Senator Leahy Helps Secure Millions in Funding to Support UVM

UVM | Late last year, Sen. Leahy capped his support for UVM with the inclusion of $30 million in Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) funding in the form of an endowment dedicated to enhancing the experience of its promising and ambitious students, especially through the university’s Honors College, and an additional $50 million in Vermont-focused research funding in the annual appropriations bills that fund the U.S. government.

University researchers will compete for funding from programs supported by Sen. Leahy to address issues important to Vermont, and for which UVM has a track record of research strength. These include U.S. government programs such as $15 million for Institutes for Rural Partnerships, $13 million for food systems research on small and medium-sized farms, $10 million for Rural Centers of Excellence on Addiction, $2 million for unmanned aircraft systems research, and $4 million to establish a new Climate Impacts Center of Excellence.

“On behalf of everyone at UVM, I must express my deepest gratitude for everything we’ve received in this budget,” University President Suresh Garimella said. “It is critically important for the state of Vermont that our university continues to strengthen the richness and quality of our academic offerings and expand the impact of our research enterprise. This funding will help drive those efforts forward for years to come.”

Garimella said the funding would “develop signature programs, support research excellence, and promote leadership and learning opportunities for our talented students,” particularly those in its respected Honors College. He praised Sen. Leahy’s commitment to the university as integral to its emergence as a premier research institution focused on sustainable solutions with local, national, and global applications and impact.

“Senator Leahy’s impact on the university is incalculable,” Garimella said. “So much of our success over the years can be attributed to his help in securing the necessary resources for our work here at UVM.”

Garimella said the unflagging support of UVM by Leahy and fellow Vermont delegates Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) remains centrally important to the success of its mission as the state’s public land-grant research university.

“We are so thankful that our delegation has such faith in the university and will continue to help with securing funding in support of UVM into the future,” Garimella said.

In a UVM lab, scientist Ajit Singh uses a specialized instrument for studying “isothermal titration calorimetry,” he says, “the only one in Burlington.”