Planning for Future Research in Public Universities in Uncertain Times

Merrill Series on The Research Mission of Public Universities

A compilation of papers originally presented at a retreat sponsored by The Merrill Advanced Studies Center July 2014

Mabel L. Rice, Editor Technical editor: Evelyn Haaheim

MASC Report No. 118 The University of Kansas

Introduction Mabel L. Rice ...... vi Director, Merrill Advanced Studies Center, the University of Kansas

Executive summary ...... viii

Keynote address Sally Frost Mason ...... 1 President, the University of Iowa Planning for Future Research in Public Universities in Uncertain Times

Panel 1: Research Administrators Harvey Perlman ...... 19 Chancellor, University of Nebraska Engaging with the Private Sector: Nebraska Innovation Campus Brian Foster ...... 25 Provost and Professor Emeritus, University of Missouri Adaptive Planning in a Chaotic Research Environment: Aligning Academic and Business Issues Jeffrey Scott Vitter ...... 42 Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor, University of Kansas Julie S. Nagel Executive Director of Corporate Partnerships, University of Kansas Enhancing University Research through Corporate Engagement and Collaboration

Panel 2: Researchers Baskar Ganapathysubramanian ...... 49 Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University Revolutionizing science through simulation: A junior researcher’s perspective on research challenges in uncertain times Jonathan Brumberg ...... 57 Assistant Professor, Speech-Language-Hearing, University of Kansas Interdisciplinary collaborations at work in brain-machine interfacing Shannon Bartelt-Hunt ...... 66 Associate Professor, Civil Engineering, University of Nebraska Collaborative research between engineering and life sciences: Influences of surface attachment on the biological properties of proteins

iii Panel 3: Research Administrators Danny Anderson ...... 70 Dean, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, University of Kansas Research, Productivity, and Pressures on Faculty in an Era of Disruptive Change John F. Leslie ...... 78 Head, Dept. of Plant Pathology, Kansas State University Stabilizing Research Departments in a 10% World Mark McIntosh ...... 86 Professor and Chair, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, University of Missouri Strategic Investments in Research in Microbiology and Immunology – Importance of Technology Infrastructure Panel 4: Research Administrators Karen Burg ...... 96 Vice President for Research, Kansas State University Planning Interdisciplinarity in Uncertain Times: Research Centers Henry Foley ...... 100 Senior Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies, University of Missouri The New Role of Land Grant Universities in the 21st Century: An Essay Prem Paul ...... 112 Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development, University of Nebraska Top Secrets to Growing University Research in Uncertain Times Sarah Nusser ...... 120 Vice President for Research, Iowa State University Research Administration and Leadership – Perspectives of a New VPR

Panel 5: Research Administrators Michele Kennett ...... 123 Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research, University of Missouri Anticipating New Directions in Human Subjects Research Chitra Rajan ...... 125 Associate Vice President for Research, Iowa State University Developing Research Capacity and Infrastructure Richard Barohn ...... 130 Vice Chancellor for Research, University of Kansas Medical Center Laura Herbelin, BSc - Research Instructor, Department of Neurology, University of Kansas Medical Center Lauren S. Aaronson, PhD, RN, -Professor, School of Nursing and Dept. of Health Policy & Management, School of Medicine; Deputy Director, Frontiers: The Heartland Insti- tute for Clinical and Translational Research, University of Kansas Medical Center Clinical Research: New Frontiers iv Joseph Heppert ...... 137 Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, University of Kansas Can research inform us about the efficacy of University STEM education?

