For the first time in its more than 230-year history, the University of Pittsburgh has surpassed over $1 billion in annual research expenditures, joining just over a dozen national institutions that have done the same.
Shared as a landmark figure in Pitt's inaugural annual "Report of Research" that spanned 2021-2022, the university said it spent $1.07 billion on research-related efforts during its past fiscal year. That figure places Pitt at spot No. 15 nationally — the only local university in the top 20 — in a list of higher education research and development expenditures, according to the National Science Foundation Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey's figures of the 2020 fiscal year.
"Some of our work is well known. Some of our scholars and researchers are prominent in individual fields and some are creating new fields," University of Pittsburgh Senior Vice Chancellor for Research Rob A. Rutenbar wrote in a message at the start of the report. "Researchers at Pitt help to expand both the possibilities of our region’s innovative and resilient economy and the limits of wonder — often at the same time."
According to Pitt's 40-page report, about 63% of these expenditures went to medicine-related efforts, followed by 15% for health sciences-related ones and 9.3% for STEM-related research. Over 68% of the funding sources for these expenditures came from federal dollars while 18.6% came through federal pass-through dollars.
The report also highlighted several new Pitt startup-related advancements that have emerged from the university during its past two fiscal years, which have led to 649 invention disclosures, 229 patents, 273 investment deals and 28 startup companies.
"Research may once have been portrayed as a lonely endeavor," Rutenbar said. "It certainly is not. Collaboration and support are critical to any success."
