Recovery Act-Funded Research Projects Aid Communities Across the Country

In the five months since passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), thousands of research-related awards have been made, supporting important scientific efforts across the country.  ARRA delivered the largest increase in basic research funding in American history - $21.5 billion. The bulk of the money is for scientific research and education projects, while $3.5 billion is allocated for research facilities and capital equipment.  Universities are helping researchers apply for ARRA funding and the federal science agencies tasked with distributing that money are reviewing tens of thousands of grant applications – all in a compressed timeframe and under new reporting requirements.  As a result, in every state and the District of Columbia, ARRA-funded research grants are creating jobs, allowing the purchase of equipment, and supporting science-related construction projects. 

An influx of ARRA funds has enabled public and private research universities from Maryland to California to post ‘help wanted’ ads, providing a boon to the local economies.  Through the National Institutes of Health’s ARRA-funded summer experience program, more than 3,000 educators and students are spending their summers in the nation’s leading biomedical research laboratories. The Department of Energy’s Office of Science is using ARRA funding to establish 16 Energy Frontier Research Centers on university campuses.  These centers will bring together interdisciplinary teams of experts to accelerate development of new energy technologies, with each center supporting a full staff of researchers, technicians, and graduate and postdoctoral students. ARRA funding from the National Institute of Standards and Technology is supporting the construction of major new academic research facilities in Alabama, Florida, North Carolina and Texas. 

To ensure that the public is aware of the economic impact that ARRA research dollars are already having in communities across the country, the Association of American Universities (AAU), Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), and The Science Coalition (TSC) are providing the attached summary.  The examples are illustrative, not exhaustive.  ARRA-funded research is happening in every state in the country.  For more information, contact one of the people listed above or ARRAresearch@qga.com.

AAU, APLU, and TSC collectively represent more than 200 of the nation’s leading academic research institutions.  The associations advocated strongly for the inclusion of research funding in the ARRA because spending money on basic research produces both immediate and long-term economic impact.  In many communities across the country, research universities are the largest employers and a vital component of the local economy. Basic research also is an essential piece of the nation’s innovation infrastructure – providing the foundation on which the U.S. will improve its energy efficiency, reduce its dependence on foreign oil, deploy 21st century technologies and help bring down the cost of health care.

To date, some 3,000 students and teachers in 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, are participating in an ARRA-funded summer jobs program through the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  The positions at the nation’s leading biomedical research facilities provide participants hands-on, in-the-lab experience, which they will carry with them when they return to the classroom – as K-12 science educators and college and high school students.

New York. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has to date received five ARRA-funded grants from NIH.  This includes research to aid in the control, understanding and tracking of infectious diseases and to look at cancer risk and the impact of circadian disruption of biological systems.