Panel 6: Administrators and Researchers Kurt Preston ...... 144 Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, University of Nebraska Department of Defense Research Funding: Opportunities, Idiosyncrasies, and Risk Analysis Emily Smith ...... 152 Associate Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, Iowa State University The argument for investing in expensive research endeavors: Analytical Chemistry as an example Joy Ward ...... 158 Associate Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas Enhancing the Success of Early Career Faculty in STEM Fields During Uncertain Times Chris Sorensen ...... 166 Courtelyou-Rust University Distinguished Professor, Kansas State University 37 Years an Academic Scientist

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS and CREDENTIALS ...... 172

v Introduction

Mabel Rice The Fred and Virginia Merrill Distinguished Professor of Advanced Studies and Director, Merrill Advanced Studies Center, The University of Kansas

he following papers each address an aspect of the subject of the eighteenth annual research policy retreat hosted by the Merrill Center: Planning for Future Research T in Public Universities in Uncertain Times. We are pleased to continue this program that brings together University administrators and researcher-scientists for informal discussions that lead to the identification of pressing issues, understanding of different perspectives, and the creation of plans of action to enhance research productivity within our institutions. This year, the focus was on the adaptation and innovation regional Universities are developing as sources of federal research funding contract. Our keynote speaker for the event, that ensued and the preparation of the fi- Dr Sally Frost Mason, discussed the cur- nal papers. The list of all conference at- rent funding environment and a few new tendees is at the end of the publication. approaches which could be used to im- The inaugural event in this series of prove future prospects. conferences, in 1997, focused on pres- Benefactors Virginia and Fred Mer- sures that hinder the research mission of rill make possible this series of retreats: higher education. In 1998, we turned our The Research Mission of Public Universi- attention to competing for new resources ties. On behalf of the many participants and to ways to enhance individual and over more than a decade, I express deep collective productivity. In 1999, we exam- gratitude to the Merrills for their enlight- ined in more depth cross-university alli- ened support. On behalf of the Merrill ances. The focus of the 2000 retreat was Advanced Studies Center, I extend my on making research a part of the public appreciation for the contribution of effort agenda and championing the cause of re- and time of the participants and in partic- search as a valuable state resource. In ular to the authors of this collection of pa- 2001, the topic was evaluating research pers who found time in their busy sched- productivity, with a focus on the very im- ules for the preparation of the materials portant National Research Council that follow. (NRC) study from 1995. In the wake of Thirty-one senior administrators and 9/11, the topic for 2002 was “Science at a faculty from five institutions in Kansas, Time of National Emergency”; partici- Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska attended pants discussed scientists coming to the the 2014 retreat. Though not all discus- aid of the country, such as in joint re- sants’ remarks are individually docu- search on preventing and mitigating bio- mented, their participation was an essen- terrorism, while also recognizing the dif- tial ingredient in the general discussions ficulties our universities face because of

increased security measures. In 2003 we tion. The 2009 retreat highlighted re- focused on graduate education and two gional research collaborations, with dis- keynote speakers addressed key issues cussion of the many advantages and con- about retention of students in the doc- cerns associated with regional alliances. toral track, efficiency in time to degree, The 2010 retreat focused on the chal- and making the rules of the game trans- lenges regional Universities face in the ef- parent. In 2004 we looked at the leader- fort to sustain and enhance their research ship challenge of a comprehensive public missions, while the 2011 retreat outlined university to accommodate the fluid na- the role of Behavioral and Social sciences ture of scientific initiatives to the world of in national research initiatives. Our 2012 long-term planning for the teaching and retreat discussed the present and future service missions of the universities. In information infrastructure required for 2005 we discussed the interface of science research success in universities, and the and public policy with an eye toward economic implications of that infrastruc- how to move forward in a way that hon- ture, and the 2013 retreat discussed the ors both public trust and scientific integ- increasing use of data analysis in Univer- rity. Our retreat in 2006 considered the sity planning processes, and the impact it privatization of public universities and has on higher education and research. the corresponding shift in research fund- Once again, the texts of this year’s ing and infrastructure. The 2007 retreat Merrill white paper reveal various per- focused on the changing climate of re- spectives on only one of the many com- search funding, the development of Uni- plex issues faced by research administra- versity research resources, and how to tors and scientists every day. It is with calibrate those resources with likely pleasure that I encourage you to read the sources of funding, while the 2008 retreat papers from the 2014 Merrill policy re- dealt with the many benefits and specific treat on Planning for Future Research in issues of international research collabora- Public Universities in Uncertain Times.

vii Executive summary

Planning for Future Research in Public Universities in Uncertain Times Sally Frost Mason, President, University of Iowa • The current climate for university research presents us with some significant challenges. Total federal R&D spending and federal non-defense R&D dollars have declined in the past ten years, and the prognosis for the future is pretty stagnant. Projecting to 2021, federal funding is forecasted to have only very modest growth.

