UF has joined select company by reaching $1 billion in annual research spending
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There are only around 25 cities in the entire country that host a $1 billion per year university research enterprise. Gainesville is now one of those cities.
University of Florida faculty, staff and students in Gainesville and around the state have every reason to be extremely proud of UF’s announcement this week that we have surpassed our long-sought goal of $1 billion in research spending.
It is through the hard work of thousands of faculty, staff and students that UF has joined approximately 30 public and private universities in the U.S. with $1 billion in research expenditures.
While the research we do impacts people everywhere, the vast majority of the work happens here in Gainesville and at our research centers around the state, including multiple Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) facilities and UF Scripps Biomedical Research.
And it is here in Florida that the economic impact of that research is so important. The State University System of Florida estimates that research at the 12 state universities has a $4 billion economic impact, and UF accounts for over 40% of that research. Locally, the impact is even greater, especially if the many UF spinoff companies in the area are factored into the equation.
UF excels at translating research into impact through commercialization. UF’s success in technology transfer and company incubation has been recognized both nationally and internationally. Our Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator has, in the past 10 years, been named the top incubator in the world three times. Our newest incubator, the Hub, has also received global recognition as the best in its class.
Dozens of people in our community work in the companies housed in the Sid Martin and Hub incubators, and hundreds more work in spin outs from UF, like AGTC, Axogen, Sinmat and Exactech.
This past May, a nonpartisan think tank known as Heartland Forward released a study of all research universities in the U.S., comprehensively measuring the effectiveness of each at translating research discoveries into impact within the marketplace. This was not a beauty contest based on reputation; it was a metrics-driven assessment whose scoring placed a higher bar for large institutions versus smaller ones. According to this report, the University of Florida No. 2 among all U.S. universities at infusing research and discovery into private industry through commercializing discoveries and producing graduates in science and technology.
While $1 billion a year in research is a remarkable feat, it is the impact of our research in advancing knowledge, creating new technologies and powering Florida’s economy that really counts.
For example, UF Health has major research thrusts that are seeking cures for cancer, diabetes, neurological disorders and other diseases, where scientists and physicians work together to create hope through new treatments and therapies for patients in Florida and beyond.
Through IFAS, UF ranks first among U.S. universities in total research spending for agriculture. With IFAS, Florida’s agricultural industry has the most powerful research engine in the country behind it, ensuring that farmers of almost 100 different commodities, from citrus to strawberries to pine trees, have the most recent science and technologies at their disposal.
At the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, faculty are shaping the future by developing new technologies for health care, resilient communities, cybersecurity and the connected world.
In fact, across all our 16 colleges and hundreds of centers and institutes, UF researchers are helping to make life better. They’re improving the effectiveness of teaching, whether in a classroom or online. They’re using the arts to give voice to communities and the individual. They’re exploring Mars for signs of life and preparing to sustain human life on the moon by growing plants in soil brought back from the Apollo 11 mission.
At UF, it is the impact of new discoveries that defines what our research is really all about — why we work so hard to secure funding and to be accountable for every dollar spent.
UF’s $1 billion-a-year research enterprise is essential for Florida’s citizens and for its future economy. We are changing the lives of people for the better in our state, our nation and around the world.
Dr. David Norton, Vice President for Research appeared as a guest columnist in The Gainesville Sun on July 20, 2022.
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UF Diabetes Institute Director Mark Atkinson wins Distinguished Scientist Award
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University of Florida Diabetes Institute director Mark Atkinson, Ph.D., whose founding of a biobank of pancreatic tissue 15 years ago transformed the understanding of Type 1 diabetes, has received a Distinguished Scientist Award from the Southeastern Universities Research Association, or SURA.
The award and its $5,000 honorarium are presented annually to a research scientist whose work fulfills SURA’s mission “to advance collaborative research and strengthen the scientific capabilities of its members and nation.” SURA is a nonprofit consortium of over 60 research institutions in the southern United States and the District of Columbia.
SURA recognized Atkinson “for sustained leadership and significant research contributions that have improved the lives of patients living with Type 1 diabetes” and for work to prevent the disease in those at increased risk.
Atkinson, one of the world’s most-cited researchers on Type 1 diabetes, is the fourth UF faculty member to receive the prestigious award since its inception, the most awardees for any institution in the SURA consortium. The award was presented in June.
Atkinson said being named a distinguished scientist by SURA is one of the greatest honors of his career and of special significance because it recognizes the collaborative research atmosphere at UF.
That is seen in nPOD, or the Network for Pancreatic Organ Donors with Diabetes, the world’s largest open biorepository of pancreatic tissue used in Type 1 diabetes research. UF-based nPOD has enabled more than 300 research projects by scientists in 22 countries and provided deep insight into diabetes. UF has received some $40 million in research funding tied to nPOD and, through provisions of tissues globally, supported more than $200 million in additional research worldwide.
