Federal grants help UA rise in research ranks

Fayetteville campus 130th

UA research rises in expenditure rankings
UA research rises in expenditure rankings

FAYETTEVILLE -- A rise in federal grant dollars flowing to the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville boosted the school's ranking in the latest National Science Foundation survey of research activity in higher education.

UA ranked 130th for the 12-month period ending June 30 of last year, up from 131st a year earlier, based on foundation data released Thursday.

Among public institutions, UA ranked 91st, up from 92nd in fiscal 2015.

Jim Rankin, the school's top research officer, said federal funding often supports basic scientific research.

"That's what leads to those discoveries and those patents," Rankin said.

UA's federally funded research spending was about $40.6 million for the 12-month period that ended in June of last year, up from $34.3 million a year earlier and $26.1 million in fiscal 2014.

Expenditures from all funding sources topped $145 million, up from $133.7 million a year earlier and $125.8 million in 2014. The total expenditures include work based in the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, whose research made up the majority of $51.3 million in research spending from state and local government funding sources, said Stephen Turner, UA's director of research accounting.

The National Science Foundation Higher Education Research and Development Survey also listed research spending by state, with Arkansas' total of $298.5 million up from $293.5 million a year earlier.

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is the other higher-education research engine in the state, based on the survey data. UAMS spent a total of $125.4 million in fiscal 2016, including about $49 million in federally funded research.

UAMS ranked 136th among all institutions, down from 132nd a year earlier.

Research done by UA professors leads to startup companies that can help the state's economy, said Rankin, who is leaving the university Jan. 2 to become president of his alma mater, the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Mark Rushing, a UA spokesman, said no decision has been made about who will replace Rankin.

Rankin also said the larger university community benefits from increased research.

"Our faculty, as they're doing research, they're involving students, so this is a learning experience for the students as well," Rankin said.

Rankin said recently funded work by UA faculty members has led to the increased research totals, including work by electrical engineering professor Alan Mantooth.

Mantooth serves as deputy director of the multicampus Power Optimization for Electro-Thermal Systems center, which works on shrinking the size of electronic technology capable of powering electric vehicles.

Heavy equipment manufacturers in particular are moving to hybrid-electric vehicles, Mantooth said.

"The challenge is to get enough power on board the equipment without it taking up too much room," Mantooth said.

Including work done at another research unit he leads, known as the Grid-Connected Advanced Power Electronics center, Mantooth said roughly 60 UA graduate students and about 15 undergraduates are involved in the work.

"The numbers are headed towards 100 graduate students," Mantooth said.

UA has trailed some peer schools in nearby states when it comes to federal research expenditures. In the most recent survey, UA's $40.6 million federally funded total is less than the $54.8 million for Auburn University and the $64.5 million for the University of Mississippi, for example.

By comparison, the university's federally funded research spending topped University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa's $28.4 million federal total.

Among schools in nearby states, Texas A&M University and its Health Science Center -- combined in the survey -- had the most federally funded research spending with $293.6 million.

UA Chancellor Joe Steinmetz in March established an internal fund of up to $1 million to support what the Fayetteville campus describes as early stage projects and collaborations, using mostly athletic department television revenue for the grants. Rankin said UA is working to increase collaboration among researchers.

At UAMS, the dip in research expenditures is "a pretty small change," said Larry Cornett, UAMS' vice chancellor for research.

Cornett said grants from the National Institutes of Health are very competitive, with only about 10 percent to 15 percent of applicants successful in winning grants.

"Our faculty are competitive at a very high level to get those awards," Cornett said.

A budget proposal from President Donald Trump called for reducing the budget for the National Institutes of Health, but Cornett said federal legislative proposals provide a slight increase to the research agency's budget.

"It's not just about the dollars," Cornett said. "It's about what the dollars do, and that's improve the health of Arkansans."

Metro on 12/01/2017

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