• While the United States’ public investment in research over recent years has declined, many of our international colleagues/competitors are enjoying major upswings in federal research dollars. State legislatures and university governing boards are re-examining the role of research in a state-supported institution, and usually these controversies center on a university’s emphasis on teaching and a university’s role in state economic development.

• Economic issues play into many such controversies across the country. Metaphorically, the public university research enterprise is in the midst of its own “climate change” in three major areas: state priorities, federal funding, and international competition. As with any kind of change, adaptability remains key. I propose three broad areas in which we must think about playing a new game: 1) Research portfolio diversification, 2) new partnerships, and 3) interdisciplinary approaches.

• We must remain vigilant and redouble our institutional advocacy for the nation’s research enterprise. We must create physical spaces that are flexible enough to encourage interdisciplinary research, and classrooms that support inquiry-based learning. We must revisit our standards for promotion and tenure - publication should remain important to the promotion and tenure process, but we must also develop real standards for assessing the impact of interdisciplinary work, innovation and excellence in teaching, and public engagement. Engaging with the Private Sector: Nebraska Innovation Campus Harvey Perlman, Chancellor, University of Nebraska • There are at least three trends that must be accounted for as we plan our research future. First, while innovation is a major driver for economic growth, most public companies are withdrawing from investments in basic research. Yet, companies also understand they must position themselves to access research that has commercial value and that research takes place largely within universities. Thus there are market forces that make university-private sector partnerships essential.

• Second, federal research support is uncertain, particularly in this period of political dysfunction in Washington. If Universities are to sustain their core research enterprise, it seems sensible to diversify our sources of funding. Other potential sources are the private sector, international engagements, philanthropy, and internally generated resources. • Third, the political pressure on government expenditures causes even public funding agencies to demand more evidence of returns from the investments in research. We would be foolish to ignore this. Increasingly, federal research funding programs are insisting on proof of commercialization prospects for research proposals or insisting that private sector companies be a partner in funded research.

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• All three of these trends dictate that universities develop stronger ties with the private sector as an alternative source of research funding. I think we are far beyond the question of whether we should engage with the private sector in research partnerships. I believe that is a given and a necessity. However, there remains much to be considered in how these relationships are structured, implemented, and assessed. Getting these items right will have a lot of influence on the future of our research enterprise. Adaptive Planning in a Chaotic Research Environment: Aligning Academic and Business Issues Brian Foster, Provost and Professor Emeritus, University of Missouri • Uncertainty is everywhere and can pose both challenges and opportunities. Adaptive planning must address both in an on-going, responsive way. The most important guiding principle is to build the plan on institutional strengths, to position the institution favorably in relation to other universities.

• It is critical to work with non-traditional constituents whose interests, political positioning, and other properties can help build on the institution’s strengths—constituents such as large corporations, government agencies, beltway bandits, national labs, and economic development agencies.

• The key to engagement is to have real discussions, to bring together people who are positioned very differently and who have different perspectives. Real discussions will get the disagreements, value differences, and special interests on the table so they can be dealt with.

• The environment differs for every institution; the responses differ for every institution. The most that can be made of the specific information is that it provides the first steps for mapping the particular institution’s environment, linking it to the broad direction it wishes to take, and creating a viable plan for implementing the goals to get to where the institution wants to go.

