Research related to COVID-19 continued to receive significant external funding in FY2021, but public and private support also spurred fresh explorations in the areas of medicine, the environment, math, history, the arts, and the humanities.
Despite the enormous hurdles presented by the pandemic, the University of Iowa secured its highest-ever level of external funding for research, scholarship, and creative activities last year—including research contributing to the development of effective COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.
Research funding at the University of Iowa in Fiscal Year 2020 is helping power a wide array of investigations into everything from COVID-19 and diabetes treatments, to depression, papermaking, and the poetry of Walt Whitman.
In a twist on the saying about life and lemons, University of Iowa researchers have trained their collective expertise on understanding and neutralizing the dangers COVID-19 poses to human health and society even as the pandemic has kept many of them away from campus for months in the interest of health and safety.
Grants and other funding that support University of Iowa research and scholarship reached an all-time high in FY19, bolstered in part by increased support from the Department of Defense (DOD) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).
[Related: Record funding used to aid veterans, improve STEM education]
Cross-disciplinary research and scholarship fueled by FY 2018 numbers
The University of Iowa had another strong year for projects that will benefit Iowans, the country, and world thanks to an increase in federal funding for research and the number of proposals, grants, and contracts awarded in fiscal year 2018.
Fiscal year 2017 saw an estimated 1 percent increase in both total external funding and funding that supports research and scholarship at the University of Iowa.
Federal support of University of Iowa research and scholarship increased 4 percent in fiscal year 2016, with substantial gains from both the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF).
Federal research funding increased $8.5 million over FY15, from $231.9 million to $240.4 million.
Both research funding and total external funding to the University of Iowa rose in 2014-15, with new and continued grants and contracts fueling research that will benefit Iowa, the Midwest, and the world.