“The spirit of collaboration is just outstanding at UF,” said Atkinson, the American Diabetes Association Eminent Scholar for Diabetes Research. “And that’s always been of the highest value to me and one of the reasons I’ve spent my career here. It’s what makes this award so special. It recognizes how the cooperative approach to science enables great advances. This is an affirmation that this pilosophy is valued at UF.”
Atkinson was nominated for the Distinguished Scientist Award by UF Vice President for Research David P. Norton, Ph.D.
“I can share that he is, without question, the most acclaimed and noted living investigator in Type 1 diabetes research at an international level,” Norton said in his nomination letter. “When he speaks, people listen. When he writes and poses ideas, people follow them. Most importantly, when he interacts with patients and their family members, they find hope for a prevention and a cure for this disease.”
The late George Eisenbarth, M.D., Ph.D., developed a pilot program using pancreatic tissue from organ donors in diabetes research in the mid-2000s. He wanted to greatly expand the program, an idea met with intense criticism from researchers who thought the idea utterly unworkable.
Eisenbarth approached Atkinson, a professor in the UF College of Medicine’s departments of pathology, immunology and laboratory medicine, and pediatrics, “with the challenge of making the impossible possible,” Norton said.
That led to nPOD’s founding by Atkinson in 2007. The biobank collects, processes and distributes rare and precious tissues, free of charge, from organ donors with Type 1 diabetes and those at risk of developing the disease. Studies tied to the biobank have reversed long-accepted dogmas about the disease. For example, the conviction that all of the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas were lost shortly after the onset of Type 1 diabetes was proved false with the aid of nPOD.
Atkinson’s efforts have led to the formation of a series of additional tissue repositories related to an improved understanding not only of Type 1 diabetes, but also of Type 2 diabetes and obesity.
“Now … nPOD is the largest Type 1 diabetes research program in the world,” Norton wrote.
https://ufhealth.org/news/2022/uf-diabetes-institute-director-mark-atkinson-wins-distinguished-scientist-award
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UF is the TOP public school at moving research to technology to product
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It seems for every college, there’s a list about colleges – a ranking. And that’s good, honestly. Knowledge is power and knowing what various people think about how well colleges stack up on various metrics can only be helpful.
There are exceptions of course. Some rankings and lists are really shallow marketing ploys put out by college recruiters and click-bait engines. And the rankings that try to measure and score colleges on their financial return – on their return on investment – those are unhelpful. Colleges and universities should never be measured by how many dollars they can put in your pocket.
Even so, college lists and rankings can be interesting and intriguing and occasionally insightful, and one such list caught my eye recently. This one, from a non-partisan think tank called Heartland Forward, isn’t so much a ranking as it is a research paper scoring how well and how often schools take their considerable research prowess and transfer it into markets. It’s a research ranking.
The report authors say they considered, “formal commercialization and tech transfer of intellectual property, we use invention disclosures, the number of licenses and options, licensing income and startups formed; less formalized modes include citations of university articles contained in patents granted to firms. This demonstrates the value of academic research in the private sector.” They adjust for the size of research budgets so the analysis was fairly even.
Like most lists, it’s not the way to rank colleges – it’s just one way. And a pretty interesting one at that.
So, which universities does Heartland Forward say are the best at turning knowledge into market power? The name at the top of the list probably won’t surprise – Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania.
Or at least that should not surprise. Carnegie Mellon is a marketplace powerhouse of computing, engineering and hard core science. It’s every bit the peer of places such as MIT and Cal Tech, perhaps even a notch or two higher. Or at least so thinks Heartland Forward - MIT was number 11, tied with Purdue University; Cal Tech was a very respectable 19.
But it’s the name in the second spot on this list that may raise an eyebrow – The University of Florida. The school reached this lofty post, the paper found, despite having a research budget ranked just 29th. Though, if we’re looking at what a school did with their money, Carnegie Mellon’s research budget was ranked 59th in the study. So, pretty impressive on both counts.
Rounding out the top five on the list are some other names you know: Columbia, Stanford and Harvard. That’s some rare air for the University of Florida and they are understandably pretty excited.
David Norton, vice president for research at the University said, “UF has a long and successful history in technology transfer, committed to getting better every year. Our tech licensing and start-up incubation enterprise is staffed by knowledgeable professionals who provide best-in-class support and expertise to our faculty, so that they can focus on their science and on solving problems.” And, he said, “When those solutions are ready to move out of the lab and into the world, our team is there to nurture them, driving economic development and realizing tangible impacts from our groundbreaking research.”
It seems so.
The Gators weren’t the only public school doing well at moving research to technology to product. Also, in the top 10 are: North Carolina State at number seven, two University of California schools - San Diego and Los Angeles - at eight and nine. And the University of Minnesota at ten.
