UC ANR's 2015 competitive grants program funds 17 projects

I am pleased to announce that VP Glenda Humiston has approved funding 17 projects for UC ANR's 2015 Competitive Grants Program, for a total of $3.7 million over 5 years. The awards range from approximately $50,000 to $450,000. This is comparable to past years' awards. UC ANR awarded $4.46 million supporting 21 projects in 2011, $3.8 million supporting 16 projects in 2012, and $3.5 million supporting 15 projects in 2013. After four grant cycles, the Division has approved funding for 69 projects totaling an investment of $15,464,934. To view the 2015 list of approved projects, please visit http://ucanr.edu/sites/ANRUpdate/files/227066.pdf.

As you may recall, in 2014, the Division did not release a call for ANR's internal competitive grants program in order to conduct a formative assessment to determine if the program's intended results were being reached or if there were plans in place to achieve appropriate outcomes. As a result, applicants this year were required to address strategic initiative priority issue areas to better facilitate the identification and measurement of efforts and impacts.

Key highlights from 2011-2013:

• 229 UC ANR-affiliated faculty and staff — AES, CE Specialists, CE Advisors, and Academic Administrators and Coordinators — have participated in the grants program.
• 95 UC students (56 graduate and 39 undergraduate) have participated in grants.
• 27 early-career UC ANR-affiliated faculty are supported by the grants program (early career is defined as 6 years or less in their current appointment).
• 228 people have served as collaborators, many of them on more than one project.
• 65 non-UC ANR-affiliated agencies/partners have collaborated on UC ANR grants (e.g. USDA, CDFA, nonprofits, non-UC universities, among others).

UC ANR's internal competitive grants program continues to support high-priority issues that are consistent with the Strategic Vision, encourage collaboration among academics, strengthen the research-extension network, support short-term, high-impact projects and contribute policy-relevant outcomes that address significant agricultural, economic, environmental and social issues in California.

With UC ANR's Strategic Vision as our guide, we are focusing our resources where there is an opportunity to demonstrate impact, inform public policymaking and attract new resources to support all elements of UC ANR. In doing so, we strive to achieve the greatest benefit for Californians with our investment. Please join me in congratulating this year's recipients of UC ANR competitive grants.

Sincerely,

Bill Frost
Associate Vice President

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