Brown researchers stand to gain significant funding as part of the $787 billion economic stimulus package recently passed by Congress.
As part of the bill, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the National Institutes of Health was allocated $10.4 billion to fund biomedical and human health research. The National Science Foundation was also allotted $3 billion.
"Government agencies are looking to find proposals that will have a high impact for the populace and provide jobs," said Anne Windham, director of research opportunities in the Office of the Vice President for Research.
"We're really hopeful that we'll have a number of successful proposals," she said, adding that the package's benefits for research and education are "aligned with Brown's priorities."
To increase awareness, Windham said agencies such as the NIH are sending out requests to many researchers for proposals that cover biomedical concerns of particular interest.
The funding, largely limited to science-related research at universities, will support an array of projects ranging from basic science research to studies on obesity and cancer, Windham said. Though some funds have been designated for the National Endowment for the Arts in order to support humanities research, many of those grants will probably go to small non-profits, not universities.
But Windham said she was worried that faculty members were not necessarily aware of the individual opportunities for grants because of the relatively recent announcement of the package. That concern prompted her office to launch a Web site relaying information about various grants to faculty members..
According to a written announcement by Vice President for Research Clyde Briant, released Feb. 19 on the new Web site, the increase in available federal funds represents an "unparalleled opportunity" to enhance research at Brown.
"We want to develop a process whereby we can easily get information to you and then assist you in preparing proposals for these funds," Briant wrote in a follow-up announcement earlier this month.
With many Brown faculty members "in the pipeline" for existing NIH research grants, Windham said she hoped there would be a fair number of researchers whose projects would be propelled by the new funding.
"Our faculty are excited about getting their research funded," Windham said. "I think we're all very hopeful that there will be funding available."
If faculty members do secure grants through the new stimulus package, they will be held to strict standards of accountability, Windham said. They will have to disclose their research status and expenditures quarterly - a break from the current policy that requires researchers to report on their projects only once a year.
Though it is uncertain when researchers will receive federal funding through the stimulus package, Windham said the NIH will allot funds for "high-impact" projects that can be completed in two years or less.
Susan Gerbi, a professor of biology who studies ribosomes and DNA replication related to hormonally sensitive cancers, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that she and her team of researchers "are planning to apply for some of the NIH stimulus money," adding that she had "strong thoughts on this
program."
