The role of government support for research in U.S. academic institutions

The U.S. government provides support funds for academic research in engineering through a variety of agencies. The majority of the funds for academic research is provided through the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Together these two U.S. government agencies, provide about /spl Bscr/ in total research funding annually to U.S. universities. Support funds for academic microwave-oriented research provided by these two agencies have proved instrumental in development of a strong academic base that has provided the intellectual energy resulting in the development of the U.S. communications, radar, remote sensing, and wireless industries. The history of U.S. government support for basic research is discussed, along with the organization of the DoD and NSF funding offices. Research funding distributions and trends are also discussed.