The scope and magnitude of research supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are cited as prime factors in interest of Surveys of Graduate Science Student Support. The research component of NIH is carried out primarily in the university community and, in 1974, involved 9,800 principal investigators with $862 billion dollars. NIH research and development funds account for 40 percent of all federal funding compared with 20 percent from the National Science Foundation. Representative numbers of M.D.'s, Ph.D.'s, and graduate students involved in biomedical research projects are shown, using 1971 as the reference year. (CP)