The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, (ARRA), also referred to as the Federal Stimulus Plan or Recovery Act, was approved by Congress and signed into law by President Obama on February 17, 2009. The Act specifies appropriations for a wide range of federal programs, and increases or extends certain benefits under Medicaid, unemployment compensation, and nutrition assistance programs. The legislation also reduces individual and corporate income tax collections, and makes a variety of other changes to tax laws. 

 

The $787 billion Recovery package is designed to jump start the U.S. economy through federal spending on such programs as education, energy, health care, housing and transportation—investing in products and services that will put Americans to work, improving infrastructure and allowing for enhanced or continued research.

 

As a recipient of ARRA funds, USU is committed to transparent, ethical, and responsible use of these funds. Detailed information about the appropriation of ARRA funds, and how to report potential fraud, waste or abuse, can be found at http://www.recovery.gov.

 

Stimulus funds are available to Utah State University from two sources:

• State Fiscal Stabilization Funds
• Federal Agencies

 

ARRA Proposals and Awards at USU (.xlsx)

 

Recent ARRA News at USU

 

Stimulus Funding Invested in Logan Lagoon Biofuel Project

 

Contact: Jeff Broadbent, jeff.broadbent@usu.edu
Writer: Jacoba Mendelkow, jacoba.mendelkow@usu.edu

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has, to date, funded over $6 million in research proposals at USU. With the awards process continuing, USU could receive up to $73 million in ARRA funds.

One of USU’s most recently funded ARRA projects will convert 460 acres of Logan City’s wastewater lagoons and 240 acres of wetlands to grow and cultivate algae. The algae harvested from the lagoons will be converted into biofuels to run the city’s garbage and recycling trucks. Additionally, the lagoons will serve as a fertilizer production facility, extracting phosphorus—necessary for the production of healthy algae but bad for plants and animals downstream—from the water before it has a chance to travel into Cutler reservoir and the Bear River.

“Logan’s wastewater lagoons, which serve most of Cache Valley, discharge nearly 14 million gallons of water per year into Cutler reservoir and the Bear River drainage,” said Jeff Muhs, executive director of the Energy Dynamics Lab, the newest unit of the Utah State University Research Foundation. “High phosphate loads in the water discharged from the Logan lagoons pollute the Cutler reservoir and downstream Bear River drainage.”

The Logan Lagoon project received $500,000 and Cutler reservoir another $72, 295 in ARRA funds to improve water quality in the reservoir before it flows into the migratory bird refuge and the Great Salt Lake.

The algae farm and fertilizer production project is the first of its kind and may serve as a potential model for the 16,000 wastewater lagoons throughout the United States, said Muhs.

Prior to the infusion of ARRA dollars for the Logan Lagoon project, the city of Logan was spending $250,000 yearly to aerate the lagoons to prevent the growth of algae. Now, the city can allow that algae to grow and harvest it for the production of biofuels. If the project is successful, it will also save the city from building a nearly $200 million treatment facility to permanently treat the phosphorus problem.

Leading the effort with Logan City are the USU USTAR Biofuels team and the Energy Dynamics Lab.

“The Logan Lagoons project is implementing USU research in a way that will benefit the citizens of Cache Valley and our downstream neighbors,” said Brent Miller, vice president for research at USU. “This is a statewide problem, and USU researchers are using innovation to find a solution.”

And that is what ARRA funds are designed to do: spur technological advances in science, invest in transportation and environmental protection and other infrastructure that will provide long term economic benefits.

“USU is committed to the transparent, ethical, and responsible distribution of ARRA funds, said Jeff Broadbent, associate vice president for research at USU. “We are using the ARRA funds we’ve received at USU for their intended purpose, and all ARRA funds we receive will be distributed following ARRA reporting guidelines.”

ARRA funding at USU has gone toward the Utah Botanical Center, the Laboratory Animal Research Center, and Edith Bowen Laboratory School, among others, to support a variety of projects that are working to improve the quality of life for citizens of Cache Valley, the state of Utah, and the nation.

