Researchers at the UO are discovering new ways to screen for diseases, help children with math, create carbon nanotubes, save disappearing languages and much more as they continue to expand the university’s research footprint, pushing outside funding up almost 4 percent in the last year.

University scholars brought in $114.6 million in grants, contracts and other awards in the recently completed fiscal year. The 3.9 percent increase over the previous year bucks a national trend toward increasing competition for a shrinking pool of research dollars.

The bulk of the UO’s research funding comes from federal grants, and the $103.5 million UO scholars attracted last year represents a 6.3 percent increase in that category. Over the last five years combined the university’s federal funding has grown more than 5 percent.

“The climate for federally funded research dollars remains incredibly competitive, and yet our faculty members continued to outperform national success rates for awards from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Department of Education,” said Brad Shelton, the UO’s vice president for research and innovation.

The UO also has seen increasing success in translating its research into products and companies that help boost the state’s economy.  The university had more than $8 million in licensing revenue last year, 90 percent of which was reinvested in academic units, innovators and the state of Oregon.

A total of 16 startups have received mentoring help from the UO-sponsored RAIN Eugene Accelerator, and university researchers filed 21 patent applications.

For more details about the UO’s research accomplishments, see “UO research dollars climbed in FY 2015” on the research and innovation website, or see this fact sheet.