Nebraska sees brain drain in research More prestigious institutions in other states have the funds to lure personnel

LINCOLN -- Ruma Banerjee is Dana Altman in a lab coat.

At least once a year for a decade, the University of NebraskaLincoln biochemistry researcher has fielded a phone call from a school promising more money, more lab space, more prestige -- if she'd make a move.

Finally, last year, the University of Michigan called. Banerjee and her husband, Stephen Ragsdale, also a top UNL researcher, couldn't say no.

They start at Michigan in August, beneficiaries of an increasingly stiff -- and costly -- competition for top research talent.

"UNL has been great to us," Banerjee said. "But we've always known that there were one or two places where, if they called, we could be persuaded to look. And Michigan . . . it was one of those places."

Like big-time coaches, researchers are lured with signing bonuses and ever-larger contracts, although salaries generally are six figures, not seven.

They are promised better facilities, better students and the chance to be No. 1.

The difference: "We don't sell tickets to the research center," joked Thomas Rosenquist, vice chancellor for research at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

But the low-profile moves can drive or stall high-powered research at schools such as UNL and the NU Medical Center -- and the university and state can make or lose millions in the process.

"The impact to Omaha, to Blue Hill, to Red Cloud . . . is you can build a research community in Nebraska," said UNMC Chancellor Harold Maurer.

"You can generate economic growth, become an economic engine for the state, create more jobs," he said. "You can propel the university into a different class, attract more students."

New England, North Carolina and Nevada increasingly recognize the importance of top researchers, too, creating a research "arms race" that Nebraska doesn't always win.

"It's ultra-competitive. All the universities are playing the same game," Banerjee said.

The game: Grab as much external research funding as possible by securing grants from federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and from private companies.

UNL topped the $100 million mark in outside research funding last year. The medical center isn't far behind, at $80 million. Creighton University, the state's No. 1-ranked private college, pulled in $38 million.

The star players: researchers, such as Banerjee who are renowned enough to apply for and win large grants by themselves.

The university pays for such star power, giving her an annual salary of roughly $142,000 -- nearly double that of the average UNL professor.

But the rules say a top researcher like Banerjee gets to keep the roughly $600,000 in grant money she's won for her own research projects when she moves from Lincoln to Ann Arbor, Mich.

That means UNL loses roughly $250,000 in so-called "indirect cost" money that comes with Banerjee's personal grants.

Indirect cost money is a part of every research grant and goes to the school, not the researcher. It pays for staff and buildings, Rosenquist said.

"Without it, we can't do anything," he said.

Banerjee's departure may cost UNL millions more if it affects federal support for UNL's Redox Biology Center, which she currently heads.

The center, which researches cellular reactions that could lead to cures for Alzheimer's and other diseases, relies on a $10 million federal grant Banerjee helped secure.

"More important than those grants, the loss is the person and the leader," Prem Paul, UNL's vice chancellor for research, said of Banerjee and Ragsdale.

The stakes get even higher when you look at a U.S. map and pinpoint the areas creating new jobs and new wealth, said NU President J.B. Milliken.

A huge research university is often at the hub of that development, Milliken said. "It's not an accident."

Professors and administrators at UNL and the NU Med Center say their schools have grown increasingly aggressive in recruiting new faculty and keeping top researchers.

The medical center has retained 12 of the past 13 winners of the Gilmore Award, given annually to UNMC's top researcher.

Med Center leaders beat back a rival school's attempt to simultaneously hire a half-dozen researchers working in its Center for Neurovirology and Neurodegenerative Disorders, said Anuja Ghorpade, professor and 2007 Gilmore Award winner.

"They gave us additional opportunities," Ghorpade said of UNMC's counteroffer. "Stability and opportunities."

Stability doesn't come cheap.

Last year, the NU Medical Center spent about $9 million on recruitment and retention of faculty, Rosenquist said. Some money goes toward "performance stipends" -- basically, a de facto bonus if a UNMC scientist hauls in a certain amount in federal grants.

The stipends help UNMC compete when the average NU Medical Center professor's salary is $81,622 -- $8,000 less than the average at nine similar medical centers that UNMC calls its peer institutions.

Raises for NU Medical Center professors averaged 0.4 percent in 2006. Professors at the nine peer institutions -- including the medical centers at the University of Kansas and the University of Iowa -- received average raises of 1.9 percent.

"When you are giving out a salary increase like that (at UNMC) . . . it's insulting," Maurer said. "My faculty tell me that it's insulting."

At UNL, Paul jump-started the once-struggling research arm of the state's flagship university. External funding of research has more than doubled since he arrived six years ago.

He recruits hot young faculty members using the millions in state money earmarked for biomedical research.

The university also utilizes privately donated money to fund dozens of new "endowed professorships," which supplement a professor's salary and help attract and keep top researchers.

But UNL still loses some top researchers, Paul said.

Sometimes it's because they want more research space: The university desperately needs more square footage for research, he said.

Sometimes it's salary: UNL pays its professors less than they could make at surrounding schools, Paul said.

An average UNL professor makes $79,998, according to the university, while the average professor at UNL's 10 peers -- schools such as the University of Kansas and Iowa State University -- makes $83,949.

And sometimes, a whitecoated star leaves because a prestigious school such as Michigan calls and makes an offer she simply can't refuse.

The University of Michigan is raising $425 million to supplement the salaries of top professors and researchers.

It already has 349 endowed chairs on campus and a special $5 million annual fund just to recruit professors to those positions.