Montana State research expenditures hit all-time high

Thursday Sep. 2nd, 2021


For a third year running, Montana State University recorded an all-time high for research expenditures, tallying more than $193 million for the fiscal year ending in June. 

That figure marks a 16% increase over the previous year’s total expenditures of $167 million reported to the National Science Foundation and adds to more than a decade of research expenditures topping $100 million, according to Jason Carter, MSU’s vice president for research, economic development and graduate education.  

"Despite the disruptions of the pandemic, research at MSU had another remarkable year because of the commitment of our faculty, staff and students," Carter said. "Their passion for what they do every day really shined through."

According to Carter, the past year showed diversified investment across MSU's research entities, substantially addressing “grand challenges” identified in MSU’s strategic plan, “Choosing Promise,” including community wellness, food and fuel security, and environmental stewardship.

The College of Agriculture recorded the largest figure, nearly $46 million, followed by the College of Letters and Sciences at $22 million and the Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering at $18 million. The College of Nursing tallied $7 million, with the College of Education, Health and Human Development at $5 million. MSU's MilTech had a total of $22 million in expenditures, while the Western Transportation Institute had $5 million and the Center for American Indian and Rural Health Equity had nearly $3 million.

MSU is recognized as R1, or "very high research activity," by the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research’s Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, more frequently know as simply the “Carnegie Classification." Montana State is 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, as well as one of only two nationally also classified as having very high undergraduate enrollment.

A total of 516 faculty and professional staff served as principal investigators or co-investigators on competitive grant projects. There were 672 new grants or contracts awarded, totaling nearly $121 million, a 21% increase from the prior year. That funding will be expended over time frames ranging from months to years. Research expenditures in 2020-2021 directly supported more than 450 graduate students and more than 500 undergraduates.

Scholarship highlights from the past year include: 

Also among the funding MSU received during the past year were two grants totaling $1.5 million through NSF’s Major Research Instrumentation program, which supports acquisition of state-of-the-art scientific equipment. The two infrastructure grants enabled purchase of a specialized device for MSU’s Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility and a versatile, custom-made microscope housed in the Center for Biofilm Engineering, which was also supported with a $513,000 grant from the M.J. Murdoch Charitable Trust. Over the two-decade history of the NSF Major Research Instrumentation program, MSU has received 26 grants totaling $13.2 million, ranking it No. 1 among other peer institutions, ahead of Oregon State University, Virginia Tech and Clemson University.

This year's research funding and accomplishments have extra significance because they come amid the pandemic, Carter said. Although some universities almost entirely shut down their research operations with the rise of COVID-19 cases, MSU was able to put safety procedures in place that allowed researchers to mostly continue their projects. The effort to understand and contain the spread of the coronavirus also led to multiple MSU research teams retooling their labs to help.

“It was incredible to see a number of our faculty and researchers pivot their programs to study the virus,” Carter said. “This included research on wastewater, mental health, epidemiological modeling, how the virus impacted rural and tribal communities, and much more.”

MSU research is well-known for its engagement of undergraduate students in research and is a national leader in securing prestigious Goldwater Scholarships. A total of 82 MSU students have won the award, the nation’s premier scholarship for undergraduates studying math, natural sciences and engineering. Also this year, three MSU graduates drew upon their undergraduate research experiences to win NSF Graduate Research Fellowships, and three current MSU graduate students also won that award. And numerous MSU graduate students and postdoctoral researchers won prestigious awards, including the Ford Fellowship