The University of Missouri System and its four research universities are looking into new ways of promoting their science, medical and engineering projects in hopes to capture a larger portion of national research funding. The Kansas City, Columbia and St. Louis campuses along with the Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla have had to compete with dominant research universities across the nation, such as University of Washington, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor and John Hopkins University, but also against each other.
$1 million is being set aside to fund research projects that involve faculty from more than one campus, in hopes to increase overall effectiveness as well as create an environment that would be more attractive to outside investment. Each campus will wager $125,000 into the fund with a match from the University of Missouri System.
“By continuing to invest in these funding programs, we are advancing Missouri’s technologies and their potential to continue along the research and commercialization pipeline and make them more attractive to external funders or potential licensees,” said system president Tim Wolfe.
The Interdisciplinary Intercampus Research Program is considered a beta program with no future plans beyond its initial iteration. Additional funding may be allotted depending on the program’s success at bringing in additional research investments.
In the 2011 Top American Research Universities report, University of Missouri – Columbia was ranked at #69 with roughly $119 million in federal research expenditures, far less than John Hopkins University’s $1.5 billion.