• Research is deeply embedded in the broader Higher Education dynamics. Like other elements of Higher Education, it cannot be seen as separated from fiscal, political, regulatory, instructional, facilities and other elements of the university—and of Higher Education broadly. Enhancing University Research through Corporate Engagement and Collaboration Jeffrey Vitter, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor, The University of Kansas Julie Nagel, Executive Director of Corporate Partnerships, The University of Kansas • As part of our strategic plan, we seek to promote active entrepreneurship and vibrant external partners. A key component of this strategy was the creation of the Office of Corporate Partnerships, developed to diversify KU’s research portfolio.

• We have created a one-stop shop at KU for external groups looking to collaborate with us. Having these groups working under a single set of metrics provides for cross-collaboration. A portal for both faculty and industry sponsors to work through to create research-based partnerships removes barriers companies often cited as reasons for not working with universities. ix

• KU has many different products (or domains) that companies may want to access. Interac- tions between KU and a company can lead to other forms of partnership with the company, which can move the company along a conceptual path of increasing engagement. We facilitate all aspects of industry-sponsored research at our core, and we lead the university-wide strategy on how to coordinate these different areas with a central message.

• It is crucial for us to share information about company visits and interactions and to put forward a coordinated face to companies - so we know exactly how the company has worked with the university in the past, which helps us expand the collaboration in the future. By sharing, each of the different groups that works with companies can leverage the others and create a greater benefit for the university.

• We opted to use the Salesforce.com Customer Relationship Management tool (CRM) and configured it to track all our company engagements. Today, we have data feeds coming in from numerous units across multiple campuses. These data feeds include details on tech transfer, development, research, and numerous other ways in which companies engage with KU.

• Between Fiscal Year 2011 and 2013, our licensing revenue increased by a multiple of 15, or by a multiple of four if you exclude an outlier that generated significant revenue to KU. Licensing agreements increased by 15 percent, patent issues increased by 131 percent, and industry-sponsored research is up 40 percent. Revolutionizing science through simulation: A junior researcher’s perspective on research challenges in uncertain times Baskar Ganapathysubramanian, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University • Universities must encourage faculty to aspire towards a diversified portfolio of problems as well as funding agencies to target. There has to be a conscious move away from funding from a single federal source (like NSF in engineering, or NIH in medical sciences). This includes a healthy distribution of funding between industry and federal sources.

• Promotion and tenure documents may look different in this context of multi-disciplinary work, with half-dozen or more co-authors on papers, jointly mentored students, and multiple co-PIs on grants becoming the norm. The administration should have clear guidelines for faculty to articulate their contributions for P&T as well as awards/recognition. Depart- ments should not discourage junior faculty from participating in large grants.

• The university and college can initiate research in strategic areas that are of relevance at the university/state/national level, by means of awards which enable the formation of large teams and provide pursuit funding.

• A key factor is trained support staff who are well versed in the budgetary and regulatory intricacies of various funding sources (NSF vs NIH vs DoD). Providing travel grants to visit funding managers across the country is clearly a low-risk, high-reward investment for the university. Additionally, universities can make industrial partners feel welcome by making IP issues straightforward.

• Universities (especially in the Midwest) can leverage existing facilities to create win-win conditions by collaborating to establish large scale centers. This avoids duplication of infrastructure in a narrow geographic area and can promote significant cost-matching. Buy-in from the faculty can be cemented by making other university faculty part of centers, and by awarding courtesy appointments. It appears that this is strategically promising for the group of universities attending the Merrill conference in the areas of engineering sciences, agriculture, and medicine. Interdisciplinary collaborations at work in brain-machine interfacing Jonathan Brumberg, Assistant Professor, Speech-Language-Hearing, University of Kansas • It is now possible to translate the experimental conclusions of cognitive and computational neuroscience into practice for diagnosing and rehabilitating disorders with a neurological deficit. • Cochlear implants and deep brain stimulators are great examples of the translational research potential at the intersection of engineering and neuroscience. Computers are interfacing directly with neural tissue in a one-way, input fashion. The reverse design pattern in which neural activity controls a computer is also relevant for rehabilitation purposes, and are more traditionally considered brain-machine interfaces. • Recent trends in national and local policy have led to some uncertainty for the future of the research missions of public universities. These trends may potentially increase diversity of scientific study and add to our ongoing research activities. Suggestions for how to enhance university involvement in interdisciplinary research:

