Andrew Young School Earns $35.5M in Grants in FY ’24

ATLANTA — Georgia State University’s (GSU) Andrew Young School of Policy Studies (AYSPS) faculty and research centers reported a near-record year for grants raised in fiscal year 2024, earning $35.5 million in research funding.

AYSPS played a large role in helping Georgia State meet its second-highest annual total for research funding, contributing nearly a fifth of the university’s $185.72 million raised in FY ’24. The college’s Georgia Health Policy Center (GHPC) led the university’s centers, departments and institutes with more than $25 million in total grant funding. GHPC and three of its principal investigators (PI) — Ann DiGirolamo, Karen Minyard and Angela Snyder — were named among GSU’s top 10 awardees during the year by department and PI.

“The Andrew Young School’s innovative research, scholarship and creative activity support a key pillar of Georgia State’s strategic plan,” Dean Thomas J. Vicino said. “We join this great university in producing new knowledge that transforms lives and communities, improves the human condition and answers critical questions in the global society.”

In the health policy area, AYSPS research promotes collaborations to improve public health financing, community health systems and total health system transformations. It also plays a critical role in helping state and local governments find ways to improve K-12 education and tax and budget policies; helps build capacity and quality in nonprofit and government service providers, build stronger economies and strengthen environmental resilience and sustainability within communities; and improves outcomes for those in the criminal justice system and social justice arena. These are just a few areas the college’s research impacts.

“Research funding for AYSPS faculty and staff makes tremendous impacts on our students and communities,” Professor David Ribar said. Ribar is associate dean for research at AYSPS. “It supports not only traditional scholarly and social science research, but also projects that assist government agencies, schools and nonprofit organizations, providing valuable, transformative services in our communities. It also contributes to the academic and professional success of our undergraduate and graduate students.”

More than 150 projects were funded in AYSPS over the course of the fiscal year. Ten PIs earned awards of more than $1 million and another 23 PIs earned $100,000 to $1 million. Of the college’s top 10 grant recipients, seven were female. Overall, 48 AYSPS faculty and research staff earned awards during the year, half of them female. Their work has helped elevate the Andrew Young School to its ranking of No. 16 among public affairs graduate programs nationally.

Denise Jenkins, assistant dean for finance at AYSPS, noted the teamwork it takes to generate a successful funding year.

“Kudos to our unsung heroes, our research administrative staff, who contribute not only to AYSPS success, but also to Georgia State’s outstanding research funding portfolio,” Jenkins said. “Our staff colleagues support PIs and garner confidence that their proposals and projects will be properly managed year after year. A testament to our collaborative work between PIs and staff is seen not only in the FY ’24 AYSPS research funding total of $35.55M, but also in our FY ’23 total of $53.28M, the AYSPS funding record, and in every successful year leading to these gains.”

The Andrew Young School of Policy Studies is a college of Georgia State University, one of the largest public research universities in Georgia and one of only four in the state with an R1 designation from the Carnegie Foundation, an honor reserved for the nation’s most active research institutions. Outgoing research expenditures have doubled in the last decade and topped $1.2 billion over the last six years.

For more information about Georgia State research and its impact, visit research.gsu.edu.