First the good news: Funding from outside sponsors to Carolina jumped 12.4 percent, to $274.9 million, during fiscal year 1995.
"It's been a real good year," said Edith Hubbard, associate director of the Office of Research Services. "The increase amounts to $30 million more than last year."
Except for a two-year dip in 1981 and 1982, income for sponsored programs has increased every year since 1976, when ORS first issued its Annual Report on Sponsored Program Awards. That year's total intake was $41,187,603.
"The 20-year increase has just been phenomenal," Hubbard said.
The federal government is by far the largest contributor to sponsored programs at Carolina, providing researchers $215.2 million during fiscal 1995. Private foundations and corporate sponsors were next with $40.1 million, and state and other government funding accounted for the remaining $35.2 million.
Hubbard credits principal investigators, or PIs, for the strong increase in funding. More than 1,300 PIs are listed in the final pages of this year's report.
"They are the ones who made things possible," Hubbard said. "We have some of the most outstanding minds in the country."
On the downside, stalled talks over the federal budget have interrupted work in many federal agencies. Robert P. Lowman, associate vice chancellor of research and ORS director, said federal agencies that did not have approved budgets yet were extremely reluctant to send out awards.
As a result, money that researchers were expecting has not yet arrived. In some cases, agencies may make fewer awards than they had planned, Lowman said.
If Congress and the president reach a seven-year agreement to balance the budget, Lowman said, "we're at the beginning of a period of significant decline for federal government support of university research."
Federal research dollars could drop 30 percent or more according to some predictions, Lowman said. While he expects decreases in all areas of research, he fears most for the fine arts, humanities, environmental research and engineering.
To counter such developments, Carolina is increasing efforts to involve corporations and private foundations in its research, Lowman said. He is one of a group of faculty and administrators who make up the Proposal Development Initiative, whose goal is to make Carolina grant proposals more competitive.
A second group, the Industry Group, is stepping up efforts to help private industry do business with Carolina. Biology Professor Walter E. "Skip" Bollenbacher, associate vice chancellor for research development, said the group's goal is to establish a balanced funding portfolio that includes less support from the federal government and more from private industry and foundations. It also is working with the state Department of Commerce to help recruit more corporations to the area.
However bleak the forecasts for funding, Hubbard, Lowman and Bollenbacher all agree that faculty members should increase, not reduce, their proposal writing.
"We always urge people to keep applying," Hubbard said. "A proposal that's not submitted has no chance of being funded."
For more information about the Proposal Development Initiative or the Industry Group, contact Skip Bollenbacher at 6-2631.
To counter what may be as much as a 30 percent drop in federal funding,
Carolina is increasing efforts to involve
corporations and private
foundations in its
research.
Information prepared by the Office of Research Services.
Editor: Neil Caudle
Writer: Marissa Melton
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