Iowa State set a new record for sponsored funding during fiscal year 2002 with a total of $225.3 million. The amount of funding eclipsed the previous high last year of $217.7 million by 3.5 percent.

The $225.3 million consists of grants, contracts and gifts which are used for research, educational projects, student financial aid, public service/extension activities, buildings and equipment. Sponsored Funding is funding that is directed toward conducting specific projects that are of interest to the agency or organization providing the funding and the department, said Jim Bloedel, vice provost for research administration.

Research funding saw an increase of 4.5 percent, while public service/extension activities increased by 5.7 percent and educational projects increased close to 26 percent.

Research alone accounted for more than 50 percent of the sponsored funding with a total of more than $139.3 million, which was also a record.

Bloedel said there is a wide spectrum of things that are included in the funding. Some of the larger projects range from funding from the United States Department of Agriculture for a project dealing with pseudo rabies to a recent study funded by the National Institute for Mental Health for social and behavioral research.

Much of the funding is a result of teams of faculty members that submit proposals and then compete for the funds, Bloedel said.

“[The increase in funding] is due to the excellence of the faculty, and their ability to put together effective teams,” he said. “It clearly shows the faculty’s willingness to continue their efforts to commit to scholarship.”

“There were more grants this year from other universities as well,” said Sonja Klocker, assistant to the vice provost of research administration. “The faculty are building teams with other universities and going after larger grants.”

Bloedel said the increase in funding would have benefits for both faculty and students.

“It definitely means the faculty are going to continue to grow their national and international reputations regarding scholarship,” he said. “It is also a significant source of funding for student employment and student fellowships at both the graduate and undergraduate level. It has a positive impact for students involved in those research areas.

Several federal agencies funded particularly large amounts Bloedel said. The Department of Agriculture provided almost $45.5 million in funding and the Department of Energy gave almost $30 million. The National Science Foundation provided about $16.4 million and there was about $16 million contributed by the Department of Education.

Klocker said they were pleased with the $14 million given by the Department of Health and Human Services, considering there aren’t any medical students at Iowa State.

“For [Health and Human Services] funding, universities with medical students tend to do very well, but we don’t have a medical school,” Klocker said.”We are pleased with the increase in funding we received from Health and Human Services.”

Bloedel said although the funding received from federal agencies was up by 14 percent, it was offset by a decrease in funding from non-federal sources such as state, county and city governments, corporations and associations. Non-federal funding totaled $68.1 million, which was an 11 percent decrease.

“A lot of the non-federal funding comes from state agencies,” Klocker said. “In a downturn those agencies are hit by the state budget cuts too.”

Bloedel said in some cases that could mean programs were not continued and in others there was simply a reduction in funding.