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<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cI am incredibly proud of this accomplishment and the expansion of UGA\u2019s positive impact that it represents,\u201d said President Jere W. Morehead. \u201cI am especially grateful for the support of our partners in industry and government, the generosity of private donors, and the extraordinary work of our faculty, which made it possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the past nine years, UGA\u2019s annual R&D expenditures have increased by nearly 56%. Both before and during that time, the university made strategic investments to expand its research infrastructure and recruit top research faculty with the ability to attract funding from both public and private sources. These efforts have paid off, as the details from FY2022 illustrate. Single-year sponsored research funding growth from key sources included:<\/p>\n
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- Department of Defense: 39.7%<\/li>\n
- Department of Agriculture: 32.8%<\/li>\n
- National Science Foundation: 28.7%<\/li>\n
- Industry: 22.1%<\/li>\n
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: 15.2%<\/li>\n
- Department of Energy: 12.1%<\/li>\n
- National Institutes of Health: 8.9%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u201cReaching this milestone is a testament to our faculty and their innovative, cutting-edge research that promises solutions to some of the world\u2019s most pressing challenges,\u201d said S. Jack Hu, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. \u201cThe University of Georgia has made a number of significant strategic investments designed to advance our research enterprise, and it is exciting to see the tremendous momentum generated by our efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The university recently completed its\u00a0Interdisciplinary STEM Research Complex<\/a>, which added a total of 200,000 new square feet of research space to the campus footprint. A\u00a0new Poultry Science Building<\/a>\u00a0is rising from the ground just northwest of I-STEM, and UGA is engaged in\u00a0a decades-long plan<\/a>\u00a0to renovate the facilities on south campus\u2019 \u201cScience and Ag Hill,\u201d updating buildings dedicated to a number of physical and life sciences in order to accommodate 21st century research technology and practices.<\/p>\n
Buildings, however, don\u2019t apply for research grants, and that\u2019s where UGA faculty have been increasingly successful. In fall 2019, Hu launched a\u00a0Task Force on Academic Excellence<\/a>\u00a0that examined the areas in which UGA\u2019s research strengths were poised for excellence and likely to yield tangible benefits to Georgia and beyond. The group identified a small number of specific fields \u2014 including security (cyber, food, supply chain), environmental science, brain and behavioral health, and integrative precision agriculture \u2014 and UGA has since launched targeted hiring initiatives to bolster its research strengths in those areas.<\/p>\n
For example, UGA recruited the inaugural John H. \u201cJohnny\u201d Isakson Chair and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Parkinson\u2019s Research, Anumantha Kanthasamy, in 2021 following a $4.5 million fundraising campaign to endow the position. UGA then launched a new Center for Brain Science and Neurodegenerative Diseases, with Kanthasamy at the helm, and secured $5 million in federal funding for facilties and equipment to support the center.<\/p>\n
Since arriving in Athens, Kanthasamy has\u00a0continued to win significant funding<\/a>\u00a0to continue the advances he\u2019s made in the fight against Parkinson\u2019s, and the center itself is attracting a nucleus of both junior and senior faculty whose work promises to have wider impact for those who suffer from neurological disease.<\/p>\n
Another example is Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar Robin Buell, also a 2021 recruit, who works in plant genomics. Her team recently received\u00a0a five-year, $15.8 million award<\/a>\u00a0from the U.S. Department of Energy to modify poplar trees for use as a sustainable energy source and to create other biomaterials and bioproducts that do not rely on petroleum.<\/p>\n
UGA also invested in team science initiatives to support the pursuit of large-scale, multi-investigator grants. Spurred by the\u00a0Presidential Interdisciplinary Seed Grant<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Teaming for Interdisciplinary Research Pre-Seed<\/a>\u00a0programs, faculty across disciplines work to conduct initial research which is later funded by external grants. The Office of Research also strengthened its support for these multi-investigator projects through its\u00a0Integrative Team Initiatives<\/a>\u00a0program.<\/p>\n
Most recently, the university established the\u00a0Office of Business Engagement<\/a>\u00a0to coordinate partnerships with industry, a key component of UGA\u2019s\u00a0Innovation District<\/a>\u00a0initiative.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so impressed by the faculty around UGA who continue to put in the creativity and meticulous work that\u2019s required to apply for external research funding \u2014 and to enjoy ever greater success in securing that funding,\u201d said Karen Burg, vice president for research. \u201cThese numbers demonstrate that the strategic investments UGA has made in our research enterprise continue to pay off, with society and the citizens of Georgia being the ultimate beneficiaries of the new knowledge, new products and technologies, and new health interventions that result.\u201d<\/p>\n
The university also recently learned that it now ranks 57th nationally in the National Science Foundation\u2019s latest annual Higher Education Research and Development survey. This ranking is based on the university\u2019s R&D expenditures in FY2021 of $493.9 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For the first time in its history, the University of Georgia surpassed a half-billion dollars in research and development spending\u00a0in fiscal year 2022. With total expenditures of $545.6 million \u2014 representing a jump of more than 10% from the previous year \u2014 UGA did not simply exceed the half-billion mark, it rocketed past it. Fueled … <\/p>\n