Outside sponsors provided research funding of $505,289,957 for projects at the University of California, Davis, in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2005, an increase of nearly $86 million, or 20 percent more than the previous year.

"The large increase in our funding corroborates the important role played by our campus scholars in addressing the needs of society. And cracking the half-billion dollar total is very uplifting," said Barry Klein, vice chancellor for research at UC Davis.

Sponsored projects include exploratory research, training and education, public service projects, and clinical trials. These figures represent all external grants and contracts awarded to UC Davis, including "indirect" costs that are awarded to the campus to support research programs, but do not include internal awards or gifts.

Examples of recent grants include $540,000 from the National Science Foundation to purchase equipment for the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility; $95,000 from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to study suspended sediments in San Francisco Bay; $20,000 from the UC Office of the President to evaluate educational programs for the Mexican Institute of the Exterior; and $454,000 from the National Institutes of Health for basic research related to deafness.

More than half of the funds -- about $273 million -- came from the federal government. Of that total, the Department of Health and Human Services provided $148 million for 473 grants, principally through the National Institutes of Health. The National Science Foundation funded 272 projects with $43 million; the Department of Agriculture funded 144 projects with $24 million; and the Department of Energy, 54 projects with $17 million.

The State of California provided $84 million in funding for 231 projects, an increase of $26 million more than the previous year. Other government funding (from other states, cities and counties) increased by $18 million, to $26 million, reflecting an increase in subcontracting for research and services by government agencies, said Lynne Chronister, associate vice chancellor for research.

The largest recipient of funds was the School of Medicine, which earned $145 million, or an increase of about $29 million more than the previous year. The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences received $84 million; the School of Veterinary Medicine, $68 million; the College of Engineering, $61 million; and the Division of Biological Sciences, $37 million. Organized research units administered by the Office of Research received a total of about $46 million.

For multi-year projects, dollar figures are calculated based on the year in which funds are transferred to the university. Some agencies commit to funding a multi-year project but only actually fund one year at a time. In those cases, the grant would be counted in annual increments over the life of the project. In other cases, the funding agency provides all the funds up front, and all the funds are counted in the first year of funding but not in subsequent years.

In technology transfer, 499 material transfer agreements were completed, and 66 new license agreements related to the campus were handled by the UC Davis Technology Transfer Service and the UC Office of Technology Transfer. UC Davis filed 47 patents and 145 records of invention.