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UCLA ranked second for research and development spending in the sciences and engineering among universities, according to a recent report released by the National Science Foundation.

In the 2004 fiscal year, UCLA spent $773 million on research, according to the report.

The money was provided in part by federal grants and private industry and foundations, many of which were won by faculty members against competition from other research institutions, said Roberto Peccei, vice chancellor of research at UCLA.

“This is just recognition of the quality of the research that is done here, that we’re able to attract so much federal, private and other funding,” Peccei said.

UCLA was ranked second behind Johns Hopkins University, which spent $1.3 billion on research in 2004, according to the report. The top 20 research universities spent over $42 billion that year total, an increase of $2 billion in spending from the previous year.

Several other University of California campuses were on the NSF’s list for 2004, including UC San Francisco, which was fifth with $728 million; UC San Diego at seventh with $709 million; UC Berkeley at 13th with $526 million; and UC Davis at 17th with $512 million.

Despite UCLA’s high ranking, it was the only UC on the top 20 list that had a drop in research dollars between 2003 and 2004, going from $849 million to $773 million. The only other school on the list that recorded a drop in expenditures between those years were the University of Michigan campuses.

The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA accounts for approximately 70 percent of the money that is attracted for research, Peccei said, a distribution not unusual for a university with a strong medical facility.

“For places that have a large medical school, the health sciences bring in the lion’s share of the research,” he said.

Engineering and the physical sciences each attract about 10 percent of total research funding.

Peccei also attributed UCLA’s high rank to its large size and close-knit campus, which fosters interdisciplinary research – research that is more applicable to real life.

“Most problems in science and society do not fall squarely into one discipline. They go across disciplines,” he said.

UCLA’s top ranking also reflects its resistance to pressure from shrinking available resources, said Lawrence Lokman, university spokesman.

Due to the competitive nature of research grants, UCLA’s high ranking in research spending is direct evidence of its success in research, said Leonard Rome, senior associate dean for research at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine.

“We wouldn’t be No. 2 if we weren’t doing terrific research,” he said. “The places that receive the most grant money are the ones that do the best research.”

Money for research at UCLA has produced fruitful results and has contributed to innumerable breakthroughs in a variety of disciplines, Peccei said.

“Almost every day there are headlines in which some breakthrough or other is reported,” he said.