Advancing the blueberry industry, improving air quality and reducing morbidity in low income countries are just a few of the projects supported by the University’s record high research funding.

“This past year researchers received over $173 million, which is a record high for us,” said Regina Smith, associate vice president of research at the University.

Notwithstanding the weak economy, this $173 million record funding from external sources is a significant jump from the previous record high of $150.6 million in 2005.

“Over $100 million comes straight from the federal government,” Smith said.

Compared to the previous fiscal year’s $137 million from external sources, Smith said the increase in federal funding was only about $10 million.

“The place that we really did well in this year was in the private foundation and non-profit contributions,” Smith said. “Besides the federal funding, the rest is from other sponsors including almost $60 million from private organizations, $5 million from industries, $2.6 million from international organizations and state funding is about $6.3 million.”

Smith said the University spends a lot of time working to allocate this money to cover the sciences and other research areas, as well as smaller projects in the arts and humanities.

Funding for specific research studies are often received as awards from federal agencies and other foundations.

The USDA awarded $1.7 million to the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences to advance the blueberry industry in the Southeast. This same amount was awarded from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to the Faculty of Engineering outreach to improve air quality through improvements to diesel vehicles in Athens-Clarke and Washington counties.

One of the most significant awards this year came from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to gain a better understanding of a life-threatening parasitic disease.

“Dan Colley, director of the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, received almost $18 million for a collaborative study on schistosomiasis, with a number of other universities,” Smith said.

She said looking at the University’s peer and aspirational institutions provides a comparison of where the University stands in research funding.

The University of Florida

The University of Florida received more than $574 million in research awards over the past fiscal year.

“The $574 million in grants and research awards shows about a 2.2 percent increase from the previous year, and we think that’s great considering the economy at the time,” said Joey Kays, director of research communications at UF.

The federal government is the largest provider of research funding for the UF, as awards from the National Institute of Health accounted for more than half of its total research funding.

“The Gates Foundation has a major initiative against malaria and is funding our research to help figure out ways to eliminate malaria,” Kays said of the $1.5 million award.

Another UF project funded by $4 million from the Department of Defense uses chips to track the condition of food being shipped to our military bases to make sure it hasn’t been spoiling in the Iraq sun for weeks.

Kays said not only does the money fund scientific research, it generates economic activity by funding graduate students, professors, new buildings, and by creating jobs.

The University of Virginia

The University of Virginia also had an increase in research funding from its last fiscal year.

Jeff Blank, assistant vice president for research at UVA, said total research funding this year was $332 million, an increase from $314 million in the prior year.

This increase was mainly the result of the recent stimulus package, as the NIH received more than $10 billion to provide grant money to institutions across the nation.

“For the short term, the stimulus is going to help keep research awards at institutions at a good level for the current year and next year,” Blank said. “The $56 million we received in stimulus awards is having a desired effect in creating and retaining jobs.”

Blank said UVA received large amounts of money from the NIH to fund studies on nanotechnology, research on genomics and an award funding a study linking motor skills and cognitive function in elementary students.

“Funding wise, UVA is smaller at the moment, but we still bring in a significant amount, and probably 50 to 60 percent of that funding goes to medical research,” Blank said.

The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reached its record high for funding when it brought in more than $716 million in research awards last fiscal year.

“It supports a great diversity of projects, but the School of Medicine is the entity that brings in the most funding, at around $349 million,” said Tony Waldrop, vice chancellor for research and economic development at the University of North Carolina’s Chapel Hill campus.

Waldrop said the majority of funding comes from federal awards and the NIH, but funding also comes from a variety of corporations, foundations, state funding and a mixture of entities.

“The biggest difference in funding between UGA and Chapel Hill can be explained by our large medical school, since it has such a big impact here,” Waldrop said.