Research stimulus funds spark economy
UC is putting federal stimulus money to work advancing science and creating jobs.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's first installment of $115.8 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds is expected to generate up to 700 jobs. Nearly $70 million of the grant money, which is allocated through the Department of Energy, will fund nine construction projects. A portion of the funds will help develop a prototype high-speed data network that will benefit the DOE's Office of Science and the commercial telecommunications sector.
UC San Diego estimates that about 200 jobs will be created or saved through the $10 million in research grants it has received. A study of an eating disorder treatment and development of antiviral agents are among the programs funded.
UC Irvine is using a $135,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to create a global health concentration in the master of public health program.
UC Berkeley has received more than $8.6 million for a range of physics and health and disease research.
At UC Santa Barbara, a $19 million grant will create a new Energy Frontier Research Center, one of 46 new centers the White House is establishing nationwide. This new center, housed in UC Santa Barbara's Institute for Energy Efficiency, will focus on creating new technologies for improved solar energy conversion, lighting efficiencies and thermoelectricity.