• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

Photo

Randi Oyama, a third-year biology student, takes note of her observations from a microscope durin

Receiving about $750 million each year for research funding, UCLA is the No. 1 public research university in the nation, according to the National Science Foundation, and university researchers say it is continuing to rise as a tight-knit research community.

At a given time, about 5,300 funded research projects are being conducted by UCLA faculty, graduate scholars and undergraduate students from all fields of study, according to UCLA’s research Web site.

Funding, mainly attained through federal and state grants, plays an essential part in the ability to conduct high quality research, said Roberto Peccei, vice chancellor for research.

“It’s cyclic, like the idea of the chicken and egg,” Peccei said of the relationship between funding and research.

“You don’t get funding unless you’re doing quality research, and oftentimes, in order to do that research you need funding,” he said.

While state funding has been generally stagnant in recent years, federal grants have been on the rise, which has corresponded with an increase in research expenditures, Peccei said.

“Although the amount of money awarded to us dropped about $100 million in the past fiscal year, the first six months of the current fiscal year has brought in about $500 million, which is amazing,” he said.

The UCLA Medical Center brings in a large portion of the funding, but other nonscience areas of research have also been significant, Peccei said.

Ethnic and cultural studies have been important areas of interest as well, said Ana-Christina Ramon, research coordinator for the Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA.

“Although not as much attention or grants are received when major breakthroughs are made, it is still important to understand society and its interactions so that people can work together to bring positive change,” Ramon said of researched disciplines within the center.

Peccei attributed the success of all areas of UCLA’s research partly to the physical compactness of the campus.

“Someone from the college can walk just a few steps and arrive at the medical center or the nano institute to share knowledge,” Peccei said. “Research is a result of multiple disciplines.”

In past years, there has been greater collaboration and cross-departmental discussions in the areas of life science that have produced higher-quality research, said Utpal Banerjee, chair of the UCLA Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology.

“The stem cell institute is a great example of the close scientific community, with various people from the college and medical center working together,” Banerjee said.

He added that both undergraduate and graduate students can benefit from such research, including learning how research is done through hands-on experience.

“The primary point of a student coming to a research university is not just to learn facts that are already known, but also to make novel discoveries,” he said.

Recently, the proposal to induct a research minor into the UCLA curriculum has been introduced to provide undergraduates with the chance to get involved in research early on, said Ira Clark, academic administrator of the research minor, which could be fully approved by spring.

“The role of undergraduates in research is rising,” Clark said. “Science will stand still without research, and students get to be part of that forward movement of science.”

Furthermore, students can learn from people who are in the midst of generating knowledge, Peccei said.

One of the most commonly mentioned downsides of professors who are simultaneously researchers, however, is the possibility that preoccupation with research might negatively impact teaching. Yet, research and teaching should complement each other, Banerjee said.

“Balancing teaching and researching is like going to class and doing homework,” Banerjee said. “One does not suffer because of the other, and both are necessary in a university professor.”

In fact, many professors who are involved in research have found ways to work around the negative impact, according to Rene Ong, a UCLA physics professor involved in astroparticle physics research.

“When I’m teaching, I focus on teaching,” Ong said. “I manage my time by trying to work on the most important parts of my research, since most of my time is devoted to teaching.”

With research at UCLA making significant progess and becoming more integrated, the future of research at the university looks bright, Peccei said.

“As long as we keep attracting first-class faculty and students, we have good reasons to be optimistic,” he said. “The money might be tight due to a tight federal budget, but I’m confident we will continue to advance.”