Using curriculum vitae to compare some impacts of NSF research grants with research Center funding

While traditional grants remain central in US federal support of academic scientists and engineers, the role of multidisciplinary NSF Centers is growing. Little is known about how funding through these Centers affects scientific output or (as is an NSF aim) increases academic collaboration with industry. This paper tests the use of CVs to examine how Center funding affects researchers’ publication rates and their obtaining industry grants. We find that CVs are indeed usable, but some ways of collecting them work much better than others, and that researchers who obtain Center grants are more likely to obtain grants from industry too, suggesting that this NSF aim is being met. We do not find that Centers improve publication rates.