University of Hawaii scores a record total of research funding

The University of Hawaii amassed $505 million in research funding in fiscal year 2022, topping the half-billion-dollar mark for the first time in its history.

“That is a huge number,” UH President David Lassner told the Board of Regents on Thursday. “A half a billion dollars constitutes a major economic sector for this state.”

Lassner added, “This is a sector that is hitting every island. It creates thousands, literally thousands, of direct jobs with money that we bring in from outside sources.”

The record total of what’s known as extramural funding exceeded the university’s previous record of $488.6 million in 2011 and is a $19.5 million, or 4%, increase over fiscal year 2021. The fiscal year closes at the end of June.

Extramural funding is external investments from the federal government, industry and nonprofit organizations that support research and academic activities conducted by university faculty and staff members.

Lassner said the money supports research and innovation, increasing knowledge and finding ways to improve quality of life both in Hawaii and beyond.

“It’s quite an achievement,” said Vassilis L. Syrmos, UH vice president for research and innovation, who gave credit to faculty, staff and graduate students for working hard to help overcome challenges from the economy, world affairs and fallout from the pandemic.

UH is among the nation’s top public universities in attracting research funding, he said, with oceanography, astronomy and climate research leading the way.

Syrmos said Hawaii’s public university plays an outsize role in the economy of a small state, and its research has a global reach.

“Overall, it’s good for the state, it’s good for the university and it’s good for the nation,” he said.

UH Manoa, the system’s flagship campus, accounted for $366 million of the extramural awards, followed by units at the UH System level ($70.6 million), UH community colleges ($43.6 million), UH Hilo ($18.0 million) and UH West Oahu ($6.7 million).

According to a 2021 economic impact report by the UH Economic Research Organization, UH research-related expenditures of $476.8 million in fiscal year 2020 generated $734.8 million in total business sales, $236.9 million in spending and $41.2 million in state tax revenue while supporting an estimated 5,428 jobs.

Here are some extramural awards during fiscal year 2022:

>> The Applied Research Laboratory at UH and UH Manoa’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology captured $5.5 million, part of a five-year, $25 million investment by the Department of Defense, to develop an engineered coral reef to protect the coastline.

>> UH received over $11 million for natural resource management programs covering endangered and invasive species, as well as marine and coastal ecosystems protection, from the Office of Naval Research, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Science Foundation.

>> UH Manoa’s Hawaii Natural Energy Institute received $6.2 million from the Office of Naval Research for its Asia-Pacific Research Initiative for Sustainable Energy Systems for testing and evaluation of renewable generation and power system controls for smart- and micro-grids. The institute also received $6 million from the Office of Naval Research to continue its research and maintenance support of the Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site in Kaneohe Bay.

>> Various units in the UH System received more than $5 million from the Office of Naval Research for tank inspection, hydrogeological research of groundwater, and contaminant flow and water quality testing related to the Red Hill water crisis.

>> The John A. Burns School of Medicine was awarded $4.6 million, part of a five-year, $23 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for Ola HAWAII, a research center that addresses health disparities in the underserved, multiethnic populations in Hawaii.

>> UH’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research scored $3.5 million as part of a five-year, $20 million grant by the National Science Foundation, to integrate climate and data science research under its Change HI initiative.

Lassner said the half- billion in research funding does not include noncompetititve formula-funded grants or philanthropy, such as the $50 million gift from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, for research about the impact of climate change on the ocean. That gift over seven years — the largest in UH history — was announced in January.