Does stimulus-funded research stimulate?
Filed under: Government, Hot Health Headline, Studies
Reporter Michelle Breidenbach of the Syracuse, N.Y., Post-Standard considers local academic research being funded by stimulus money and wonders just how much these projects – many of which were turned down previously and selected for stimulus money based partly on timing considerations – are really stimulating the economy. There were no job-creation or buy-American strings attached and, while ostensibly health-related, studies covered such esoteric topics as wild ticks on lab mice and the interaction between marijuana and malt liquor consumption.
With a story localization model that can be applied across the country, Breidenbach used the NIH’s grant-tracking site to check in on stimulus-funded projects getting underway at a number of nearby universities, then contacted researchers and assessed their work’s impact on the local economy and on human knowledge in general.
15 areas get a share of NIH’s stimulus funding
The NIH has designated $200 million of its stimulus money for 200 or more “Challenge Grants” in specific areas where NIH has judged the money will have the most immediate impact.
“Challenge Areas” in which funds will be available:
- Behavior, Behavioral Change, and Prevention
- Bioethics
- Biomarker Discovery and Validation
- Clinical Research
- Comparative Effectiveness Research
- Enhancing Clinical Trials
- Enabling Technologies
- Genomics
- Health Disparities
- Information Technology for Processing Health Care Data for Research
- Regenerative Medicine
- Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education
- Smart Biomaterials - Theranostics
- Stem Cells
- Translational Science
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