Download Entire ReportNotre Dame's
Economic Impact
on South Bend
Using the Wealth of Educational
Resources to Help the Community
A focus on research and its application to real-world issues is becoming a greater part of the University's teaching mission. Furthering this aim, Notre Dame has increased the volume of research dollars it has brought into the regional economy. This infusion makes the University a significant source of human capital for area businesses and creates new economic partnerships and opportunities.
- Federal and corporate grants to underwrite research have become a sizeable source of local income, increasing from $24 million in 1997 to $45 million in 2002
- 4,097 Notre Dame graduates live and work in St. Joseph County; 2,269 in the city of South Bend (Office of University Relations)
The leaders of these research projects are our new pioneers:
- Professor Cletus F. Chizek co-founded the South Bend accounting firm Crowe Chizek in 1942, employing 1,600 nationwide and 350 locally
- In 1985, sociologists Irwin Press and Rodney F. Ganey's metric for measuring hospital quality gave rise to Press Ganey Associates, Inc. of South Bend, employing some 340 locally
- Professor Steven Schmid's work on less-invasive orthopedic implants is being developed with Zimmer, Inc. under the auspices of the Indiana 21st Century Research and Technology Fund, established in 1999
- Professor Arvind Varma is collaborating with Honeywell International's Aircraft Landing Systems division, which has established a five-year alliance with the Center for Molecularly Engineered Materials
- In the future, the University expects to be co-sponsor of a high-tech incubation center that will research many scientific concepts with commercial potential, including biochemical, genomic, and nanoscientific projects already being conducted in Notre Dame laboratories
