Prof. Varma has received about 12 million dollars of total research funding, of which he is directly responsible for about 11 million dollars. He has received funding from a variety of sources including federal agencies, state agencies, structural steel industry, concrete research foundations, and power industry.

The federal agencies include: (i) the National Science Foundation (NSF), (ii) the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) through the U.S. Department of Commerce, (iii) the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), (iv) the National Academy of Sciences through the National Cooperative Highway Research Program.

The state agencies include the: (i) Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), (ii) Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT), and (iii) Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT).

The steel industry sources include: (i) the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), (ii) the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), (iii) Consolidated Systems, Inc. (iv) HDR Inc., and (v) Hardesty and Hanover, Inc. The concrete research foundations include the Charles Pankow Foundation.

The power industry sources include: (i) Bechtel Power, (ii) Westinghouse Electric Company, (iii) URS (now AECOM), (iv) Mitsubishi Heavy Industries from Japan, and (v) Korea Hydro Nuclear Power from S. Korea.

Prof. Varma has received research funding from federal regulatory agencies including: (i) US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and (ii) the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC).