The two have traditionally vied for top position in bringing research dollars to campus. The increase in funding is spread across all sponsor categories. Federal funding is up 4 percent over last year. We need to maintain that upward trend, regardless of whether or not federal surpluses are invested in research in the future. But the campus has traditionally seen large fluctuations in state funding, and last year was actually down 39 percent when compared with five years ago, Smith pointed out.
Private funding is up marginally from last year.
Smith anticipates improving that margin in the future, with two initiatives from his office. There are researchers on campus whose work will greatly benefit the public. We're on target with our plans to increase private support for research. With our upcoming initiatives we should see significant increases in non-federal areas. The first initiative is the relocation of technology transfer to campus.