While few funding requests from the N.C. General Assembly have been met in the past two years, researchers at UNC-system schools were fortunate.

Despite decreasing their funding by $70 million, the state legislature allocated $22 million for science and research equipment for the UNC system — the first time the state has ever given money to universities for this purpose.

The new funding will enhance the universities’ ability to obtain research grants, said Steven Leath, vice president for research for the UNC system.

Grants go to scientists pursuing the most cutting-edge work, and UNC-system schools need the best equipment to conduct grant-attracting research, Leath said.

“(The $22 million) will give us a competitive advantage with our sister states,” Leath said.

N.C. Sen. Tony Foriest, D-Alamance, co-chairman of the appropriations on education and higher education committee, said the state legislature felt funding the university’s request for equipment was critical to the economic health of the state.

“We don’t want to cut the fundamentals more than we need to move forward,” Foriest said.

“Look at the businesses that have started up as a result of the core investments we have made.”

He said investment in research and technology has always paid off for North Carolina, citing the Research Triangle Park’s development as an example.

Individual campuses will submit proposals for equipment in priority order by Oct. 1, and the system will make a decision by Nov. 1, Leath said.

He also said he wants to make sure the UNC system avoids purchasing any redundant equiment.

After surveying all the campuses’ needs, the system determined that $60 million total is needed in new equipment, Leath said.

“We got a third of all our needs met in one year,” he said.

But it is still too early to determine what kind of equipment UNC-CH will request from the system, Barbara Entwisle, interim vice chancellor for research and economic development at UNC-CH, stated in an e-mail.

Leath said he thought the legislature was swayed by the system’s track record of obtaining grants and wanted to increase the likelihood of campuses being awarded more.

The state has traditionally given money to the community college system for science and research equipment, but never to the UNC system, he said.

“We were very pleased to see this support for the university, especially in these lean times,” Entwisle said. “It will really make a difference.”

Foriest said the legislature wanted the state to be ready with new equipment to make investments.

“Science and technology, many of us believe, are the way of the future,” he said.

“These are some things we can’t afford not to have.”

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.