Say what you will about the stimulus package’s limited effect on the unemployment rate, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is creating and sustaining jobs on campus at Georgetown University, University News reports.

Since the University began receiving stimulus money, almost 50 professors, scientists, and physicians have received more than $25 million in ARRA funding from the Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Health.

According to assistant provost for research Timothy Barbari, the funding is not only allowing current research efforts to continue but is also “creating new positions, primarily for post-doctoral fellows and research scientists.”

A full list of NIH and National Science Foundation grants can be found on their websites.

The current science center

The federal government has not yet denied or approved Georgetown University’s $15 million request for stimulus money to fund construction of the science center, but Ali Whitmer, a dean in the College, said that the outlook is good.

Having submitted the request to the National Institute of Standards and Technology in early August, the University was contacted by NIST earlier this month with a list of clarification questions about their original proposal.

“While there was not any particular indication that we would be getting funding, that’s generally a good sign that we’ve made something of a shortlist,” she said.

Whitmer said that NIST would make its decision sometime in December. She did not have information on requests Georgetown had made of other institutions for construction funding.

Earlier this month, University Spokesperson Julie Green Bataille said that Georgetown was ready to begin construction on the science building as soon as it had secured enough funding.

“We are doing everything we can outside of putting shovels in the ground … to make sure that when we can secure financing, we’re ready to go,” she said.

Scott Fleming, the Associate Vice President for Federal Relations, said that in order for Georgetown to receive funding for construction of the science center, NIST must also approve the “science element” of the University’s proposal, which NIST required it to submit. The proposed institute, called the Institute for Soft Matter Synthesis and Metrology, would mostly support research in physics and chemistry.

The total amount of stimulus funding Georgetown has received, and what for, after the jump!

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We’re Number 111!

The National Science Foundation just released its ranking for university spending on Research and Development for fiscal year 2008, and Georgetown is ranked 111th.  According to the rankings, Georgetown spent $143 million on research and development during fiscal year 2008.

Our ranking is a slight improvement over the previous year, when we came in 113th and spent $132 million on R&D.  In fiscal year 2006 we came in 117th, with $119 million spent on R&D.

Our R&D spending is still dwarfed by several nearby schools, though.  John Hopkins University, which maintained it first place ranking for the 3oth year in a row, spent $1.7 billion on R & D.  We were also beat out by Virginia Tech, University of Maryland at College Park, University of Maryland at Baltimore, University of Virginia, George Washington University and Virginia Commonwealth University.