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Merger helps UT climb ranks of top national research institutions |
| By
Jim Winkler |
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Jul 14, 2006 |
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When State Rep. Mark Wagoner (R., Ottawa Hills) spoke last March at the ceremonial signing of legislation that merged The University of Toledo and Medical University of Ohio, he referenced the research of Toledo glass pioneer Michael J. Owens, founder of Owens-Illinois Inc., and said he hoped that legacy of innovation and discovery would continue through the work of UT students and scientists.
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| Dr. Maurice Manning, professor of biochemistry and cancer biology, center, and Dr. Stoytcho Stoev, seated, and Dr. Lingling Cheng, both research associates in biochemistry and molecular biology, look at test results. |
Now, with a research budget of more than $56 million, UT has positioned itself as a future medical and technical research powerhouse. The merger will allow it to leapfrog dozens of universities in the rankings of research funding from the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) and in the amount of research funding awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to domestic institutions of higher education.
And it will rank third in the state in extramural research funding, trailing only the University of Cincinnati and Ohio State University.
That jump — and the increased visibility and stature — is one of the benefits of the merger, according to Dr. Doug Wilkerson and Dr. Frank Calzonetti, who are overseeing UT’s research efforts.
They say that a higher spot on research ranking lists will translate to a better ability to retain talented researchers and recruit new scientists who already have large grants they can bring to Toledo. Those scientists, in turn, will help enhance UT’s teaching and service missions and academic rigor. In addition, UT now has a larger cadre of scientists who can collaborate across academic disciplines and boundaries, work as multidisciplinary teams and compete for large, multimillion-dollar federal and state grants. Close connections between various faculties, schools and colleges also will speed the time between lab discoveries and medical treatments, a concept known as translational research.
Calzonetti pointed out that UT and MUO ranked 203rd and 219th, respectively, for research and development spending among 620 universities for the 2004 fiscal year, according to a recent NSF report. Combining the research budgets, UT would rank 163rd.
Wilkerson explained that three years ago, when the NIH, the federal agency that funds research into human diseases, ranked universities by the amount of NIH research funding given to 532 domestic institutions of higher education, MUO ranked 133rd and UT ranked 241st. If the NIH funding both universities received that year was combined, UT would rank 127th.
Data from the research challenge program of the Ohio Board of Regents (OBOR) also shows the benefits of the merger. In fiscal year 2005, research expenditures from non-Ohio agency grants and contracts for MUO were $15,064,586, and UT corresponding research expenditures were $17,070,762. The post-merger combined figure becomes $32,135,348, placing UT third among Ohio’s publicly supported universities behind OSU and the University of Cincinnati in research challenge-eligible expenditures.
According to the OBOR, “External research activity, for the purposes of research challenge eligibility, is defined as funds to support research from federal, corporate, foundation or private sources outside the university and which are not a part of the public support provided by the state of Ohio.”
One critical component of a thriving research program is capitalizing on promising, top-notch faculty hires, who then attract additional new funding to the overall research programs.
“We have made some very good hires in recent years,” Calzonetti explained, pointing to the addition of three Department of Chemistry faculty members — Drs. Tim Mueser, Cora Lind and Xuefei Huang — who have received NSF CAREER awards to support their teaching and research.
The University is recruiting scientists who can bring funded grant programs with them and are successful at obtaining federal funding, including a new chairman for the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology in the College of Medicine and scientists for the new Center for Diabetes and Endocrine Research.
But academic research is more competitive than ever, and UT is in a battle to keep its top scientists from being recruited away by other schools and to lure new ones. That means finding ways to compete with other universities, schools and industry, Calzonetti pointed out.
Officials have identified 12 areas where UT might focus its research: alternative energy; neuroscience; cardiovascular sciences; cancer; medical microbiology and immunology; transplantation; astronomy and astrophysics; biotechnology; environmental research; geographic information systems and remote sensing; science and technology education; and advanced films and coatings.
UT’s potential of becoming a research force has been strengthened by the comprehensive nature of the new university, Wilkerson added. It has undergraduates, of course, but now Medicine, Law, Nursing, Education, Business, Pharmacy and Engineering colleges, a new teaching hospital where dozens of clinical research trials are under way, and more than 100 graduate programs.
Administrative research offices will be maintained on the Main and Health Science campuses.
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