N.C. State University is the champion of earmark requests.
The Raleigh university was far and away the largest recipient of requests for Congressional appropriations from the North Carolina delegation.
Its 23 earmark requests, including three for consortiums working through the school, total $58.9 million.
They include money for studying pig waste, nanotechnology, sweet potatoes, forensic sciences, blue crabs, the effects of outer space on plants, hemlocks, drinking water, textiles and aquaculture, among other things.
The college was helped by its traditional focus on research and hard sciences, which often benefit from earmarks, and by Congressional district lines which position it favorably with Reps. Brad Miller, Bob Etheridge and David Price.
Rep. G.K. Butterfield also requested a number of earmarks for the college, and Reps. Heath Shuler, Mike McIntyre and Howard Coble signed onto one or two.
