USF research funding hits record $775 million

The University of South Florida attracted a record $775 million in research funding during the 2026 fiscal year, the university says, with growing private-sector investments supporting research projects ranging from experimental Parkinson’s treatments to tech tools that monitor Tampa Electric’s power grid.

Research funding saw a 3% increase over last year’s number and a 42% increase over the past five years, a result of major gains in both federal dollars and private sector partnerships, the university said in a Thursday announcement. The funding spans research projects across USF’s colleges, direct support organizations and affiliates, the university says. 

“At a time when competition for research funding is intensifying nationally, USF has achieved a new record in research funding,” USF President Moez Limayem says in the announcement. “This reflects the extraordinary talent and determination of our faculty and researchers across the university.”

Private-sector funding increased by 11% to $315 million, the university says, with much of the growth coming from clinical trials that evaluate potential treatments. More than 700 private and industry partners supported USF research during the 2026 fiscal year.

Federal agencies contributed $387 million, about half the total amount. That compares to $384 million in fiscal 2025, when USF reported $750 million in overall research funding and $284 million from private and industry partners.

USF reported a 38% increase in research awards from the National Institutes of Health. The agency awarded $185 million in grants to faculty at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, and USF Health researchers accounted for the majority of the university’s federal research funding.

Among the industry collaborations, Dr. Robert Hauser, director of USF’s Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center, is working with pharmaceutical and diagnostics company Roche to study an intravenous medication for early-stage Parkinson’s disease. And electrical and computer engineering professor Lingling Fan is partnering with Tampa Electric, with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, to develop a virtual replica of the utility’s power grid. Other projects address societal challenges in infrastructure and national security.

The latest funding record builds on USF’s longer-term goal of reaching $1 billion in annual research funding by 2030, the university says.