As part of UF’s strategic development plan, the university will give $312,760 to research projects aimed at improving the lives of Gainesville citizens.
UF’s Director of Planning Linda Dixon said the purpose of the grants, which will be given to seven multidisciplinary projects in the city, is to engage students in research around Gainesville.
“It’s really about connecting faculty and students with the community,” Dixon said.
Each of the research projects feature teams made up of UF faculty, graduate students, professors from other schools and nonprofit community partners. They also provide researchers with the opportunity to delve into these topics after the project’s conclusions.
“All of these proposals further the body of knowledge and best practice in their fields of exploration with the potential to result in academic publication,” Dixon said.
Potential grant recipients had to submit their proposal to UF Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President Charlie Lane and were then reviewed by a 12-person panel. The panel was made up of three community members, three city officials, four UF administrators and two UF faculty members.
Sixty-two research project proposals were submitted to the committee for review, many of which focused on health and wellness or economic and environmental sustainability.
Initially, the committee was only able to select five recipients of the grants because the university was only able to give out $250,000. However, Gainesville Regional Utilities and UF Health stepped in to fill in the rest of the money, allowing for the selection of projects, Dixon said.
UF spokesperson Steve Orlando said the new grant is just another way in which the university and the city community can work together to become pre-eminent.
“The strategic development is basically the blueprint for UF and the Gainesville community to grow together for the next 40 to 50 years,” Orlando said. “It’s a way for the university to show that the best way for UF and the Gainesville community to grow is to grow together.”
Contact Adam Turner at aturner@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter: @fladam98.
