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CORVALLIS - Faculty at Oregon State University brought in more than $177 million in research funding during the 2003-04 fiscal year, shattering the university's previous record, set last year, by more than $20 million.

The funding doesn't just help the university, officials say, it stimulates the Oregon economy by creating jobs and spin-off companies, and infusing communities around the state with money.

"Every dollar we bring into the university generates 2.5 times that toward the economy," said Rich Holdren, OSU's vice provost for research. "And because Oregon State University is so diverse in its curricular offerings, we have tremendous diversity to our research.

"We have researchers studying grasslands in eastern Oregon, water issues in the Klamath basin, reforestation in southern Oregon, near-shore marine activity off the coast, water quality in the Portland harbor and throughout the Willamette River, and community issues throughout the state," he added. "We have other faculty developing new technologies and products in areas from engineering to pharmacy that have drawn companies to Oregon and created new jobs.

"The impact of OSU's research is far-reaching and significant, socially and politically, as well as economically."

Of the $177,545,624 OSU attracted during 2003-04, nearly $147 million was generated from competitive grants and contracts - primarily from federal agencies and major foundations. Much of the remaining $30 million came to OSU through legislative appropriations or gifts directly to the OSU Foundation.

Last year, OSU had nine research grants in excess of $1 million, including a $3.9 million grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to co-principal investigators Jane Lubchenco and Bruce Menge. The two zoologists are directing a major study of Oregon's near-shore region that involves three other universities. Their multi-year project, Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans, or PISCO, already has provided critical data about the waters just off Oregon's coast, including the cause of a major marine die-off two years ago which they traced to hypoxia, a naturally occurring oxygen depletion phenomena.

Clare Reimers, director of the Cooperative Institute for Marine Resources Studies, received a pair of grants totaling more than $2 million from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for studies of West Coast fisheries, as well as several other grants for her work at OSU's Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport.

Another grant of $1 million came from Public Health Services to help support the OSU Environmental Health Sciences Center.

While nine grants topped $1 million, the university received hundreds of others - some big, some small - that demonstrate the breadth of research and faculty talent at OSU, Holdren said. Among them:

• Ellen Schuster, of the OSU Extension Service, received a pair of grants totaling $561,000 from the Oregon Department of Human Services to run Extension's Oregon Family Nutrition Program;

   

• Kevin Drost, a mechanical engineer in OSU's College of Engineering, received grant totaling $633,000 from the Department of Defense to partially support Oregon State's participation in ONAMI, the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute;

   

• Jeff McCubbin, a professor of exercise and sport science, received a pair of grants from the U.S. Department of Education totaling $390,000 to support OSU's Movement Studies in Disability Program that promotes fitness for persons with disabilities;

   

• Deanna Kingston, an assistant professor of anthropology in the College of Liberal Arts, received grants totaling $517,000 from the National Science Foundation to conduct a cultural, geographical and oral history study of King Island in the Bering Sea;

   

• Allan Brazier, director of professional development for the School of Education, received a grant of $5,508 from the Oregon University System to support a quality assurance in teaching initiative.

OSU President Ed Ray praised the university's faculty, staff and students for their productivity.

"In the year that I have been at Oregon State University, I am continually impressed by the talent, productivity and effectiveness of the OSU faculty, the research associates and assistants, and the staff who support them," Ray said. "In tight economic times, grants become extremely competitive and our colleagues have done a tremendous job in successfully attracting funding."

Ray said OSU's ability to attract major grants - in so many different fields - pays huge dividends for students, who work side-by-side with some of the nation's top researchers in cutting edge fields.

"We're not just talking about doctoral students," Ray said. "We have master's and undergraduate students working on real issues that affect Oregonians. Those experiences outside the classroom are invaluable in helping prepare our graduates for the working world and to contribute to the communities in which they will live."

Among the major agencies sponsoring OSU research are the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Public Health Service and National Institutes of Health, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency.