ISU and Iowa rake in millions in research dollars

The University of Iowa and Iowa State University took in over 460-million dollars from corporations and from federal grants in the just-concluded fiscal year. That kind of “external funding” is above the state tax dollars given the universities by the state legislature. David Skorton is the Vice President for Research at the University of Iowa. He says the U-of-I took in over a quarter-billion dollars in the fiscal year that ended June 30th. The U-of-I’s total was a slight decrease compared to last year’s record 20-percent increase.Researchers at the University’s hospitals drew the most federal funding.The Public Health Service contributed 123-million dollars to the U-of-I in the last fiscal year. Iowa State University in Ames brought in over 200-million in funding for the first time ever — increasing external financial support by six-percent. I-S-U interim Vice Provost for Research Bill Lord says the real story is in the gains made in the last ten years.He says the funding level at I-S-U has almost doubled in the last decade. Lord says the increase in external funding is driven by the quest for new technology.Iowa State University’s President is leaving next month to take the same job at Purdue. Lord doesn’t believe the leadership transition will hurt the flow of funds. He says most of the funding is based on proposals made by researchers.The majority of I-S-U’s funding came from the U-S Department of Agriculture (23-million) and the National Science Foundation (12-point-three-million).