For the first time, NYU leads New York City universities in annual research spending according to the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) annual HERD survey. NYU had the greatest climb in rankings among the top 50 U.S. research universities, moving up eight spots to #15 nationally and #7 among private universities.
“NYU is really proud of this achievement. Our research enterprise—across all of our schools and locations—continues its strong trajectory of growth, and thanks to the ongoing efforts of many across NYU, has proven to be a powerhouse of innovation and impact,” said Stacie Grossman Bloom, NYU’s vice provost for research and chief research officer.
Each year, the NSF conducts the Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) survey to measure annual research spending at U.S. colleges and universities, a key measure of a university’s research performance. The latest analysis, covering fiscal year 2022, shows NYU’s research expenditures increased by 20% to exceed $1.27 billion—a sharper increase than any other U.S. institution ranked in the top 50—and marks the second year in a row that NYU has exceeded $1 billion in research spending.
Year-over-year growth was strong for both the Grossman School of Medicine / NYU Langone (18%) and the University (24%). Funding for geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences research at NYU grew 83% from last year. Expenditures in math and statistics, social sciences, and engineering also all grew by more than 20%.
Examples of notable research projects that contributed to NYU’s growth in funding include:
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in partnership with the Army, awarded NYU Dentistry researchers $21 million for an evidence-based program addressing family maltreatment in the military.
- NYU created the Simons Center for Computational Physical Chemistry, a multidisciplinary hub for computational physical chemistry research, with $10 million from the Simons Foundation.
- NYU Abu Dhabi researchers are studying the use of biotechnology to address non-communicable diseases as part of the Abu Dhabi Precision Medicine Virtual Research Institute, funded by $5 million from ASPIRE UAE.
- NYU Tandon researchers received $5 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop an artificial intelligence-driven augmented reality assistant
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“The NSF data demonstrate our researchers’ ability to attract significant funding from government, industry, and non-profit sources, and for that funding to spur breakthroughs in areas ranging from artificial intelligence and public health to applied social sciences, the arts, and humanities,” added Bloom.
