Grant funding for research at Wayne State University is up $8.2 million as of the end of June, compared to the same time in 2009.
So far the university has taken in $122.7 million this year compared to $114.5 million a year ago, representing an increase of about 7 percent. That increase came after most of the federal stimulus funds were disbursed last year.
"The funds we got from the
National Institutes of Health and
National Science Foundation were more continuation and bridge funds than seed funds," says
Jim Barbret, associate vice president for research and finance at Wayne State. "Yes, we expect a plateau of funding (over the next year or two now that the stimulus funds have been sent) but not a drop."
He also expects a lot of those funds to keep coming for a few of the university's new marquee projects, such as research for advanced batteries, alternative energy and retraining Metro Detroit's workforce for the 21st Century jobs. "Those are not going away," Barbret says.
One of the latest seven-figure grants that Wayne State has received was for $1 million from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Abdul Abou-Samra, a professor of medicine, physiology and molecular genetics in the School of Medicine at Wayne State University, received the grant study the decrease in academic endocrinologists who have both clinical skill and research expertise, by motivating young endocrinologists to pursue a combined research and academic track that will prepare them to become the future leaders of endocrine research.
Source: Jim Barbret, associate vice president for research and finance at Wayne State University
Writer: Jon Zemke
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