Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

It just means more in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and we’re not talking about sports.

Ten SEC schools are ranked in the top 100 U.S. universities based on their research and development (R&D) spending, according to new rankings from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Released in December 2022 and based on data from Fiscal Year 2021, The NSF’s Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey is the primary source of information on R&D expenditures at U.S. colleges and universities. The survey collects information on R&D expenditures by field of research and source of funds and also gathers information on types of research, expenses, and headcounts of R&D personnel. The survey is an annual census of institutions that expended at least $150,000 in separately accounted for R&D in the fiscal year.

When ranked by all R&D expenditures for Fiscal Year 2021 ten SEC schools made the list in the following spots, out of 648 total institutions listed:

• 16^th – Texas A&M University, College Station and Health Science Center
• 24^th – Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center
• 27^th – The University of Florida
• 57^th – The University of Georgia
• 64^th – The University of Kentucky
• 71^st – The University of Missouri, Columbia
• 85^th – The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
• 91^st – Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
• 97^th – Mississippi State University
• 100^th – Auburn University, Auburn

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