TEMPE, Ariz. - Arizona State University's research expenditures grew to
$218.5 million in the fiscal year that ended June 30. This represents a
growth of $15 million or 7.4 percent over last year's total of $203.5
million.
"We experienced decent growth in our research expenditures this year,
considering that there was a change in leadership in Congress that resulted
in some delays in finalizing the Federal budget," said R.F. "Rick" Shangraw,
ASU's vice president for research and economic affairs. "Right now, our
proposal activity is up so I am optimistic about continued growth in our
research portfolio."
Shangraw added that at these levels of research expenditures, ASU ranks in
the top tier of universities without a medical school and without an
agricultural school.
The $218.5 million total research dollars for FY07 comes from a variety of
sources. ASU spent $173.3 million in funds received from the federal
government and industry, $39.1 million in state funds (including Technology
& Research Initiative Funds from state sales tax revenue), $4.3 million in
funds received by the ASU Foundation specifically for research projects and
$1.8 million from local governments.
There was a wide variety of projects that brought in major funds in FY07,
said Stephen Goodnick, ASU associate vice president for research. Those
projects included the Flexible Display Initiative Center, which was funded
at more than $9 million by the U.S. Army; the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
Camera project got $3.85 million from NASA; a Department of Education grant
of $2.35 million went to a program at ASU's Speech and Hearing Science
Department to maximize learning opportunities for young children with
disabilities, and $2.35 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF)
was provided to the Center for Research on Education in Science,
Mathematics, Engineering and Technology for a project on "opening routes to
math and science success for all students."
The National Institutes of Health awarded $1.44 million for a project to
explore plant-made microbiocides and mucosal vaccines; ASU's Decision Center
for a Desert City received $1.4 million from the NSF; and ASU's
Nanotechnology in Society Center received $1.4 million from NSF.
Fiscal year 2006 was the first time research expenditures at ASU topped the
$200 million level, and it marked a doubling of research expenditures in a
period of six years. This is a remarkable growth rate for a relatively young
major research university, Shangraw said.
He adds that ASU is poised to earn more in research as it continues to bring
on line new world class research facilities and ramps up its science
expertise. Shangraw sees a maturing of ASU research efforts, which should
result in securing larger grants for the university in the future.
"We have reached a point where a number of investigators are interested in
and able to compete for much larger research projects," he explained. "Our
ability to match up against the more mature and better funded research
institutions is a sign that we are moving into an elite tier of U.S.
research universities. This is an exciting time for ASU research."
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