Columbia News

UM System leaders are celebrating the recent passage of the federal omnibus spending bill, signed into law by President Joseph Biden last month. Thanks to the support of former Sen. Roy Blunt and Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, more than $130 million will be coming to UM System universities to support research innovation, construction and education programs.

“UM System institutions contribute daily to the economic vitality of our state, and our innovations in research improve the lives of individuals around the world,” said Michael Williams, UM Board of Curators chair. “We are grateful for our partners in Congress, particularly former Sen. Roy Blunt and Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, for championing legislation that will strengthen our ability to deliver on our mission of excellence in research and education.” 

The funding supports top priorities for the UM System, such as the NextGen Precision Health initiative, as well as research and academic priorities at each of its four institutions. 

“For many of the challenges confronting Missouri, the UM System has leveraged its research strength, partnerships and academic excellence to develop transformational solutions,” UM President Mun Choi said. “Thanks to this federal funding support, we will be able to continue and accelerate the critical work underway at our institutions. We remain grateful for the work of our congressional delegation, especially former Sen. Blunt and Rep. Luetkemeyer for their tireless advocacy.” 

University of Missouri-Columbia

• $61 million – NextGen Precision Health initiative: for construction and instruments at the Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health building and to support research in biomolecular, computational and engineering disciplines, and veterinary and human medicine.
   
• $20 million – MURR II: to conduct the design and planning work necessary for the eventual construction of a 20-megawatt research reactor specifically designed and built to produce critical short-lived medical radioisotopes for use in diagnostic and therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals that are needed by cancer patients across the nation. This expanded capability will complement and strengthen the life-saving medical research being conducted at the Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health building at MU by adding world-class capabilities in medical radioisotopes, nuclear medicine and molecular imaging as well as creating a national cluster for innovation in drug discovery.
   
• $5 million – Water Center: to increase research and innovation capacity to accelerate critical work on water projects in Missouri, such as flood risk monitoring and water transport efforts that affect agriculture.
   
• $4 million – Center for Agricultural Animal Genetic Engineering and Health: to support a new research laboratory and act as a hub for animal genetic research to improve animal health and benefit the livestock industry of Missouri and across the country.
   
• $3 million – Endowed professorship: to support the recruitment and retention of exceptional faculty in precision health care.
   
• $1.4 million – Fisher Delta Research Center: to add space, instrumentation and software to provide rapid analysis of crops that are geographically specific to Missouri. The Fisher Delta Research Center provides extraction and analysis of soil, water and plant tissue. 

University of Missouri-Kansas City

• $10 million – For construction and equipment for an innovative new medical and dentistry building at UMKC. The building will house new dental teaching clinics and expanded medical school teaching facilities that will enable UMKC to train more health care professionals to meet Missouri’s growing needs. The building also will include space for the NextGen Data Science and Analytics Innovation Center, the biomedical engineering program and the UMKC Health Equity Institute, which develops programs and policies to improve healthcare for the underserved in Kansas City community. 

Missouri University of Science and Technology

• $20 million – Construction of the Missouri Protoplex, an advanced manufacturing building that will become the first building on a new Manufacturing Technology and Innovation Campus. The Protoplex will serve as a research and development hub for small- and medium-sized Missouri manufacturers. Through the Protoplex, S&T and partner institutions, including other University of Missouri universities, will provide research, prototype development and business development expertise to these companies. 
   
• $3 million – Purchase of equipment for advanced manufacturing training that will be used in the Protoplex for workforce training for the small- and medium-sized manufacturers served by the program.
   
• $3 million – Equipment and supplies to improve STEM degree programs will also be used in the Protoplex for various S&T academic programs associated with advanced manufacturing.

Original source can be found here.