Sponsored research activity at UB continues to climb

Total sponsored research expenditures at UB for the fiscal year ending June 30 totaled $178.4 million, an increase of approximately $8 million from the year before.

The number of individual awards also climbed during that same period, from 1,666 to 1,751, including a record number of 11 National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER awards.

“The growth of UB’s research enterprise is directly linked to strategic investments the university and its partners have made in recruiting world-class faculty to Buffalo, including early-career researchers, and developing state-of-the-art research laboratories, particularly those within the recently opened Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in downtown Buffalo,” says Venu Govindaraju, vice president for research and economic development.

Not long after being appointed to lead UB’s research and economic development efforts in January 2016, Govindaraju reorganized the office to emphasize both the research enterprise, as well as the university’s role in regional economic development.

Over the past four years, sponsored expenditures at UB have grown by roughly $20 million from $158 million in fiscal year 2015. Much of the increase can be attributed to UB-led regional economic development efforts.

Research expenditure highlights from that time include:

• $32 million from New York State for Innovation Hub, a new initiative to accelerate the commercialization of technologies generated at UB, Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Kaleida Health and the Jacobs Institute.
• $22.5 million from the NSF for BioXFEL, a medical imaging research collaboration between UB, Hauptman-Woodward and partners.
• $16 million from the National Institutes of Health to establish the Clinical and Translational Research Center with partners on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

The funding total represents money UB received in the form of grants and contracts from state and federal agencies, private industry and foundations to support research and economic development. Sponsored research is an investment in the creation of knowledge. Through it, funders partner with faculty to advance society and solve problems.

“The University at Buffalo, one of the best research universities in the country, is at the forefront of innovation, as is evidenced by the quantity and quality of awards that UB researchers are bringing to our region,” Govindaraju says.