UC Davis received $532,271,401 in research grants and contracts for the 2006-07 fiscal year that ended June 30, the third consecutive year that research funding exceeded the half-billion-dollar mark.

"A strong trend in our sponsored research programs continues across a wide range of disciplines, reflecting the breadth of UC Davis research efforts," said Barry Klein, vice chancellor for research. "Surpassing the half-billion-dollar mark for the third year in a row reinforces the important role that our campus scholars are playing in finding solutions to today's biggest challenges."

This year's total represents a small decline from a record figure of $544 million in the previous fiscal year. That may reflect national trends. A recent report from the National Science Foundation found that after several years of growth, federal funding of research and development in academic science and engineering declined slightly in fiscal year 2005-06, after adjusting for inflation.

UC Davis ranked 16th in the nation in research and development expenditures in fiscal year 2005-06, according to the National Science Foundation.

The grants and awards span a wide range of campus disciplines. They include $25 million from the National Institutes of Health, over five years, to establish a center to speed up development of new treatments from experimental discoveries; $850,000 in "seed grants" from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, the state's stem-cell research agency; $2.8 million over five years from the U.S. Department of Energy for advanced computing research; and $5.1 million over five years from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, to support efforts to improve safety for farmers, farmworkers and consumers.

The total includes research projects in fundamental sciences, clinical trials and applied research, training and education projects as well as public service projects. The figures include all grants and contracts awarded to UC Davis by external sponsors, including "indirect" funds that support research infrastructure, but not internal awards or philanthropic gifts.

Almost $259 million came from the federal government, down from $298 million last year. Of that total, the Department of Health and Human Services provided $155 million, through the National Institutes of Health.

Other federal departments and agencies that sponsored research programs included the National Science Foundation ($38 million), the U.S. Department of Agriculture ($18 million), the Department of Defense ($12 million), the Department of Energy ($11 million) and the departments of State ($6.7 million), Interior ($4.9 million), and Education ($3.3 million).

The state of California provided $96 million, representing a $12 million increase in funding compared with the previous year. Funding from private business totaled $35 million, an increase of almost $8 million compared with last year.

The largest recipient of funds was the School of Medicine, which earned $148 million, or an increase of about $12 million more than the previous year. The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences received $85 million; the School of Veterinary Medicine, $83 million; the College of Engineering, $54 million; the College of Biological Sciences, $42 million; and the College of Letters and Science, $27 million. Organized research units reporting to the Office of Research received $50 million.

The research funding totals were calculated on the basis of dollars transferred to the university during the 2006-07 fiscal year. Some funding agencies provide their grants and awards in annual increments, in which case funds are counted in the year received. If the funding agency transfers funds for multiple years at the same time, that is counted in the year funds are received by the university but not in subsequent years.