1.2M STEM dissertations show government is the top funder of frontier PhD research
joshgans · x · 2026-09-14
A forthcoming Research Policy paper by Daniel Gross, DShvadron, Hansen and colleagues analyzes 1.2 million US STEM PhD dissertations from 1950–2022 to measure the scientific training ecosystem: where expertise is embodied, who trains grads in critical technologies, and who funds them.
Headline finding: government remains by far the biggest supporter of frontier PhD research, even in critical tech with private-sector value, and its support is growing. The authors warn against killing this "golden goose." Economist Joshua Gans notes the team needed substantial LLM work to process the corpus.
Related event: Study Analyzes 1.2 Million PhD Theses to Map US STEM Training(2 posts)→
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