Research Highlights

January 2012 Research funding at Carolina THE STORY OF RESEARCH AT CAROLINA

Carolina: A national leader in research Carolina’s research enterprise has doubled in the last decade, reaching nearly $800 million in extramural support last year. In a 2010 report titled The Top American Re- search Universities, Carolina ranked 6th among public universities and 30th among the world’s top 200 universities in 2010-2011, according to the London-based Times Higher Education magazine. The report, produced by the Center for Measuring Uni- versity Performance, assessed areas such as research, private support, faculty strength, and advanced training.

Based on the most recent available data, Carolina ranks: • 6th among public research universities in the nation (Top American Research At $788 million, Carolina’s research funding for fiscal Universities, 2010) year 2011 was double that of fiscal year 2000 and more • 30th among the world’s top 200 universities (Times Higher Education, 2010) than triple that of 1996. • 19th in overall R&D expenditures (National Science Foundation, 2009) • 9th among all universities in HHS expenditures, including National Institutes of Health (National Science Foundation, 2009)

Academic peers The research institutions listed below are Carolina’s closest peers. Duke University, Where research funding goes the only private school listed here, is both a competitor and a collaborator, and College/School, FY 2011 Amount shares many of Carolina’s attributes. Frequently, these institutions compete with Carolina for research funding, faculty, and graduate students. Arts and Sciences 88,731,573 • Duke University • University of Michigan Dentistry 11,369,684 • Ohio State University • University of Texas Medicine 382,470,079 • University of California-Berkeley • University of Virginia • University of California, Los Angeles • University of Washington Nursing 5,646,774 • University of Florida • University of Wisconsin Pharmacy 25,237,597 • University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Public Health 91,331,595 Social Work 9,977,619 Research funding and the Carolina budget Other 20,692,915 In 2000, research funding surpassed state appropriations as a share of Carolina’s bud- Pan-University Centers/Institutes 152,567,276 get and has since continued to grow. Total research funding, from both governmental and non-governmental sources, comprised more than 30% of Carolina’s revenue last Total $788,025,112 year.

Research funding and the Carolina budget Government Contracts & Grants

State Appropriations & Aid

Tuition & Fees

Private Gifts & Grants

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 1 RESEARCH ENDEAVORS AT CAROLINA

Funding sources Collaboration Carolina is known for its ability to foster collaboration among disciplines and institutions. One measure of this is sharing research grants. In fiscal year 2011, Carolina’s Office of Sponsored Research reported that the university received 873 sub-awards from other academic institutions and other collaborators totaling nearly $70 million and granted more than 1,000 sub-awards totaling more than $125 million.

The vital role of F&A funds Facilities-and-administrative funds, also known as F&A funds, enable Carolina to support and grow its research enterprise. To maintain a leadership and competitive advantage, Carolina will need to retain the full use of its F&A funds.

The federal government provides more than 70 percent of Carolina’s external funding. F&A-funded employees often provide services required by state or federal law and regulations. The total campus F&A expenditure for the administrative activities nec- essary for research compliance is at least $13 million a year. F&A-funded staff funds monitor the use of human subjects or laboratory animals in research, satisfy- ing federal mandates. These employees also administer research contracts and grants, Top sources of federal funds at Carolina fulfill reporting requirements, oversee safety and security for research labs, administer clinical trials, report and license inventions, create start-up companies, and help manage offices and labs. Without these employees, the university could not meet its legal obligations.

Using F&A funds, Carolina launches new companies that create jobs for the state. More than 50 new companies based on Carolina inventions have been launched, several of which are developing new treatments for disease. Liquidia, for example, has received more than $50 million in venture funding and is developing highly precise particle-based vaccines and therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of human disease. F&A funds also support research on problems facing the state and its businesses, including marine trades, business clusters, workforce housing and steps to prevent predatory lending.

