Research awards for fiscal year 2014, which ended June 30, totaled $389 million, an increase of nearly $70 million – close to 22 percent - over 2013. The total funding for 2014 climbs to $390 million when including the one-time stimulus awards from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Purdue’s top year, without factoring in ARRA funds, was $396 million in 2010-11.

“It is due to the brilliant and diverse array of researchers at Purdue that we win these awards,” said Purdue president Mitch Daniels. “Our faculty are making vast impact with their discoveries, and it is our duty to support them with fast and effective pre- and post-award activities.”

In the previous fiscal year, 3,767 awards were received compared with 4,104 this year. Among the awards received were:

* $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation, to develop a method to mass-produce a new type of nanomaterial for advanced sensors and batteries, with an eye toward manufacturing in the Midwest.

* $2.4 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., to the Military Family Research Institute (MFRI) to continue to improve the lives of members of the military, veterans and their families.

* $5 million, five-year grant from United States Agency for International Development to help countries in sub-Saharan Africa reduce hunger and poverty by reducing food waste and improve processing and marketing of key crops.

Other awarding agencies include the National Science Foundation, Department of Health and Human Services, and the departments of Defense, Agriculture and Energy; state and local governments; the Purdue Research Foundation; and other federal agencies and foreign governments.

The total awards from industry and foundations for this fiscal year remain strong at $98 million, said Suresh Garimella, executive vice president for research and partnerships.

“Research partnerships for our faculty with the private sector and with NGOs and foundations is an area the university will work to enhance, in the U.S. as well as globally,” Garimella said. “Purdue faculty, their research teams and university support staff have worked hard to secure these awards, and these efforts will be further strengthened with the university’s recent merger of the research and global partnerships offices into one organization. Purdue researchers are focused on achieving excellence in scholarship in a range of important areas, and to ensure global impact.”