Who gets federal research dollars?

Here is an article (and a link to data from the National Science Foundation) on the universities that receive the largest amounts of federal research dollars.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/27/universities-government-money_n_3165186.html

Which raises a couple of interesting questions: Should the universities receiving the highest numbers of research dollars also be those who have the best track record for commercializing technologies?  If not (and there are good reasons why that might not be the case), what should the criteria be for measuring successful expenditures?

One thought on “Who gets federal research dollars?

  1. I don’t think just because they get the highest amounts of research dollars that they should have the highest commercialization. This is because the may be researching things that while not commercially viable have a large impact on society as a whole. I don’t know what measures I would use but there has to be a better way of looking at if the money is well spent.