The University of Colorado at Boulder received $219 million in sponsored research awards for the 2000-2001 fiscal year, setting another financial record for the campus.
NASA provided most of the award dollars to the campus -- $49 million - followed by the National Science Foundation at $42 million, the Department of Health and Human Services at $31 million and the Department of Commerce at nearly $22 million. CU-Boulder received $214 million in sponsored research in the 1999-2000 fiscal year.
Of the thousands of grant proposals made by CU-Boulder faculty, researchers and students in the past decade, roughly half have been funded, said Larry Nelson, director of the CU-Boulder Office of Contracts and Grants. "This has been a remarkably stable percentage over the past 10 years," Nelson said.
CU-Boulder Chancellor Richard Byyny said he was extremely pleased by the increase. "The boost in sponsored research at CU-Boulder is the result of fine work by our faculty members," he said. "Their ability to garner such large awards for the campus and their dedication to teaching undergraduate and graduate students reflects the university's vision."
Of the $219 million in sponsored research, the College of Engineering received about $38 million. Of that, the largest share -- roughly $11.6 million-- went to the aerospace engineering sciences department.
In the College of Arts and Sciences, the molecular, cellular and developmental biology department received $13.5 million and the chemistry and biochemistry department received $10.5 million.
The Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy - which includes the astrophysical and planetary sciences department - received more than $8.6 million.
In the category of the graduate school and research institutes, the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences -- a joint CU-National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration institute housed on campus -- was awarded nearly $28 million.Ìý
In addition, CU-Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics was awarded about $26 million.
JILA - a joint research institute of CU-Boulder and the National Institute for Standards and Technology -- was awarded about $18 million. CU-Boulder's Institute of Behavioral Science and the Institute for Behavioral Genetics topped the $10 million mark in sponsored research in the last fiscal year.
"We have an unusual institution at CU-Boulder in that we have very close relationships with the Department of Commerce, NASA and NOAA," said Nelson.Ìý
In addition, the CU four-campus system was ranked fifth in the nation in environmental science expenditures among all public and private institutions. Most of that money involved the CU-Boulder campus, Nelson said.
Graduate School Dean Carol Lynch, also vice chancellor for research at CU-Boulder, said the new funding allows the campus to expand its range of scientific endeavors.
"These funds enable a broad and deep range of new investigations, with basic research from subatomic to cosmic scales, innovative developments and applications of technology for industry and society and new understandings of human societies," she said.