competition on the front. Wichita State is now the 88th largest research university in the country, and by one measure has been the fastest growing research university in the country over the last 10 years.

Wichita State ended 2024 with $392 million in research funds, or about $155 million less than KU’s total. However, since 2014, Wichita State has grown it research enterprise more significantly than KU. WSU has added $333 million of new research funding since 2014, compared to about $244 million by KU. Wichita State’s growth rate for the 10 year period was 566% compared to KU’s 81% growth rate. WSU’s 566% growth rate was the largest among any of the 100 largest research universities in the U.S., according to the 2024 data.

During the decade, Wichita State has seen its aviation engineering program become the top-ranked program in the nation for private funding. The aviation industry has pumped money into WSU research that has leaned heavily on how to extend the life of aircraft. More recently, the U.S. military has also become a major funder, supporting research to retrofit certain types of military aircraft for new uses.

The 10-year figures also showed some weakness at the state’s second largest university, Kansas State. From 2014 to 2024, Kansas State added $80 million in new research funding, however, that total was the second lowest among all Big 12 universities. TCU, which has long had limited research programs, was the only university to add fewer dollars during the decade.

The 2024 rankings, however, did show signs of recent improvement for K-State. In 2024, KSU added $46 million in new funding, which was seventh highest in the conference. Its growth rate of 21% for the year actually was the highest percentage growth rate of any of the Big 12 schools.

KU and other universities track and tout research dollars closely because the funding — which often comes from a mix of the federal government, state grants, private industry and sometimes individual donors — is a major part of the revenue stream for a research university. In its report released Thursday, KU estimated that research activities in 2025 supported the salaries of approximately 5,700 employees at KU’s Lawrence campus, the Kansas City medical center and other KU-research locations.

Research activity also is frequently a big selling point that universities use with state lawmakers to demonstrate the impact universities have on the Kansas economy. In Thursday’s report, KU estimated that in 2025 KU spent nearly $88 million, spread among 78 Kansas counties, on goods and services related to research activities.

Increasingly, KU leaders are touting research activities on the Lawrence campus as a major driver of economic activity in the local economy. KU research activity ranging from pharmaceutical development to cybersecurity systems has become a key magnet to attract new companies to KU Innovation Park, which is a new office park and business incubator complex on KU’s West Campus. Thursday’s report listed that KU Innovation Park now has 77 companies that produce about $54 million in local payroll and employee a little more than 800 people.

KU leaders also have said that strong research growth is an important component for KU to maintain its membership in the Association of American Universities, which is generally regarded as the premier organization for research universities in North America. KU, which has been a member of the AAU since 1909, uses its AAU membership as a major recruiting tool for variety of degree programs.

KU’s research funding has been growing significantly since the KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan. was designated as a National Comprehensive Cancer Center in 2022. That designation is the same one that renowned cancer centers including the Mayo Clinic and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center have obtained. The designation by the National Cancer Institute not only opens up more clinical trials for patients, but also makes KU researchers more likely to win major research grants.

In 2025, KU indeed did receive a $31 million National Institutes of Health Grant to coordinate clinical trials for infants and children in underserved areas. KU also received a major grant in the engineering field with a $26 million National Science Foundation grant that focuses on new ways to make refrigerant chemicals more environmentally sustainable.

Thursday’s report from KU also highlighted that KU remains a powerhouse in receiving grant funding for projects that fall outside the traditional R&D realms of engineering, medicine and physical sciences.

Fueled by major research projects in both the education and social welfare schools, KU was the No. 1 ranked public university for federally funded research projects in the non-science and engineering fields. Specifically, KU ranked No. 1 in total education research funding and No. 3 in total social work funding among public universities, based upon numbers from 2024.

Once all universities release their 2025 funding totals, new rankings will be released late this year or in early 2027.

Here’s a look at how KU ranks compared to fellow Big 12 schools. All rankings are based on the 2024 figures. Here is a look at the national rank for each Big 12 School, plus its one-year growth totals.

No. 35: Arizona: $1B in total research spending, up 5.9%

No. 37: Arizona State: $1B, up 11%

No. 47: Utah: $789.2M, up 9%

No. 50: Cincinnati: $739.8M, up 5.9%

No. 51: Colorado: $717.9M, up 10.1%

No. 63 KU: $546.1M, up 17.1%

No. 78 Iowa State: $462.3M, up 9.8%

No. 113 Central Florida: $284.9M, up 15.2%

No. 121 Kansas State: $264.9M, up 21.5%

No. 122 West Virginia: $259M, up 5.2%

No. 124 Texas Tech: $256.9M, up 7%

No. 126 Oklahoma State: $253.7M, up 12%

No. 132 Houston: $238.9M, up 3%

No. 156 BYU: $158.3M, up 14.9%

No. 167 Baylor: $134.8M, up 64.3%

No 282 TCU: $27.6M, up 15%