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This page offers facts and details about the
University of Florida and its many operations across the state.
You will also find links to further information, such as
frequently changing appropriations bills, in the following
sections: Overview, Scope of Operations,
Budget and Governance,
Centers and Institutes, Funding Opportunities,
Funded Research,
and Other Useful Information.
Overview
The University of Florida is a land-grant, research university.
As the state's oldest, largest and most comprehensive university,
Florida is among the nation's most academically diverse public
universities. Florida has a long history of established programs
in international education, research and service. It is one of
only 17 public, land-grant universities that belong to the
Association of American Universities. (See a list of members at
http://www.aau.edu/aau/members.html). UF is the third-largest
university in the nation, with more than 50,800 students (some
35,400 undergraduates and 15,400 post-graduates).
The University of Florida also makes a fine location for
research because of its proximity to many transportation centers.
Located centrally from the state capital, and major airports such
as Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa, the University of Florida is
never far away from large centers of business and government.
History
In 1853, the state-funded East Florida Seminary took over the
Kingsbury Academy in Ocala. The seminary moved to Gainesville in
the 1860s and later was consolidated with the state's land-grant
Florida Agricultural College, then in Lake City -- just north of
Gainesville. In 1905, by legislative action, the college became a
university and was moved to Gainesville. On the present site,
classes first met with 102 students, on September 26, 1906. The
University of Florida officially opened its doors to women in
1947. In 1985, Florida became a member of the Association of
American Universities, the prestigious higher-education
organization comprised of the top 63 public and private
institutions in North America.
Links of Interest
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Scope of Operations
The primary mission of the University is "providing an
unparalleled experience where the very best create and share
knowledge to serve the people of Florida and the world." As a
land-grant university with a distinguished record of developing
Florida agriculture through research and extension services, UF is
among the nation's leading research universities as categorized by
the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.
UF has 21 colleges and schools, and more than 150 research,
service and education centers, bureaus and institutes. Florida
offers more programs on a single campus than all but a few U.S.
universities. More than 100 undergraduate majors are offered.
Nearly 2,000 freshmen and sophomores participate in the honors
program, which offers 90-100 honors courses per semester. Most
classes are limited to no more than 25 students. The Graduate
School coordinates almost 200 graduate programs. Professional
degree programs include dentistry, law, medicine, pharmacy and
veterinary medicine. UF employs 4,370 full-time faculty (as of
Fall 2006) and over 8,000 staff members. The following website
offers comprehensive information about faculty demographics from
1998-2006:
http://www.ir.ufl.edu/factbook/iii-02_coll_hist.pdf The University has five campuses throughout the state, including
the Gainesville campus, the University of Florida Research and
Education Facility (REEF) at Eglin Air Force Base, the St. Lucie
campus, the Seahorse Key Marine Laboratory (Cedar Key, FL) and the
Whitney Laboratory for Marine Biosciences (St. Augustine, FL).
UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) also
operates 19 research and education centers throughout the state
and extension offices in all 67 Florida counties. Facilities
UF has some 13 million square feet of assignable space among over
1100 buildings. It is all organized at UF’s Facilities Planning
and Construction (http://facilities.ufl.edu/)
The office also publishes annually its Building Information Book.
The 2006 version is available here:
http://facilities.ufl.edu/pdf/bib2006.pdf.
The book contains both an alphabetically and a numerically sorted
list of all numbered University of Florida buildings, except
buildings located at IFAS Research Centers outside of Alachua
County and buildings leased by the University. The UF Factbook also has useful information on facility use by
building, records of available instructional space, general lab
and classroom utilization, library statistics, and capacity of
residential buildings, among other data. See
http://www.ir.ufl.edu/factbook/facilities.htm.
You can also use the Space Tracking and Reporting System to look
up site, building and room information and run various reports
relating to facility information. See
http://stars.facilities.ufl.edu/.
