In recent years, Cleveland State University has nearly quadrupled its research and development spending. With $55 million in annual R&D expenditures, CSU ranks among the top 20 percent of universities in the United States for R&D, according to the National Science Foundation.
Among Ohio universities, the NSF ranks CSU at No. 6 in federally financed R&D expenditures, well ahead of many other institutions, including Wright State University, Ohio University, Kent State University, Miami University, the University of Akron and Bowling Green State University.
CSU is making great strides in biomechanics through an exciting partnership with a Cleveland-based Fortune 500 company. With a $1.5 million endowment from Parker Hannifin, CSU’s Fenn College of Engineering has built a new laboratory for the study of human motion and control, complete with an advanced treadmill, motion sensors and three-dimensional imaging equipment. Dr. Antonie van den Bogert, an international authority on biomechanics, is leading CSU’s research at the forefront of technology designed to replicate the movements of healthy limbs for people with paraplegia and other mobility challenges.
A distinctive wind spire that recently completed a test phase atop Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Indians, could represent the shape of things to come for wind power. Designed by Dr. Majid Rashidi of CSU’s Fenn College of Engineering, the spire more than quadrupled the energy output of conventional wind turbines. It generated inspiration, too. Dr. Rashidi, who dreams of making Northeast Ohio "the Silicon Valley of wind energy," has made presentations about his invention to 10,000 local students. The U.S. Department of Energy awarded a $1.1 million grant to CSU to develop wind-amplifying structures based on Dr. Rashidi’s system.
Researchers in CSU’s interdisciplinary Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease (GRHD), led by Dr. Anton A. Komar, are focused on understanding of various biological processes and how malfunction of these processes results in various diseases, including but not limited to cardiovascular disease, aging, infectious diseases and cancer. GRHD was launched in 2008 with a grant from the Ohio Third Frontier Commission’s Ohio Research Scholars Program and was recognized as a Center of Excellence at CSU by the Ohio Board of Regents in 2010. At present, GRHD brings together 15 CSU faculty members representing three departments in the College of Sciences and Health Professions. In the past 6 years, during a time of unprecedented decline in external funding, GRHD members have been awarded more than $15 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the International Human Frontiers Science Program Organization, the American Heart Association, the Department of Defense, and The March of Dimes. GRHD is a recognized leader in biomedical research at CSU and generates almost half of all indirect costs (IDCs) brought to CSU by its researchers. The research in GRHD has led to 3 spin-off start-up companies located in Cleveland and attracted nearly $2 million in private donor support. GRHD members also offer many excellent engaged research opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students in their laboratories.