UNL research funding increases to $98.3 million in 2005

External funding for University of Nebraska-Lincoln research has doubled since 2000, according to the UNL Office of Research and Graduate Studies.

UNL's total external research funding, which includes all funds awarded for university research projects, totaled $98.3 million for the fiscal year that ended in June. Of that, $70.7 million came from federal sources, including the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Education and other agencies. Total sponsored programs funding, which includes funding for research and other activities such as instruction, public service, administration, and student services, increased to $157.8 million in the same period.

The external research funding total has increased 100 percent since 2000, when total research awards were $49.2 million.

Prem Paul, vice chancellor for research and dean of graduate studies at UNL, credited the university's faculty for achieving the new record, an impressive accomplishment as competition for federal funding has increased.

"Our faculty is consistently recognized for the quality of their intellectual output and research funding is an important indicator of a university's quality," Paul said. "Research is very competitive and only the best ideas get funded. UNL has created a good track record with the funding agencies by submitting innovative proposals and proving our ability to manage large projects."

He cited the receipt in April of a $3 million grant from the Office of Naval Research's Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative Program. That grant supports a team of engineering researchers to refine a process to coat surfaces with thin diamond films. More than 120 proposals were submitted to the competition and just 33, including UNL's, were funded, Paul said. The team had an established record and proposed an innovative solution persuasive to the funding agency, Paul said.

But research funding is not just about science and engineering, Paul said, emphasizing that UNL research ranges from studying soybean diesel fuel to Walt Whitman's poetry, from math education to prostate cancer research.

UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman noted that UNL's research is an important driver in the state's economy. "The research by itself creates jobs" said Perlman. "This means that since 2000 we have created 1,450 jobs in Nebraska by the increase in our research." Research also attracts students to the university who are interested in cutting-edge information and techniques that can only be learned from faculty engaged in research. Grant-funded projects also generate research-related jobs and assistantships for undergraduate and graduate students.

Many projects also help solve problems faced by Nebraskans, Perlman said. An example is a $2.6 million grant to UNL from the U.S. Department of Education to develop an innovative program to teach early reading skills to Spanish-speaking pre-schoolers and give them a good start in kindergarten. The program, being developed in South Sioux City, may serve as a model throughout Nebraska and the nation. UNL research in drought mitigation, software reliability and soybean rust have daily applications for Nebraskans, he said.

Paul said UNL research creates new technologies that have the potential to attract new businesses to the state and to benefit existing businesses. UNL recently signed long-term agreements with Monsanto, for a discovery involving herbicide-resistant soybeans, and with iDiverse, to explore ramifications of a gene discovered and patented by a UNL scientist that apparently plays a key role in plant cell death. Both discoveries hold promise for developing crops with higher tolerances for drought, herbicides or disease.

Other recent grants contributing to the increase include:

* $5 million from the National Science Foundation to improve math education in middle schools
* $3.6 million from the National Institute of Drug Abuse/National Institutes of Health to study risk and protective factors for substance abuse in American Indian adolescents during the high school years.
* $1.8 million from the National Institutes of Health that will help uncover how very young children acquire speech and language skills. That research project is conducted in collaboration with Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln.
* $2.5 million from the National Science Foundation to fund a mentoring program for students interested in pursuing graduate degrees and careers in mathematics.
* $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Education to develop an innovative, hands-on biology curriculum for middle school students

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 development activities.

Paul said he sees the upward trend in funding continuing, noting that the university will announce receipt of a major NSF grant of more than $10 million on Aug. 9.

CONTACTS: Prem Paul, Vice Chancellor, Research, (402) 472-3123; or
Mike Zeleny, Asst. Vice Chancellor, Research, (402) 472-3529