Grant growth at YSU recognized

By Denise Dick | November 10, 2011 at 12:04a.m.

Staff report

Youngstown

Youngstown State University faculty and staff garnered $8.7 million in grants in fiscal year 2011, 20 percent more than the previous year and the second-highest total in the university’s history.

The success, recognized Wednesday at an annual YSU Research Recognition Luncheon on campus, is not unexpected, said Peter Kasvinsky, dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Research.

“It essentially reflects a steadily continuing increase in faculty and staff activity over the past several years,” he said. “It’s quite an accomplishment.”

In the past 15 years, the amount of grants received by YSU faculty and staff has grown more than sevenfold, from $1.2 million in 1996 to $8.7 million in 2011. In the last five years, the amount has nearly doubled, from $4.8 million in 2006. The highest single year was $11.7 million in 2009.

Kasvinsky said the growth was initiated by the establishment of the Office of Grants and Sponsored Programs in 1995.

“That was the historical beginning of our emphasis on funded research,” he said. Among the highlights of the 2011 grants, the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics received $5.6 million in awards, including three awards in excess of $1 million each: Darrell Wallace, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, $1.6 million from the Ohio Department of Development for the Wright Center for Sensor Systems Engineering; Tim Wagner, professor of chemistry, $1.2 million from the Department of Defense, Army Research Laboratory; and Clovis Linkous, professor of chemistry, $1 million from the U.S. Department of Energy for the Advanced Automotive Fuels Research, Development and Commercialization Cluster.

The Department of Chemistry alone accounted for $2.3 million. The YSU Public Service Institute, which consists of six employees, increased its level of funding by 49 percent from the previous year to more than $1.4 million. In particular, Ricky George, associate director of the Center for Human Services Development, garnered four grants of $200,000 each.