Posted 09/10/2007

Arnold School helps set pace for
record year in research funding
 

With a 25.5 percent increase, the Arnold School of Public Health helped set the pace for the University of South Carolina’s record $184.9 million in research funding for fiscal year 2007. 

USC’s total was up 6.7 percent from the previous year and up 69.2 percent since 2002, said Dr. Harris Pastides, the university's vice president for research and health sciences, who announced the numbers on Monday. 

In the Arnold School, Dr. Sara Wilcox of the Department of Exercise Science received $3.4 million from the National Institutes of Health to develop physical activity and dietary interventions to reduce cardiovascular disease in African Americans and Dr Julius Fridriksson of the Department of Communication Science and Disorders received $1.6 million from NIH to study speech production after brain injury.  

Wilcox and Fridriksson’s grants were among ten prestigious RO1 grants awarded recently to Arnold School researchers. (Click here for details) 

"With so many federal dollars supporting the war on terrorism, it is just simply amazing how well USC researchers -- and especially the Arnold School faculty -- have competed for an ever shrinking pool of federal dollars for research,” said interim dean Dr. Tom Chandler. 

“A 25.5 percent increase in federal funding with a success rate of 50 percent of grant submissions is almost unheard of for public institutions nationally. Arnold School Professors Wilcox and Fridriksson are two major million dollar plus winners this year, but many others are winning consistently in national grants competitions with 10 percent or lower success rates overall.   This kind of success bodes well for USC maintaining and building its Carnegie 'very high research activity' status well into the future," Chandler said. 

Other significant grants received during FY 2007 include the following:  

• $819,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for Hurricane Katrina-related studies. Geography professor and natural-hazards expert Dr. Susan Cutter received $719,000 to study disaster recovery from Hurricane Katrina, and Dr. Hanif Chaudhry received $100,000 for a study on levee breaches;
• $1.1 million from the Office of Naval Research to electrical-engineering professor Asif Khan for development of new laser systems;
• $1.1 million from the Centers for Disease Control to School of Medicine professor Dr. Suzanne McDermott for the S.C. Disability and Health Project;
• $2.2 million from NIH to psychology professor Dr. Dawn Wilson to study improvements in safety and access for physical activity.

Engineering faculty members Dr. Melissa Moss and Dr. Homayoun Valafor received NSF Career awards, honoring scientists actively engaged in research early in their careers.  

"This marks the fifth consecutive year of record research funding for the university, and it comes at a time of intense competition among universities across the nation for federal research dollars," said Pastides.  

 "Our faculty is engaged in world-class research that's aimed at the frontier areas that matter to our nation," he said. "Their discoveries are serving to improve the environment and achieve technological advances in a number of important areas, such as alternative-energy sources. Our faculty is also conducting inspiring research in the humanities, social sciences and the creative and performing arts."  

Overall, university faculty members achieved a 23-percent increase in funding from the National Science Foundation. They also submitted 1,665 research proposals to all funding agencies in fiscal 2007, totaling $253.7 million in requested funds for future research projects.  

New research projects during fiscal 2007 totaled 941, with 530 faculty members receiving awards.  

The 2007-08 fiscal year has begun with a number of significant grants, including $10.7 million from NIH to the Colon Cancer Research Center and $2 million from NSF to fund the S.C. STEPs to STEM program, which seeks to increase undergraduate science education across South Carolina.