UNL Research Funding Increases to $91.5 Million in 2004

External funding for University of Nebraska-Lincoln programs hit record levels this year, according to the UNL Office of Research and Graduate Studies.

UNL's total research funding, which is all funds awarded for university research projects, totaled $91.5 million for the fiscal year that ended in June. Total sponsored programs funding, which includes funding for research and other activities such as instruction, public service, administration, and student services, increased to $151 million in the same period.

This year's funding numbers reflect a continuing trend in increased research awards to UNL, said Prem Paul, vice chancellor for research and dean of graduate studies. Since 2000, external funding for research has grown from $49.2 million to $91.5 million, an 86 percent increase, he said.

"Increased external funding not only improves our ability to do leading-edge research that improves the quality of life for Nebraskans, it also provides a richer education for our students and positively impacts the state's economy," said UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman.

"Our success in winning more grants recognizes the expertise and hard work of our faculty and shows that our initiatives to increase UNL's external research funding are working," Paul said.

A few of the large recent grants contributing to the increase include:

* $5 million from the National Institute of Child Health and Development to develop strategies to enhance school readiness in children ages birth to age 5 in partnership with the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Lincoln Public Schools and the Lincoln Action Program;
* $4.7 million from the National Science Foundation EPSCoR program to study how complex chemicals in food influence growth and development in organisms;
* $1.8 million from the National Science Foundation to study the Nebraska Sandhills ecosystem; and
* $1.2 million from the National Institutes of Health for research on proteins involved in the aging process.

An important factor in this upward trend is increased funding from the National Institutes of Health, which funds biomedical and other basic research at UNL.

"A major contributor to our success at NIH is our ability to leverage the state's investment of tobacco settlement funds in biomedical research," Paul said. "These funds help us attract top biomedical scientists to UNL."

In addition to funding research, education and service projects, external awards support many university functions, including libraries, the colleges, business and finance offices, regulatory compliance and technology transfer.

Paul said he sees the upward trend in funding continuing, citing UNL's recent news that a $1.2 million training grant for the Nebraska Center for Virology has been funded by NIH.

"We're on the move," Paul said.

CONTACT: Prem Paul, Vice Chancellor, Research, (402) 472-3123; or
Monica Norby, Asst. Vice Chancellor, Research, (402) 472-4180