In the past several years, LSU has had increased funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Science Foundation.
Russ Chapman, the dean of the School of the Coast and the Environment said NOAA funds help support graduate student and professor research in Basic Sciences, Oceanography, Engineering, Agriculture and the Climate Center.
Patricia Territo, director of Sponsored Program Accounting said as of February 4, 2004, the University had received $2,273,808 for the 2004 year, and that amount is subject to increase. Total NOAA money received in 2003 was $6,359,907.
Territo said NOAA gives grants as well as cooperative agreements, whereas the National Science Foundation money is always received in the form of a grant.
Kevin Smith, the vice chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies said some NOAA money comes to LSU in a lump sum and is distributed to faculty after their competitive proposal for the funds has been reviewed.
One program that benefits from NOAA funds is the Wavcis program, which was started in 1999.
Chapman said Wavcis is a system for monitoring the waves in the Gulf of Mexico, and the information is sent to satellites and then back to the University.
Gregory Stone, the director of Wavcis and a designated professor in Coastal Studies said the program is funded heavily by NOAA because they are aware of the research problems that face Louisiana, such as hurricanes, coastal erosion and flooding.
Eight graduate students from computer science and computer engineering work on research for Wavcis.
In 1997, George Stanley, an alumni chemistry professor, said the chemistry department had just under $4 million in federal research grants. According to a graph charting funding, the federal research grant money increased to $6.5 million from 1997 to 2002.
Stone said that National Science Foundation money has been used to look at the Gulf of Mexico, and then concentrate on the impacts of storms and the ability of beaches to recover from them.
Paul Russo, a distinguished chemistry professor said the grants that the Chemistry Department receives from NSF affect about 95 of the approximate 130 graduate students in chemistry. NSF also grants money to the Department of Chemical Engineering.
Russo said one important program affected by NSF funds is the summer internship program called Research Experience for Undergrads.
Russo said his program for graduate students, the Integrative Graduate Education Research Training Program will receive a total of $3.2 million in NSF grants over a period of five years. He said the University IGERT program is one of three in the country that is devoted to studying large molecules.
Russo said CAREER is another NSF funded program aimed at launching research careers. Currently, five professors receive individual grants for this program.
Russo said although LSU federal funding from agencies such as NSF has increased dramatically in the past five years, the upper Midwest has much more funding than the University.
Minnesota has only a slightly bigger population than Louisiana, but has nearly double the amount of federal funding than Louisiana.
“It is a combination of historical and geographical reasons,” Russo said.
Russo said one reason Midwest schools have an advantage in Chemical Research and Development funding is because of culture, organization, more funding from the state and fewer state schools.
According to a report by the National Science Foundation WebCASPAR database system, federal chemical research and development at the top 50 chemistry schools increased in 2001.
The report indicates that Louisiana jumped from number 42 in 2000, to number 36 in 2001. Russo said he would not be surprised if the University moved farther up on the list in years to come.