AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott is emphasizing the importance of research in luring academic stars to Texas and elevating the state’s universities as well as its economy, according to a newspaper report.
The Governor’s University Research Initiative is intended to attract elite researchers to Texas academic and health campuses by offering grants that are matched by schools for establishing labs and other costs, the Austin American-Statesman reports.
The top priority goes to recruiting Nobel laureates and members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
Prominent researchers can burnish a school’s reputation, bring with them millions in federally funded research projects, offer the potential for private-sector startups, and are magnets for top graduate students.
The state Legislature set aside $38 million to fund the initiative for two years, a modest expenditure in light of existing recruiting programs at the University of Texas System, the A&M System and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.
But Abbott’s interest in higher education is encouraging to school officials, who are already lining up potential candidates for recruitment.
“You can’t overestimate the importance of the governor of a state creating a fund that will attract the best and brightest researchers,” said Patricia Hurn, vice chancellor for research and innovation for the 14-campus UT System.
