The University of Iowa says funding for research set another record in 2008 despite the major flooding that displaced and interrupted many programs. U-I, interim vice president for research and economic development, Jordan Cohen, announced the numbers today.

He says the total external awards were almost $430-million, with the largest amount coming from federal funding. Cohen says this was a 10.3% increase in funding over last year. Cohen says much of the research money goes to the University Hospitals.

Cohen says a large percentage of the research awards came from the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes for Health (N-I-H) and Centers for Disease Control. He says while health research is a focus of that funding, a lot of the N-I-H funding is distributed across many colleges in the university.

Cohen says this was the seventh straight year the school set a record for external funding and says it’s a “remarkable accomplishment” given the economic situation. Funding from the Department of Health & Human Services was $216.4 million dollars, up 5.5%.