In addition to the costs of compliance, Carolina must invest to grow and compete in the international marketplace for knowledge and technology. For example, Carolina Carolina compared to the UNC system uses a portion of its F&A funds to provide: • Start-up funds. New faculty members use start-up funds to relocate, set up laboratories, buy computers, obtain research animals and supplies, and conduct preliminary studies. In the sciences, the total cost of a start-up package can reach $500,000. Without this investment, Carolina cannot attract top faculty. • Matching funds. A small investment in seed funding can lead to a big grant or launch new research. In recent years, Carolina used matching funds to help chemist Tom Meyer craft a successful proposal for the Department of Energy’s Energy Frontier Research Center competition and secure a grant from the Na- tional Science Foundation for a specialized confocal microscope that will ad- vance plant science. But compared to its peers, Carolina has a very small pool of seed funding. Increasing that pool is a priority. • Infrastructure. Modern research requires modern tools and facilities. The cost of laboratory space is more than double that of offices or classrooms. Since research depends on high-end computing, Carolina must also invest heavily in infrastructure and support for information technology. Carolina accounts for about 60 percent of total research awards for the UNC system.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2 SELECTED RESEARCH STRENGTHS

Neurosciences Carolina’s Neuroscience Center, directed by Bill Snider, applies the powerful tools of genetics and interdisciplinary collaboration. The center has recruited scientists from a wide variety of fields who are learning more about how the brain works, how it develops, and how its complex biology sometimes goes awry in neurological disorders and disease.

Genetics and genome sciences Carolina has made a 10-year, $245 million commitment to develop strength in the fundamental sciences of life. Already, studies using mouse models and advanced The journal Science named Myron Cohen’s HIV preven- computational and analytical techniques are revealing basic knowledge that will have tion research the 2011 Breakthrough of the Year. The study showed that early treatment with antiretroviral direct relevance to scientists’ understanding of human biology and disease. drugs—that is, drugs that attack retroviruses such as HIV—can effectively prevent the transmission of the Health-care innovations virus. Carolina has broad strengths in medicine, pharmacy, and pharmacology, and is a leading force for better health care. Here are just a few examples: • Nanomedicine. Carolina faculty members are engaged in a campuswide initiative to use nanotechnology to improve human health. In 2010, Carolina was awarded a second multimillion-dollar grant from the Carolina Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence to bring Carolina physical scientists and cancer biologists together to implement nanotechnology approaches in cancer research, diagnosis, and treatment. Faculty members at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery are creating nano-scale pharmaceutical innovations for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes. • Infectious diseases. Carolina is an international leader in infectious disease research and was ranked #10 in 2011 by U.S. News and World Report for HIV/AIDS research. Carolina researchers are fighting malaria and HIV transmission in Malawi, targeting the resurgence of syphilis in China and Madagascar, and leading an international consortium to develop a new treatment for African sleeping sickness. Carolina’s Center for Infectious Disease provides treatment for patients with HIV and other infectious diseases in N.C. hospitals and county health departments. Undergraduates work with marine scientist Tony Ro- • Drug discovery. Researchers in pharmacy and pharmacology are finding new driguez to set up a Lidar laser imaging unit to map the compounds and new drug-delivery systems. For example, pharmacy professor beach. By comparing their images to post-storm images, Kuo-Hsiung Lee has developed a drug now in clinical trials that could revolu- they will determine damage and changes to the North Carolina coastline. tionize AIDS treatment. The drug is based on the discovery that a compound in a Taiwanese herb and in the bark of birch trees in North America has great potential in suppressing HIV/AIDS.

