Ohio State’s Research Profile
The Ohio State University: Leading Innovation and Discovery with World-Class Research Programs
The nation’s research universities are America’s strongest asset—achieving breakthrough discoveries that address our most critical problems, educating the next generation of our citizens, and serving as a powerful force to help drive our economic recovery and fuel our competitiveness on the global stage. America’s investments in research over the past century have yielded countless benefits for its citizens, producing new cures for diseases, revolutionizing information technology, and transforming the way we live on almost every level.
Ohio State stands out among our country's top research universities in the breadth, scope, and excellence of its research programs. The university's sheer size and depth make Ohio State a leading force of innovation and change - locally, nationally, and globally.
Ohio State faculty are leading science and innovation with world class research in global climate change, materials, infectious disease, cancer, electromagnetics, agbioproducts, and biomedical imaging. The assembly of 14 different colleges on one campus offers possibilities for multidisciplinary teams to address complex technological and social issues to achieve breakthroughs and solutions that would not be possible without multiple perspectives and expertise.
Our funded research programs contribute significantly to the university’s more than $4 billion annual economic impact. In 2010, federal research and development funding reached $400 million and our industry-sponsored research approached $122 million. Total research expenditures were $756 million.
Ohio State also recognizes the value of strategic partnerships with business and industry in addressing our global challenges. Our current national ranking of second in industry-sponsored research attests to this, as does our active participation in the State of Ohio's Third Frontier Program, an initiative to grow Ohio's expertise in targeted high-tech economic sectors. Ohio State has more than 300 active partnerships with industries around the nation and the world, in such critical areas as conversion of biomass to alternative energy and the creation of nanomaterials for novel implantable medical devices.
To meet the challenges of the future in an interconnected world, universities and industries around the globe must create a network of scientists and scholars who work together to achieve tenable solutions. Ohio State is poised to be a central participant in this global scientific network.
The Ohio State University 10-year Research Funding Profile 2001-2010*
FY 2010 Research Expenditures by Prime Source of Funds
Total $756 Million
FY 2010 Federally-Financed Research and Development Activity at Ohio State
Research Expenditure Rankings
- 13th among all universities (public and private)
- 9th among all public institutions
- 2nd in industry-sponsored research
Ohio State Research Funding Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) investments in scientific research are making it possible for Ohio State researchers to address crucial problems affecting Ohio, the nation, and the world. Our researchers are finding new treatments for cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity; developing novel autonomous vehicles, petascale technologies for next-generation computing, and superconductive nanomaterials; designing new methods for producing clean coal; and predicting the impact of the breakup of large ice sheets in the polar regions.
Together with ongoing research funding, ARRA support to Ohio State helps students directly via scholarships, work study, and loans. By making education a reality rather than an impossibility, these programs also shape our nation’s economic future. Grants for construction of new facilities and capital equipment create a world-class research infrastructure.
The immediate value of ARRA investments to Ohio and the nation lies in stimulating economic activity and creating jobs. However, their long-term impact goes far beyond this, in creating the educated and talented workforce that is needed if we are to remain competitive in the global economy of the 21st century. The new discoveries arising from today’s basic research will lead to a future quality of life that can only be imagined.
