C.J. Gish
UF faculty surpassed $1 billion in research spending for the first time in 2022, developing treatments for diseases, new agricultural products, engineering solutions and numerous other advancements.
Tallying $1.076 billion in research expenditures, UF joins an exclusive group of about 15 public universities around the country to top $1 billion, including the University of Michigan, UCLA and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, according to a UF press release.
“Surpassing the $1 billion research milestone reflects UF’s continued rise as one of the leading research universities in the United States,” UF Vice President for Research David Norton said in a statement. “But this number represents far more than dollars – it represents the value of these researchers’ remarkable intellect and talent and its impact on our state, our nation and the world.”
The number reflects total spending for the fiscal year that ended on June 30 and is based on data on UF’s response to the National Science Foundation’s annual Higher Education Research and Development Survey (HERD).
The HERD gathers comparable spending data from hundreds of universities around the country. In the last HERD report, based on 2020 fiscal year data, UF ranked 16th among public universities.
UF leads the State University System of Florida, which has $2.3 billion in research spending annually. Research at Florida’s state universities has an estimated statewide economic impact of about $4 billion and generates more than 20,000 jobs, according to UF.
“I am absolutely thrilled by the news of this spectacular $1 billion milestone in research spending at the University of Florida,” UF board chair Mori Hosseini said in a statement. “The statewide economic impact related to Florida’s State University System research spending is phenomenal, and UF’s share of that total — more than 40% — is something we can all be proud of.”
This past year, UF received a No. 5 ranking in the U.S. News and World Report’s list of public universities, along with being recognized with the No. 1 online bachelor’s degree program (UF Online), having the state’s top-ranked medical school and UF Health Shands Hospital being named the top pediatric medical center in Florida.