December 12, 2005

UCSB Received $153 Million in External Research Funds Last Year

Annual Total Doubles Over Past Decade

Eileen Conrad

Research support from external sources remained strong at UC Santa Barbara last year when a total of $153 million was received from federal and state agencies, corporations, and foundations.

The campus was awarded a total of 1,023 research contracts and grants in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2005.

Following eight consecutive record years,

"extramural" research funding dipped slightly from $161 million the previous year.

However, over the past 10 years, the annual receipt of such funds has nearly doubled at UCSB.

"UCSB continues to be the recipient of significant external research support, which reflects the intellectual vitality and quality of our outstanding faculty, researchers, and students, as well as our collaborative and interdisciplinary research programs," said UCSB Chancellor Henry T. Yang.

Funding in the form of contracts and grants for research, training, and public-service programs is considered the lifeblood of a premier research university.

"With this external support UCSB research is producing new knowledge at a level that places us among the world's best research universities," said Michael Witherell, UCSB vice chancellor for research, who assumed the position in July of this year.

Witherell, also a professor of physics, returned to the campus after six years as director of Fermilab.

Last year, support from federal agencies amounted to $111 million, or 72% of the total research funding.

Continuing a decade-long trend, the National Science Foundation (NSF) was the largest single source. The second largest funding source for UCSB research was the Department of Defense (DOD).

UCSB was among the top 20 universities in research funding from the DOD.

"The NSF support for the UCSB research program is strong across a remarkably broad spectrum of fields," Witherell noted.

"UCSB researchers are also making great strides in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and education, areas for which much less federal funding is available than in the natural sciences and engineering."

Private support for research accounted for $20.5 million, and support from industry totaled $7.3 million.

The UC system provided $11.2 million and the State of California added $1.7 million.

Among the major research grants awarded to the campus last year were the following:

•A total of $3.5 million over five years from the National Science Foundation to fund the International Center for Materials Science (ICMS), one of its networks of university-based International Materials Institutes established to enhance collaboration between U.S. researchers and their counterparts in the Americas, Asia, and Europe. The ICMS will advance fundamental materials research and integrate it with education.

•A six-year, Long-Term Ecological Research grant of $4.9 million from the National Science Foundation to study the long-term dynamics of a coral reef ecosystem in Moorea, Polynesia (site of the University of California Gump Research Station). The research will build understanding essential to conserving coral reefs, whose ecosystems have the highest species diversity of any marine habitat.

•A four-year, $3.6 million contract from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to fund the research proposal "Release and Atmospheric Dispersal of Liquid Agents."

•A $1 million grant from the Annenberg Foundation to the Center for Film, Television and New Media to support pre-professional study that is grounded in the liberal arts and sciences and that links the university to the industries and society it studies.

•A National Science Foundation grant to renew the Let's Explore Applied Physical Science (LEAPS) program with $2 million over four years. A collaboration among UCSB students, science professors, and schoolteachers, LEAPS trains graduate and undergraduate students to serve as inquiry-based science instructors and mentors in eighth- and ninth-grade science classrooms.

According to the NSF's most recent statistics, UCSB ranked 17th among all universities in total NSF support in 2004.

UCSB was in the top 20 universities in four different funding categories within NSF: 10th in biological sciences, 14th in mathematical and physical sciences, 16th in computer and information sciences and engineering, and 18th in geosciences.

About UC Santa Barbara

The University of California, Santa Barbara is a leading research institution that also provides a comprehensive liberal arts learning experience. Our academic community of faculty, students, and staff is characterized by a culture of interdisciplinary collaboration that is responsive to the needs of our multicultural and global society. All of this takes place within a living and learning environment like no other, as we draw inspiration from the beauty and resources of our extraordinary location at the edge of the Pacific Ocean.