Forum Post
I submitted the question below to the September 22nd WSU Pullman Town Hall webinar but it was unfortunately not selected for a live response. Thus, I am submitting here in hopes that the executive administration will provide a response.
Question: It is concerning to see WSU drop in global rankings that reflect the overall research enterprise. For example, in the Academic Rankings of World Universities (aka Shanghai Rankings) WSU dropped from the 301-400 grouping where we were in 2021 and 2022 to the 401-500 grouping for 2023. Although now abandoned, the Drive to 25 Campaign at least set an overarching target for growing the WSU research enterprise. What is the current overarching target for the research enterprise and what are some key actions being taken to reach it?
~Jon Oatley, Molecular Biosciences Faculty
Response
The Faculty Senate Executive Officers would like to direct your attention to the comment below made by Michael Wolcott, Regents Professor and Interim VP of Research.
Comments
The current growth target for the WSU research enterprise is stated as a metric on p.3 of the WSU System Strategic Plan 2023-2024 Annual System Objectives (1). This metric is to move from 78th in the FY2021 National Science Foundation Higher Education Research and Development (NSF-HERD) Research Expenditure Rankings to 75th in FY2024. Note that the NSF-HERD rankings are a retrospective analysis of research expenditures and are released 1-2 years after the fiscal year ends. Our analysis of the recently released FY2022 NSF-HERD data presented below indicates that WSU has improved one position in the ranking to 77th with an annual research expenditure of $368M. But the challenge of achieving the 75th-rank position has grown. Despite the improved ranking and increased research expenditures, the expenditure difference between WSU and 75th-ranked institution grew from 5.1% to 10.0%.
WSU FY2023 sponsored project awards are a leading indicator of FY2024 research expenditures and have increased 8.2% from FY2022 to FY2023. In contrast, the expenditures figure associated with the 75th-ranked position had an average increase of 5.8 %/yr from 2018-2022. While this is positive news, if the above expenditure gap continues to increase, WSU may have difficulties achieving the 75th rank by FY2024.
Increasing WSU’s NSF-HERD ranking will require implementing a multi-year plan to enhance research expenditures. The Office of Research is working with Deans and other WSU leaders to develop this plan for the WSU Strategic Plan (2), by May 2024. The recently announced Community Engaged Seed Grant Program INSPIRE! (3), is one step in this plan. Other elements include:
• Stabilizing and then growing the number of research-active faculty.
• Improving faculty support and research infrastructure.
• Increasing diversity within the WSU research community.
• Pursuit of targeted research funding opportunities in collaboration with colleges, campuses, and the Office of Government Relations.
• Executing strategic internal competitions to catalyze engagement and increase proposals and awards.
• Definition of a top-level goal for research expenditures. As an example, achieving $500M/yr. in research expenditures by FY2030 requires an average growth rate of approximately 4%/yr. from FY2022 to FY2030.
The plan will build on several positive accomplishments, including a record average research expenditures per tenured/tenure-track faculty member $413K in FY2021, which is third in our institutional peer set, and a tripling of large (>$3M) awards since FY2017.
The Office of Research will present this plan to the Faculty Senate in fall 2024. The pace of implementation of the plan will depend on the evolution of the University’s budget.
(1) 2023-2024 Annual System Objectives
(2) WSU System Strategic Plan
(3) INSPIRE! Commmunity Engaged Research Seed Grants
(4) WSU System Strategic Plan Annual Report