Feature
A Legislative Investment
May 24, 2007
The Indiana General Assembly grants $15 million to recruit top scientists to Indiana University
Dr. D. Craig Brater, IU vice president for life sciences and dean of the IU School of Medicine, appreciates the legislature's support for life sciences.
The Indiana General Assembly signaled its support for the goals of the Indiana Life Sciences Initiative in the waning days of April by including a $15 million grant for faculty recruitment for Indiana University in the state's budget for fiscal years 2008 and 2009.
Legislators included the funds despite the need to deal with property tax relief, a revenue forecast that shrank by $130 million during the session, funding for all-day kindergarten, and other budgetary pressures.
The funding is appropriated to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), "to support the recruitment and retention of world class scientists specializing in the life sciences."
"We look forward to working with the IEDC on this grant. We are at the start of a long-term investment in Indiana and its life sciences economy," said D. Craig Brater, M.D, Indiana University vice president for life sciences and dean of the IU School of Medicine.
"We appreciate the legislature's support for life sciences that this grant represents. It is now our challenge to deliver on this investment in anticipation of arguing for greater support in the future," Dr. Brater said.
The budget includes a total of $20 million for life sciences faculty recruitment, with the remaining $5 million allocated to Purdue University. The funds are to be made available in the second year of the budget.
"Indiana's commitment to the life sciences initiative is crucial to our state's educational and economic future. Our financial investment is the first step in our commitment to research and the knowledge based economic development that follows," said State Senator Vi Simpson (D-Bloomington).
"The legislation is evident of our ambition to become a premier destination for companies in the life sciences, and builds upon the real progress we're making to become a leader in this sector," said Todd Pedersen, then-director of life sciences for the IEDC.
The budget also provides $18.3 million in bonding authority for the planned IU Cyber-Infrastructure Building in Bloomington, and $20 million for the Neurosciences Research Building in Indianapolis.
With the Indiana Life Sciences Initiative, IU proposed that the state, IU, and Indiana's other research universities make a decade-long series of investments to build on the state's existing life sciences research strengths to produce more discoveries, create new jobs and businesses, and improve health care for Hoosiers.
The initiative is based on IU's life sciences strategic plan, which identifies research priorities in such areas as chemistry, cancer biology, diabetes, and neuroscience.
