Research Money Flowing Into UCI at a Vigorous Pace

The University of California, Irvine, received more money for research last fiscal year than it ever had, a gain of 36% from the previous year.

UCI, with a total of $194.5 million, made the largest jump of any UC campus. The average increase was 12%.

The gain was one more example of UCI’s growth, which is planned to include 10,000 more students in the next decade. About 20,000 students now attend UCI.

UCI ranked sixth among the nine UC campuses in garnering research money. UCLA received the most money last year, $530 million, followed by UC San Francisco with $473 million, UC San Diego with $462 million, UC Berkeley with $431 million, and UC Davis with $269 million.

William H. Parker, associate executive vice chancellor at UCI, said several factors led to the increased research money flowing to UCI professors. They were: increased spending by the federal government, which funds most research; more faculty and facilities as UCI grows; and better relationships with industry, which provides most of the remaining research money.

“I think we’re learning how to respond to industry and being able to respond to [its] concerns,� Parker said.

Of the money UCI received, 65% came from the federal government, 14% from corporations, 11% from state and local governments, and 10% from nonprofit organizations.

The largest corporate sponsor was the Swiss company Novartis, Parker said, which gave $6 million for clinical drug trials.

UCI still ranks far below the top tier of universities for amount of research. Johns Hopkins heads the list, spending $829 million on research in 1998, the latest year available, followed by the University of Michigan at $483 million and the University of Wisconsin at $420 million. Spending is the most accepted way to measure research.

UCI spent $143 million on research last year, a 9.6% jump from the previous year.

As it usually does, the College of Medicine received the most money, with a 30% increase to $91.9 million.

UCI’s School of Biological Sciences showed the biggest bounce, with a hike of nearly 68% in research money.

The largest grant was given to Alexander McPherson, a professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, who received $12.3 million from NASA.