Academic S&E research space on the rise

America’s research universities saw their science and engineering (S&E) research space grow 3.5 per cent from fiscal years 2009 to 2011, according analysis released by the National Science Foundation on 30 January.

NSF noted that the biological and biomedical sciences accounted for the bulk of growth, increasing by 8 per cent during this period. That increase follows a 12.3 per cent increase in research space for this field from FYs 2007 to 2009. In 2011, the biological and biomedical sciences accounted for 26.8 per cent of research space, measured as total net assignable square feet (NASF). This was three percentage points higher than the share in FY 2007.