Public health Carolina’s Gillings School of Global Public Health is 1st among public universities, according to U.S. News and World Report 2011. This school is a major force in en- suring the safety and health of citizens. Its research strengths include biostatistics, environmental sciences and engineering, epidemiology, health behavior and health education, health policy, maternal and child health, and nutrition. The school is also finding ways to help the nation prepare for and recover from bioterrorist attacks and natural disasters such as hurricanes. • The Nutrition Research Institute at the N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis is devoted to discovering why people differ greatly in metabolism and nutrient requirements. The institute uses genomic and metabolomic biotechnology to develop innovative approaches to understanding the role of diet and activity in Carolina’s Chapel Hill Analytical and Nanofabrication normal brain development, in the prevention of cancer, and in the prevention Laboratory in the Institute for Advanced Materials, Na- and treatment of obesity and eating disorders. noscience and Technology gives researchers and artists access to some of the most powerful imaging tools and equipment available.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 3 SELECTED RESEARCH STRENGTHS

Education Researchers at Carolina strive to understand the factors that enable learning and overcome barriers to education. Here are just a few examples: • Rural education. The School of Education used a federal grant to establish the National Research Center on Rural Education Support, which merges a focus on teacher quality with the use of technology in rural schools. Other initiatives targeting rural areas include a $3.4 million grant to support rural K-1 teachers working with struggling readers and targeted intervention programs for at-risk populations. • Child development. Scientists at the FPG Child Development Institute study issues facing young children and their families. FPG’s measures of child-care environments have become the most widely used in the world. FPG researchers The FPG Child Development Institute is reinventing school entry for young children. First School, based on are investigating autism spectrum disorders and Fragile X syndrome, the most decades of research in early childhood development, common known cause of mental retardation. begins at age 3 and extends through second grade. Astrophysics and astronomy Carolina faculty and students study the skies from several new vantage points. Caro- lina is a partner in SOAR, a four-meter telescope atop Cerro Pachon in northern Chile, and PROMPT, an array of six 16-inch robotic telescopes atop Cerro Tololo. Carolina also has a 3 percent share in the largest telescope in the southern hemi- sphere, SALT (Southern African Large Telescope), about 300 miles north of Cape Town. SOAR, PROMPT, and SALT can be operated remotely by Carolina faculty and students and are used as teaching aids and in public outreach initiatives.

New materials and processes In 2011 Carolina was ranked 7th in research by Small Times, a business trade magazine, among the top U.S. universities for its work in nanotechnology and microtech- nology research. Chemists, physicists, and computer scientists are developing new materials and processes that will drive innovation and economic growth. Examples: Using SOAR and PROMPT telescopes, astronomer Daniel • Fuel cells and tiny particles. Joe DeSimone, Chancellor’s Eminent Professor of Reichart and four of his students discovered this stel- Chemistry, creates new materials for use in the membranes of fuel cells. DeSim- lar explosion, the most distant and oldest event in the universe. Carolina undergraduate Josh Haislip was listed one’s group also created the world’s tiniest manufactured particles for delivering as first author on the research publication about the drugs or genetic material. discovery. • Lab on a chip. Michael Ramsey, Minnie N. Goldby Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, conducts pioneering research in miniaturizing and automating lab processes. His work has applications for everything from drug discovery to environmental monitoring. Ramsey helped create the concept of a “lab on a chip,” which allows lab tests to be performed in miniature on tiny silicon, glass, or plastic chips. • Nanotechnology. Richard Superfine, Bowman and Gordon Gray Professor, condensed matter physics, biophysics and microscopy, is advancing the science of the very small in big ways. Nanotechnology has great potential to improve applications as diverse as x-ray machines, computer screens, and drug delivery.

Social sciences Carolina is known for its strength in the social sciences. For example: • Sociologists play a leading role in the National Longitudinal Study of Adoles- cent Health, which explores the causes of health-related behaviors of adoles- cents and their outcomes in young adulthood. • Population studies. Carolina is a national leader in the studies of human populations around the world. Much of this work is coordinated by the Carolina Population Center, which supports research on issues such as fertility, mortality, Lab-on-a-chip technology pioneered by Michael Ramsey’s lab could revolutionize the way liquid samples migration, marriage, and health, and how each is affected by social, economic, are analyzed. and cultural forces. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 4 SELECTED RESEARCH STRENGTHS

Computer science Carolina’s computer science department—one of the oldest in the country—is re- nowned for its simulation, virtual environments, and cyber-security research. Caro- lina faculty are working to solve real-world challenges, including military training for modern urban warfare, improved medical treatments through the use of medical image computing and robotics, and network security for financial institutions.

