General Information Blurb
This general blurb is for researchers to use in grant proposals. Please feel free to download the MS Word Version 
and revise as needed. While USFRI makes every effort to provide the most frequently used data and information in this blurb, institutional data may be needed that is not maintained by USFRI but maintained centrally by other areas. For questions, contact Sponsored Research, phone (813) 974-2897.
An Overview of the University and its Resources
The University of South Florida (USF) is a high-impact, global research university dedicated to student success. USF was established in 1956 as a public university and is a comprehensive multi-campus research university serving more than 47,000 students. The USF System is an evolving multi-campus system of higher education with fiscally autonomous, yet complementary, independently accredited institutions located in Tampa (including USF Health), St. Petersburg, and Sarasota-Manatee. USF is home to medical clinics and hospitals, a major mental health research institute, and two public broadcasting stations. The university employs more than 1,645 full-time instructional faculty and over 6,840 full-time staff. USF is a member of the Big East Athletic Conference. It has a $1.5 billion annual budget, and an annual economic impact of $3.7 billion.
The 8th largest university in the U.S. and the largest metropolitan research university within the State University System (SUS) of Florida, USF has 13 colleges: Arts and Sciences, The Arts, Behavioral & Community Sciences, Business, Education, Engineering, Honors, Marine Science, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health and University College, plus the Graduate School and Undergraduate Studies. The university offers 237 degree programs, including the doctor of medicine: 86 bachelor programs, 104 master programs, 2 education specialist degree programs, 41 research doctoral programs, and 4 MD programs. The Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs is the center for all academic operations and functions at the university. University College also supports USF's distance learning programs and administers specialized credit and non-credit continuing education programs.
The university is dedicated to the discovery of new knowledge, insights, and forms of expression through significant innovative research and other creative activity, and to the preservation, organization, analysis, and synthesis of existing knowledge. USF is one of only four Florida public universities classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in the top tier of research activities, a distinction attained by only 2.3 percent of all universities. As a leading publicly supported university, USF accomplishes its research mission by building on existing program strengths, fostering effective, cross-disciplinary approaches, and contributing to the resolution of social, cultural, economical, medical and technological challenges facing the metropolitan population of our community, state, nation and the world.
USF faculty, students and staff are proactive in the search for new knowledge and consistently demonstrate their concern about the world in which we live. With the support of private and public agencies, they contribute to our knowledge about the world and apply their findings and skills to solving many of the problems facing contemporary society. Many contributions evolve from basic research; others, from practical applications of new knowledge. Other projects make specialized training available to public officials, organizations working for social betterment, religious and educational institutions, and business and manufacturing organizations. Through sponsored and non-sponsored activities, USF faculty, students and staff make significant contributions to instructional programs.
The dedication of USF researchers, students and staff has contributed to the phenomenal growth in research that USF experienced over the past 25 years. In FY1986, the University received $22.3 million in external funding for research projects. By the end of FY1995, research awards had reached over $100 million. In FY2012, USF generated over $411 million in sponsored research. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the 213% increase in federal funds for academic research and development achieved by USF researchers from 2002-2007 was unmatched, and represented by far the highest percentage increase in the country. No other American university grew its federal research at a faster rate than USF; and no other group of faculty had a faster rate of earning new federal sponsorship for the discovery and creation of knowledge.
The University of South Florida is one of the nation's top public research universities and one of only 40 public research universities nationwide with very high research activity that is designated as community engaged by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. According to the National Science Foundation, USF ranks 50th in the nation for federal expenditures in research and total expenditures in research among all U.S. universities, public or private, and is ranked 31st in total research expenditures and 27th in federal research expenditures for public universities. USF ranks 10th worldwide among all universities granted U.S. patents in 2011, according to the Intellectual Property Owners Association.
USF has numerous research and health care partnerships through affiliation agreements with hospitals and not-for-profit organizations in the metropolitan Tampa Bay area. Some of these relationships were coordinated by USF's Tampa Bay Technology Incubator in the USF Research Park of Tampa Bay, which was named Emerging Research Park of the Yearin 2008 by the Association of University Research Parks. USF affiliates include the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, Bay Pines Veterans Hospital, Tampa General Hospital, All Children's Hospital and Bayfront Medical Center, Shriner's Children's Hospital, Florida Hospital, the Johnnie B. Byrd, Sr. Alzheimer's Center and Research Institute, and the U.S. Geological Survey.
As a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Moffitt Cancer Center, located on the Tampa Campus, joins an elite group of cancer centers nationwide that focus on the quick translation of research advances to improvements in patient care and has developed a strong national reputation for excellence. The James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, located within walking distance of USF Health's Morsani College of Medicine, provides research and training experiences for faculty, staff, and students. The USF Health System is also closely affiliated with Tampa General Hospital and the Lakeland Regional Medical Center, which provides training for residents and medical students. The Shriner's Children's Hospital (on the Tampa Campus), and Florida Hospital (also within walking distance), as well as All Children's Hospital and Bayfront Medical Center and the Bay Pines Veterans Hospital (both located in St. Petersburg), provide additional research and training grounds for USF faculty and students.
Affiliate partnerships established with Mote Marine Laboratory and the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory have expanded the research and development capacities, student educational opportunities, and economic development impact of USF. Affiliation agreements with organizations normally provide for collaboration through shared facilities, faculty, and equipment, as well as support for graduate students and internship programs. These types of agreements enable the institutions to pool resources, such as laboratory space, and enable compliance committees to stimulate an exchange of ideas.
Throughout the university's development, the faculty at USF have identified and satisfied needs on a local, national and global scale. A variety of activities in such areas as health care, neuroscience, transportation, biodefense, education and engineering are conducted by specialized research and development centers and institutes. The university currently has over 100 such centers and institutes – many of which function in an interdisciplinary fashion, enabling coordination of projects across colleges.
From developing sources of clean energy, to enhancing the quality of life for people with disabilities and leading the way on veteran's research and reintegration, USF research and innovation is focused on creating local, national and global solutions to society's most difficult problems.
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