The University of Hawaii received $425 million in sponsored funding in the year that ended June 30, the first increase after three years of decline, UH announced in a news release Wednesday.

This marks an 8.5 percent increase over fiscal year 2014’s $392 million total.

“With the effects of sequestration, budget cuts and the realignment of the R&D (research and development) funding priorities, the last few years have been extremely challenging, not only for the University of Hawaii, but for every research institution across the nation,” said Vassilis Syrmos, UH vice president for research and innovation. “However, thanks to the dedicated efforts of our faculty, support staff and students, we not only stopped the slide, but managed an increase of almost 9 percent in funding.”

Among the grants was one for $8.5 million from the Office of Naval Research for the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute for its Asia-Pacific Research Initiative for Sustainable Energy Systems (APRISES) to continue testing and evaluating renewable generation and power systems controls for smart and micro grids.

At UH-Hilo the Pharm2Pharm program at the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy received $5.7 million in fiscal year 2015 from the National Science Foundation, the third increment of a $14 million award.

UH community college and university campuses were awarded $69 million in federal grants to support programs serving Native Hawaiians from preschool through college and career training, including campus renovations, leadership development, STEM education, college student success and Hawaiian culture and language.