UVM Research Sets $266M Record
Includes $500,000 for the Tech Hub
Source: UVM
For the fifth consecutive year, the University of Vermont (UVM) has achieved a new record for research funding: attracting $266 million in extramural support for the 2024 fiscal year. More than doubling the university’s annual research funding of five years ago, UVM faculty members garnered nearly 700 research awards to launch over 1,000 new projects confronting head-on some of society’s most pressing issues, from climate change to public health, supported by government agencies, corporate partners, foundations and donors.
This historic level of funding underscores UVM’s rapid ascent as a leader in research and innovation and the remarkable growth of the university’s research enterprise, said Kirk Dombrowski, UVM Vice President for Research and Economic Development. As the state’s only research university and only medical college, UVM aims to fulfill its mission as a land grant university, prioritizing nationally distinctive research that is broadly impactful and closely connected to the state’s communities, businesses, organizations, and government.
Researchers at UVM’s Larner College of Medicine — traditionally a top-performing pillar of UVM’s research enterprise — were awarded over $100 million in support, a 7.6% increase over last fiscal year. UVM’s College of Education of Social Services, meanwhile, showed an impressive 59.5% growth, fueled by several multi-million-dollar awards like the Building Effective Supports for Teaching (BEST) program, led by UVM’s Cassandra Townshend.
In this fiscal year, UVM researchers successfully won over 50 grants of $1 million or more, another university record. Other highlights include:
- Teresa Leslie of UVM Extension received one the year’s largest awards— over $10 million—for the Northeast Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program.
- Stacey Sigmon, a professor of psychology and psychiatry, received over $5 million to launch an opioid response program for rural communities.
- Heather Darby, Extension professor and agronomy specialist, was awarded $2.4 million for enhancing the viability of U.S. grass-fed dairy production.
- Bryn Loftness, a complex systems graduate student, won the $15,000 Lake Champlain Chamber Award for BioBe, her childhood mental health startup company, at LaunchVT’s Demo Night.
National science partnerships
As UVM’s research enterprise grows, national and federal agencies are taking notice. In June, National Science Foundation (NSF) representatives visited UVM’s campus and other Vermont businesses to learn about the broad, vibrant community of educators and innovators that exist in the region. Erwin Gianchandani, Assistant Director of the Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships —which is focused on promoting U.S. competitiveness and impact by nurturing partnerships between educational institutions, corporations, and federal labs — visited UVM’s Innovation Hall, Burlington’s Hula, and South Burlington tech company OnLogic.
“We’re eager to ensure that the NSF — and many more federal agencies — understand the resources and opportunities that exist in our region, including a long list of research, education, and non-profit and corporate organizations that UVM works closely with every day,” Dombrowski said. “We are very grateful for the opportunity to show the NSF leadership the research facilities and the incredible momentum that UVM and its partners have created and how these impact the growth and impact of the high-tech companies that surround us.”
The convergence of research excellence, technological development, economic and workforce development, and rural partnerships culminated in the Vermont Gallium Nitride (GaN) Tech Hub, a consortium led by UVM, GlobalFoundries, and the State of Vermont, focused on developing and commercializing next-generation GaN-based semiconductor technology to drive opportunities in education, research, and commerce, and spur vital workforce expansion across Vermont and the region. The Tech Hub, which was selected out of more than 300 applications, was recently given a $500,000 Consortium Accelerator Award from the Biden-Harris Administration through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration.
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