Iowa State, University of Iowa see increases in external funding

Both University of Iowa and Iowa State University in the 2015 budget year amassed more external funding than the previous year, supporting groundbreaking research in an array of fields including agriculture, medicine, energy, and science exploration.

UI saw bumps in both its research funding and total external funding - in part - thanks to 169 new funding sponsors. Iowa State saw its research-specific funding dip slightly, but the institution broke its total external funding record of $388.2 million set in 2010 with $424.9 million in the year that ended June 30.

'More than half of this money is dedicated to research projects that are addressing issues affecting Iowans as well as people throughout the world,” said ISU President Steven Leath in a statement.

ISU for 2015 reported $226 million in external funding for research, down slightly from $226.4 million in 2014. Of UI's $560.8 million in total external funding for 2015, $438.5 million went to research - both representing increases over 2014, when UI reported $515.8 million in total external funding and $431.4 million in research funding.

Total external funding figures include grants, contracts, gifts, and cooperative agreements from federal, state, and local governments, corporations, foundations, and other universities.

The University of Northern Iowa didn't have its 2015 numbers available Friday, but they could be made public next week.

Despite UI's overall increases, support for research from federal resources dropped 7 percent year over year - from $250.1 million to $231.9 million. Daniel Reed, UI vice president for research and economic development, said that's concerning as the university relies heavily on federal support, particularly from the National Institutes of Health.

'We remain concerned about the erosion in federal funding for research,” Reed said, adding that he's worried not just for UI, but for the state and nation. 'This is really the enabler for long-term economic growth and competitiveness.”

The lion's share of UI's public research support annually comes from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services, which combined in 2015 for $169.1 million. That was down from $186.5 million in 2014, and Reed said he's hopeful a Congressional proposal to address research funding shortfalls in biomedicine will pass.

'I'm cautiously optimistic it will,” he said. 'And, if so, it will make a big difference.”

Still, he said, significant scientific discoveries require ongoing, federal investment.

'More than half of the U.S. economic growth since the Second World War is attributable to science-driven technological innovation,” he said. 'The source of much of this innovation was federally funded basic research, which helped lead to live-saving vaccines, new drugs, diagnostic imaging, modern communication devices, and the Internet.”

To offset the lag in federal funding, Reed said, the university has had to diversify its portfolio by tapping other non-federal resources - like those in the industry and corporate arena. UI saw its business and corporation research support rise 28 percent from $71.4 million to $91.7 million.

'We are looking at diversification, both in seeking funding from new federal agencies and also in partnerships from the private sector,” Reed said.

Iowa State also is working to diversify its funding sources across and within sectors by engaging industry representatives in supporting research, said Sarah Nusser, vice president for research. Still, she said, ISU's most significant sponsors are federal, and the university actually saw a $14 million increase in support from federal agencies in 2015.

ISU's federal portfolio differs from UI, however, in that it relies less on the National Institutes of Health and more on entities like the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Department of Energy.

In 2015, for example, ISU saw a jump in funding of nearly $10 million from the National Science Foundation.

'For us, it means the efforts we have been putting into helping researchers apply for funding have really paid off,” Nusser said about the increases. 'We give quite a bit of credit to the scholars.”