Contact: Kelly Green | Research Communications | 405-744-5827 | kelly.green@okstate.edu
OSU sets record for FY08 sponsored programs
(Dec. 5, 2008 Stillwater, OK) – The total for sponsored programs at Oklahoma State University was up more than $25 million for FY08 to $270.8 million. The figure, which represents all money spent on OSU sponsored programs – including research – over the course of the 2007-2008 fiscal year, is a ten percent increase over the FY07 total and sets a new record for sponsored programs at OSU.
“OSU research is on a steady growth pattern,” said Stephen McKeever, OSU vice president for research and technology transfer. “This increase shows that OSU researchers are acquiring more grant awards and that overall OSU is enhancing its ability to create new technologies that meet the needs of our society.”
The figure includes plant funds, which are dollars spent for building projects that support research. A major portion of the FY08 plant funds went toward the continued construction of the new Interdisciplinary Science Research Building – a state-of-the-art, 124,000-square-foot facility designed for interdisciplinary interaction between faculty and students from multiple departments and colleges.
Other major projects that account for these record-breaking totals include:
- biofuels research led by Dr. Ray Huhnke at the OSU Biobased Products and Energy Center,
- an ongoing, $40 million biodefense contract with the National Institutes for Health where Dr. Bill Barrow tests new drugs for disease-causing bacteria,
- a five-year, $22 million grant from NASA to manage the INSPIRE program, which develops K-12 students’ educational opportunities in the science-related areas, and
- sensor research involving more than 60 OSU faculty members who develop new technologies that detect everything from radiation and corrosion to explosives and chemical/biological agents.
OSU also set records for sponsored programs in FY07 and FY06.
