Sudbury's Laurentian University is the recipient of more than $1.5 million in research and equipment grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) for the next academic year. Most of the funding is allocated for 43 research projects in earth sciences, medicine and mining. The $1,530,000-grant represents a 16 per cent increase from last year in NSERC funding to Laurentian. NSERC is the primary federal funding agency for science and engineering research.