AU competes for stimulus plan research dollars

More than $2.5 million in federal stimulus money has been awarded to Auburn University researchers so far, and the school still has nearly $54 million in requests pending before federal agencies.

"It's too early to know definitively if the stimulus will make a significant impact on AU's total research dollars, but we will definitely compete for many more," said Brian Keeter, AU's director of public affairs.

In addition, AU learned Monday that the university will receive $14.4 million in stimulus funds for construction of a science, technology and commerce research facility.

The $789 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 includes $21.5 billion designated for federal research grants.

ARRA is the largest federal spending bill ever passed, and nearly every agency that supports university research, including the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, has additional money to grant.

ARRA was signed into law by President Barack Obama on Feb. 17 and is designed to jump start the U.S. economy through federal spending on programs involving education, energy, health care, housing and transportation.

"On a regular basis, the federal agencies are announcing new grant opportunities using stimulus funding," Keeter said. "We're very active in monitoring and tracking all those opportunities."

Many grant applications require quick turnaround because they are supposed to stimulate the economy, he said.

"That's why we have to be ready and prepared as soon as those opportunities are announced," Keeter said.

The $2.5 million awarded to researchers so far will go to support the work of nine researchers in the colleges of Sciences and Mathematics, Agriculture, Education, Engineering and Business.

The largest grant so far is to Gary Martin, a secondary mathematics professor in the College of Education's department of curriculum and teaching. Martin is receiving nearly $1.5 million--more than half the total--from NSF for a program to support elementary math teachers in "high need" districts.

The money comes from NSF's Noyce Scholarship program, which in the past has encouraged talented students majoring in math, science, technology and engineering to instead teach in high-need K-12 schools.

"They have added a new track for master teachers, so what we're doing with the money is supporting 22 elementary math specialists to go back and work on advanced degrees, as well as completing certificates in elementary mathematics," Martin said.

The program is part of TEAM Math, a partnership between AU, 14 school districts, Tuskegee University and area businesses. TEAM is an acronym for "Transforming East Alabama Mathematics," and the goal is to improve math education in the area.

The grant is for five years and will provide the teachers with $10,000-a-year stipends as well as tuition support.

"They have to keep working full-time in high-need schools," Martin said. "It's really a terrific program. How often do we support teachers to remain master teachers in the classroom? And that $10,000 goes straight into people's pockets and straight into the local economy."

TEAM Math has received NSF funding in the past, starting in 2003 and totaling about $10 million, Martin said. He attributes this new grant directly to ARRA.

"The Noyce program got a major bump in funding," he said. "This is very definitely stimulus dollars at work, coming from a pool of money that was enhanced."

NSF has about $2.5 billion to grant, and is awarding most of its stimulus money to projects already submitted.

The competitive research facility grant is from the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology. It will aid Auburn researchers working on standards, measurements and forecasting related to food safety, bioenergy technologies, aquaculture development and sustainability, and water and environmental quality.

The 68,000 square-foot center, to be located in the Auburn Research Park, will have 21 research laboratories for five major multidisciplinary research groups.

Of the 38 pending research grant requests from AU, totaling nearly $54 million, 21 are applications to the National Institutes of Health. NIH has more than $10 billion to grant through ARRA, and AU's requests total more than $36 million.

AU's schools of veterinary medicine and pharmacy each have $15 million grant requests pending to NIH, although it is anyone's guess whether they will be granted. Most research institutions have likewise increased their grant submissions.

In addition, David Bransby of the College of Agriculture has a request for nearly $15 pending to the U.S. Department of Energy to further his research into using switchgrass as a commercially viable alternative energy source.

Keeter said no one really knows when grants will be approved or when the money will arrive on campus.

"It trickles in," he said. "We wish we knew."

AU keeps track of both grants approved and grant requests pending on its Web site at www.auburn.edu/arra/.

"We plan to aggressively pursue all the grants, especially those that advance national priorities and those that will improve economic opportunity and quality of life in the state of Alabama," Keeter said. "We're very interested in playing a part."

Besides the money coming through federal agencies, some $26 million has been allocated to the AU system through fiscal stabilization funds administered by the state. The stabilization program is a one-time appropriation of some $48 billion awarded by the U.S. Department of Education to state governors. The purpose is to minimize and avoid reductions in education and other essential services during the current economic downturn.

Nearly $17 million of that is designated for the main campus in Auburn, with the remainder to go to Auburn University-Montgomery, the Alabama Agriculture Experiment Station and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.