BOISE, Idaho — Boise State was awarded a record amount of research awards totaling $68 million in the 2022 fiscal year, which ended in July. The total is up $2.7 million from the 2021 fiscal year.
The awards come from a range of sources: federal departments, state entities, and community partnerships. They’re based off proposals that faculty and students write to the agencies for specific projects.
The projects range from researching new technology for Idaho food processors, to developing a workforce pipeline for the state’s cybersecurity needs, to creating the first-ever genome for sagebrush.
There were 422 projects granted, many have students from different programs working together. The projects also bring undergrad and graduate students together, providing an opportunity for students to learn from one another.
“A lot of our projects are interdisciplinary where we have faculty and staff and students from multiple disciplines come together,” said Dr. Nancy Glenn, Boise State’s vice president of Research and Economic Development. “We have community partners, there’s co-production of knowledge. We also have a lot of research where our undergraduates are working with graduate students, as well as post-doctorates, as well as faculty. So it’s really an incredible mentoring experience both as a mentee and as a mentor.”
Students in different disciplines are supported across campus in their field and lab research, as well as in internships and job opportunities.
“The student impact of research and creative activity awards is immense. So a student that gets involved in research with a faculty member, staff member or community partner really has a unique experience here at Boise State,” Glenn said. “They learn different skills than they might learn in the classroom, they learn how to be part of a team, they learn knowledge discovery and the excitement of identify new things, whether that’s in the field, or a process or workflow in the lab. So it really builds confidence, it builds teamwork skills, it builds knowledge.”
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