UW-Madison ranked second in a list of top national research universities for the 2006 fiscal year, improving from third in 2005, according to statistics released Thursday by the National Science Foundation.

Research at UW-Madison currently generates over $900 million annually, the foundation said, surpassing the University of Michigan, which was second in 2005.

For the second straight fiscal year, Johns Hopkins University ranked first, followed by University of California-Los Angeles at No. 3 and the University of California-San Francisco also ranked in the top five.

Chancellor John Wiley said the $900 million that comes in every year is crucial for funding research in the frontier of science, employing students and faculty, hiring staff and creating spin-off companies in order to publicize new research findings.

“[Growth in research advancement] means a lot––it means a lot to our university, it means a lot to our students, it means a lot to the state and local regions,” he said.

UW-Madison’s Graduate School Dean Martin Cadwallader said UW-Madison’s ability to produce extra dollars and jobs both on and off campus is a large boost for the economy, making it such a great investment for the state.

According to Cadwallader, funding for UW-Madison research comes primarily from federal agencies, the largest contributor being the National Institutes of Health followed by NSF. Wiley said the university has ranked among the top five research universities for the 25 to 30 years the NSF has been taking data.

He said recruiting and retaining the best faculty worldwide has always been the university’s top priority, attributing UW-Madison’s ability to maintain its high level of research competitiveness to this goal.

The university also has a competitive advantage in its vast areas of study––a strong College of Letters and Science, a College of Engineering, a medical school, pharmacy school, veterinary school, graduate school––all of which contribute to the supply of research intake, Wiley said.

The university is ranked first in research outside of science and engineering, which along produces $832 million yearly, according to the NSF report.

“Being up there gives us a visibility that is very helpful in attracting and keeping the best faculty,” Wiley said, “The better you are, the better you do.”