AUSTIN – The University of Texas System Board of Regents today authorized $10 million for a 3-year-old program aimed at recruiting and retaining top-flight researchers at UT System institutions.
The approval brings to $140 million the amount of funding that has been or will be used toward the Science and Technology Acquisition and Retention (STARs) Program, which has realized a return of more than $202 million in current or future research grants and private gifts produced specifically by STARs faculty.
Many of the most recent recruits under the program are in the initial stages of their research, and are expected to generate tens of millions of dollars more in research grants and gifts within the next few years, said Mark G. Yudof, chancellor of the UT System.
“The STARs program has been a phenomenal success for our universities and health centers,” Yudof said. “These STARs scholars not only produce valuable research, but they strengthen our institutions’ faculties and help attract some of the brightest minds in their respective fields, thus moving Texas forward in the ever-changing global marketplace.”
More than half of the faculty members nominated to receive competitive STARs awards were successfully recruited or retained throughout the UT System. These faculty members – many of whom have national or international standing in their respective fields – have accounted for 88 issued or pending patents, authored or refereed nearly 700 scientific publications and have or are sponsoring more than 450 graduates and post-doctoral students.
"UT Dallas' $3.5 million portion of STARs funds was integral to three of our most recent hires involving outstanding faculty researchers who will bring a new dimension to our programs in nanotech, brain science and math and science education," said UT Dallas President David E. Daniel. "These individuals bring significant funding from other sources with them to UT Dallas, which exponentially enhances both our standing as a research institution and the opportunities for our students to study with the leaders in these fields."
Program funds, which come from bond proceeds of the Permanent University Fund, are used to purchase state-of-the-art equipment and to renovate laboratory facilities to help attract or retain researchers in health, mathematics, computer sciences, biological sciences, physical sciences, engineering and liberal arts.
STARs award recipients are selected through a competitive process administered by the UT System. Nominees are identified and recommended by university faculty groups before a UT System peer review committee vets the prospective recipients for selection in the program.
The University of Texas System is one of the nation’s largest higher education systems, with nine academic campuses and six health institutions. The UT System has an annual operating budget of $10.7 billion (FY 2008) including $2.3 billion in research funded by federal, state, local and private sources. Student enrollment exceeded 190,000 in the 2006 academic year. The UT System confers more than one-third of the state's undergraduate degrees and educates nearly three-fourths of the state's health care professionals annually. With more than 80,000 employees, the UT System is one of the largest employers in the state.
