UCSB breaks research funding record
UC Santa Barbara brought in $222 million in external research funding during its last fiscal year, topping all of its old totals. The university called the record-breaking sum “directly attributable to the federal stimulus program.”
The money came from federal and state agencies, corporations and nonprofits. It represents a 28 percent increase from the year before.
Federal stimulus money made up $40 million of the $222 million. Of the stimulus funds, $35 million came from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy.
Most of the grand total came in the form of increased federal funding for scientific research. The university said it has doubled the outside money it pulls in for research over the past decade.
Federal funding was $192 million, with $67 million of that coming from the National Science Foundation. The biggest single grant appears to be $15.7 million, which was part of $19 million that went to the Institute for Energy Efficiency, which is developing energy-efficient materials and technologies.
Humanities programs, which often don’t receive as many research funds, also garnered grants. A $315,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for the English Broadside Ballad Archive represented about 1 percent of the total amount given for the year by the endowment, UCSB said.
