UF receives $776.2 million for research in 2019

The University of Florida received $776.2 million in research funding in fiscal year 2019.

About 68 percent of UF’s total funding came from the federal government, which awarded $526.8 million. Another $41.2 million came from the state, along with $54.4 million from industry and $99.1 million from foundations and non-profit organizations.

The College of Medicine in Gainesville was the largest recipient of funding, receiving $283.9 million. The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, or IFAS, received $161.3 million, and the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering received $89.5 million. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences received $40.4 million, and the College of Education received $33 million. The total for the rest of the colleges was $168.2 million.

UF had 100 awards of $1 million or more in 2019. Examples of the impactful research funded this year include:

• A $4.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to IFAS to help farmers fine tune their irrigation systems to safely use a combination of fresh and recycled water. Smart sensors will allow growers to use the Internet of Things to measure physical, chemical and biological criteria to ensure their irrigation water is safe.
• A $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to the McKnight Brain Institute to determine how dysfunction in the amygdala, which controls emotions, can affect decision making.
• A $3.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to the College of Education for its Virtual Learning Lab, which mines data from student tests to help optimize online education programs.
• A $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering to use video-based machine learning to develop automated signalized control strategies and video analytics for intersections and highways.

“In 2018, we had a record year thanks to a number of particularly large awards which are now beginning to generate results,” said David Norton, UF’s vice president for research. “In 2019, we built on our strengths in health, agriculture, engineering, education and other fields and we anticipate even more public and private support in the future.”