Office of the President
Monday Morning Memo | April 13, 2009
Dear NMSU Campus Community:
Good morning! We can all be proud that research at NMSU is thriving and scaling new heights thanks to our outstanding researchers all across the campus. Within the last three fiscal years, our research awards have jumped 28 percent from $129 million per year to $166 million per year.
The recently released National Science Foundation ranking recognizes the strides we are making. NMSU now ranks 29th in the nation, in terms of Research & Development (R&D) expenditures, among all institutions without a medical school. NMSU ranks 10th in Engineering, 34th in Agriculture, and in the top 11 percent in Chemistry and Physical Sciences in terms of R&D expenditures among all institutions, with or without a medical school.
Also, according to the Journal of Criminal Justice Education, the Department of Criminal Justice at NMSU ranks fourth in the nation (among institutions with a master's degree as the highest degree offered) in total grant dollars received.
President Obama's stimulus package and the resulting American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provide extensive opportunities for our researchers to further solidify and strengthen our research portfolio through competitive funding. Additional funding for science is estimated to be about $17 billion, with a focus on job creation in the near-term and setting up foundations for initiatives in energy, health, and climate change in the long-term. The National Institutes of Health (NIH, $10.4 billion), the National Science Foundation (NSF, $3 billion), and the Department of Energy (DOE, approximately $12.4 billion) all have programs that are of strong interest to NMSU faculty and researchers who hope to be major beneficiaries of the stimulus funding. (Detailed research and development stimulus information is available at http://research.nmsu.edu/docs/arra2.pdf.)
For funding agencies this is not business as usual because most of the stimulus funds will have to be committed by September 2009. To take total advantage of these opportunities and contribute to the critical needs of the nation will require a major effort among all support and service units of the university so that researchers can propose, initiate and conduct their research programs in a timely manner.
NMSU researchers have been busy writing and winning some major proposals this fiscal year that enhance student participation and quality of their research experience. Among them are the New Mexico Idea Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (NM-INBRE) program directed by Professor Jeff Arterburn, which seeks about $18 million from the NIH. The purpose of this program is to strengthen biomedical research in New Mexico's institutions of higher education and to prepare faculty and students for participation in the research programs of the NIH.
Another program, led by Dr. Elba Serrano, the NMSU Minority Biomedical Research Support Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (NMSU RISE to Excellence) seeks $4.3 million from the Department of Health and Human Services. Since its inception in 2000, the NMSU RISE program has received $12.72 million to support the research efforts of hundreds of NMSU students while they have earned bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. degrees in biomedical and biobehavioral disciplines. RISE has furthered the research careers of members of groups traditionally underrepresented in research: African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and Native Americans.
The NIH-funded SCORE Program (Support of Continuous Research Excellence) seeks to increase the biomedical research capabilities of minority-serving institutions and to augment the research competitiveness of faculty at those institutions. Dr. Glenn Kuehn has served as the program director of SCORE since its inception in 2000. More than $36 million in total funding has supported this programs resulting in at least 88 doctoral degrees to former NMSU students, all of Hispanic, American Indian and African-American heritages who have been trained in these programs.
The New Mexico Alliance for Minority Participation (NM-AMP), led by Dr. Ricardo Jacquez, was recently awarded $3.165 million as a continuation grant by the National Science Foundation. This program has successfully broadened participation of minority students in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics disciplines creating a pipeline of students in the country's most critical area of workforce development need.
As you can see, we have a strong commitment to research at NMSU, and we will continue to thoroughly explore the possibilities made possible by the federal government's new initiative.
Have a great week!
Waded Cruzado
