UI sets external funding record: $466.5 million

Federal stimulus dollars played a role in the University of Iowa setting an external funding record for the third straight year, UI officials said today.

UI officials announced an external funding total of $466.5 million in 2009-2010, a 9 percent increase over fiscal year 2009. It continues a trend of increases that have nearly doubled UI annual award dollars within the past decade.

External funding comes from grants and contracts, mostly from the federal government. The UI's largest source of external funding in fiscal 2010 was $240.5 million from the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes $219 million from the National Institutes of Health.

Federal stimulus money provided a big boost in 2010, with $40.8 million to UI researchers. The stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act represented about 7 percent of the 9 percent funding increase, Jordan Cohen, UI interim vice president for research and economic development, said.

“It was a very significant infusion of finances over a short period of time,” he said. “The impact of the stimulus was major in terms of … work getting started.”

UI President Sally Mason said that also helped save jobs. As declining state funding caused job cuts, increasing research funding was helping replace those jobs, Mason said.

“It was allowing us to enhance the workforce in a significant way,” she said.

UI officials estimate 445 jobs were created using stimulus dollars.

While stimulus money will taper off in the next several years, UI officials expect to receive an additional $10 million to $12 million, Cohen said. But they also must prepare estimates that take into account pre-stimulus funding levels, he said.

“Despite the economy and the pressures and everything we know about, our faculty are incredibly competitive with the work they do,” Cohen said.

The research and education supported with external funding has a direct implication on science, competitiveness and quality of life in Iowa, Cohen said.

Supported projects by UI researchers last year include studies on sustainability in engineering, Iowa statewide flood plain mapping, changing the face of cancer in Iowa and training math and science teachers.

Professor Fredric Wolinsky, in health management and policy, received $499,578 last year for more study via controlled trials of a software program designed to help aging adults improve their cognitive processing. That ultimately leads to better quality of life and fewer car accidents for aging residents, Wolinsky said.

“If you improve speed of processing, good things happen,” he said. “We could disperse it at libraries or for home computers.”