A Knowledge of Money. Fields that are directly involved with the study of money, such as economics and business departments, are often left unscathed. A Source of Money. Certain disciplines that can bring in external funding from research grants or corporate partnerships usually thrive in universities. These include applied sciences such as engineering, computer science, and biotechnology.
Universities can get more funding for research by flirting with private corporations.
The University at Stony Brook, for example, is developing a technology incubator with the software giant Computer Associates to enhance research in the computer science department. Also, the new Center for Molecular Medicine promises to create partnerships with local biotech and pharmaceutical businesses. The answer has been that there is Federal funding for science, particularly for the biological and medical sciences, and that often there is corporate support for scientific investigations. And so there has been, I think, great interest on the part of research universities in building their scientific areas. But no cooperative venture comes without a price.