Research

By the Numbers

  • Awards to faculty: $391.8 million
  • Research Foundation of SUNY: $271.8 million
  • Awarded to Health Research Incorporated: $114.6 million
  • Awarded to University state accounts: $5.3 million
  • Patents: 4
  • Invention disclosures: 27
  • Patent applications: 22
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Research
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University at Albany faculty attracted $391.7 million in research funding in 2007-2008, an all-time high and an increase of 39 percent from the previous year. This substantial growth reflects the breadth and global impact of UAlbany research and scholarship. Working with collaborative partners from across the U.S. and the world, UAlbany researchers are advancing knowledge, driving economic growth and creating extraordinary opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. As a Carnegie-recognized Research Extensive university, UAlbany is in the top tier of research universities in the nation.


Major Highlights

Empire Innovations Professors were recruited to build scientific programs at UAlbany.

  • Four new Empire Innovations Professors in the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering have enabled the establishment of new multi-million dollar research centers in nanoscale lithography, nanoscale metrology, sustainable ecosystem nanotechnologies, and competency and innovation in excitronics. The centers, headed by Professors Timothy Groves, Alain Diebold, John Elter and Ji Ung Lee, respectively, have collectively generated over $10 million in federal and industrial funding, and $500,000 in private endowments.

The Center for Social and Demographic Analysis gained five additional years of funding for the Albany Population Center from the National Institute of Child Health and Development. With the retirement of Distinguished Professor Richard Alba, one of the nation's most respected demographers, the Center made a transition to a new director, Timothy Gage. Gage is an expert in quantitative modeling to understand complex health demography questions, such as the relationship between race, income and birth outcomes.

Chittibabu Guda, Center for Functional Genomics, received a $227,000 Academic Research Enhancement Award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to develop computational methods for inferring interactions involved in cellular functions.

Scott Tenenbaum, Gen*NY*Sis Center for Excellence in Cancer Genomics, received a $2.2 million grant from the National Human Genome Institute to study the organization and function of human genes, which can provide insight into treating, preventing and diagnosing diseases. Tenenbaum also launched UAlbany's first biotechnology company, HocusLocus, which currently has six patents pending.

Fangqun Yu, Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, received a grant from NASA to study the global modeling and analysis of key processes that control the number of tropospheric aerosols, which can be significant determinants in altering global temperatures.

With Nicholas Webb as principal investigator, the Institute for Informatics, Logics, and Security Studies received a $326,752 National Science Foundation grant to utilize social robotics as a mechanism to revitalize national computer science education in higher education.


Awards and Recognition

Wei-Chyung Wang, Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, was inducted into the Norwegian Academy of Sciences.

Richard Perez, Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, received the Daylight and Building Component Award from the Villum Kann Rasmussen Fonden, a Danish philanthropic trust and owner of VELUX as well as other companies in the VKR Group.

The research accomplishments of five UAlbany faculty members were honored with awards from the Research Foundation of SUNY.

  • Timothy Gage, professor of anthropology and Ronald Toseland, professor of social welfare, received Outstanding Researcher awards.
  • Nathaniel Cady, assistant professor of nanoscale science and engineering, and Scott Tenenbaum, assistant professor of biomedical sciences and Gen*NY*Sis Center for Excellence in Cancer Genomics, were recognized with Rising Star awards.