Herbert McRobbie IU is the state's largest academic recipient of external public and private research funding.

The previous funding record was set in FY 2001, when IU garnered $397 million to support research. IU's overall funding has increased more than 20 percent in the last two years and has nearly doubled since 1995 ($219 million). The $413 million comes from both public and private funding sources.

"Credit for this wonderful accomplishment goes to the outstanding IU faculty whose research is the basis for these awards," said Michael McRobbie, IU vice president for research. "In addition, I applaud the deans for making superb new faculty appointments that continue to build on the research and teaching excellence of our faculty and help expand our external research income."

IU is the state's largest academic recipient of external public and private research funding. IU is also the state's largest university, educating more students each year and employing more faculty than any other Indiana university or college, and it has the state's only medical school.

"Over $400 million of external funding is also an extraordinary contribution to state economic development," McRobbie said. "Using a measure established by the Association of American Universities, it translates into over 10,000 high-paid jobs, including those for researchers and scientists."

IU Bloomington's share of this figure increased by 29 percent, to $124 million -- the biggest such percentage increase in the history of the campus. This included a substantial increase in the College of Arts and Sciences, which grew by 26 percent, to $60 million. At IUPUI, factoring out the special one-time grant of $50 million from the Lilly Endowment to the Indiana Genomics Initiative at the IU School of Medicine (IUSM) in 2003, research funding increased 19 percent, to $256 million. IUSM on the Indianapolis campus received a 14 percent increase in funding, moving from $187 million in 2003 to $214 million this year. The regional campuses collectively contributed $10.9 million to the university's total.

About half of the funding comes from federal sources, particularly the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Defense. Federal grants to IU increased on all campuses by approximately 16 percent, from $194 million in FY 2003 to $226 million this year.

From FY 2003 to FY 2004, awards to IU from agencies in the state of Indiana increased 60 percent, to $45 million, while awards from industry worldwide increased nearly 60 percent, to $53 million.

"These numbers do not merely reflect IU's involvement in state initiatives or our university's commitment to moving discoveries quickly into the business sector," McRobbie said. "They also demonstrate the confidence state and business leaders have in IU as a center of innovation and academic excellence."