Research at Vanderbilt

The combined value of federal grants and contracts for research and related activities at Vanderbilt University, including the Medical Center, totaled $424 million in fiscal year 2009. The National Science Foundation ranked Vanderbilt 22nd among U.S. colleges and universities based on all federal obligations for research and development funding in fiscal year 2007, the most recent year for which these rankings are available. This is the fifth consecutive year that Vanderbilt has been ranked in the top 25 universities.

In addition, Vanderbilt placed No. 7 in rankings released for the scholarly production of professors at research universities in the United States. The rankings, by Academic Analytics of Chester, Pa., were released in January 2007, using data from 2005.

Research funding:
To perform cutting-edge research, Vanderbilt relies on considerable funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Education, and the Department of Energy, as well as from a number of other federal research funding sources.

Agency Funding at Vanderbilt:


Research Highlights:
April 17, 2009: NBC’s “Today Show” featured a segment on a robot developed by Nilanjan Sarkar, associate professor of mechanical engineering, and Wendy Stone, professor of pediatrics and psychology, to help children with autism spectrum disorder. The video is available online here.