UF research funding up 2.2 percent to $574 million despite weak economy

August 27, 2009

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — University of Florida faculty continue to excel at securing research funding, even in a weak economy. Last year, nearly 2,000 faculty received $574 million in research awards, a 2.2 percent increase over the previous fiscal year.

Led by double-digit increases to both the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, the university’s total for the 2008-2009 fiscal year that ended June 30 represented a $12.4 million increase over $561.6 million in 2007-2008.

“During a challenging economic period when the university has been under extreme budgetary pressures, our faculty continued their commitment to securing external funding for their research,” said Win Phillips, UF’s vice president for research. “In addition to furthering science, this funding impacts all facets of Florida’s economy, benefiting everyone from construction workers to graduate students.”

The $574 million in research funding generates more than $1.2 billion in business activity and 10,500 jobs, according to economic impact methodology from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Federal awards, which account for 58 percent of UF’s total, rose 4.3 percent to $336.5 million, led by the National Institutes of Health with $131.7 million and the National Science Foundation with $46.3 million. Funding from state agencies, which make up 13 percent of the total, was down by 8 percent to $75.8 million.

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences recorded a 14.3 percent increase to $47.9 million. Funding to the physics department for research about gravitational waves from the earliest moments of the universe reached nearly $4 million last year. Other significant CLAS grants included $780,000 from NSF to help fund a graduate education program in ecology.

IFAS awards rose 13.8 percent to $120.1 million, bolstered by $4 million from the Department of Defense to UF’s Center for Food Distribution and Retailing, to develop better tracking systems for military food. Other IFAS awards included $1.3 million to study the citrus genome and $911,000 to improve the flavor of tomatoes.

College of Engineering awards rose 8.7 percent to $72.8 million, including $15 million from the State of Florida for research and administration of the Florida Energy Systems Consortium, a statewide program to develop alternative energy sources.

“Florida’s academic research is focused both on energy generation and energy conservation, making it highly relevant to the state’s future path,” Phillips said. “This consortium brings together energy researchers at our universities to address the larger, statewide energy challenges facing Florida.”

Funding to the Health Science Center, which accounts for half of UF’s total, remained about the same as last year at $289.3 million. Major Health Science Center awards funded projects on smoking cessation, hypertension and blindness.