New foundation creates ways to fund URI research

10/24/08 - The University of Rhode Island recently put out a report titled "Building the Future at the University of Rhode Island: Research, Innovation & Economic Growth," stating URI's research department is seriously lacking in its research capacity. While other state universities have been receiving more government funding for their research, the percentage of URI's budget dedicated to research has decreased because of lack of funds. With this decrease in government funding, the university has started a URI Research Foundation, and is doing all in its power to attract new and motivated leadership and grants for its research.

Some might question how URI could be lacking in its research department while it has been receiving so many grants for things like cancer research.

In response, URI Vice President for Research and Economic Development Peter Alfonso said, "in September alone, URI faculty raised over $20 million in grants for their research."

The URI Commission for Research and Innovation's report states, "According to the National Science Foundation (NSF), federal [Research and Development] expenditures increased by 117 percent from 1996 to 2006," whereas "URI's federal research funding grew by just 29 percent."

In brief, the report states the amount of money given by the federal government to URI has decreased greatly while increasing for other universities' research centers.

The URI Commission for Research and Innovation's report also explains, "the only way for URI to grow research capacity in a no-growth research environment is to be better than the competition, increasing market share by attracting funds away from competitor institutions, many of which currently have stronger foundations for competing for limited research funds."

URI has taken the opportunity to find new ways to fund research. The faculty members are competing to attract grants from other universities, and researchers are trying to come up with new ideas that will entice donors to award grants. This has allowed the university to function "much more efficiently" this past fiscal year, Alfonso said, with its "outstanding and skilled faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students involved."

The URI research department has been performing better this fiscal year than it had been doing during the previous fiscal year, according to Alfonso.

"In July, August and September, over half of the money that had been raised in the 2008 fiscal year had been raised in the form of grants," he said.

Within the past year, URI's research department added three new leadership positions in order to advance productivity. Alfonso was appointed vice president, and he added David Sadowski and professor Brad Moran as assistant vice president for intellectual property management and commercialization and assistant vice president for research administration, respectively.

The new additions to the staff have brought "URI leadership to a level never previously reached," said Alfonso.

Since these new positions are not government-funded, the URI Research Foundation raised the money. "The URI Research Foundation allows us to operate as a private non-profit organization, which is what the corporate world needs," Alfonso said.