MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation has announced $159.8 million of total support in the academic year ending in 2025 for University of Wisconsin–Madison research. The support includes a three-year, $15 million grant to help fund infrastructure and human investment in artificial intelligence through the university’s Research, Innovation and Scholarly Excellence Initiative (RISE), a multifaceted effort to strengthen research, scholarship and educational opportunities.
WARF has been a trusted partner to the university since 1925, enabling UW–Madison research to solve the world’s problems and protecting the university’s status as a globally respected leader in innovation.
Today’s announcement initiates a yearlong centennial celebration that will culminate in November 2025 with the 100th anniversary of WARF’s incorporation as a nonprofit supporting organization of UW–Madison.
“What better way to kick off our centennial year than to celebrate the ways we will be partnering with UW–Madison throughout this upcoming year to uphold the tradition of research excellence at our great university,” says WARF CEO Erik Iverson.
Grants made to the UW–Madison Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research (OVCR) make up the majority of WARF’s annual support ($105.4 million). The WARF Board of Trustees and UW–Madison administration determine the amount in close collaboration, extending a strong relationship that has endured since the 1920s.
“UW–Madison is more focused than ever on addressing grand challenges through the sort of interdisciplinary scholarship led by world-class faculty and talented students drawn to the exceptional opportunities to learn and grow offered on our campus,” Chancellor Jennifer L. Mnookin says. “WARF’s investment is critical to maintaining those invaluable resources and to giving us the flexibility to turn them toward new priorities for the benefit of the people of Wisconsin and the world.”
This year, the OVCR grant allocates $56.7 million for research projects, including strategic initiatives such as Research Forward, the annual Fall Research Competition, and two targeted programs aimed at building the capacity of UW–Madison to bring research innovations to the marketplace. WARF Accelerator provides industry expertise and gap funding for promising technologies, and WARF Therapeutics assists researchers in drug development and partners with industry to commercialize discoveries.
The $15 million grant approved to support the chancellor’s bold RISE-AI Initiative will help accelerate the pace of attention to artificial intelligence, building programs and people. The grant will invest across all divisions at UW–Madison, including the social sciences and humanities and human ecology as well as the physical and life sciences.
“We are grateful for WARF’s strong and continuing investment in cutting-edge research, including strategic initiatives to advance transformative projects on campus,” says Dorota Brzezinska, UW–Madison vice chancellor for research. “WARF support also fuels the cycle of innovation for inventions and emerging technology. It also enhances our faculty recruitment, retention, and important and deserving recognition through fellowships. I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish together to advance the Wisconsin Idea with WARF’s contribution.”
In 2025, funding for research faculty, graduate student researchers, and research support staff will total $38.7 million. An additional $10.0 million for research facilities rounds out the $105.4 million grant funding and adds to the more than 50 buildings and pieces of major equipment that WARF has supported since 1938.
“As WARF gets ready to celebrate its centennial year, the alumni on our board of trustees continue to be amazed by the depth and breadth of research across our campus, and we’re proud to be part of the solutions helping people in Wisconsin and beyond,” says WARF Board Chair Deborah Keller. “It’s an honor for us to support research at our alma mater that makes a difference in people’s lives.”
Above and beyond OVCR grant funding, WARF allocated $5.3 million for the Morgridge Institute for Research, a private, interdisciplinary medical research organization and UW–Madison affiliate located on campus.
“WARF’s partnership with the Morgridge Institute helps us deliver on the promise of curiosity-driven research, which is the wellspring of new knowledge leading to discoveries that advance health and well-being,” says Morgridge CEO Brad Schwartz. “We’re honored to be a part of WARF’s 100-year legacy of harnessing research for the good of society.”
Finally, while most universities bear the cost of technology commercialization and asset management through their own budget, WARF covers those services through in-kind, operational and functional support valued at $49.1 million for 2025.
Read more about the science made possible by WARF’s recent support for UW–Madison research here: https://www.warf.org/news/from-bugs-to-brain-imaging-warfs-support-of-uw-madison-advances-research/
For a full itemization of WARF’s 2025 support across all categories, visit warf.org/grants.
About WARF
Incorporated in 1925, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) patents and licenses discoveries from UW-Madison research, manages an investment portfolio generated from licensing and investment proceeds, and provides annual grants to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Morgridge Institute for Research to support further scientific investigation and research. By driving collaborations among researchers, investors, industry and entrepreneurs, WARF commercializes innovations from campus through various initiatives. WARF Accelerator improves the commercialization potential of university intellectual property through industry engagement and investment in proof-of-concept milestones to validate market potential, demonstrate commercial value and de-risk technology. WARF Therapeutics partners with UW-Madison and Morgridge Institute researchers employing an industry-focused approach to improve the value propositions of drug candidates. WARF Ventures is an early-stage venture fund that invests in startups based on UW/WARF technologies. Learn more at warf.org.
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