UF People of Note
While UF has a faculty that wins many awards every year, the
University also has former students who have gone on to great
awards. Two former undergraduates won Nobel Prizes: Marshall
Nirenburg (1968 -- Medicine) and Robert H. Grubbs (2005 --
Chemistry). You can search for highly cited researchers at the following site:
http://isihighlycited.com/ (Browse by Institution, Page 4)
Links of Interest
- http://www.ir.ufl.edu/factbook/mission.htm -- UF’s mission
statement and links to further facts about enrollment, programs,
facilities, tuition, staffing, etc.
- http://www.ir.ufl.edu/nat_rankings.htm -- includes national
rankings of faculty, students, graduate programs, doctorates
awarded by race, R&D spending, and many other facts
- http://www.ir.ufl.edu/factbook/facti.pdf -- tables of student
demographics
-
http://www.eng.ufl.edu/documents/annualreport/AR06.pdf -- the
latest annual report on the College of Engineering’s activities
- http://www.ir.ufl.edu/data.htm -- includes demographic data on
students from 1999 on
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Budget and Governance
UF is governed by a 12-member Board of Trustees appointed by the
Governor and confirmed by the State Senate. In addition, the
Student Body President serves as a voting member of the Board.
Further information on the Board of Trustees can be found at
http://www.trustees.ufl.edu/. The University’s operating budget for 2005-2006 was $2.4 billion.
Its expenditures on ongoing major facilities for the same period
were $315 million. UF received $518.8 million in research awards
during 2005-2006, with 62.5% of these awards coming from Federal
agencies – marking the first time that UF passed the half-billion
mark. The single largest sponsoring agency for the University is
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, with 52% percent
of the total. UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
received nearly $90 million last year to support the state’s $9
billion agriculture industry.
The University of Florida has been successful at technology
transfer. During the fiscal year 2005-2006, technology transfer
generated $42.9 million in revenues. The following document breaks down research awards by academic
unit and lists the success of technology transfer, among other
data: http://rgp.ufl.edu/research/pdf/dsrannual2006.pdf.
Links of Interest
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Centers and Institutes
The number of centers conducting research is staggering. Below you
will find details of some of the newest institutes, and you can
find a comprehensive list of UF centers at the following website:
http://rgp.ufl.edu/centers_institutes.html. The Health Science
Center also undertakes major interdisciplinary research:
http://www.health.ufl.edu/research.shtml. UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) also
operates 19 research and education centers throughout the state
and extension offices in all 67 Florida counties. IFAS is a
federal-state-county partnership dedicated to developing knowledge
in agriculture, human and natural resources, and the life
sciences. A comprehensive list of IFAS centers and activities is
available at www.ifas.ufl.edu.
Advanced Research Centers and Additions
The University is pursuing or will pursue research across a number
of exciting and advanced frontiers in a wide array of centers,
including:
- The Cancer and Genetics Research Complex -- Scientists from
disciplines such as medicine and agriculture work at this
280,000-square-foot, $85 million structure, which is the largest
research building in Florida. See
www.ufgi.ufl.edu for more
information.
- The Proton Therapy Institute – Located at Shands Jacksonville,
this 98,000-square-foot facility provides conventional radiation
cancer treatment and proton therapy. It is the first
proton-therapy facility in the southeast United States. UFPTI is
one of only a handful of proton-therapy facilities operating in
the nation, and the only one in the Southeast.
http://www.floridaproton.org/about-ufpti/about-us.html
- The UF Emerging Pathogens Initiative – This institute undertakes
interdisciplinary research to prevent and contain outbreaks of new
diseases that threaten Florida. Efforts include training future
scientists and developing an outreach program to educate
Floridians and businesses. http://epi.ufl.edu/
- Southeast Regional Center of Excellence for Emerging Infections
and Biodefense – This NIH-funded consortium of academic
institutions in the southeast is comprised of member schools and
government partners. UF is a full member of SERCEB and co-directs
the consortium. The mission is to perform research that will lead
to the development of drugs, vaccines and diagnostics to protect
from emerging infections and biologic threats.
