During fiscal year 2022, researchers at the University of Notre Dame received $244 million in research award funding, surpassing the previous record of $222.7 million set in fiscal year 2021. This total includes nearly 800 separate awards from a broad array of federal, foundation and industry sources.

“Credit belongs to our talented faculty, who use this funding to help the University live out its mission to be a force for good in the world,” said Robert J. Bernhard, vice president for research and professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering. “Our researchers translate these dollars and cents into deeper understandings of ourselves and others and into new discoveries — in global development, nanoelectronics, wireless technology and hypersonics research, to name a few — that are improving lives around the globe.”

The year’s largest new awards to each college and school include:

• Seven and a half million dollars of an anticipated $25 million to the Wireless Institute in the College of Engineering from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish SpectrumX, a wireless spectrum innovation center. The center will serve as a national hub for wireless spectrum research and development to help overcome the challenges of wireless spectrum interference and scarcity.
• Two and a half million dollars from the NSF to the Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Science to identify local-to-global win-win solutions for promoting human health and sustainability by controlling infectious diseases.
• More than $2 million from the John Templeton Foundation to enable the Notre Dame Law School’s Religious Liberty Initiative to explore new ways to facilitate principled pluralism, both in the United States and around the world.
• Researchers in the Pulte Institute for Global Development, part of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, received more than $2 million in grants from the U.S. Department of State to assess and evaluate the outcomes of gang resistance education programs in Central America.
• Nearly $1 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. will equip graduate students in the College of Arts and Letters’ Department of Theology to better serve in, and learn from, a diverse and ever-changing world.
• Researchers in the Mendoza College of Business’ Department of Management and Organization received $189,320 from the Templeton Religion Trust to launch Called to Flourish. The research project explores the role of religion in finding a calling and achieving happiness through work.
• The School of Architecture received two grants totaling $40,000 from the city of South Bend as part of an ongoing partnership focused on community regeneration and revitalization.

From the Robinson Community Learning Center to the Hesburgh Libraries, many Notre Dame researchers and initiatives contributed to the record-breaking total. However, the largest research award of the year came from Lilly Endowment Inc. Its transformative $35 million grant will enable the University to expand its regional focus to challenges of human and environmental health. The core of this expanded emphasis will be within the newly expanding East Campus Research Complex. It will connect researchers and organizations throughout the region who are working to build effective human and environmental health programs.

“Enhanced research strength and impact are crucial to the University’s success, and I’m delighted to recognize the achievements and hard work of our researchers,” said John T. McGreevy, the Charles and Jill Fischer Provost.

Overall, at 44.2 percent of the total, federal funding was the largest source of research awards at the University. An additional 41.9 percent came from foundations and other non-federal sponsors, while 13.9 percent of award dollars came from industry.

The past year’s awards also helped Notre Dame expand its global footprint, with 145 awards, totaling $93 million, supporting research in 61 different countries.

To find out more about external research funding at Notre Dame, visit research.nd.edu/about/facts-figures.

Originally published by Brett Beasley at news.nd.edu on July 26, 2022.