PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Brown University faculty secured more than $33 million in research grants through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) during its first year, generating vital funding important to academic research and economic growth.

More than 47 individual research awards are included among the Brown awards from ARRA, an economic stimulus measure Congress passed in early 2009. ARRA funding is intended to stimulate job creation and make investments that have long-term benefits.

“Increased federal funding allows us to do more scientific research, which in turns leads to more discoveries,” said Clyde Briant, vice president for research at Brown. “Through these discoveries — whether new drugs, new materials, new algorithms or simply new ideas — science has an impact on everyday life.”

ARRA stimulus funding will help support research in a wide variety of areas, including public health, biomolecular research, brain computer interfaces, geological and environmental sciences, robot learning, and population studies. The funding helps preserve vital research jobs and serves as a long-term building block for future jobs as new discoveries become the basis for future companies.

The $33.3 million tally, as of the end of January 2010, should provide a substantial boost to Brown's sponsored funding. Brown’s typical average research funding from government and private sources reaches approximately $135 million annually.

The ratio of research and development to gross state product in Rhode Island was 4.12 percent in 2007, making it seventh in the nation. About 22 percent of all federal funds spent in Rhode Island support research and development for various organizations, according to the Alliance for Science and Technology Research in America.

Briant said that ARRA funds are a great boost for Brown. But more importantly, he said, they help advance knowledge and discovery and support economic growth.

“Brown University competes vigorously for research funding and has a strong record of success,” Briant said. “The funding bolsters our researchers’ effort to create new technologies and solutions for real-world problems, which can in turn create new businesses and jobs.”

He added that the quality of Brown faculty and the University’s investments in research support have positioned Brown to compete well for federal research funds.

Last September, Brown University announced that $3 million in funding from the National Science Foundation would help it purchase two state-of-the-art instruments and develop a new CAVE, the three-dimensional interactive space used by researchers in both science and liberal arts.

The money will help purchase a multicollector inductively-coupled mass spectrometer, and a transmission electronic microscope. Those instruments will be available for shared use to Rhode Island Universities and research centers and to researchers in neighboring Massachusetts.

Briant said these instruments “will fundamentally widen the scope of research activities at the University.”

The CAVE project, a $2-million award, involves modernizing the facility to enhance its research potential over the next two years.

Other grants are intended to help promote diversity within the research community. Briant noted that ARRA funding for geological and environmental sciences includes a grant of more than $500,000 to promote professional development for women in the field.

Stimulus Grants to Brown University