Despite cuts in NASA’s budget, the funding that N.C. State continues to receive from the federal agency is responsible for more than $17.8 million in research and training grants at the University since July 2008.
At its peak in 1966, NASA funding amounted to 4.4 percent of the entire federal budget. In 2012, as of fiscal year 2012, that has decreased to 0.48 percent. In other words, for every two dollars the federal government spends, NASA receives a penny.
However, despite NASA’s financial situation, Liana Fryer, director of planning and communication for the office of research, innovation, and economic development and said that N.C. State’s relationship with the agency continues to grow in a variety of disciplines, including research in astrophysics, materials sciences and plant biology.
According to Fryer, of the $17.8 million, $10.3 million of went to researchers in the mechanical and aerospace engineering departments. Fryer said that N.C. State is also the lead institution in the North Carolina space grant which is a network of academic institutions created to foster development in North Carolinian space-related industries. This organization of 20 academic, governmental and private sector partners has garnered $12 million for North Carolina’s economy.
These grants have served to finance many projects across a wide variety of disciplines. For example, Fryer said two research teams from N.C. State sent their experiments on the last shuttle launch back in July 2011. One experiment investigated bone loss while the other explored how plants react in microgravity.
Kalyani Joshi, an undergraduate researcher who worked with Imara Perera, the principal investigator of one of the plant biology experiments, said she was appreciative of NASA support as it gave her the opportunity to conduct interesting and dynamic research as an undergraduate.
“NASA funding can continue to promote undergraduate research so that students have the opportunity to see class material applied to real life,” Joshi said.
Stephen Reynolds, a professor of physics, said he has received more than 30 NASA grants in the past 25 years to support his work.
Reynolds said he received funds from NASA and observing time at the Chandra X-ray Observatory to analyze the satellite data obtained from x-rays emitted from supernova. Reynolds said the academic relationships with NASA, “an efficient way to use your tax dollars to get a lot of science done.”
However, Reynolds said his work has been personally affected by the reduction in NASA’s budget.
Reynolds said the sequestration has altered his own research plans and said he has had to renew a proposal for a two-year grant that was prematurely cut.
Still, Reynolds said he is very grateful to the taxpayers for their indirect support of his work and said he takes all the opportunities he can to inform them about it.
The NASA and N.C. State relationship has also made headlines outside of the research laboratory.
In July, N.C. State alumnus Christina Hammock was one of eight astronauts selected out of a pool of 6,100 for the 2013 Astronaut Class.