The Tucson-based Planetary Science Institute, which focuses on exploration of the solar system, had a 27 percent boost in total funded expenses last year, capping a decade in which it more than quintupled its workforce.
It's a bit small to make the Star 200 list of top businesses, but it's yet another example of how science-based companies continued to create jobs during the economic downturn.
For the year that ended in January, PSI took in more than $7 million in grants and contracts, with most of it coming in contracts for NASA missions and studies.
In 2002, its 24 employees were responsible for $919,000 in grants and contracts.
Mark Sykes, the institute's director, had expected things to level off last year, but instead he added nine employees and brought in an additional $1.5 million.
People are also reading…
The institute continues to attract applicants who "want to focus on doing research as opposed to other activities - projects assigned to you or sitting on university committees," he said.
The institute currently has 85 full- and part-time employees, 65 of whom are Ph.D. scientists, said spokesman Alan Fischer. Fischer was unable to provide a full-time-equivalent figure.
Tucson is home to 32 of the scientists and 11 staffers. The additional scientists work from other states and countries.
The ability to work off-site makes it easier to accommodate scientists whose spouses are tied to a geographic location, Sykes said, and because the scientists pay their own salaries with grants and contracts they win, working parents and retirees can also be accommodated.
The institute also offers support in going after contracts, said Sykes. It organizes workshops in which 20 Mars researchers are "all giving advice to each other on how to improve the competitiveness of their proposals."
That leads to success, said Sykes. "We generally do better than 50 percent. The average is one in three or one in four."
Things will tighten up in the coming year with anticipated cuts in NASA's budget, he said, but many of the institute's contracts are long-term.
Sykes himself is a co-investigator for NASA's Dawn Mission, which will orbit and image two of the giants of the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Dawn will arrive at Vesta this summer and make it to Ceres in 2015.
Five PSI scientists are members of the science team for the Messenger spacecraft which went into orbit around Mercury last month.
Contact reporter Tom Beal at tbeal@azstarnet.com or 573-4158.