Federal stimulus funds awarded to the University of California, Davis, through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act have passed the $100 million mark, the campus Office of Research reported today.

UC Davis has received $104,213,402 in Recovery Act funds for 231 awards that support research in areas ranging from asthma and autism to clean energy and earthquake safety.

"By backing research at UC Davis, the federal government is investing not only in the nation's future but in ours, and we are grateful for that investment," said UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi. "While the boost from Recovery Act funds is temporary, we aim to sustain UC Davis' growth as a leading research university."

"This announcement serves as a milestone for our region, which has seen tremendous benefits as a result of the Recovery Act," said U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui. "With the aid of these federal dollars, UC Davis and its partners are helping to spur the local economy through investments in clean energy development, medical research, train the next generation of health professionals, and much more. This is an excellent example of how the federal investments in our community will benefit Sacramentans for years to come."

"Every dollar that is spent at UC Davis spreads out into our community, and boosts our entire economy," said U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson. "It's not just the researcher who gets a job because of this money -- that salary gets spent locally in the community at the coffee shop and the mechanic's shop. Moreover, by investing in research, we're not just investing in today, we're investing in the future of our country."

According to data reported to the federal government March 31, Recovery Act funds awarded directly to UC Davis have created the equivalent of 237 full-time positions, while funds that have flowed to UC Davis from Recovery Act grants led by other institutions have created 40 full-time equivalent positions on campus. (In many cases, faculty and research staff receive funding from multiple grants.)

"These awards are enabling us to build new facilities, purchase scientific equipment and train young scientists, all steps that will have a lasting effect on the campus and the economy," said Barry Klein, vice chancellor for research at UC Davis.

The largest single Recovery Act award to the campus to date is $14.2 million from the National Center for Research Resources, part of the National Institutes of Health.

The funds will be used to construct a 19,124-square-foot building for respiratory disease research at the California National Primate Research Center. The building, which will include offices, laboratory space, animal holding areas and lab space for pulmonary function tests, will replace existing labs constructed at the center almost 30 years ago.

The new space will bring together UC Davis researchers from the schools of medicine and veterinary medicine who work on childhood asthma, the effects of air pollution, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease -- the fourth-leading cause of death in the U.S.

A sampling of other projects funded by the Recovery Act at UC Davis includes:

* $2.3 million to study the spread of tuberculosis, which kills some 1.7 million people worldwide each year

* $1.5 million to the Clinical and Translational Science Center, which focuses on bringing promising medical research to the bedside

* $780,000 for research on building foundations that can withstand earthquakes

* $685,000 for cardiovascular research

* $550,000 for research into environment-friendly chemistry

* $499,000 for new cell-analysis equipment for stem cell research

* $240,000 for research on cobalt water-splitting catalysts, a possible source of clean energy

* $206,000 to explore use of virtual reality technology for social-skills training for children with autism

Recovery Act funds also are helping to fund a summer program to bring high school and college students, and teachers from schools at all levels, to university labs to learn about stem cells.

The awards include grants that support young faculty at an early stage in their careers. Most grants also help to pay graduate students studying for doctoral and master’s degrees in science or engineering at UC Davis.

External funding for research at UC Davis has more than doubled in the past decade, from $299 million in 2000-01 to $622 million for the 2008-09 fiscal year.

Signed into law by President Obama in February 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act charged the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation with distributing $11.2 billion in stimulus funds to scientists around the country.

The program is intended to save or create more than 3.5 million jobs nationwide over the course of two years, while helping to revitalize the nation’s scientific research enterprise.

About UC Davis

For more than 100 years, UC Davis has engaged in teaching, research and public service that matter to California and transform the world. Located close to the state capital, UC Davis has 32,000 students, an annual research budget that exceeds $600 million, a comprehensive health system and 13 specialized research centers. The university offers interdisciplinary graduate study and more than 100 undergraduate majors in four colleges — Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Letters and Science. It also houses six professional schools — Education, Law, Management, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.