December 3, 2021

WSU tops $320M in research awards, contracts and programs

Wayne State University announced a continued increase in research awards and sponsored research agreements, totaling more than $320 million in Fiscal Year 2021 as the research and discovery environment ecosystem pivots forward from the last 20 months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The total of grants secured by the School of Medicine is $77,560,013, a 10% increase over the 2020 total.

The substantial growth in the programs reflects a broad commitment to the university’s mission as an urban-serving public research university in Detroit, and touches upon major thematic initiatives in cancer, cardiometabolic health and disease, environmental health sciences, health equity, chemical sciences, bio and systems engineering, and neurosciences.

This growth is driven by many factors, including thematically-focused faculty recruitment,  strategic partnerships, focused research training programs, enabling technologies, cross-college/school partnerships, and the programmatic success of teams across all of Wayne State’s school and colleges and centers and institutes.

Funding from federal agencies for Wayne State’s research enterprise totaled $151 million and the National Institutes of Health led this sector with more than $100 million in grants and contracts — a $9 million increase from 2020 and a 29% increase from 2013.

Overall federal support for sponsored programs at the university in FY 2021 has increased by more than $50 million since FY 2013, providing a strong base for continued growth in this sector. State funding comprised 16% of Wayne State’s total research awards at $51.2 million, funding from corporations totaled 28% of the total research awards at nearly $91.2 million, and funding from foundations and other sources totaled more than $26.5 million.

“As Michigan’s only public, urban research university, Wayne State plays an important role in the discovery and dissemination of new knowledge that is critical to improving lives and directly impacts the health of our community,” said WSU President M. Roy Wilson.

A number of the university’s schools and colleges have experienced significant growth in research programs during the past six years. Since Fiscal Year 2016, research awards have grown more than $79 million — or 33% — to $320,113,902.

“The accomplishments by our schools and colleges and the research support offices are something to celebrate,” said Stephen Lanier, vice president for Research. “Despite the challenges with the pandemic, including the disruption of business and support operations, multiple personal and professional challenges, laboratories often not able to run at full capacity, and managing all of the additional safety protocols put in place with the pandemic, our faculty, research staff and research and facility support offices continued to find ways to keep the research growth momentum in place and make a difference across the broad communities that we serve. Their hard work and efforts do not go unnoticed and have clearly had an impact.”

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