Homeland Security Act May Grant UNC Faculty $20 Million

The Homeland Security Act is stuck in the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs. The legislation passed the U.S. House on July 26.

According to The Associated Press, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said the bill likely will pass the Senate before the Nov. 5 general election.

Under the proposed legislation, projects would be federally funded to research various areas that benefit homeland security, including mathematics and computer science.

A university-based center for homeland security also will be established within one year of enactment.

The bill states that institutions will be selected for involvement in the center based on 15 criteria, including their ability to train first responders, to react to incidents involving weapons of mass destruction and biological warfare and to build relationships with animal and plant diagnostic laboratories.

But because UNC-CH does not normally direct research programs, faculty members will have to submit their own proposals for funding, said Robert Lowman, UNC-CH associate vice chancellor for research.

He added that the government can seek out specific research programs it deems relevant.

Lowman said participation in the homeland security research program could drastically increase the University's overall research funding, which amounted to $488 million for the 2001-02 fiscal year.

UNC-CH could potentially receive up to $20 million from the program, he said.

"I would consider that to be a significant boost," Lowman said.

The act has a partial focus on agricultural research, so UNC-CH could face competition for research funding from institutions such as N.C. State University that have strong engineering and agricultural programs.

But because UNC-CH collaborates with other universities and organizations, UNC-CH likely will not be inhibited in its ability to receive funds, Lowman said.

UNC-CH was ranked as one of only four public universities in the top 25 research universities in the nation on nine ranking measures, according to a July 2000 report titled "The Top American Research Universities." The measures are total research expenditures, federal research expenditures, endowment assets, annual giving, faculty members in national academies, faculty awards, doctoral degrees, postdoctoral appointees and entering freshman SAT scores.

A study published in the December 2000 Academy of Management Journal ranked the Kenan-Flagler Business School 15th in the country for the quantity of research published in prestigious scholarly journals from 1994-98.

Russ Lea, UNC-system vice president for research, said that there is no systemwide lobbying effort for federal funding but that the UNC system is encouraging faculty to submit proposals.

Lea added that because some of the key funding elements in the act have yet to be approved, details regarding exactly how much money the UNC system is likely to receive are difficult to ascertain.

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.