Montana State research expenditures hit record high
Montana State University tallied an all-time high for total research expenditures in 2019-2020, totaling $167 million. The total marks an 8% increase over the previous year’s total expenditures of $154 million reported to the National Science Foundation, and the seventh year in a row that research expenditures have topped $100 million, according to Jason Carter, MSU’s vice president for research, economic development and graduate education.
"Research, creativity and innovation are fundamental to our land-grant mission, and this record year of scholarship shows that MSU faculty and researchers are excelling on that front," Carter said.
According to Carter, the past year showed balanced growth in sponsored research grants and contract expenditures across MSU's research entities, reflecting how the university's research activity is distributed across a range of fields, including the four Grand Challenges identified in MSU’s strategic plan, “Choosing Promise.”
The College of Agriculture recorded the largest figure, $44 million, which represented a 4% increase in sponsored research from the prior year. The Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering had nearly $20 million in sponsored research, a 9% increase. The College of Letters and Sciences also recorded a 9% increase from the prior year, with expenditures of $18.5 million. Several research centers and institutes also notched record sponsored research grants and contracts, led by more than $15 million at MilTech, $7.5 million at TechLink, $3.6 million at Montana’s IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE), and $3.3 million at MSU Extension.
MSU is classified as R1 in the Carnegie Classification for "very high research activity," making it one of only 131 universities nationwide in that category and the only one in the five-state region of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and North and South Dakota — and one of only two nationally also classified as Very High Undergraduate enrollment.
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