Campus
finds record funds for research
By Toby Lewis
On-line Forty-Niner
Cal
State Long Beach received a record $40.77
million in funds during the 2001-2002 academic
year, the Office of University Research’s
Web site reports.
This amount marks a steady rise in the amount
of money given to the university every
year.
“Our continued and growing success in receiving
grants and contracts is a testament to the
quality of the faculty and staff we have
here on campus,” CSULB President Robert
Maxson said in a recent press release.
Most of the money was given by government
and private agencies to be used by professors
and faculty members conducting research
in various disciplines, said James Brett,
director of the Office of University Research.
Brett said that during the 2001-2002 academic
year, a record-setting 244 proposals for
grants were received.
Brett attributes the steady increase in
the amount of money coming into the university
to the respect that CSULB has earned as
an institute of higher learning and to the
amount of proposals made by faculty and
staff.
In the liberal arts arena, Brett said, CSULB
conducts the same kind of research that
is done by other public universities in
Southern California.
“We do the same kind of research that they
do at UCLA,” Brett said.
Brett said the difference is that many of
the CSULB faculty members who are conducting
research are also teaching classes, as opposed
to taking time away from their classes to
conduct research.
“These are the same professors standing
in front of classrooms,” Brett said.
As a result, the teachers are able to get
their students involved with the projects
in a hands-on sort of way.
“Ultimately, the beneficiary of these efforts
in grants and contracts is the students,”
Maxson said.
Students who work directly with professors
conducting research for various projects
get the benefit of hands-on experience and
most will also get compensated monetarily,
Maxson said.
Chuhee Kwon, a professor in the physics
department, has three graduate students
and four undergraduate students working
with her on a project for which she received
a sizable grant from the Department of Defense.
Kwon said most of the money she received
for her research will be used to pay the
students who are helping her conduct her
research.
Grants are difficult to get, Brett said.
Some faculty members apply four to five
times before succeeding.
“There are some faculty that never apply,”
Brett said.
Kwon has applied with the Department of
Defense and other agencies a number times
before successfully receiving her grant.
“I have tried many times,” she said.
Depending on the area of study on which
the applicant wishes to focus and the agencies
with which he or she is applying, the chances
of successfully receiving funding is sometimes
very slim, Brett said.
“It takes persistence,” Brett said. “It
is highly competitive.”
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