Writing · topic · 18 articles

Research and education

Science funding and integrity, patents, universities, and student outcomes.

• The Disclosure Law That Hides the Donor

  2026-07-08

  Section 117 requires American universities to disclose foreign gifts and contracts — but for most of the record, not who they came from. Computed from the federal file: 97 percent of the 62 billion disclosed dollars carry no source name, because the statute asks only for a country. The anonymity is not evasion; it is the design. What the law collects, what it hides, the 2019 enforcement spike, and what the DETERRENT Act fight would actually change.

  Ownership and consolidation · Research and education · Transparency and open data

• Sixty-Two Billion Dollars: Reading the Ledger of Foreign Money in US Universities

  2026-07-08

  Since 1981 American universities have disclosed 62 billion dollars in foreign gifts and contracts under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act — 117,152 transactions at 528 institutions. A reading of the federal ledger: who received it, which countries and governments sent it, how it concentrates at the top, and what the disclosure regime does and does not reveal.

  Ownership and consolidation · Research and education · Money in politics · Transparency and open data

• From Lab to Market: Tracing Federally Funded Research into Patents and Products

  2026-06-23

  Federal money funds research, that research becomes patents, and some patents become products. Four datasets follow the path — NIH and NSF grants, USPTO patents (whose Bayh-Dole government-interest statements disclose the funding behind them), and FDA approvals — joined on institution, inventor, and the government-interest clause.

  Research and education · Engineering and infrastructure

• The Federal Research Enterprise: Joining NSF, NIH, and Research-Misconduct Data

  2026-06-21

  A guide to mapping the federal research enterprise from data — joining NSF awards, NIH grants, and ORI misconduct findings on institution and investigator so the flow of federal science money and its oversight come together in one view. Covers the two funding pillars, the misconduct accountability layer, the join-key normalization problem, and a Python workflow that aggregates funding and lines findings up against grants.

  Research and education · Engineering and infrastructure

• Is College Worth It? Measuring Value by Joining IPEDS and the College Scorecard

  2026-06-21

  Whether a given college is worth it can be answered school by school — and now program by program — by joining two federal datasets: NCES IPEDS, the mandatory census of what every college charges and graduates, with the College Scorecard’s record of debt and post-enrollment earnings. A guide to the UnitID/OPEID join, the CIP program layer, and a worked earnings-to-debt value ratio.

  Research and education · Engineering and infrastructure

• NSF Awards: The Federal Record of Who Gets US Science Funding

  2026-06-21

  The National Science Foundation funds roughly a quarter of all federally supported basic research at US colleges and universities, and every grant it makes leaves a public record — the award number, the institution, the principal investigator, the program and directorate, the title and abstract, and the obligated dollars. This guide covers the merit-review system behind the awards, the directorate structure, the searchable abstract corpus, and a Python workflow against the open NSF Awards API.

  Research and education · Government operations · Federal data

• NCES IPEDS: The Federal Database Behind Higher Education Statistics for 6,000 US Colleges

  2026-05-25

  The National Center for Education Statistics Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System collects annual data from every Title IV-eligible institution in the United States — 6,000 colleges and universities reporting enrollment, graduation rates, tuition, faculty salaries, financial aid, and institutional finances — making IPEDS the most comprehensive federal database of US higher education.

  Research and education · Federal data

• ORI Research Misconduct Database: The Federal Record Behind Scientific Fraud and Fabrication

  2026-05-25

  The HHS Office of Research Integrity maintains the authoritative federal database of research misconduct findings — every case where a PHS-funded researcher has been found to have fabricated data, falsified results, or committed plagiarism, with findings covering hundreds of scientists at major research universities and medical centers.

  Research and education · Federal data

• Grants.gov: The Federal Database Behind $500 Billion in Annual Federal Grant Opportunities

  2026-05-24

  Grants.gov is the federal government unified portal for grant opportunities — listing every competitive federal grant, cooperative agreement, and other financial assistance opportunity from 26 grant-making agencies, covering $500 billion+ in annual awards to universities, state and local governments, nonprofits, and businesses across every federal program area.

  Government operations · Research and education · Transparency and open data · Federal data

• NIH Research Portfolio: The Federal Database Behind $50 Billion in Annual Biomedical Grants

  2026-05-24

  The NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools database covers every NIH-funded research project since 1985 — 500,000+ active and historical grants totaling over $50 billion per year, spanning every disease area, institution, and principal investigator in US biomedical research.

  Research and education · Federal data

• ClinicalTrials.gov: The Federal Database Behind 500,000 Clinical Trials and Drug Approval Research

