University to receive record level of research funding

Students, faculty and residents will all see an increase in funding for research at IU thanks to the Lilly Endowment and government grants.\nIU announced it will receive $413 million to support its research efforts on all eight campuses in a statement earlier this month, breaking the school record for the most research funding. That shattered the previous record of $397 million, set during fiscal year 2001.\nThe Bloomington campus will receive about $124 million, which includes a significant increase in funding for the College of Arts and Sciences. With that, IU will garner the most external public and private research funding for an academic institution in the state.\nVice President for Research Michael A. McRobbie said the increased funding will be noticeable immediately.\n"The actual expenditures for awards made in fiscal year 2004 will mostly take place in fiscal year 2004 and fiscal year 2005," McRobbie said. "Grant funding is awarded for a specific time frame, and that usually consists of a year or less. Nonetheless, the project funding period is usually independent of the dates of the fiscal year." \nThe research funds, which come from 768 individual awards, will be divided within IUB in an elaborate process, McRobbie said. Still, the sponsors of the grants determine where to distribute much of the money. \n"The (funds) will be allocated to the specific projects that were awarded by the sponsors rather than to a school or department," he said.\nMcRobbie said the research funds come from various sources rather than from one big donor or sponsor. Of the $413 million in sponsored project funds awarded to IU, 54 percent came from federal agencies, 16 percent from foundations and non-profits, 13 percent from industry, 11 percent from various Indiana agencies, and the remainder from sub-awards from other universities and other miscellaneous sponsors. \nHistorically, McRobbie said some of IU's major sponsors have included the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Lilly Endowment.\nThe Lilly Endowment, created in 1937 by Eli Lilly and Company, has consistently provided IU with millions of dollars in funding for research.\nIU is the biggest recipient for research in contrast to the state's other schools, said Gretchen Wolfram, communications director for the Lilly Endowment.\n"Research grants are given in an effort to encourage IU and the other state universities to grow their strengths substantially, which help grow top-notch programs (and) attract top-notch students to then spur economic growth in the state," Wolfram said.\nHe said $105 million was given to the Indiana Genomics Initiativein 2000, which included funding for the School of Medicine, the School of Informatics and the life sciences programs, which were used in the fiscal year 2003.\nMcRobbie said the research funds will play a major role in supporting programs and initiatives for IU.\n"Sponsored funding for research and service projects represents a significant portion of IU's overall budget," he said. "This funding serves to augment internal funding available to support research by faculty and students. It plays a critical role in being able to provide educational opportunities and research assistantships to students, particularly graduate students." \nMcRobbie said the funding directly benefits both the students and faculty.\n"The fact that IU provides support and encouragement to faculty in applying and obtaining such funding ultimately plays a large part in IU's ability to attract and retain some of the very best and brightest faculty and graduate students to Indiana University"