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University of Florida

University of Florida research spending at record $1.33 billion for FY2025, new awards at $1.2 billion


University of Florida faculty conducted a record $1.33 billion in research in fiscal year 2025, advancing new medical treatments, supporting Florida’s farmers and helping to grow statewide industries such as aerospace and semiconductors.

“This new record sends an unmistakable signal that the University of Florida’s research enterprise is a rock-solid powerhouse, and the important work our researchers are doing is absolutely vital to the great state of Florida, the nation and the world,” said Mori Hosseini, UF Board of Trustees chair. “We are grateful to our Congressional delegation for their strong support, and we are eager to keep contributing to Florida’s unmatchable economic success.”

Interim UF President Kent Fuchs added: “Our faculty researchers are remarkable. The research they are pursuing continues to yield discoveries and insights that are making a difference in fields as diverse as medicine, agriculture, engineering and the basic sciences.”

Total research expenditures were up about 4.5%, or $57.3 million, over FY 2024. Spending on federally funded projects awarded over the past several years was up 5.4% to $612.4 million, while spending on state-sponsored projects was up 14.5%, or $29.4 million, to $231.9 million. Industry-funded research was up 11.8% to $41.5 million, and projects supported by non-profits were up 10% to $60 million.

“We continue to closely follow the discussions in Washington regarding proposed changes in federal funding for research,” said Vice President for Research David Norton, “but with the remarkable support we receive from the state of Florida, I am confident that UF researchers will remain competitive in securing research funding that will position us to succeed under any funding model.”

The research spending data is based on UF’s response to the National Science Foundation’s annual Higher Education Research and Development, or HERD, Survey, which is the national standard in comparing research spending across universities around the country. The numbers reflect spending for the fiscal year that ended June 30. In the most recently finalized HERD report, based on 2023 fiscal year data, UF ranked 15th among public universities and 25th overall.

Public and private agencies typically award multi-year funding to the university based on competitive proposals submitted by researchers. That funding translates into annual spending , or expenditures, on salaries, construction, equipment and supplies; and other expenses over the life of the award.

Awards reached a record $1.25 billion in 2025, including $818 million from the federal government, $102 million from the State of Florida, and $140 million from philanthropic organizations.

“Expenditures reflect how our scientists have judiciously used funding they received in previous years to make new discoveries,” Norton said, “while awards reflect opportunities to continue important research into the future.”

Here are some significant projects under way in 2025:

  • UF Health Cancer Center researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health are developing artificial intelligence algorithms that are transforming medical image analysis, helping to improve diagnostic accuracy and lower health care costs for conditions like prostate cancer.
  • Neuroscience researchers also funded by NIH have identified a previously unknown genetic mutation that causes a buildup of harmful proteins found in the brains of many Alzheimer’s patients, increasing the risk of developing the disease.
  • The Florida Semiconductor Institute, created by the Florida Legislature to boost the U.S. semiconductor industry by strengthening domestic chip production and reducing reliance on foreign suppliers, received funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce to use advanced computer simulations — known as digital twins — to improve how computer chips are designed and manufactured.
  • A team of engineering faculty and students funded by NASA is testing advanced aluminum and stainless-steel coating materials designed to solve one of the most pressing technical challenges in deep space exploration: preventing the boil-off of cryogenic rocket fuels during long missions.
  • Researchers from UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, UF/IFAS, are testing a genetically modified citrus tree that can fight off the tiny insects responsible for citrus greening, which has caused citrus production to plummet over the past two decades. The approach — funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the state and the citrus industry — involves inserting a gene into a citrus tree that produces a protein that can kill baby Asian citrus psyllids, the bugs that transmit the greening disease.

Nearly half of the research spending was in the six colleges of UF Health, led by the College of Medicine in Gainesville and Jacksonville with $369.4 million; the College of Pharmacy with $39.4 million; the College of Public Health & Health Professions with $36 million; the College of Veterinary Medicine with $33.5 million; the College of Dentistry with $20.8 million; and the College of Nursing with $6.3 million. In addition, the Wertheim UF Scripps Institute accounted for $101.2 million in research spending.

UF/IFAS, which has been the national leader in agricultural sciences and natural resources conservation research over the past six years according to the HERD survey, recorded $286.5 million in spending during FY 2025. Stationed on UF’s Gainesville campus and at research and education centers across the state, about 600 research faculty provide cutting-edge knowledge and innovation in fields including animal sciences, horticulture, food sciences and more.

Engineers at the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering conducted $181.6 million in research on such things as cybersecurity, semiconductors, storm readiness, retail theft deterrence, and robotics.

Faculty in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences had $62.3 million in expenditures, much of it in areas of basic research such as chemistry, biology and astronomy that feed into applied research in the other colleges.

“This basic research is vital to the success of the medical, agricultural and engineering work conducted in other parts of the university,” Norton said. “It provides the building blocks for applied research that leads to new drugs, more crops, a robust space economy and many more benefits.”

UF also set a new record for the number of invention disclosures faculty submitted for discoveries that have commercialization potential. The university registered 446 technology disclosures, a substantial increase from the 369 disclosures reported in FY24. UF has long been a national leader in the development and transfer of new discoveries to the marketplace and also exceeded last year’s numbers for licenses executed, patent applications and material transfer agreements.

"Everything we do starts with invention disclosures. They are the raw material for potential licenses and startups," said Jim O’Connell, assistant vice president of commercialization.

“The UF technology transfer enterprise is a key contributor to the institution’s economic value to the state,” said Norton. “Since UF established its first startup incubator in 1995, the economic impact of our commercialization enterprise has exceeded $25 billion. These efforts build new companies and industries that are key to Florida’s economic security in the future.”