MESSAGE FROM THE VICE CHANCELLOR OF RESEARCH |
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Dear UMSL Colleagues,
I am delighted to share an overview of UMSL's FY25 sponsored awards and to recognize the remarkable efforts of our faculty and staff, whose creativity, persistence, and innovation continue to elevate UMSL’s impact.
In FY25, UMSL faculty demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to advancing research and scholarship, submitting more than $140 million in proposals, including $43 million to federal agencies. Those efforts led to $88.5 million in sponsored awards, including $42.9 million from federal sources. Faculty and staff also generated $85.9 million in expenditures, including $47 million in federal research expenditures, generating more than $5.5 million in Facilities and Administrative (F&A) revenue to help sustain the university's research infrastructure.
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Christopher D. Spilling, Ph.D. Interim Chancellor,
Vice Chancellor for Research, Economic and Community Development
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Just as importantly, our momentum continues. In FY26, UMSL faculty and staff submitted more than $108 million in proposals and secured $56 million in awards, putting us on track to meet or exceed last year's funding levels.
UMSL's recent growth in sponsored funding reflects several factors: increased interdisciplinary collaboration, stronger partnerships with industry, community, and government organizations, and strategic workforce initiatives. Most of all, however, it reflects the determination of our faculty. Successful research funding is rarely the result of a single submission. More often, it is achieved through persistence, refinement, and resubmission.
To those faculty members who submitted proposals and secured funding, thank you. Your efforts advance knowledge, create opportunities for students, strengthen our communities, and enhance UMSL's reputation as a public research institution committed to impact.
At the same time, I encourage all faculty engaged in research, scholarship, and creative activity to consider how external funding can help expand your work—or even launch it in a new direction. Sponsored funding can support student research assistants, provide course releases and dedicated research time, enable travel to disseminate your findings, foster new collaborations, fund innovative programs and initiatives, and increase the visibility and impact of your work. These experiences not only advance your scholarship but also contribute meaningfully to professional growth, tenure, and promotions.
Whether you are a seasoned investigator or considering your first proposal, the Office of Research, Economic and Community Development is here to support you. Our team is committed to helping faculty identify opportunities, develop competitive proposals, navigate submission and compliance requirements, successfully manage awards, and help translate your ideas into products, services, and policies that improve lives and communities.
Research funding is about more than dollars. It is about creating opportunities to pursue bold ideas and solve important societal problems. There is nothing quite like receiving notice that your work has been funded and knowing that others share your belief in its potential impact.
Thank you for all that you do to advance research, creative activity, and innovation at UMSL. I look forward to celebrating your future successes and to seeing the continued growth of our vibrant research community.
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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT & EVENTS |
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Serving as federal reviewer is an excellent way to strengthen your proposals and get insights into the review process.
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Quick update on DARPA’s technical offices, funding opportunities, and engagement pathways.
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This month’s research impact video features Dr. Rob Paul’s research to better understand the underlying mechanisms of brain health disorders toward development of new interventions and treatments.
Special thanks to the investigators who participated in this series and to Derek Holtman, MarCom and Mary Nguyen, ORECD for producing these videos.
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When humans and AI disagree, how do we know whether it is a mistake—or a valuable new perspective?
Dr. Necdet Gurkan, Assistant Professor of Information Systems and Technology, studies how people and artificial intelligence form judgments, work in teams, and influence decision-making. Using machine learning, computational modeling, and large-scale data analysis, his research explores a timely question: How can AI help people make better decisions without disrupting the human dynamics that make teams effective?
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What motivates you to do this work? |
Having grown up in Turkey and lived in several regions of the United States, I have seen firsthand how people can view the same issue through vastly different lenses. Those experiences sparked my interest in understanding why reasonable people often reach different conclusions from the same information, often for understandable reasons. As AI becomes more involved in complex decision making, I want to ensure that it supports human thinking while not losing sight of the differences in values, experiences, and perspectives.
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What is the most exciting thing that you are working on right now? |
I am developing a framework that helps teams of AI agents identify when their disagreements reflect meaningful differences in reasoning rather than simple mistakes. This could help organizations use multiple AI systems more effectively for complex tasks such as evaluating content, reviewing software, and supporting decisions.
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When I am not studying human-AI collaboration, you will find me traveling, exploring new places, working out, and spending time with my family. I also enjoy experimenting with emerging technologies and discovering creative ways to incorporate them into everyday life.
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This call aims to catalyze the foundational scientific research needed to understand, evaluate, and control risks emerging from large-scale ecosystems of interacting AI agents, deployed by multiple actors.
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Community-Based Participatory Research projects that link an explicit research design to a concrete social action strategy.
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Seed grants for innovative mental health, pilot, model, and demonstration projects.
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Multiple opportunities for broad pragmatic studies, substance abuse, comparative clinical effectiveness research.
| Innovative, community-based projects that create pathways for girls in grades K-12 to develop STEM confidence, skills, and identity — encouraging them to pursue STEM higher education and careers.
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Funds scholarships for academically talented low-income STEM majors and to study and implement a program of activities that support their recruitment, retention and graduation.
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Multiple opportunities and due dates in mathematical and physical sciences, life sciences, neuroscience, and autism research.
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FUNDING AGENCY & ORECD ANNOUNCEMENTS |
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NSF is implementing a new research security policy. Please read the Dear Colleague Letter to learn how this may affect NSF-funded research.
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With the implementation of Forms J in Fiscal Year 2027, the NIH will no longer allow letters of support but will instead require letters of collaboration to document any collaborative relationships with individuals that are not identified in the application as senior/key personnel or other significant contributors.
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Effective August 3, 2026, the University of Missouri-St. Louis has a new Travel Authorization Policy. Individuals will be required to enter university-sponsored travel through e-Compliance.
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Overdue UMSL Internal Funding Reports
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Thank you to everyone who has submitted their final project reports. Final reports are due 30 days after the project end date or within 30 days of an approved extension. To remain eligible for future internal funding opportunities and avoid impact on remaining award funds, please submit your overdue reports as soon as possible.
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Effort Verification Reports (EVR)
Scheduled for: Aug 20, 2026
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Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI)
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The U.S. Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Interior (DOI) are now included in UMSL’s list of agencies requiring Financial Conflict of Interest disclosure (FCOI) and CITI training. Please reach out to your Pre-Award Administrator or Melissa Laurenti laurentim@umsl.edu for CITI training. To learn more visit UMSL Conflict of Interest.
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New UMSL Data Use Agreement (DUA) Process
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The Office of Research and Economic & Community Development works to empower UMSL’s research community with the resources, tools and support to conduct rigorous, impactful research and bring your discoveries and creative works to market as useful products, services and solutions that improve people’s lives.
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