CSU kicked off the 2018-19 academic year with a reception recognizing its National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Project Grant (R01) recipients. CSU's Board Chair David Gunning, President Harlan Sands, and Research Vice President Jerzy Sawicki hosted the event.

CSU has six active R01 grants totaling $2,359,885. Five of the six R01s are awarded to College of Sciences and Health Professions faculty members in the Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease (GRHD):

1. Valentin Boerner, "Role of chromosomally tethered proteasome in chromosome pairing and meiotic recombination," National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS).
2. Hee-Sook Kim, "Molecular dynamics of genome and epigenome integrity in Trypanosoma brucei," National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
3. Roman V. Kondratov, "Circadian clock and dietary restriction," National Institute on Aging (NIA).
4. Bibo Li, "Mechanisms of RAP1 functions in monoallelic VSG expression in Trypanosoma brucei," NIAID.
5. Barsanjit Mazumder, "Translational silencing in monocytes: Role of L13a," National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI).

The R01 is the original and historically oldest grant mechanism used by NIH, providing support for a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing the investigator's specific interest and competencies, based on the mission of the NIH. It is NIH's most competitive award. In financial year 2016, the NIH received 26,187 applications for new R01 grants. 17.3% were funded with average annual budget of $460,000 and a total of $2.2 billion.