Physics Department Ranked in NSF Top 100 Funded Programs

Morgantown, WV, June 23, 2006:  West Virginia University was ranked above New York, Iowa State, Case Western and Syracuse Universities in the top 100 federally funded Physics research programs in the nation.

According to the most recent data available from National Science Foundation (NSF), the WVU Department of Physics, housed in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, was ranked 95th in the nation, in terms of federal funding to support basic research. At $2,921,000, the WVU Physics research program has secured a place among the top 100 in total expenditures for Fiscal Year 2002. This was the result of over a decade of growth in national competitiveness for the Physics program.

"The Department of Physics is pleased that the research activities of the physics faculty have been so successful over the past decade," said Dr. Earl Scime, chair of the Department of Physics. “By breaking into the top 100 departments in terms of federally funded research, we have established WVU as a competitive physics research institution.”

The National Science Foundation strives to fund specific research proposals that have been judged the most promising by a rigorous and objective merit-review system. NSF, with an annual budget of $5.5 billion, funds approximately 20 percent of all federally supported scientific research at universities in the United States.

“Recent growth in the physics faculty size, through the support of the Dean, the Provost, and the Research Corporation, finally brings the size of our faculty closer to those of our peers,” Dr. Scime continued. “Once those new faculty are established, we expect that we will be able to rise even higher in the federally funded research rankings."

“The faculty of the Department of Physics is to be commended for their hard work in achieving this level of success,” remarked Dr. Fred King, associate dean for research and graduate studies. “This is one indicator of the quality of the programs in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. In these times of tight federal funding for research, it is a significant accomplishment for any department to break into the top 100.”

Data were retrieved from the National Science Foundation, Academic and Research and Development Expenditures: Fiscal Year 2002 at http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf04330/.

For more information, contact Dr. Earl Scime at escime@wvu.edu.

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