IU receives record $603.9 million for research projects

IU President Michael McRobbie said IU received $603.9 million in grants and awards — a record number — this fiscal year.

This amount surpassed the previous record of $525.3 million in the 2007-08 fiscal year.

“This year was a little unusual because some of this money was awarded under the stimulus ARRA bill. Next year, however, will be a little tighter because that money won’t be in the picture anymore,” IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre said.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was created by congress in 2009. The act provided $787 billion nationwide to aid in the creation of jobs and to advance investment and consumer spending during the economic recession. Once that money is gone, the program will end.

This year, IU will receive $134.5 million more for research and other programs than they did in 2008-09 .

“A lot of the money is for research in life sciences, and that is something that President McRobbie has emphasized in trying to expand IU’s capacity,” MacIntyre
said. “I think this shows that some of that effort has paid off.”

The grants and awards will help the University fund several research projects, said Vice President for Research Jorge V. Jose .

“Research funding helps the University to carry out its mission of creating new knowledge and applications, which will benefit society as a whole,” Jose said.
“The variety of research projects that received funding is unprecedented.”

One of these projects will include the IU School of Medicine, which was granted $8.4 million to rebuild a research facility at Riley Hospital for Children, located in
Indianapolis.

“It will pay to gut a large area and totally rebuild it to serve as a place to conduct clinical trials in children,” said D. Craig Brater, dean of the IU School of Medicine.
“Currently we have no such area.”

The new research facility in Indianapolis would aid IU by allowing the School of Medicine to be more engaged in clinical research,he said.

“That enhances our reputation and brings research grants to our faculty,” Brater said of
the clinical research. “More importantly, it allows our patients to participate in clinical
trials so they can be exposed to and benefit from the newest therapies.”

After this year, two of IU’s big beneficiaries — the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Lilly Endowment — might not be able to contribute as much
money or even at all.

Jose said the research faculty will have to work hard this year to replace funding sources for next year, but is confident that the University will still
be competitive.

“Faculty could use the funding to produce new, exciting results, which will make them more competitive when submitting new grants to the external funding agencies,” Jose said.