BOSTON – The University of Massachusetts’ research expenditures reached a record $536 million in fiscal 2010, topping the $500 million mark for the first time in school history.
Research spending increased by $47 million – or 9.5 percent – compared with fiscal 2009’s $489 million expenditure, UMass said.
“The research work of our faculty is ‘rocket fuel’ for the state’s innovation economy,” President Jack M. Wilson said in a statement Wednesday. “It is saving lives, cleaning the environment and stoking economic development in Massachusetts.”
UMass said most of its research is externally funded, with the federal government providing the majority of the funding through the National Institutes for Health, the National Science Foundation and other federal agencies.
Research spending was $26 million at UMass Dartmouth, according to a university report. Expenditures at other UMass campuses were: $169 million, Amherst; $51.3 million, Boston; $57.4 million, Lowell; and $232 million, Worcester.
UMass also highlighted research taking place at various campuses, including a $400,000 project at UMass Dartmouth in which physics Professor Robert Fisher established a supercomputing center to solve complex problems in astrophysics, applied mathematics, oceanography and materials science.
Wednesday’s announcement follows news that UMass is the eighth-ranked university nationwide in licensing income from faculty discoveries and products.
UMass’ intellectual property income climbed from $20 million in 2003 to $71 million in 2009, according to the Association of University Technology Managers.