Researchers at RENCI, a multi-institutional high-performance computing and technology center headquartered at Carolina, create visualizations that provide new knowledge about large data sets ranging from storm surge models, to urban growth patterns, to a better understanding of how pollutants disperse in the atmosphere and gene therapies are used to treat muscular dystrophy. RENCI has a statewide presence with facilities at North Carolina State University, East Carolina University, UNC- Asheville, UNC-Charlotte, and Duke University.

Arts and humanities Over the past five years, Carolina has received nearly $1.24 million in National En- dowment for the Humanities research support across multiple disciplines including Carolina’s library system is consistently ranked among romance languages, classics, history, and English and comparative literature. Two the top 20 nationally, and is one of the leading research recent examples include the Ancient World Mapping Center, a multilingual online libraries in the South. Above: Conservator Jan Paris pieces together a 1795 letter from the library’s special workspace for updating and expanding information about ancient geography, and collections. Main Street Carolina, a free, open-source, web-based tool that enables entities across North Carolina to preserve and share the history of downtowns over the past cen- tury.

Marine sciences Carolina marine scientists have discovered hundreds of new species and genera of marine fungi, and even discovered the first members of an entirely new order—Ko- ralionastetales. Carolina faculty members’ research protects coastal marine resources from North Carolina to China, and their work shapes the policies of government, businesses, and marine industries.

Computer scientists at Carolina create models to show Carolina’s collaborative research with other UNC schools how wind patterns in cities disperse odors and toxins from accidents or terrorist attacks. Above: The geometry of Manhattan’s buildings create complex wind patterns. UNC School, FY 2011 Granted Received Appalachian State 82,173 138,843 East Carolina 718,159 193,366 NC A&T 116,382 0 NC Central 72,372 178,718 NC State 3,569,642 2,315,174 UNC-Charlotte 765,781 0 UNC-Greensboro 349,971 3,807,406 UNC-Wilmington 114,194 169,000 UNC-Pembroke 71,885 0 Total $5,914,578 $7,551,912

Pianist Mayron Tsong performed selections of her first album at Carnegie Hall. Her research on Haydn sonatas will be included in her second album.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 5 INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Economic impact Expenditures resulting from research funding at Carolina cycle through the state and local economies, transforming federal funds into revenue for North Carolina residents and businesses. Using U.S. government multipliers, Carolina’s $788 million in research funding generated at least $945 million in economic impact and more than 13,000 jobs.

Centers and institutes Research centers and institutes contribute to the intellectual climate at Carolina. They also boost the state’s economy by attracting external funding and by helping North Carolina communities and businesses compete for economic development opportunities. In 2010, centers and institutes reporting to the Vice Chancellor for Research had combined state support of $7,082,438, and brought in $145,018,222 in external grants and contracts—approximately $20 of research funding for each $1 of state support. The impact of Carolina’s research centers and institutes extends across the state and beyond—including 3,879 active research and service projects and 1,120 jobs in North Carolina alone. Oncologist Norman Sharpless founded G-Zero to capi- talize on discoveries made and patented by his lab at Innovation and entrepreneurship Carolina. Carolina is the nation’s top university for fostering entrepreneurship across campus, according to The Princeton Review and Forbes.com. Carolina’s culture of innovation was accelerated by the Carolina Entrepreneurial Initiative (CEI), a five-year initiative funded in part by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to develop and launch entrepreneurship programs for faculty and students. Many CEI projects continue to thrive, including new entrepreneurship certificates and minors, business accelerators, and entrepreneurial support for university spin-offs. In 2010 the university launched the Innovate@Carolina Campaign to implement the next generation of cross-campus entrepreneurship initiatives, ranging from scholarships and endowed professorships to seed funding for the most promising innovations at Carolina. Other efforts include Carolina KickStart (a program to help Carolina faculty commercialize their technology), the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Kenan-Flagler Business School, and the Blackstone Ent