Penn State Intercom......January 23, 2003
Research expenditures
pass half-billion dollar mark
By Barbara Hale
Public Information
Penn State's research expenditures -- funds received primarily from federal, industry, and foundation sources that are spent in Pennsylvania and stimulate the local economy-- passed the half-billion dollar mark in fiscal 2002.
Robert Killoren, assistant vice president for research and director of the Office of Sponsored Programs, said that if spending for research and creative activities from all sources of support are considered, including federal and commonwealth funding, private industry, foundation, University infrastructure and institutional cost sharing, total expenditures for organized research at Penn State reached $507 million in fiscal 2002. The comparable figure for fiscal year 2001 was $472 million.
"Research expenditures within Penn State's Strategic and Interdisciplinary Initiatives, composed of environmental sciences, life sciences, material sciences, social sciences and defense programs, totaled $380 million in fiscal 2002, nearly three-quarters of the University's total research expenditures," said Eva Pell, vice president for research and dean of The Graduate School. "These initiatives range from developing state-of-the-art technology for the biomedical, sensing and electronic fields, to protecting estuaries and watersheds along the Atlantic Coast to helping children from low income rural Pennsylvania families to make successful transitions to school."
For example, Rural Children Living in Poverty is a joint Penn State /University of North Carolina project funded by $19 million from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Approximately half of the funding will come to Pennsylvania. Over the long term, the researchers hope to understand what factors predict the successful transition to school of children from low-income, rural families.
The Atlantic Slope Consortium, funded by $6 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, joins Penn State natural scientists and social scientists with those from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences, East Carolina University, Environmental Law institute and FTN Associate to measure the health of wetlands, streams, rivers and estuaries exposed to population pressures.
The Center for Nanoscale Science was established recently with a $9 million grant from the National Science Foundation. One new area of focus in the center will be molecular motors, tiny biological engines that could one day be harnessed in devices for use in medicine, computing and other applications.
The fiscal 2002 data show a greater than 7 percent increase in total research expenditures for the fourth year in a row. Expenditures on grants and contracts from federal funding sources increased 15 percent with significant increases from several major federal sources. U.S. Army funding nearly doubled to $6 million, with total Department of Defense research increasing 9 percent to $106 million.
Department of Transportation research increased 54 percent to $6 million. National Science Foundation support increased 23 percent to $35 million and Department of Health and Human Services funding increased 20 percent to $82 million.
Grant and contract research conducted for Pennsylvania agencies such as
PennDOT, the Department of Environmental Research, the Department of Health, the Department of Education, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Community and Economic Development increased 19 percent.
According to a study released in 1998 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Pennsylvania is a national leader in attracting federal research and development funding, ranking ninth among the 50 states. More than half of the federal research funds come into the commonwealth's colleges and universities -- with Penn State among the leaders.
The National Science Foundation report of fiscal 2001 data will be available in mid January, according to the agency.
The fiscal 2000 rankings can be seen at http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/nsf02308/start.htm.
Barbara Hale can be reached at bah@psu.edu.