Millions in Federal Aid Stimulating CUNY Programs

From research grants to energy-saving building upgrades to

workforce development contracts, millions of dollars in federal

stimulus funds have been awarded to University projects and

programs, less than a year after Chancellor Matthew Goldstein

championed higher education as critical to the nation's economic

recovery efforts.

President Obama's sweeping American Recovery and Renewal Act (ARRA)

is making billions of federal dollars available to educational and

research institutions through federal, state and city agencies,

exciting researchers and setting off a flurry of grant proposals

from CUNY. The funds have started to come in, as grant seekers

across the University contemplate new submissions or await word on

their applications.

"The Recovery and Renewal Act is providing more opportunities for

our scholars to pursue their cutting-edge discoveries, and for the

University to expand its role as New York's leading provider of

highly trained health care workers, teachers and 'green economy'

employees," said Chancellor Goldstein, who last year led efforts to

spotlight the economic challenges facing public universities.

Goldstein and Vartan Gregorian, president of the Carnegie

Corporation of New York, convened a summit of higher education

leaders - including the heads of CUNY, SUNY and state systems in

California, Florida, Arizona and Wisconsin - last October and spoke

with Obama's transition team about the need for investment of

federal stimulus funds in public universities, colleges and

community colleges, which educate the majority of the nation's work

force.

ARRA, signed by Obama in February, targets the stimulus funds for

higher education to research, development and training. Investments

in renewable energy and job creation are also key goals. As of late

July, at least 30 projects reflecting those priorities had been

approved for stimulus funds, to be allocated through federal and

city agencies.

Two CUNY websites - http://web.

cuny.edu/research/AmericanRecoveryAct. html and

http://web.cuny.edu/academics/

infocentral/addresources/facultystaff/ fundingopps.html - have been

created to detail funding opportunities and provide links to

allocating agencies. CUNY's Office of Research, and grants offices

at the colleges, are assisting faculty in submitting proposals,

modifying and resubmitting earlier submissions, and requesting

supplements to existing grants.

"With these two websites up, we are getting a tremendous amount of

interest across the University," said Allan Dobrin, executive vice

chancellor and chief operating officer. "People are looking at the

websites, thinking about applying."

More than $15 million of the CUNY stimulus funds granted so far is

for research, mostly in science, some in the social sciences,

funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National

Institutes of Health (NIH), NASA and other agencies, said Vice

Chancellor Gillian Small.

The funded projects span groundbreaking scientific inquiry and

research with a timely edge. They include a $680,000 NSF grant for

Hunter College chemistry professor Nancy Greenbaum's exploration of

the "splicing" mechanism critical to development of RNA molecules,

and Queens College sociology chair Andrew Beveridge's $144,995 NSF

grant to study "The Distribution and Social Impact of Mortgage

Foreclosures in the United States." Anthropologists Sophia

Perdikaris and Thomas McGovern were awarded more than $1.1 million

in NSF funds for "Islands of Change," a Research Experience for

Undergraduates historical ecology project investigating people's

relationships with changing environments, including climates, in

Iceland and Barbuda, West Indies.

College of Staten Island's Teacher Academy, an honors program for

incoming freshmen wishing to major in mathematics, biology or

chemistry, received $839,000 from the NSF for scholarships to train

29 mathematics and science teachers for grades 7-12. York College

received a similar NSF grant of nearly $900,000 for a similar

teacher training program.

Overall, funds requested for research exceed $90 million, including

64 submissions for $39 million in new NIH "challenge grants" for

health and science research, said Vice Chancellor Small. Included

are funds NIH and NSF may approve to renovate science facilities

and provide instrumentation necessary to the funded research.

"Clearly, the stimulus has stimulated many of our faculty to write

grant proposals," she said. "We understand they might not all be

funded, but we'd like to keep the momentum going."

Small noted that much of the stimulus money awarded to University

researchers thus far is for existing or ongoing proposals and

projects. The ARRA opportunities - at least $26 billion is expected

to go to research nationwide - are "a good thing for CUNY" at a

time when the University has been "ramping up" research efforts

amid a generally grim funding climate, she noted.

While much of the stimulus money is targeted to research, funds

also are going to job creation and "green" projects - sectors where

CUNY is attaining prominence.

Borough of Manhattan Community College received $11 million in

federal stimulus funds for an extensive environmental upgrade - 10

projects to boost the energy efficiency of mechanical and

electrical systems at its main building at 199 Chambers St., for an

annual cost savings of more than $1 million. When completed, the

upgrade, funded through the Mayor's New York City Department of

Energy Management, is expected to reduce BMCC's annual electrical

energy consumption by more than 4 million kilowatts, and shrink its

carbon footprint by approximately 5,400 metric tons of CO2.

Some $15 million in stimulus funds have been allocated by the New

York City Department of Small Business Services for new health care

programs at LaGuardia Community College and for expansion of

nursing, radiologic, EMT and other health care training at New York

City College of Technology, Kingsborough and Queensborough

Community Colleges and College of Staten Island.

"Federal workforce funds are being invested in intensive, long-term

education and training programs in a way that they haven't been

before," noted Suri Duitch, University director of adult and

continuing education. "The city is paying for people to get degrees

in nursing. There's no better investment. It's a very big deal."

Recovery monies may also partially fund projects that touch CUNY.

For example, $5 million in ARRA funds are part of an $11.8 million

U.S. Department of Energy investment, announced July 29, in five

solar energy grid integration systems aimed at lowering energy

consumption and Americans' utility bills. LaGuardia Community

College is partnering with Princeton Power of Princeton, NJ, on one

of the DOE-funded projects, focusing on lowering manufacturing

costs through integrated controls for energy storage.

Some at CUNY viewed the stimulus funds' availability as a positive

reflection of changing federal priorities.

"It's led to a real renewal," said professor Greenbaum of Hunter.

"There is going to be an improved emphasis on research ... which

not only makes it possible to do our science, but enables us to

educate students, training young people for the next generation of

researchers.

"The money is being offered and spread out in such a way, as to

enhance the entire climate," she added. "May it continue."