UNO researchers discuss benefits of research grants, funding
The University of Nebraska-Omaha set a new university record for research funding in 2021-22 by receiving $37.5 million in grants.
The grants and funding came from external sources and is a 67 percent increase in funding compared to the previous year.
Researchers at the university, such as Dr. Chris Moore, whose STEM TRAIL Center received $5 million, do not take the grants they receive lightly.
"The UNO STEM TRAIL would not actually function if it wasn't for the external awards that we're able to achieve," Dr. Moore said.
Moore and his colleagues use the funding they receive for scholarships, general research projects, students' projects and prioritizing the Nebraska economy and workforce.
"We need to make sure that the jobs exist for them here, in Nebraska, when they're graduating so that we don't lose them to places outside of our state," Moore said.
Dr. Sam Hunter is the head of strategic operations of NCITE, a national counterterrorism innovation, technology and education center. The center receives funding from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, as well as grants that were part of UNO's record-breaking grants.
"You have elite-level talent that's here doing research that may not have come otherwise if those grant dollars hadn't been there," Hunter said.
Hunter, his colleagues and students that work alongside him are focused on a variety of projects, including analyzing terrorist, extremist threats in the Middle East.
The money NCITE received goes toward employee wages, employee and faculty recruitment and technology.
"There are a number of students...that wouldn't be here if the center wasn't here," Hunter said. "If I wasn't here, if other faculty wasn't here, they're a direct translation of the grant dollars coming in."
Learn more about STEM TRAIL here.
Learn more about NCITE here.