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Extramural funding at Miami University sets new record in fiscal year 2020

By Heather Johnston, Graduate School and Research Innovation, and Susan Meikle, news and communications

bar-graph-shos-extramural-funding-upward-trendMiami University set a new record for extramural funding in fiscal year 2020, reports the office of research and innovation.

The total external funding received in FY 2020 was $26,951,278, an increase of more than 10% over FY 2019, according to Mike Crowder, interim vice president for research and innovation.

More than two-thirds (67%) of FY 2020 external funding was for research activities, with the remainder funding public service, student financial aid, instruction and fellowships.

Crowder said that most divisions saw increases, led by the College of Engineering and Computing which more than doubled last year’s funding for a total of $3.1 million.

Although federal funding has been declining nationwide, Miami’s direct federal funding held fairly steady over the past year, Crowder said. The National Science Foundation (61%) and the National Institutes of Health (31%) provided most of the funding from federal sources.

A reduction in indirect federal funding — most often in the form of subcontracts for work on projects sponsored by federal agencies — was offset by increases in other sources of funding, including a tripling of funding from governments other than the federal government and the State of Ohio (such as the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and the Tennessee Department of Health).

Crowder credited the year’s unprecedented level of funding to the leadership of former vice president for research and innovation, Jim Oris, who retired on the last day of FY 2020. “It is a culmination of Jim’s nine years of service to Miami’s research community, as a strategic thinker, an advocate and a builder of relationships,” Crowder said.

Even more directly responsible for the year’s success are the faculty and staff who applied for funding, said Crowder, who is also associate provost and dean of the Graduate School.

Read the full Research and Innovation Report.

Provost Jason Osborne recently named Alicia Knoedler as Miami’s new vice president for research and innovation effective Nov 1.