WARF’s decades of partnership have been critical to the university’s ability to attract federal research dollars and maintain its high stature as a research university. WARF’s support is one reason why a university in a state of only five million people has consistently been ranked among the top tier research universities in the world.
Funding by WARF allows researchers to undertake very early stage research that cannot otherwise be funded and if the research proves successful, it is leveraged into attracting federal and other foundation grants. WARF’s dollars also fund graduate students, matching funds needed to attract federal grants, expensive equipment and research tools and in many cases the laboratories themselves. This is funding that state support does not provide for and is critical to attracting large federal grants.