More than $20 million in grants and contracts received during Fiscal Year 2017 enabled Missouri State University faculty and staff to pursue research, education and service projects.

From improving the teaching of English to supporting the Northwest Project and more, faculty and staff addressed the needs of communities, schools and businesses in southwest Missouri and beyond.

“The number of proposals submitted is the second highest recorded at 383,” noted Dr. Erin Parrish, MSU director of research administration. “Our faculty and staff’s ability to obtain external funding is even more critical at a time when reductions to higher education budgets are occurring and competition for external funds continue to increase.”

While funding from federal agencies remain the leading funding source, there was an increase again in funding from international sponsors.

Types of projects

Service projects made up almost half of the awards Missouri State received. Samples of grants and contracts awarded in FY2017 include:

• Funds from the U.S. Department of Education to support the Improving English Language Teaching in the Ozarks project.

• Funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create hands-on learning experiences for Missouri State students in the area of insect science.

• An award from the Missouri Department of Conservation to research potential impacts of electrofishing on hellbenders.

• Program funding from the Taney County Health Department to provide professional development to local food producers.

• Support from Google, Inc. for a Missouri State software engineering course where students use the Google cloud platform to learn and implement cloud-based projects.

• Funds from international partner universities to provide customized educational programs for several groups on topics relating to agriculture, biotechnology, business strategy and teacher training.

View the FY2017 Research Report

For more information, contact Parrish at 417-836-4132 or visit the research website.