“The growth we continue to enjoy this year builds on that which we have experienced over the past three,” said Harris Pastides, USC’s vice president for research and health sciences. “It is a product of USC researchers’ persistent embrace of innovation in their investigations and problem-solving across disciplines as diverse as the physical and health sciences, the liberal arts, and engineering.”

Areas that attained significant research funding include USC health sciences, $60.1 million (nursing, pharmacy, and social work, the School of Medicine, and the Arnold School of Public Health); the College of Arts and Sciences, $44.2 million; the College of Engineering and Information Technology, $25.3 million; and University Libraries, $14.2 million.

Notable awards included:
• $3.9 million from the Department of Energy and $3 million from the S.C. Commission on Higher Education’s Centers of Economic Excellence program to researchers in the College of Engineering and Information Technology to develop hydrogen energy alternatives

• $5.2 million from the South Carolina Department of Social Services (DSS) to researchers in the Center for Child and Family Studies, College of Social Work to develop training for DSS staff and agents

• $883,019 from the U.S. Department of Education to researchers in the College of Education to develop teacher preparation programs

• $700,000 from the U.S. Department of Defense to researchers in the Department of Mathematics to develop defense applications for nonlinear methods for supervised learning

• $2.5 million from the National Institutes of Health and $662,969 from National Institute of Diabetes to researchers in the Arnold School of Public Health to, respectively, reduce cancer among South Carolina’s minorities and the poor (who experience higher rates of the disease); and to bridge barriers to diabetes control with telemedicine

• $1.5 million from the Centers for Disease Control, $958,824 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and $467,175 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to researchers in the Research Consortium on Children and Families to enhance parenting skills

• $444,705 from the National Science Foundation to researchers in the Department of Biology to investigate genetic expression in food crops

• $4.9 million from the U.S. Department of Education for the enhancement of programs provided by the Strom Thurmond Wellness Center.

USC’s research campus initiative also received final, unanimous approval from the S.C. Budget and Control Board, clearing the way for the state’s issuance of $58 million in bonds. As proscribed by the Life Sciences Act, which allows for appropriation of at least $220 million in bond revenue and the creation of at least 200 jobs at new research centers at the state’s three research universities, the state monies will be matched by funds from the private sector, as well as funds from the city and county to build parking garages and from the federal government in the form of grants totaling more than $65 million.