re: aTm / Mizzou fans - Explain to us the tangible benefits of the AAU

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The 59 AAU receive almost 60% of the U.S. universities research grants and contracts.

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So, I wanted to see some data on what this AAU percentage of research funding looked like, and see where the rest of the SEC stacked up. So, I started at The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, which is who classified schools as Research I, etc. From there I was directed to the National Science Foundation Survey of Research and Development Expenditures at Universities and Colleges, and I got a whole boatload of the data. Below are some observations I thought were interesting, and to me shed some perspective on this discussion, so I thought I would share.

You can stop reading now if you are not interested...

- There are 697 total universities and colleges in the US as of FY2009.
- In FY2009, these universities and colleges spent a total $54,935,457,000 (~$55B) in R&D efforts.
- 339 schools account for 99% of total R&D expenditures at universities and colleges.
- 148 schools account for 90% of total R&D expenditures at universities and colleges.
- Rice, Oregon, and Brandeis (all AAU schools) fall in the lower 10% of total funding, as does Alabama.
- 101 schools account for 80% of total R&D expenditures at universities and colleges.
- The AAU institutions Brown, Tulane, Rice, Oregon, and Brandeis fall in the lower 20% for funding, as do Auburn, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama.

For FY 2009, the 59 AAU institutions accounted for 55% of the total R&D expenditures at universities and colleges. Of these, 22 AAU member institutions account for about half (27% total) of the 55%.

When TAMU joins, it will be the highest funded SEC school, ranked (#20) nationally, followed by Florida (#23), Vanderbilt (#39), and LSU (#43). Missouri (#78) will be the 8th best funded school in the SEC in total R&D funding, also led by Kentucky (#49), Georgia (#55), and Tennessee (#70). The rest are Mississippi State (#90), USCe (#99), Auburn (#114), Arkansas (#128), Mississippi (#140), and Alabama (#201).

Prior to the change in classification, TAMU, Missouri, LSU, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, and Florida were all classified as Research I institutions.

In 2005 the Carnegie Foundation removed the "Research I" nomenclature and modified the classification methodology, instead classifying Doctorate granting Universities as RU/VH (Research Universities / Very High research activity), RU/H (Research Universities / High Research activity), and DRU (Doctoral / Research Universities).

All SEC schools are currently classified as RU/VH institutions with the exception of Alabama, Auburn, and Mississippi, which are all classified as RU/H. (NOTE: UA Birmingham and UA Huntsville are both considered separately from UA Tuscaloosa in the NSF study, and are both classified as RU/VH).

The percentage of total R&D funding (% of $55B) going to SEC schools (plus Mizzou) is:
TAMU - 1.148%
Florida - 1.078%
Vanderbilt - 0.786%
LSU - 0.731%
Kentucky - 0.680%
Georgia - 0.637%
Tennessee - 0.519%
Mizzouri - 0.446%
Mississippi State - 0.395%
USC(e) - 0.340%
Auburn - 0.261%
Arkansas - 0.192%
Mississippi - 0.165%
Alabama - 0.066%

The percentage of total R&D funding (% of $55B) going to the top 20 schools for R&D expenditure is:
Johns Hopkins - 3.379%
Michigan - 1.833%
Wisconsin-Madison - 1.733%
UC San Francisco - 1.725%
UCLA - 1.620%
UCSD - 1.601%
Duke - 1.465%
Washington - 1.416%
Penn State - 1.371%
Minnesota - 1.349%
MIT - 1.340%
Penn - 1.323%
tOSU - 1.304%
Stanford - 1.282%
UC Davis - 1.241%
Cornell - 1.222%
UC Berkeley - 1.188%
Colorado - 1.180%
UNC Chapel Hill - 1.176%
TAMU - 1.148%

And, if it makes any difference, WVU is classified as an RU/H institution, and is ranked (#116) with 0.254% of the total R&D expenditures. Notre Dame is an RU/VH school, ranked (#135) at 0.178% of total R&D expenditures at universities and colleges.

And yes, I know... tl;dr. I don't care, so GFY, DIAF, etc.