I am absolutely biased but any college and university ranking that has five public schools in the top 10 is probably a decent list.
Other notable names on the ranking report include the University of Michigan at 16 and University of Texas at Austin at 20. Princeton was 22 and California, Berkeley was 25.
It’s a fun list, but one that’s not purely for sport or curiosity.
Universities are significant, if chronically underrated, drivers of economic development. Businesses, especially technology enterprises, don’t just capitalize on the ideas and intellectual innovations coming from our universities, they rely on them. Many exist because of those university investments and outcomes. Moreover, without our universities, the advantages we enjoy in technology and engineering and in the sciences simply would not be. In other words, our national economic viability and vitality have been built on the foundations of our universities.
With so many people wanting to say such negative things about our colleges and universities so often, getting the public to think, even for a moment, about the indispensable roles that these institutions play is important. That makes this particular list a real value.
So, sure, take a moment to look the list over. Marvel at the success of some schools, especially those doing the most with less. Question why some are a little lower. Then think about where we’d be without these schools doing the work of moving innovation from idea to inventory. We simply would not be here without them.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereknewton/2022/07/17/new-college-ranking-of-technology-transfer-has-a-surprise-number-two/?sh=78902a4f6f01
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Associate Engineering Dean Forrest Masters joining UF Research as Assistant Vice President
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Forrest Masters, formerly associate dean for research and facilities in the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, has joined UF Research as Assistant Vice President for Strategic Initiatives.
Masters is a professor in the Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment who has received dozens of grants from state, federal and private sources, including the NSF CAREER Award, for his research on the impact of hurricane-force winds on structures.
He founded one of seven national experimental facilities for NSF to study infrastructure performance in natural hazards and serves on the board of the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes.
“Forrest Masters has a well-deserved reputation for not only writing successful grant proposals, but for sharing his expertise about grant writing with the UF research community,” said UF Vice President for Research David Norton. “His experience, especially working with federal agencies, will be invaluable as we take UF’s research enterprise to the next level.”
At UF Research, Masters will focus on four areas:
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Developing institutional strategy and infrastructure to better compete for large research funding opportunities (over $10 million).
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Supporting efforts to accelerate research growth in artificial intelligence and other strategic areas.
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Developing data analytics platforms for improved research, operational and accountability effectiveness.
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Improving strategy and training for federal agency-centric research funding opportunities.
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Howard Hughes Medical Institute: Freeman Hrabowski Scholars Program
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HHMI is seeking creative and innovative early career faculty for our new Freeman Hrabowski Scholars Program. We are looking for outstanding basic researchers, including physician-scientists, who have strong potential to become leaders in their fields and to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion through their mentorship and understanding of the experiences of trainees from races and ethnicities underrepresented in US science.
Scholars will prioritize scientific excellence in their own research while creating an equitable and inclusive lab climate that values diversity and serves as a model within their own institutions and beyond. Eligible research areas include all basic biomedical science disciplines, as well as plant biology, evolutionary biology, biophysics, chemical biology, biomedical engineering, and computational biology.
Up to 30 Freeman Hrabowski Scholars will be selected in 2023, with future competitions anticipated every other year.
Freeman Hrabowski Scholars will be employed by HHMI and will maintain an academic appointment and lab at their research institutions, like HHMI Investigators. The appointment is a five-year term as an HHMI lab head, renewable for an additional five-year term following a successful progress evaluation. Scholars will receive generous and flexible support from HHMI, including full salary and benefits, a research budget of approximately $2 million over the first five years, and eligibility to participate in HHMI capital equipment purchasing programs.
Deadline List: 9/28/2022
The program is open to individuals who:
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hold a PhD and/or MD (or equivalent)
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began their first post-training position and a tenure-track (or equivalent) faculty position on or after July 1, 2018, or have accepted an offer for a tenure-track (or equivalent) position that will begin no later than July 1, 2023
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maintain a tenure-track appointment or equivalent at an eligible US institution; federal government employees are not eligible
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have a research focus in any area of basic biomedical science, as well as plant biology, evolutionary biology, biophysics, chemical biology, biomedical engineering, and/or computational biology
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are authorized to work in the US or can obtain work authorization for the duration of employment; HHMI sponsors visas for eligible individuals
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Webinar on ORCID & NSPM-33 (National Security Presidential Memo 33). This session covered an overview of NSPM-33 as it applies to ORCID, recommended action items for how organizations can prepare to help researchers meet potential NSPM-33 policies related to ORCID. We are joined by our colleagues from the University of Florida, where the research office (UF Research) has built a custom ORCID API integration that allows researchers to connect their ORCID iD with University of Florida and have UF data written to their ORCID records.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UnhXn2LLPU
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