According to the March 28 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education, congressional earmarking for specific universities in fiscal year 1997 is up 49 percent from last year -- from $296 million to $440 million -- with UH topping the list.

"Hawaii appears to be the clear winner this year, with an estimated $68 million in direct appropriations," the Chronicle said.

And when you add appropriations the UH must share with or is competing for with other organizations, the total reaches nearly $100 million from various federal agencies.

Trailing Hawaii are California, with an estimated $28 million in federal appropriations; Oregon, with $25 million; Louisiana with $24 million; and Florida, with $20 million.

These figures are from the Chronicle's annual study of federal spending laws and congressional reports written to explain them.

Nearly half of the $100 million for the UH comes from the U.S. Navy for an already controversial $45 million Navy oceanographic ship project to replace the retiring Moana Wave. The Office of Naval Research plans to hold a peer-review competition this summer to see what institution will be awarded use of the research ship, which would be one of six in the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System fleet after the Moana Wave is decommissioned.

While many believe Hawaii will get it, local UH and state officials aren't taking any chances. At the Board of Regents meeting on Thursday, Dean Smith, UH senior vice president for research, sought authorization of $150,000 over three years to retain a Washington D.C. consulting firm to assist the UH in competing for the ship. The university, however, withdrew the request after regents raised legal concerns about procurement. UH officials are now exploring options on how to hire the firm, which is operated by a former admiral who had served as the Navy's chief oceanographer.

The proposed research ship was among several Hawaii projects that U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, pushed through Congress that has received criticism as pork-barrel funding. Inouye has responded that UH and Hawaii have special needs only its representatives will look out for.

Here is a list of the University of Hawaii projects that Congress has directed federal agencies to support in fiscal year 1997:

$45 million from the Navy for a new oceanography ship.

$14 million from the Army to be shared with Georgetown University and an Army medical center for the Akamai project on medical-diagnostic imaging.

$12.5 million from the Defense Department, shared with seven other organizations, for the Maui High Performance Computing Center.

$12 million from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, shared with five other organizations, for the Undersea Research Program.

$5.4 million from the Army for the Hawaii Small Business Center.

$2.724 million from the Agriculture Department, shared with four other universities, for tropical and subtropical research.

$2.5 million from the Defense Department, to be shared with an Army medical center, for the Pacific Island Health Care Program.

$2 million from the Defense Department, shared with two Army units, for a disaster management training program.

$750,000 from the National Marine Fisheries Service for Hawaiian fisheries development.

$650,000 from the Army for UH-Manoa research on substances derived from marine organisms that can help break down hazardous materials.

$564,000 from the Agriculture Department, shared with four other universities, for agricultural development in the American Pacific.

$500,000 from the Fisheries Service for the Hawaii stock-management plan.

$250,000 from the Agriculture Department for floriculture research; $145,000 for research on the management of termites as urban pests in the American Pacific; $131,000 for agricultural diversification; and $127,000 for research on multicropping strategies for aquaculture.