In the face of more budget cuts, leaders of the UW System sent a report detailing the benefits of $1.4 million in-state funding for research grants to a legislative committee Wednesday.
Facing a $65.7 million budget lapse that has left the UW System with less money to fund grant programs, University representatives from around the state have stressed the connection between higher education and a prosperous economy.
Specifically at UW-Madison, the report said 30 projects received funding in the 2009-2011 biennial budget. Researchers have also published 30 research papers and at least 9 patents have been applied for as a result of the grant money.
Breakthroughs that have resulted from research at UW-Madison are as diverse as the optimization of wind turbine blade design and innovations in diamond coated cutting tools.
According to the report, the Industrial and Economic Development Research Fund, in charge of allocating the grants, was founded in 1987 “to enhance the relationship between UW System institutional research and Wisconsin industrial practices in an effort to promote the state’s economic growth” Corporate partners finance the program along with state money.
Funding for research and development “is an integral component of the state’s economic recovery and future development,” UW System President Kevin P. Reilly said in the report.
At a Senate Committee for Higher Education Tuesday, Reilly and officials from universities around the state, including UW-Madison Chancellor David Ward, said Wisconsin’s universities play an important role in the state’s economy.
But Republicans defend the cuts to education as necessary.
“There are plenty of places where administrative jobs could be eliminated, and easily save a large chunk of this money and have no direct inapt on educational services,” said Mike Mikalsen, spokesperson for State Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, after the budget lapse was announced.
