Federal funding for research at the University reached an all-time high of more than $75 million for 2001-02, according to an annual University report. Funding for the year was nearly 30 percent more than the 2000-01 fiscal year.
The three agencies providing the largest amount of funding are the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation, said Rich Linton, vice president for research and graduate studies at the University.
The institutes of neuroscience and molecular biology received the most grant money, followed by the psychology department.
“The increase in funding is attributable to a combo of federal agencies receiving an increase in budget, and our faculty being successful in receiving grants,” Linton said. The added funding also could provide money for new buildings, and will allocate more money for faculty pay.
“The increase in funding certainly makes budget cuts less of a problem,” said Gary Chaffins, director and contracting officer for the office of research and administration. He said faculty research gains the most funding, but it is also used to hire undergraduates to work in offices and to assist in teaching needs.
Bill Cresko, a research associate at the University, said he was excited that more funding would soon
be available.
“It’s a nice surprise,” Cresko said. Cresko researches the stickleback, a fish he hopes will turn out to be as valuable a tool as the zebra fish.
“Because of federal funding, we’ve been able to start research projects and gather information that we wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise,” Cresko said. About 10 to 15 undergraduates work in the lab. The funding also allowed Cresko to buy fish tanks, train new students and may include some renovations.
The money will allow researchers to concentrate on science rather than thinking of ways for scrimping and saving, Cresko said.
“Without external funding, none of the equipment would be here, except the space,” Cresko said.
“This is huge for undergraduates,” Marc Rothgery said, a biology major working on his honors thesis. “We have the opportunity to get a real science background in the labs.”
Tracy Norris, a postdoctoral research associate who received a grant last year, is working on the desiccation tolerance in a group of photosynthetic bacteria known as cyanobacteria. “Grants allow researchers like myself to be able to study the basic questions of science that have led to almost all technological and medical advances,” Norris said.