More good news from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Office of Research: External research funding has set another record, reaching nearly $106 million in the past fiscal year, UNL announced Monday.

This year’s funding was a 3.2 percent increase over last year’s $102.4 million mark. More impressive: External research funding has risen 115 percent since 2000, when research awards topped $49 million.

That growth is what has paved the way for Innovation Campus, a proposed NU research and development campus at State Fair Park, NU President J.B. Milliken said.

“The continued growth in research further demonstrates that the university has reached a point where it can successfully leverage its research efforts for the economy and quality of life in Nebraska,” Milliken said. “This continued success is going to be what fuels Innovation Campus.”

Of $105.7 million UNL received in research funding, $72 million came from federal sources such as the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Department of Energy and Department of Education. The rest came from foundations, industry, associations and state agencies.

Total external funding for sponsored programs, which includes research and other activities like teaching, public service and student services, also hit a record $174.2 million, up from $171.9 million the previous fiscal year.

“Our faculty are doing world-class research,” Prem Paul, vice chancellor for research and economic development, said in a news release. “They are leaders in their respective fields and their innovative ideas are driving exciting research at UNL.

“This creates great opportunities for our students, who get to work with and learn from these professors.”

Paul has said UNL’s research momentum comes with one catch: Scientists are quickly becoming squeezed on campus, and some, he has said, even have been forced to turn down grants for lack of space.

That’s one reason university leaders are behind Innovation Campus, which they predict will generate public-private partnerships that will capitalize on UNL’s strengths — nanotechnology, water, life sciences and more.

Examples of recently awarded research grants that contributed to the funding increase include:

* $10.9 million from the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Research Resources to fund the Redox Biology Center, where scientists from UNL and the University of Nebraska Medical Center conduct biomedical research;

* $4.7 million from the Department of Defense Air Force Office of Scientific Research to develop ways to detect cracks in jet engines using UNL’s powerful Diocles Laser;

* $4.3 million from the National Science Foundation’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research for research on gene expression and regulation;

* $3 million from the National Science Foundation to distribute a Nebraska-developed, robotic-based math, science and technology curriculum via the Web to middle school teachers nationally;

* $2.7 million from the U.S. Department of Education for a preschool literacy program for rural, low-income children in cooperation with Grand Island Public Schools and Head Start Child and Family Development Inc.;

* $2 million from the National Academy of Sciences for research to identify technologies and designs for longer-lasting bridges;

* $348,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities to create a digital dictionary of the Omaha and Ponca languages.

Reach Melissa Lee at 473-2682 or mlee@journalstar.com.