By Beth Potier

A Record Year

UNH received the most external funding ever to support our researchers as they improve life in New Hampshire and beyond
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rom the roads we drive on to the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, research from UNH faculty, staff and students is advancing the well-being of our state, the world and all of us in our daily lives. The university recently marked a milestone, receiving a record $260 million in competitive grants and contracts in fiscal year 2021 from federal agencies, state collaborators, business and industry, and private foundations — more than double the previous year’s record.

The money is impressive, says Marian McCord, senior vice provost of research, economic engagement and outreach, but the funding is about much more than a dollar figure. “These grants support our scholars as they tackle problems we all face, such as climate change, substance abuse and mental health challenges,” says McCord. “For the second year, our scholars overcame the significant challenges of the pandemic to submit competitive research proposals for work that aims to understand and improve our world.”

By Beth Potier

A Record Year

UNH received the most external funding ever to support our researchers as they improve life in New Hampshire and beyond
F

rom the roads we drive on to the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, research from UNH faculty, staff and students is advancing the well-being of our state, the world and all of us in our daily lives. The university recently marked a milestone, receiving a record $260 million in competitive grants and contracts in fiscal year 2021 from federal agencies, state collaborators, business and industry, and private foundations — more than double the previous year’s record.

The money is impressive, says Marian McCord, senior vice provost of research, economic engagement and outreach, but the funding is about much more than a dollar figure. “These grants support our scholars as they tackle problems we all face, such as climate change, substance abuse and mental health challenges,” says McCord. “For the second year, our scholars overcame the significant challenges of the pandemic to submit competitive research proposals for work that aims to understand and improve our world.”

Projects funded include work that spans from the molecular — biomedical innovations that could lead to better treatment for diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and mental illness — to large-scale technical solutions for exploring uncharted ocean depths, the far reaches of space and the future of manufacturing. Several grants aim to increase student success by providing pathways to college for vulnerable populations, enhancing STEM education in New Hampshire classrooms, and giving UNH students invaluable opportunities to participate in research.

And the impact of this funding is felt far beyond labs and libraries: Knowledge generated through these projects improves UNH undergraduate and graduate student learning by bringing innovative ideas and new theories into the classroom, McCord notes.

Expanding competitive funding for research is essential to maintaining UNH’s Carnegie Classification R1 status, which puts UNH in the top tier of research universities nationwide, and advancing an institutional goal to become a top-25 public university. External grants and awards fund specific research projects; in addition to major scientific instruments and laboratory supplies, a significant share of external funding supports scholarships and salaries for graduate and undergraduate students, post-doctoral scholars, staff and faculty researchers.

Although this research funding comes to UNH, it benefits people, organizations and municipalities across the state — and beyond. “It’s our mission and responsibility as a public institution to transfer our knowledge for the good of the public,” McCord says. She points to entities like Cooperative Extension, UNHInnovation, the NH Agricultural Experiment Station and NH Sea Grant — all housed within UNH — which fulfill the promise of public impact research by putting UNH findings into the hands of communities, businesses, farmers, fishers, conservation groups and others who apply it to improve their livelihoods. “We measure our success by outcomes more than dollars,” says McCord.

Read on for examples of how research funding is improving lives.
flooded neighborhood

More Than Potholes and Frost Heaves

After seasons of high heat, intensely destructive hurricanes, constant flooding and steady sea level rise, coastal roads have taken a beating, threatening their ability to transport people, goods and services.

With a $1.8 million National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grant, UNH researchers will study how and why coastal hazards like excessive flooding are causing roads to fail and how to protect this critical infrastructure.

“We’re looking at storm surges and wave action but also factors like the amount of time the pavement is under water,” says Jo Sias, professor of civil and environmental engineering. “Improving coastal roads to withstand the increasing water hazards is important not only for transportation and the people who live there, but also for the overall economy and ecosystems in the area.”

“It’s our mission and responsibility as a public institution to transfer our knowledge for the good of the public.”
working in a COVID testing lab

Forecasting Our COVID Future

As we navigate from one COVID-19 variant to the next — marching through the Greek alphabet from the deadly Delta to Omicron — it’s nearly a scientific certainty that more COVID-19 variants are coming.

A $747,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health is helping UNH researchers figure out the future of COVID by performing genomic testing of positive cases in New Hampshire through UNH’s state-of-the-art lab, specifically designed to handle COVID-19 testing, and the Hubbard Center for Genome Studies in partnership with the N.H. Department of Health and Human Services.

“As the COVID-19 virus continues to mutate, over time it is becoming increasingly important, from a public health perspective, to know which variant of the virus a patient may have and its genetic makeup,” said Kelley Thomas, professor of molecular, cellular and biomedical sciences and director of the Hubbard Center.

An International Approach to the Climate Crisis

UNH received $3.6 million from the National Science Foundation for EMERGE, a project to explore how the processes that sustain life operate and interact — from molecules to cells, species and ecosystems — under changing conditions.

“We have assembled a large interdisciplinary team to tackle the complex research questions that face our world today,” says Ruth Varner, professor of biogeochemistry and co-director for EMERGE, noting that UNH is among 14 international universities that collectively received $12.5 million.

The institute, which will do research in Stordalen Mire, a long-studied peatland in northern Sweden, will also have a strong training, education and outreach component for early career researchers and will involve biologists at the postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate levels.

Ruth Varner and a picture of fields

Building a Biotech Pipeline

No longer the stuff of science fiction, biotechnology and regenerative medicine as a means to treat and cure diseases is now a booming industry in New Hampshire. With a $1.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, UNH has launched an initiative to develop a workforce for this field.

The project, called NH CREATES the Future: the NH Collaborative for Regenerative Medicine Education and Training for Engineers and Scientists of the Future, will engage middle and high school teachers and up to 1,400 students in Manchester, Nashua, Portsmouth, Dover and Barrington as well as Lawrence, Massachusetts.

“We want to educate middle and high school students about regenerative medicine and instill excitement about how we need their future contributions to propel this field forward in the years to come,” says Carmela Amato-Wierda, associate professor of materials science at UNH and principal investigator on the grant.

students in a classroom
teenager using cell phone

Preventing Teen Violence: There’s an App for That

Once the bane of parents and teachers of teenagers, smartphones are now a handy way that teens can address bullying, harassment and violence through an app from UNH’s Prevention Innovations Research Center (PIRC). With a National Science Foundation grant of $548,000, PIRC is launching and piloting uSafeHS™, a comprehensive, commercially viable high school violence prevention and safety app.

The app draws on PIRC’s extensive research into evidence-based measures to end relationship violence and builds upon the success of its uSafeUS® mobile app for college students. “Students have problems 24-7, so uSafeHS is with them 24-7 in a form students are most comfortable with — their phones,” says Sharyn Potter, professor of women’s and gender studies and executive director of research for PIRC.

Staff writers Michelle Morrissey ’97 and Robbin Ray ’82 contributed to this article.