UNH Today

UNH’s competitive research funding grew to $252 million in fiscal year 2024, supporting nearly 1,000 projects that aim to solve problems and improve lives in New Hampshire and beyond. The funding, from federal agencies, state collaborators, business and industry and private foundations, increased by $42 million since the previous year and has more than doubled since 2019.

“The outstanding work and innovative mindset of our researchers earned the confidence and significant support of our funding partners,” says Marian McCord, senior vice provost for research, economic engagement and outreach. “This steady increase in research funding expands UNH’s capacity to address local and global challenges and explore the frontiers of land, sea and space in service to the state of New Hampshire and the world.”

Some high-impact highlights:

• With a $12 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, the Atlantic Marine Energy Center is developing and testing technology to harness energy from the ocean’s waves and tides.
• A new agroforestry project, funded with $10 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, explores how New England, one of the nation’s most forested regions, can produce more local, sustainable food while maintaining those forests’ benefits.
• Researchers are using the genomic sequencing and bioinformatics expertise of UNH’s Hubbard Center for Genome Studies and the NH Diagnostic Veterinary Lab to survey ticks and tick-borne diseases across northern New England, a multi-institution collaboration funded by the U.S. Geological Survey. ?
• Selected to lead the Cold Climate Center of Excellence for Stormwater Infrastructure Technology, UNH will leverage funding from the Environmental Protection Agency to develop solutions to mitigate water pollution from rain and snowmelt runoff that does not soak into the ground.
• Efforts to explore how to recycle discarded space “junk” to create a sustainable manufacturing industry in space received a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation.
• New Hampshire will advance its leadership as an innovator in science and technology and increase its STEM workforce with investments across the state’s institutions of higher education, funded by an $8 million National Science Foundation grant.
• NOAA will create a Center of Excellence for Operational Ocean and Great Lakes Mapping at UNH, expanding on UNH’s long legacy of ocean mapping innovation.
• Improving the tracking and monitoring of child abuse cases in youth organizations brought $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Justice to UNH’s Crimes against Children Research Center.

The federal government was the largest source of funding, sending $157 million to UNH, led by NOAA ($28.3 million), NASA ($25.6 million), the Department of Energy ($25.4 million), the National Science Foundation ($20.6 million) and the National Institutes of Health ($11 million). Industry partners tapped UNH research expertise to advance their business goals with $12.6 million.

External grants and awards fund specific research projects and are carefully accounted for through a robust compliance process mandated by grantors. In addition to major scientific instruments, laboratory supplies and field work, a significant share of external funding supports scholarships and salaries for graduate and undergraduate students, postdoctoral researchers and faculty members. The new knowledge generated through research projects improves education by bringing new ideas and theories into the classroom and providing opportunities for students to engage in hands-on discovery.

Expanding competitive funding for research is essential to maintaining the Carnegie Classification R1 status, which puts UNH in the top tier of research universities nationwide.

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