7-25-00

Contacts:
Bill Lord, Provost Office, (515) 294-6344
Skip Derra, News Service, (515) 294-4917


ISU TOPS $200 MILLION IN SPONSORED FUNDING

AMES Iowa -- For the first time Iowa State University has topped the $200 million mark in sponsored funding. Total sponsored funding at Iowa State in FY00 was $211.2 million, a 6 per cent increase over FY99's $199.2 million.

"These record levels of support continue to show the confidence that various government agencies and private corporations and foundations have in our faculty and researchers," said Bill Lord, interim vice provost for research and advanced studies. "Topping $200 million is a milestone, but we are working on raising the amounts to ever higher totals."

Sponsored funding is a total of grants and contracts from federal, state and local government units, corporations and foundations awarded to Iowa State in the previous fiscal year (July 1999 to June 2000). The funds aid Iowa State's efforts in various areas, including conducting research, providing opportunities for undergraduate students to work with ISU researchers, performing public service, supporting ISU buildings and funding of student financial aid.

Areas of sponsored funding that received noticeable increases included student financial aid ($15.4 million in FY00 compared to $9.1 million in FY99) and building funds ($27.3 million compared to $12.6 million). Approximately $11.3 million of the increase in building funds came from the National Swine Facility which is included in the FY00 sponsored funding totals.

Funding of research at Iowa State, the largest portion of the sponsored funding total, dipped by $3.6 million to $120.2 million compared to FY99. But within the total are noticeable increases from federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture ($21 million in FY00 compared to $15.9 million in FY99) and the National Science Foundation ($12.3 million compared to $8.4 million), Lord said.

Lord explained that while year-to-year fluctuations are common in specific sponsored funding categories, Iowa State continues to make steady gains in the total amounts awarded over the last decade, adding that the $211.2 million total represents a 66 per cent increase over the total of a decade ago ($127 million).

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