http://www.serceb.org/
- Center of Excellence for Regenerative Health Biotechnology – CEHRB stimulates promising research and facilitates
commercialization of technologies that will provide treatments and
cures for human diseases. Facilities include Florida Biologix, a
state-of-the-art biopharmaceutical manufacturing and testing
facility. http://cerhb.rgp.ufl.edu/index.html
- Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnology Research – Point of
contact: Dr. Rob Ferl, 352-273-8030.
http://www.biotech.ufl.edu/
- James and Esther King Biomedical Research Program – The center
conducts research toward preventing, diagnosing, treating, and
curing tobacco-related disease. Conducted by scientists and
clinicians throughout the state, disease-specific studies target
cancer, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and pulmonary disease.
Here you will find the latest annual report:
http://forms.floridabiomed.com/AnnualReports/annual06.pdf
- The Nanoscale Research Facility -- Construction began on the
Nanoscale Research Facility June 2006, and is scheduled to be
completed January 2008. When complete, it will bring
state-of-the-art nanoscale science and technology to UF. Includes
two unusual features required for nanoscale research: advanced
imaging suites and a cleanroom.
www.eng.ufl.edu/documents/annualreport/AR06.pdf
- The Sid Martin Biotechnology Development Incubator – Located 20
minutes north of Gainesville, this 40,000-square-foot facility
offers wet labs, office space, conference rooms, a pilot
fermentation facility, a climate-controlled greenhouse, extensive
scientific and business equipment and support services for biotech
startups. http://www.biotech.ufl.org/
- UF’s Institute on Aging -- The Institute on Aging develops
interdisciplinary models in research, education and health care
across all UF colleges, departments and affiliates to improve the
health, independence and quality of life of older adults.
http://www.aging.ufl.edu/
Collaborations
UF is involved in many collaborations with advanced medical
researchers. Here are two recent key initiatives that offer
significant opportunities:
- Burnham Institute for Medical Research -- A nonprofit center
based in La Jolla, CA, Burnam recently decided to collaborate with
UF at a new Orlando facility. The collaboration is expected to
include the construction of a joint UF-Burnham research facility
on the property that Burnham will occupy. The most likely research
areas for UF investigators include diabetes, aging, genetics and
cancer. http://www.burnham.org/
- Scripps Research Institute – UF and La Jolla-based Scripps are
collaborating on biomedical research in a new 350,000-square-foot,
state-of-the-art facility located in Jupiter, FL. See
http://www.scripps.edu/florida/
and http://rgp.ufl.edu/scripps/
- The Office of Technology Licensing also details UF’s many
industrial partners in the area of developmental startup
companies. See
http://www.rgp.ufl.edu/otl/startup.html#potentialcompanies
Links of Interest
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Funding Opportunities
UF’s Division of Sponsored Research has documented a number of
websites that offer funding to researchers in myriad areas. Many
of these sites allow you to have email alerts of new funding
opportunities sent right to your inbox. For a complete list of
opportunities see
http://www.rgp.ufl.edu/research/programinformation.html
or
http://www.rgp.ufl.edu/research/
federal_agency_grant_contract_sites.html.
Key links listed at the above website include the following:
- Federal Business Opportunities --
www.fbo.gov/ -- FedBizOpps.gov
is the single government point-of-entry for Federal-government
procurement opportunities over $25,000.
- FYI Online --
http://apps.rgp.ufl.edu/research/fyi/ -- An
official biweekly publication of UF's Research and Graduate
Programs (RGP). Covers RGP activities, research news at UF, and
opportunities for funding. Includes links to grants, patents, and
all RGP services.
- Grants.gov – www.grants.gov – Managed by the Dept of Health and
Human Services, this website allows you to find and apply for
Federal-government grants.
- NSF Bulletin --
www.nsf.gov/funding/browse_all_funding.jsp --
Provides browsable and searchable database of all National Science
Foundation funding opportunities.
- Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies --
http://lmisgreen.lanl.gov/ programs -- This database is a browsable and searchable
compilation of nanotechnology open and closed solicitations and
related information that is updated monthly.
- Community of Science --
http://fundingopps.cos.com/ -- This
database allows you to search by sponsor or geographically in
addition to a standard search.
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Funded Research – Which Projects Are Being Funded?
UF received a record $518.8 million in research funding in 2006,
driven by cutting-edge biomedical research and a growing
relationship with private industry. As a researcher, you’ll likely
need to keep abreast of which projects and project-types are being
funded, both at UF and across the U.S. Below are several sources
to determine which projects are being funded. Federally Funded Projects
- Federal R&D Project Summaries --
http://www.osti.gov/fedrnd/descript.html#DOE
– a central source for project summaries, with links to summaries
funded through DoE, EPA, NIH, NSF, SBA, and USDA
- CRISP (Computer Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects)
-- http://crisp.cit.nih.gov/ -- a searchable database of federally
funded biomedical research projects conducted at universities,
hospitals, and other research institutions
- NSF Awards Database --
http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/ --
contains details of projects funded through NSF from 1989
Funded Projects at UF
UF passed a half-billion dollars in funded projects for the first
time in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2006, thanks in large
part to a $13.4 million increase in funding from the National
Institutes of Health. Overall, federal funding rose to $324.4
million. Other major federal sponsors include the National Science
Foundation, $39.6 million; the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
$33.3 million; and the Department of Defense, $23.1 million. UF’s
industry funding rose from $49.7 million in 2005 to $62.4 million
last year.
As with NIH, funding from industry grew more than 25 percent
despite what the National Science Foundation calls “declining
support” in industrial funding of academic research and
development. (from
http://news.ufl.edu/2006/08/22/research06/)
Newly NIH-funded projects include the following:
- UF’s Institute on Aging received two awards in 2005-06: $2.7
million to study how exercise can prevent disability in the
elderly, and $2.7 million to study rehabilitation techniques
designed to improve walking in the year after a stroke.
- $2.1 million for a biosafety laboratory in UF’s planned emerging
pathogens facility
- $1.6 million to study one of several incurable forms of
blindness that afflicts about 200,000 Americans
The largest recipients of total funding by UF area is as follows
(funding, % increase year over year):
- Health Science Center ($271 million, 5.4%)
- College of Engineering ($75.2 million, 18.8%)
- IFAS ($87.5 million, 3.8%)
- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences ($40 million, -15.8%)
Links of Interest
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Other Useful Information
Included in this section are miscellaneous websites that you may
find useful in drawing up a proposal. Top of the list: The
Division of Sponsored Research has created a webpage of frequently
used facts for proposals, which can be accessed here:
http://www.rgp.ufl.edu/research/facts.html.
Intellectual Property
UF has laid out very detailed procedures for securing and
protecting intellectual property created in its facilities.
Guidelines and policies can be found in the following document:
http://www.rgp.ufl.edu/otl/pdf/ipp.pdf.
UF’s Office of Technology Licensing assists inventors to
facilitate the transfer of technologies created at UF to the
commercial sector for public benefit. OTL assists those who feel
they have something new and useful, or that is potentially
patentable or copyrightable. OTL is available at
http://www.rgp.ufl.edu/otl/.
You can find licensing contacts at
http://www.rgp.ufl.edu/otl/contact.html. OTL also lists technologies that are available for licensing,
across a wide range of disciplines, including in agriculture,
engineering, the environment, medical, and genomics. See
http://apps.rgp.ufl.edu/otl/technologies.cfm.
OTL includes a list of startups with which UF is working. See
http://www.rgp.ufl.edu/otl/startup.html#potentialcompanies.
Logos and University Signatures
UF recently gave its logo a facelift to support the identity of
the University as a diverse but unified organization. In order to
bolster this branding, all internal and external publications need
to use the appropriate logos and monograms. You can find these –
as well as instructions on their proper use – at the following
website: http://identity.ufl.edu/.
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