Federal Demonstration Partnership 2019 HERD Presentation

NSF Higher Education R&D Survey
Michael Gibbons, NSF
Federal Demonstration Partnership
May 20, 2019
National Science Foundation
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
www.nsf.gov/statistics/

1

Presentation Outline
• Overview of the National Center for Science and

Engineering Statistics (NCSES)

• Overview of the Survey of Science and
Engineering Research Facilities
• Overview of the Higher Education R&D Survey
• Data trends
• Demonstration of new Interactive Data Tool
• Discussion of potential future survey revisions and
additions
• Open Forum
• Next steps

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Overview of NCSES
• A federal statistical agency that reports to the National
Science Foundation’s Directorate for Social, Behavioral,
and Economic Sciences.
• NCSES provides data users with objective, high-quality
statistical information on U.S. and international science,
engineering, technology, and R&D, and fosters research
that improves the measurement and understanding of
science and engineering enterprise.

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NCSES Home Page: nsf.gov/statistics

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Survey of S&E and Engineering Research
Facilities
Overview

•

Congressionally mandated

•

Conducted biennially from FY 1986 – FY 2017

•

Census of all U.S. universities and colleges with minimum of
$1,000,000 of S&E R&D spending (N = 575 in FY 2017)

•

Eligible institutions identified through the Higher Education
Research & Development survey

•

Voluntary (response rates consistently over 95%)

•

Institution level tables available on NSF website

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Survey of S&E and Engineering Research
Facilities
Overview

• Types of data collected:
 Current research space
 New construction and repairs/renovations
 Planned construction and repairs/renovations
 Deferred construction and repairs/renovations
 Fields of science and engineering
 Dollars and net assignable square feet
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S&E Research Space at Academic
Institutions, by Field: 2007 and 2015

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Science and Engineering Research Facilities.

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S&E Research Space at Academic
Institutions, Change Over 2-Year Period:
1988 to 2017
Net assignable square feet in millions
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

Fiscal years

SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Science and Engineering Research

NOTE: Space measured in net assignable square feet. The biennial survey cycle ran on even years from 1988 to 1998 and on odd years from
1999 to 2015.

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Higher Education R&D Survey
Overview

•

Conducted annually since FY 1972, significantly
redesigned in FY 2010

•

Census of all U.S. universities and colleges with
minimum of $150,000 of R&D spending (N = 946 in
FY 2018)

•

Survey response rate has consistently been over
95%

•

Requests expenditures for all separately accounted
for R&D performed at institutions during previous
academic FY

•

Institution level tables available on NCSES website

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Higher Education R&D Survey
Overview

• Types of data collected:
 Federal agency sources of funding by field
 Nonfederal sources of funding by field
 Type of R&D (basic research, applied research,
and experimental development)
 Spending on R&D equipment by field
 R&D spending passed through to subrecipients
or received as a subrecipient
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Higher Education R&D Survey
Overview

•

Types of data collected (continued):
 Foreign sources of funding
 Medical school R&D
 Clinical trial R&D
 Type of funding agreement: contracts vs. grants
Specific cost elements of R&D expenditures
(salaries, software, equipment, etc.)
Headcounts of personnel paid from R&D accounts
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Trends in Higher Education R&D Spending
by Source of Funds: FYs 1972-2017
Constant 2009 dollars
(billions)
70
All R&D
60
Federally funded
50
Nonfederally funded
40

30

20

10

0

1972

1977

1982

1987

1992

1997

2002

2007

2012

2017

SOURCE: National Science Foundation/National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Higher Education Research and Development Survey.

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Higher Education R&D Spending by
Nonfederal Sources of Funds: FYs 2010-17
Current dollars
(billions)
20
18
16
Institution

14

Nonprofit

12

Business
10

State/Local Govt.

8

All Other Sources

6
4
2
0

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

SOURCE: National Science Foundation/National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Higher Education Research and Development Survey.

2017

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Institutionally-financed Higher Education R&D
Spending by Type of Cost: FYs 2010-17
Current dollars
(billions)
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
Institutionally financed research
Unrecovered indirect costs

2017
Cost sharing

SOURCE: National Science Foundation/National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Higher Education Research and Development Survey.

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Higher Education R&D Spending by R&D Field:
FYs 2010-17
2010
All other sciences
2011
Health sciences

2012
2013

Biological and biomedical sciences
2014
Physical sciences

2015
2016

Engineering
2017
0

5

10

15

20

25

Constant 2012 dollars (billions)
SOURCE: National Science Foundation/National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Higher Education Research and Development Survey.

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NCSES’s Interactive Data Tool
•

Located at https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/ids/

•

Data from 5 NCSES surveys are currently available
•

HERD

•

Facilities

•

Federal S&E Support for Universities, Colleges, Nonprofits

•

Graduate Students & Postdocs (GSS)

•

Earned Doctorates (SED)

•

More to come including IPEDS

•

Continual improvements

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NCSES’s Interactive Data Tool

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NCSES’s Interactive Data Tool

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Discussion of potential future survey
revisions and additions
•

Last comprehensive survey redesign began 10 years ago

•

Several new areas of content and revisions needed to fill
data needs and improve international comparability

•

Site visits conducted over the past two summers to assess
feasibility

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Potential new content areas:
Capital expenditures for R&D (1)
•

Currently, HERD only asks about capital expenditures
for R&D equipment, other countries measuring HERD
include all capital expenditures for R&D

•

NCSES considering adding a question to the survey
to collect capital R&D expenditures for land,
buildings, equipment, software and intellectual
property

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Potential new content areas:
Capital expenditures for R&D (2)

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Potential new content areas:
Full-time equivalents working on R&D (1)
•

HERD has collected head counts of R&D
principal investigators and other personnel
since FY 2010

•

International comparisons of R&D personnel
are made using full-time equivalents (FTE)

•

NSF considering adding a question to collect
FTE for R&D in addition to head counts

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Potential new content areas:
Full-time equivalents working on R&D (2)

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Other Issues Under Consideration
•

Criteria for campus level reporting

•

Improving consistency of institution funding
and personnel counts across institutions

•

Separate category to report other sponsored
activities

•

Separate reporting for R&D expenditures at
foreign satellite campuses

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Open Forum
•

Reactions to planned or potential changes?

•

What additional areas on HERD would you like
to see changed or refined?

•

Other questions or concerns?

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Next Steps
•

A workshop will be held later this year to
continue discussion of the new content areas
and other issues

•

Additional site visits and phone interviews with
institutions to test potential new questions

•

Your feedback is welcome anytime!

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Thank You!

Contact:
Michael Gibbons
703-292-4590
[email protected]

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