How is research financed?
Most research is expensive to conduct, particularly medical research which tends to be more experimental than mathematical in nature. As a result, a sponsor needs to be identified who is willing to pay for the research. Universities provide young faculty startup funds to initiate their research. These faculty are expected to use these funds to conduct the preliminary studies needed to obtain extramural (outside) funding. The most common and prestigious extramural sponsors are federal agencies, specifically, the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Faculty promotion and tenure typically depends on the ability to obtain funding from one of these agencies. Funding form corporations and non-profit foundations is also available, but forms a small percentage of the total funded research. Research conducted in most corporations is actually more a form of advanced product development. The total dollars allocated to basic research conducted within corporations has
