Funding from the $787-billion federal stimulus package has allowed Dartmouth professors to continue and expand their research in ways that otherwise would not have been possible, according to Jill Mortali, director of the Office of Sponsored Programs. The American Recovery Reinvestment Act had provided grant support to 50 Dartmouth recipients for a total of $19,493,601 as of Sept. 22.
"The ARRA funding has had a big impact in the last few months," Mortali said.
Grant recipients at Dartmouth have been slowly notified since ARRA was introduced, with more award announcements expected by the end of the fiscal year, Mortali said.
"The federal agencies are doing their best to get the awards issued, but they have a tremendous challenge themselves processing all their grants," Mortali said.
Chemistry professor Dale Mierke said he would not have been able to expand his cancer research if not for the stimulus money. Mierke learned early last week that he had been awarded a grant proposal for a total of $200,000 over two years.
"I received an ARRA stimulus award through a collaborative effort through Harvard Medical School for an expansion of a cancer project," Mierke, also a faculty member at Dartmouth Medical School, said. "The project just started this year and would not have been able to start without the funding. We would not have been able to hire individuals or buy the reagents we need."
Mierke said he hopes funding will be available in the future to allow the project to continue for more than two years.
Several professors said that they have received more funding this year than in the past. Biology professor Eric Schaller said his funding had been reduced over the past year, but that a recent ARRA grant renewal provided full funding for the next three years. Schaller, whose research focuses on plant hormones, said he was notified in April that he would receive funding from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy.
"This year they gave me everything I needed," Schaller said.
Schaller said the new funding will allow him to hire new researchers to help with his work, potentially including post-doctoral, graduate and undergraduate students.
The Dickey Center for International Understanding and Dartmouth Medical School have been awarded a $250,000 grant to support the Dartmouth Global Health Initiative, which was founded in 2004 as a collaboration between the two organizations.
The grant supports up to eight new research fellowships offered during Spring and Summer terms, DMS professor Lisa Adams, the initiative's director, said in an interview with The Dartmouth. The grant will also allow for a new part-time manager.
"We did use some of the ARRA funding to be able to create a new position at the GHI, which might not have been possible without the funding," Adams said. "By resulting in job creation, we are keeping with the original ARRA goals."
