UIHC programs rank high
UI Hospitals and Clinics ranks overall as one of “America’s
Best Hospitals” with 12 of the hospital’s
specialties listed among the nation’s top 50
in an annual survey published by U.S. News & World
Report.
Three of the honored specialties—otolaryngology
listed at second, ophthalmology and visual sciences
listed at sixth, and orthopaedic surgery listed at
sixth—rank among the nation’s top 10
in their respective categories in the July 12 issue
of the magazine.
Other ranked specialties at UIHC include urology
(16), psychiatry (17), respiratory disorders (21),
digestive disorders (33), hormone disorders (36),
gynecology (39), cancer (40), geriatrics (42), and
kidney disease (45).
VP search committee formed
UI President David Skorton announced July 13 that
Gregory Carmichael, professor and associate dean
for graduate programs and research in the College
of Engineering, will chair a 20-member search committee
for a new UI vice president for research.
The search committee will develop a list of qualifications
for the position, seek applications and nominations,
review applicants, arrange for finalists to come
to campus for interviews, provide evaluations of
the finalists, and submit up to five names to Skorton,
who will make the final decision, subject to approval
by the Board of Regents, State of Iowa. Details of
the committee’s activities, including the position
announcement, are available at www.uiowa.edu/~vpsearch.
The new vice president for research will succeed
associate vice president for research Bill Decker,
who has served on an interim basis since Skorton
assumed the UI presidency March 1, 2003.
Put your money where your mouth is on election predictions
Who will be elected president in November? Traders
in the Iowa Electronic Markets (IEM) are making their
predictions with dollars invested in the real-money,
web-based futures market.
Now open is the “winner-takes-all” market
where contracts for the candidate with the largest
share of the popular vote pay $1, while contracts
for the losing candidate pay nothing.
Operated as a research and teaching tool by six
professors in the Tippie College of Business, the
IEM is open to the public at www.biz.uiowa.edu/iem.
For an investment of as little as $5 or as much as
$500, anyone can buy futures contracts based the
outcome of the 2004 presidential election.
For a prospectus and current prices, see www.biz.uiowa.edu/iem/markets/Pres04_WTA.html.
Since its inception during the 1988 U.S. presidential
election, the IEM has established a reputation for
forecasting election results with great accuracy,
predicting the outcome of the popular vote with an
average election-eve prediction error of 1.37 percent.
External funding totals $333.9 million for University
Faculty, staff, and students generated $333.9 million
in grants and contracts for UI research, education,
and service during fiscal 2004. The total is the
third-highest ever recorded by the University. Over
the past three years alone, the University has attracted
more than $1 billion in external support.
The total for fiscal 2004, the 12-month period ending
June 30, 2004, represents a 5.4 percent decrease
from 2003, but surpasses the one-third-billion dollar
mark for the third consecutive year.
According to the most recent National Science Foundation
statistics (2002), Iowa ranks 18th among all public
universities in federal research-and-development
expenditures. In addition, the National Institutes
of Health (NIH) ranked Iowa 11th among all public
universities receiving NIH funding for the 2003 fiscal
year.
Derek H. Willard, special assistant to the president
for governmental relations and associate vice president
for research, notes that the rate of growth in federal
agency support for university-based research nationwide
is expected to slow over the next few years.
“Congress has been able to increase research
support, including a remarkable doubling of the NIH
budget, in recent years,” he says. “But
now it will be hard-pressed to meet or exceed figures
that will keep pace with inflation.”
The principal external funding sources for UI research
and development during fiscal 2004 (compared to fiscal
2003 amounts) were:
- Department of Health and Human Services (includes
NIH): $184.3 million (up by less than 1 percent)
- National Science Foundation: $9.5 million (down
11 percent)
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration:
$5.3 million (down 20 percent)
- Department of Education: $14.5 million (down
4 percent)
- Department of Defense: $8.3 million (up 14 percent)
- Industry: $30.6 million (down 9 percent)
- States: $23.5 million (down 39 percent)
- Private organizations: $30.7 million (up 5 percent)
- Other nonfederal: $18.8 million (up 29 percent)
- Miscellaneous federal: $8.4 million (down 37
percent)
|