  2026-05-24

  ClinicalTrials.gov (NLM, launched February 2000 per FDAMA 1997): 500,000+ registered studies as of 2024. FDAAA 801 (2007): mandatory registration within 21 days of first enrollment for applicable clinical trials (ACTs -- Phase 2+ interventional trials of FDA-regulated drugs/biologics/devices); results reporting within 12 months of primary completion date; penalties up to $10,000/day; NIH grant withholding; but 2015 NEJM study found only 13% reporting on time. Study phases: Phase 0 (microdosing), Phase 1 (safety, 20-80 participants), Phase 2 (efficacy signal, 100-300), Phase 3 (pivotal RCTs, FDA approval basis), Phase 4 (post-marketing); observational (cohort/case-control/cross-sectional) studies phased differently. Key fields: NCT number, official title, brief summary, sponsor type (industry ~50%, NIH/federal ~20%, academic ~30%), study status, phase, allocation, intervention model, masking, primary completion date, enrollment, primary outcome measures, eligibility criteria (inclusion/exclusion), age range, gender, MeSH condition terms, intervention type (drug/device/behavioral/procedure). Disease area composition: oncology ~35%, diabetes/cardiology/psychiatry/ID follow. COVID-19 surge: ~11,000 COVID trials 2020-2021. Publication bias (file drawer problem): AllTrials campaign, Ben Goldacre, COMPARE project, RIAT. ClinicalTrials.gov API v2 at clinicaltrials.gov/api/v2/studies: no API key, pagination by pageSize/pageToken, protocolSection/resultsSection/statusModule/conditionsModule modules. Aggregate stats: ~40% completed, ~25% recruiting, ~15% terminated. Python API query: recruiting Phase 3 oncology trials by enrollment (top 10) + phase distribution for all cancer trials.

  Research and education · Health and medicine · Federal data

• Census SAIPE: The Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates Behind Federal Education Funding and County-Level Poverty Maps

  2026-05-24

  SAIPE produces annual model-based poverty estimates for all 3,100+ counties and 13,000+ school districts — the only single-year official source at that geography. It drives ~$17B in annual Title I-A education funding and the $3.5B CDBG formula. The model combines ACS, IRS EITC filers, SNAP counts, and CPS via small area estimation. The Census API exposes county and school-district poverty rates and median household income back to 1989 via a single endpoint.

  Economy and demographics · Research and education · Federal data

• USPTO Trademark Data: The Federal Brand Registry Behind 3 Million Active Marks and the TESS Search System

  2026-05-24

  The USPTO holds ~3M active registered trademarks, with ~650,000 new applications per year at peak. Federal registration provides nationwide constructive notice, ® usage rights, US Customs blocking of infringing imports, and incontestability after 5 years. The 45 Nice Classification classes span all goods and services. Bulk XML data at bulkdata.uspto.gov and the USPTO Trademark JSON API enable filing trend analysis; China accounts for ~25% of foreign USPTO filings.

  Research and education · Federal data

• NSF Research Grants: Mapping $9 Billion in Annual Basic Science Funding

  2026-05-24

  The NSF funds ~25% of all federally funded basic research at US universities (excluding life sciences) with a $9B+ annual budget across 8 directorates. Here is the proposal review process (dual merit criteria: intellectual merit AND broader impacts; funding rates 17–25% by directorate; ~40,000–50,000 proposals/year), the CAREER award ($500k/5 years, highly competitive), the Graduate Research Fellowship GRFP ($37k/year, ~2,000 awards from 12,000+ applicants), the NSF Awards API (api.nsf.gov, 600,000+ awards searchable), National AI Research Institutes ($200M+), the 2023 immediate open-access mandate stricter than NIH's, EPSCoR geographic equity program, and a Python Awards API CAREER grant analysis by directorate and institution.

  Research and education · Federal data

• NAEP: The Nation's Report Card and the Federal Dataset Behind US Education Achievement

  2026-05-24

  The National Assessment of Educational Progress is the only nationally representative, continuing assessment of US student achievement — covering reading, math, science, and more for 4th, 8th, and 12th graders. Here is the 0–500 scale and NAGB achievement levels, the COVID-era learning loss evidence (largest reading decline in 30 years), state comparison methodology, the plausible values estimation approach, NAEP Data Explorer API access, and the White–Black achievement gap trend since 1992.

  Federal data · Research and education

• USPTO Patent Data: The Federal Database Behind Every US Patent Grant and Application

  2026-05-24

  The USPTO publishes bulk patent grant data (4M+ grants since 1976) and applications (since 2001), with PatentsView as the canonical research dataset — disambiguated inventor and assignee records, CPC classification codes, citation networks, and prosecution history via PEDS. Here is the three patent types, continuation and evergreening strategy, Alice Corp and IPR quality controversies, PatentsView API, BigQuery public data, and a Python snippet for ranking top AI patent holders by CPC subclass.

  Federal data · Research and education

• ClinicalTrials.gov Data: The Federal Registry Behind Every Drug and Device Trial

  2026-05-24

  FDAAA 801 requires registration of all applicable clinical trials before enrollment and results submission within 12 months of completion — but 50%+ of trials still fail to report results. Here is the full NCT schema, how to access the AACT PostgreSQL mirror from Duke/CTTI, how to detect publication bias using the results reporting gap, and how the GLP-1 agonist trial explosion looks in the data.

  Federal data · Health and medicine · Research and education

• College Scorecard: The Federal Dataset That Exposes Graduation Rates, Debt, and Earnings for Every US College

  2026-05-24

  The College Scorecard links IPEDS enrollment data to federal loan records and IRS earnings data — publishing median earnings, debt, repayment rates, and completion rates for every institution and field of study. Here is the data structure, how to use the API, and what the earnings-debt gap reveals about for-profit colleges and high-debt programs.

  Federal data · Research and education

All topics: the writing index.