@rjkofnovi, UMich is first in research expenditures among public RU’s. JHU is private. UW-Madison is 2nd among publics (3rd overall).
So @CORDIE, that list is flat-out wrong, considering that you didn’t list UMich and Northwestern. Not to mention that RIT, RPI, WPI, FSU, UMiami, & IIT aren’t AAU schools. The chutzpah shown by some posters in passing along misinformation astounds.
Top 50 RU’s by research spending:
http://www.bestcolleges.com/features/colleges-with-highest-research-and-development-expenditures/
AAU institutions:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_American_Universities