ARRA specifies appropriations for a wide range of federal programs and increases or extends certain benefits under Medicaid, unemployment compensation, and nutrition assistance programs. The legislation also reduces individual and corporate income tax collections, and makes a variety of other changes to tax laws. See USU’s ARRA site (http://research.usu.edu/htm/arra) and Recovery.gov (http://www.recovery.gov) for more information.

 

 

Researchers Receive Funding from the ARRA

 

Contact: Jeff Broadbent, jeff.broadbent@usu.edu
Writer: Kinsey Love, kinsey.love@usu.edu

 

Wetland Discovery Point, Utah Botanical Center

Despite a downturned economy, USU researchers have received approximately $2.5 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for various research projects and research infrastructure improvement. The awards process for the ARRA is not yet complete, and nearly $57 million in submitted proposals could still potentially be funded.

The purpose of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is to preserve and create jobs and promote economic recovery, to assist those most impacted by the recession, to provide investments to increase economic efficiency by spurring technological advances in science and health, to invest in transportation, environmental protection, and other infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits, and to stabilize state and local government budgets, in order to minimize and avoid reductions in essential services and counterproductive state and local tax increases (see http://www.cogr.edu and http://recovery.gov for more information).

A few of the USU project leaders and projects that have been awarded funding through ARRA include the following:
 

 

Name	Dept.	Amount	Research Title
David T. Anderson	Utah Botanical Center	$260,000	Continued Development of the Utah Botanical Center's Wetland Discovery Point
Bob Brown	Chemistry	$194,482	ARRA: Reactions and Fate of Amines in the Atmosphere Emitted From Animal Feeding Operations
Yangquan Chen	Electrical & Computer Engineering	$282,789	REU Site: Mobile Actuator and Sensor Networks (MAS-NET)
Joan Hevel	Chemistry & Biochemistry	$575,200	ARRA: Protein Arginine Methylation By PRMT1
Aaron Olsen	LARC	$434,357	Laboratory Animal Resource Improvements - USU
Mark Peterson	Edith Bowen	$87,780	FY09 Stabilization Funds
Timothy Shahan	Psychology	$199,569	Behavioral Studies
Timothy Shahan	Psychology	$20,020	Behavioral Studies
Rich West	Center for the School of the Future	$62,000	ARRA: Americorps VISTA Recovery Act Grant

 

“Most of USU’s ARRA-funded awards support research projects, but some will deliver important improvements to the University’s research infrastructure,” said Brent Miller, vice president for researcher.  “For example, the grant awarded to Dr. Olsen will support significant improvements in the function and capabilities of the USU Laboratory Animal Research Center by providing for the purchase of much needed equipment associated with the housing and care of laboratory animals.” 

The primary benefits of the LARC funding will come in the replacement of cage wash equipment, which has been in service for almost 40 years.  The purchase of high quality laboratory animal caging will improve LARC operational efficiency while also improving safety for laboratory workers and research animals.  Other LARC improvements include expanded diagnostic and research support capabilities and significantly enhanced surgical equipment. 

“Taken as a whole, the equipment purchased with the grant monies will significantly improve operational efficiency, research capabilities, and laboratory animal welfare,” said Miller.

“Researchers and administrators need to be aware that ARRA mandates a significant level of transparency and accountability,” said Jeff Broadbent, associate vice president for researcher.  “Therefore, there are added reporting requirements on ARRA-funded awards.” 

Most of these requirements will be managed by the Controllers Office (SPA), but some will be the responsibility of the Principal Investigator (PI).  Specifically, there must be quarterly reports documenting the following:

• Total amount received from each agency (SPA)
• Amounts obligated and expended (SPA)
• Name and description of each project (SPA)
• Detailed information on subcontracts issued (SPA)
• Evaluation of the completion status (PI)
• Number of jobs created by each project (PI)
• Number of jobs retained by each project (PI)

 

Other ARRA News at USU

• Stimulus Bill Creates New Grant Opportunities
• Creation of USTAR Technology Commercialization Grant Program at USU

 

Useful Links

• Webinar training materials
  
• Reporting requirements