Message from the Vice President
Welcome to another edition of Vision, the magazine of research and creative scholarship for the University of Montana, which comes out during an exciting time for UM. In a major milestone, our University is now a top-tier “R1” research institution. The honor was conferred this year by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education organization. UM was upgraded to the “Doctoral Universities: Very High Research Activity” classification, also known as R1.
That puts us in some pretty good company. Across the U.S., only 146 degree-granting institutions are ranked in this elite group. And research continues to grow at UM, with record research spending this year of $122 million and submitted proposals of $286 million. Of course, the real joy in seeing our research portfolio grow is the amazing research and creative outcomes of those projects and the impact they have — both socially and economically — on our region and state.
University researchers helped the state respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. When the number of cases swamped the state testing lab, we converted our Murdock Trust-funded genomics core into a federally certified testing facility. Working with the state and the National Guard, the lab conducted over 10,000 COVID-19 tests for the local community. Currently, the lab is helping the state identify COVID-19 variants and has received $740,000 in funding from the National Institutes of Health for variant testing among our state and tribal communities.
In addition, researchers in the UM Center for Translational Medicine were awarded $2.5 million in funding from NIH to identify and advance a COVID-19 vaccine candidate. For these reasons the University was recognized as one of the top 10 universities in the world in responding to the pandemic.
UM continues to lead in statewide entrepreneurship and workforce development. Through our Accelerate Montana program, the Women’s Entrepreneurship and Leadership Lab (WELL) — under the director of Morgan Slemberger — has received several grants to grow entrepreneurship among women and tribal communities. The Women’s Business Center is funded by a grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration and will have business advisers in Missoula, Great Falls and Fort Belknap. WELL also recently received an $850,000 grant to support Indigenous women looking to start or grow a business in Montana. UM was one of only six organizations in the U.S. to receive this Google.org award.
Our UM trajectory is positive. In this issue you will discover a number of fascinating research and creative projects at UM that highlight our good work. Thanks for reading, and Go GR1Z!
