Current News Releases
Sept. 10, 2007
University research funding rises to record $185.2 million in 2007
Research funding at the University of South Carolina reached a record $185.2 million in fiscal year 2007, a 6.7-percent increase from the previous year.
Since 2002, research funding has increased 69.2 percent at the university.
Several areas of the university achieved significant funding increases, including geography, psychology and health.
"This marks the fifth consecutive year of record research funding for the university, and it comes at a time of intense competition among universities across the nation for federal research dollars," said Dr. Harris Pastides, the university's vice president for research and health sciences.
"Our faculty are engaged in world-class research that's aimed at the frontier areas that matter to our nation," he said. "Their discoveries are serving to improve the environment and achieve technological advances in a number of important areas, such as alternative-energy sources. Our faculty are also conducting inspiring research in the humanities, social sciences and the creative and performing arts."
Significant grants received during FY 2007 include the following:
- $819,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for Hurricane Katrina-related studies. Geography professor and natural-hazards expert Dr. Susan Cutter received $719,000 to study disaster recovery from Hurricane Katrina, and Dr. Hanif Chaudhry received $100,000 for a study on levee breaches;
- $1.1 million from the Office of Naval Research to electrical-engineering professor Asif Khan for development of new laser systems;
- $3.4 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to public-health professor Dr. Sara Wilcox to develop physical activity and dietary interventions to reduce cardiovascular disease in African Americans;
- $1.1 million from the Centers for Disease Control to School of Medicine professor Dr. Suzanne McDermott for the S.C. Disability and Health Project;
- $2.2 million from NIH to psychology professor Dr. Dawn Wilson to study improvements in safety and access for physical activity; and
- $1.6 million from NIH to public-health professor Dr. Julius Fridriksson to study speech production after brain injury.
The Arnold School of Public Health had a 25.5-percent increase in grant funding over the previous year and continues to focus on important research in areas such as exercise science, the environment and disease prevention.
Engineering faculty members Dr. Melissa Moss and Dr. Homayoun Valafor received NSF Career awards, honoring scientists actively engaged in research early in their careers.
Overall, university faculty members achieved a 23-percent increase in funding from the National Science Foundation. They also submitted 1,665 research proposals to all funding agencies in fiscal 2007, totaling $253.7 million in requested funds for future research projects.
New research projects during fiscal 2007 totaled 941, with 530 faculty members receiving awards.
The 2007 - 08 fiscal year has begun with a number of significant grants, including $10.7 million from NIH to the Colon Cancer Research Center and $2 million from NSF to fund the S.C. STEPs to STEM program, which seeks to increase undergraduate science education across South Carolina.
