2015 Research Funding at UC San Diego Again Surpasses Billion-Dollar Mark

Article Content

Photo by Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego Publications

Research funding for 2015 at the University of California San Diego has again surpassed $1 billion -- the fourth time in the last six years the campus has achieved that milestone, the Office of Research Affairs has announced.

Total UC San Diego research funding for the fiscal year which ended on June 30 was $1,012,200,459, down from $1,057,066,247 in 2014.

The university brought in research funding of more than a billion dollars in 2010, 2012, 2014, and this year, with 2011 and 2013 numbers falling just short of the billion-dollar mark.

Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla said the strong performance can be credited to the creativity of the institution’s faculty. “Members of our faculty – as well as our postdoctoral scholars and our students – are eager to tackle the biggest questions, the hardest problems, in their fields, and their ideas attract impressive nationwide support.”

Vice Chancellor for Research Sandra A. Brown reiterated that the ability of university teams to garner support for research is noteworthy in a time of reductions in many areas of federal and state funding.

 “Our success indicates both our research teams’ incredibly hard work and the importance of the avenues of research we’re exploring,” Brown said. “Funding agencies and industries recognize the powerful return on investment our researchers produce for the benefit of society.”

The funding supports research in many branches of medicine, the sciences, the arts, the humanities, oceanography, engineering, the social sciences, supercomputing, and other fields – research that UC San Diego is internationally recognized for translating into innovations, medical breakthroughs, jobs and new businesses in San Diego and California.

“As a public institution, we expect our research enterprise to leverage these new resources in many ways to benefit and advance our fellow citizens,” said Brown, “as well as to globally advantage the United States as a world leader in science, industry, and the arts."

UC San Diego faculty, alumni and staff have founded 156 active companies in San Diego County, generating more than $15.3 billion in annual sales. The university employs more than 18,000 employees and produces more than $20 billion in economic impact in San Diego County.