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TAMPA - The University of South Florida attracted a record amount of research money last year, bolstering its status as one of the state's top research engines.
USF president Judy Genshaft said Thursday that university researchers garnered $290-million in 2003-04 - a 14 percent increase from a year earlier and 40 percent more than in 2002.
It is the eighth consecutive year USF has set a record for research funding.
"That's a huge accomplishment," said Rhea Law, vice chairwoman of the USF Board of Trustees. "All around, we've just had tremendous results."
About $145-million - or half of the money - was brought in by faculty at the Health Sciences Center, which includes the colleges of Medicine and Public Health. Both are traditional grant magnets.
But a growing share of the research dollars was related to bio-defense.
Larry Langebrake, director of the Marine Sciences Center for Ocean Technology, brought in $8.8-million, most of it from the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. The USF Center for Biological Defense also did well, attracting $5-million from the Army.
USF officials credited U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young for much of the federal largesse, including $24-million for special projects that went to USF.
USF St. Petersburg did well last year, chalking up a 37 percent increase in research funding. USF's Lakeland campus did even better, with a 131 percent jump.
Research funding is an important benchmark for comparing universities. For the past several years, USF has ranked second to the University of Florida in research dollars attracted by the state's public universities. It easily bested Florida State University, its closest rival.
New funding totals for UF and FSU were not available Thursday.