The Office of the Vice President for Research is pleased to announce another record-setting year for research and sponsored award funding at the University of South Carolina. In the 2015 fiscal year, USC faculty garnered $242.8 million in sponsored awards. This figure represents a 5.5 percent increase over 2014's impressive funding levels, and sets a new record high for South Carolina's only Carnegie tier-one institution of very high research activity.

There is even more to the 2015 sponsored awards success story. The university's federal awards, the most competitive type of funding available, topped the FY2014 record of $150 million by 4.5 percent, garnering a total of $156.8 million for FY2015, another record for the Palmetto State's flagship university. Top federal award sponsors for USC in 2015 include the National Institutes of Health at $46.6 million, the Department of Health and Human Services (agencies other than NIH) at $43.2 million and the National Science Foundation at $12.4 million. Notably, USC funding from the U.S. Department of Energy increased by more than 50 percent from 2014, as the agency awarded $14.9 million to the university in 2015.

USC's Vice President for Research, Prakash Nagarkatti, said, "The faculty members at USC have once again overcome today's extremely difficult funding climate to not only succeed, but excel, growing sponsored awards 5.5 percent to achieve the highest sponsored award funding level our university has ever received in a single year. Despite the many challenges involved in competing for awards, USC faculty members have set not just one, but two funding records in 2015, obtaining the highest-ever total awards, and the highest level of federal awards in USC's history. It is my pleasure to commend USC's faculty on this outstanding achievement."

USC's faculty set two sponsored award records in the past year because of their hard work, excellence and willingness to go the distance by collaborating, innovating and working to achieve more than ever. — USC President Harris Pastides

The largest 2015 sponsored awards will support a wide variety of important initiatives:

• $18.4 million from the National Institutes of Health to continue the successful, South Carolina IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence, or INBRE program, which develops programs in areas such as regenerative medicine, biochemistry and molecular biology at ten colleges and universities around the state. [Read more about S.C. INBRE.]
• $8.3 million from the National Institutes of Health to continue the prestigious Complementary and Alternative Medicine Center for the study of inflammation in the USC School of Medicine—one of only 11 centers of its kind in the United States. [Read more about this award.]
• $5.5 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to manage a competitive grants program that supports research aimed at understanding the drivers of food choice in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. [Read more about this award.]
• $4.7 million from the Department of State to fund the Justice Sector Training, Research and Coordination Program, or JusTRAC, a program of USC's Rule of Law Collaborative that supports individuals who work in international justice programs by providing training to, and coordinating collaboration among a vital worldwide network of rule of law practitioners. [Read more about JusTRAC.]
• $4 million from the Department of Energy to validate current procedures for storing used nuclear fuel and investigate advanced methods for handling and storing used fuel. [Read more about this award.]

Reflecting on this record-setting year, USC President Harris Pastides said, "USC's faculty set two sponsored award records in the past year because of their hard work, excellence and willingness to go the distance by collaborating, innovating and working to achieve more than ever. That they were able to make these strides in such a competitive funding climate makes their accomplishments all the more impressive. Their success is an inspiration to me, to our students and to the entire Gamecock community."

 

24 August 2015