Research Infrastructure

Research is Indiana’s newest growth industry. A robust research environment is critical for Indiana’s ability to compete for the jobs of the future. We are harnessing the resources of IU to assist Indiana in its quest to emerge as a major force in the global economy, building on our strengths in research to keep—and attract—top talent.

IU represents the single largest repository of international expertise in the state, and our faculty are conducting world-class research and transferring their discoveries to the marketplace as never before. IU has consistently brought in more sponsored research dollars than all of Indiana’s public and private research universities combined. In 2007, IU faculty were awarded over $433 million in sponsored funding to support their research and service activities.

• A recent study determined that IU’s campuses will require construction of 5 million square feet of new research space in Indianapolis and Bloomington over the next two decades to keep up with the university’s growing research mission, especially in the life sciences. The process for developing a master plan for the IU Bloomington and IUPUI campuses is currently underway.
• The I-Light network, a joint partnership between IU and Purdue, is the foundation for the state’s cyberinfrastructure, a powerful network made up of high-performance computers, massive data storage systems, visualization facilities, and sensor networks.

Facts At-A-Glance

• IU ranks first in the Big Ten in endowed chairs and professorships.
• More than half a billion dollars of construction underway or planned to create more research space in the next 10 years, including $44 million from the Lilly Endowment to create a new North Studio Building for the Jacobs School of Music.
• We received $140 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards in 2007.
• IU received $854 million in external funding for research and teaching over the past two years and more than $2.1 billion in external funding over the last five years.