Useful Stats: 10-year analysis of NSF EPSCoR state HERD, FY 2012-2021

The objective of the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) is to help states receiving the least amount of federal research and development (R&D) funds within their postsecondary institutions improve their competitiveness for federal grants and awards. A measure of EPSCoR's effectiveness, then, is whether or not the state's academic research enterprise is capturing a larger share of federal R&D expenditures. This article utilizes data from the Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) survey, analyzing both total and federal HERD dollars, finding that: 1) EPSCoR states are not receiving proportionately more federal HERD dollars and 2) EPSCoR states are more likely to have lower or negative growth in HERD expenditures than non-EPSCoR states.

EPSCoR states, despite receiving less federal R&D funding, are still very comparable to their non-EPSCoR counterparts in terms of researcher talent, and are able to perform similarly in terms of grant-seeking, but are severely lacking when it comes to external collaborative networks and overall quality of research assistants, equipment and instruments, according to research from the University of Illinois at Chicago. However, when comparing research productivity to federal research funding levels, EPSCoR states significantly outperform their non-EPSCoR counterparts in nearly all research productivity indicators. With that being said, how have federal expenditures on postsecondary R&D changed over the past 10 years?

Over the past 10 years, the 25 EPSCoR* states averaged a percent change of +18.93% in total postsecondary R&D expenditures, ranging from +50.34% (Nevada) to -28.51% (South Dakota). Twenty EPSCoR states experienced double digit growth, led by Nevada, Montana (+40.40%) and Vermont (+39.36%), while only two states grew by single digit amounts (Alaska, +7.39%; Mississippi, +3.07%) and three experienced decreases (Hawaii, -13.83%; Rhode Island -16.35%; South Dakota, -28.51%).

For comparison, the 25 non-EPSCoR states fared significantly better in terms of average growth over the last decade, with even the lowest growth state, Wisconsin, experiencing an increase of +16.23%. On average, non-EPSCoR states experienced a +27.07% change in postsecondary R&D expenditures, ranging from +37.39% (Utah) to +16.23% (Wisconsin).