UC Davis received a record $586,181,880 in research funds for the 2007-8 fiscal year that ended June 30, the fourth consecutive year that research funding exceeded the half-billion-dollar mark. This figure represents an increase of $54 million, or 10 percent over the previous year's figure.

Some examples of grants awarded in the past fiscal year include up to $3.1 million over five years from the National Science Foundation to train graduate students in biofuels and biotechnology, $768,000 over three years from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop promising technology for solar panels, and $600,000 from the National Institutes of Health to study the links between vitamin D deficiency and disease in vulnerable populations.

"At UC Davis, we are experiencing tremendous momentum. It is through the excellence of our community of scholars that research funding has reached a new high, even during a period of tightening research funding nationwide," said Barry Klein, vice chancellor for research at UC Davis.

"Our campus has transformed itself over the past 100 years and has served as an engine for innovation and for ideas that have improved the quality of life for people everywhere. As we enter our second century, we will continue our dedication to discover what matters to society," Klein said.

The total includes funding from grants and contracts awarded to the university to support research, but not philanthropic gifts, which are counted separately.

Awards include both direct costs -- dollars directed to specific research projects to pay, for example, for researchers' salaries and laboratory supplies; and "indirect" costs that are awarded by agencies to fund research infrastructure, such as upkeep and utility costs for research laboratories.

Nearly half of the total research funds, over $287 million, came from the federal government, an increase of more than 11 percent over the previous year. Of that total, the Department of Health and Human Services provided $175 million, primarily through the National Institutes of Health. The National Science Foundation provided $42 million.

Other federal departments and agencies that sponsored research programs included the U.S. departments of Agriculture ($26.3 million), Energy ($12.3 million), Interior ($6.8 million), Defense ($4.6 million), Education ($3.8 million), and State ($3.1 million).

UC Davis also received research funding from other sponsors, including the state of California, $108 million; private business, $50 million; other institutes of higher education, $30 million; and foundations, $30 million.

The following amounts are award totals listed by administering college and school. Over 29 percent of the funds awarded to UC Davis, $172 million, went to the School of Medicine. The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences received $94 million; the College of Engineering, $78 million; the School of Veterinary Medicine, $78 million; and the College of Biological Sciences, $49 million. Within the College of Letters and Science, the Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences received $27 million; the Division of Social Sciences, $9 million; and the Division of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies, $6 million. Organized research units reporting to the Office of Research received $45 million.

Research funding totals were calculated on the basis of dollars transferred to the university during the 2007-8 fiscal year. Some agencies commit to funding multiyear projects but only actually fund one year at a time. In those cases, the grant would be counted in annual increments, in which case funds are counted in the year received. 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.

Using a slightly different measure, UC Davis ranked 10th among public universities and 16th overall among U.S. universities in research and development expenditures in fiscal year 2006-7, according to statistics compiled by the National Science Foundation.