UM Sets New Record with 14% Jump in Research Funding

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - Once again, the University of Montana is breaking new records for research and the funding that comes along with it.

I spoke with Dave Kuntz, Director of Strategic Communications for UM about the announcement made this week.

“There’s a really exciting announcement from the University this week that we broke an all time record for the volume of research happening at the University over this past fiscal year’” began Kuntz. “We're happy to report that we were able to bring in research receipts to the tune of $144 million over the past year, which is a 14 percent jump from the previous year and the highest we have on record. A huge amount of the credit goes to Vice President Scott Wittenberg and the whole research team here at the University of Montana for really making some major gains in recent years.”

A 14 Percent Increase in Funding Totaling $144 Million This Year Alone

Kuntz listed some high-powered names that are utilizing the University of Montana to forward knowledge through research.

“The big research components that you're seeing coming out of the university right now are the big research grants for the Center for Translational Medicine, which is really working to address issues around vaccines and opioid abuse, and we're very active in the COVID 19 vaccine development,” he said. “We also have the Montana Climate Office, which has hundreds of Mesonet measuring stations across the state that are measuring snowpack and soil moisture in helping other scientists predict droughts and other water monitoring needs that the state can then take action for to help farmers and ranchers and those businesses that rely on recreation.”

Research is Ongoing for Public Health and Conservation

Kuntz said research is ongoing in a growing number of areas.

“Here in the years ahead, especially in the fields of health and public health and natural resource and conservation, we expect to continue to take further leaps and jumps around wildfire research and smoke research and other things that are really unique to this pocket of the country. When it comes to research in the Rocky Mountain west, people are looking at UM like they never have before, and you can see that in the data that was released today.”

Kuntz says many other fields of study are reaching out to UM to help with research.

Funding is Coming from Federal and Private Sources

“What we're seeing is those who are choosing to partner with UM are really doing it on the health care front, on the outdoor and natural resources front, and in the years ahead, we expect that to continue to expand to other areas of campus,” he said. “As we look for the next generation of research projects here, we'll probably bolster our relationships with some of those federal offices that are looking to expand the bounds of knowledge and the reaches of science, and we're happy that UM is the place where they're looking to do that.”

Kuntz said the research success for UM has been a total team effort.