• Including recruits with non-traditional backgrounds • Focus on the potential for interdisciplinary application of applicant research

• Continued training for managing broad scope of interdisciplinary research • Establishing expectations for promotion and tenure

• Identifying alternative funding sources • Draw from funding typically associated with each collaborating discipline • Look to commercial and foundation partners

• Establish appropriate relationships with collaborating disciplines • Enable cross-disciplinary student mentoring, course instruction and research opportunities

Collaborative research between engineering and life sciences: Influence of surface attachment on the biological properties of proteins Shannon Bartelt-Hunt, Associate Professor, Civil Engineering, University of Nebraska • Collaborative research between the basic sciences and engineering is critically important to the ability of academia to answer future societal challenges. Despite the importance of fostering collaboration between scientists and engineers, there can sometimes be institutional or interpersonal roadblocks that limit successful collaborations.

• I joined the faculty in the Department of Civil Engineering in January 2006 and almost immediately began to collaborate with Dr. Jason Bartz on experiments to investigate the environmental behavior of the prion protein. In the beginning, we kept the research question very simple. By keeping our question simple, we were able to learn the terminology and techniques of each other’s discipline, and we also successfully answered our question. A more complex or complicated question might be important to answer, but with initial collaboration, I would encourage keeping it simple.

• Another trait of successful collaborations is that they raise questions that may not have been ever thought of by an individual working in a single discipline. Also, the answers to these questions many times require the knowledge of people from disparate disciplines. Our collaborative work allowed us to develop a conceptual model of prion disease transmission that encompasses both environmental behavior and passage into and within the host animal. This linked environmental and biologic model would not have been possible without our collaborative research relationship.

• What contributes to a positive collaborative relationship? Working collaboratively requires that you take the time to understand each other’s language and respect each other’s expertise. Meeting in person on a regular basis is very important to establish a collaborative relationship. At the same time, you must read the literature outside your discipline to learn more about the terminology and work being done in your collaborator’s discipline.

• A collaborative research relationship requires trust between individuals. Collaboration means that you will share ideas, resources, equipment, and student advising activities, often without knowing ultimately what benefit or products may arise from this work. This requires a leap of faith and a commitment to the long-term collaborative relationship.

• Institutions can provide incentive and support for collaborative research, acknowledging the time investment in developing a collaborative relationship, which may have a longer return period for funding and publications compared with single discipline research. Col- laborative research is often published in journals outside your discipline area, and this is significant for faculty going through the promotion and tenure process - there must be an understanding and appreciation of this work and its contribution both to your own discipline as well as other disciplines. Research, Productivity, and Pressures on Faculty in an Era of Disruptive Change Danny Anderson, Dean, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, University of Kansas • The factors driving change converge in the everyday life of the tenured or tenure-track faculty at public research universities. From the faculty point of view, these tensions create confusing and frustrating situations. The faculty career is one of increasing anxiety and tension as they are asked to juggle additional balls to enable the enterprise to adapt to rapidly changing conditions.

• University presidents and chancellors, provosts, vice chancellors for research, and deans can enable their faculty and strengthen their research universities by adopting and adapting three key strategies to fit our unique institutional cultures:

1. Communicate laser-sharp focus regarding vision and goals. Clarity of focus includes a clear understanding of individual faculty roles and contributions to the goals. Because xii

department chairs directly relay central administrative goals to faculty, it is essential to aid them in this communication challenge with clear priorities and consistent talking points; support for effectively using departmental talent is essential.

2. Construct conditions that motivate. As the academic career becomes more complex, the external motivations of carrots-and-sticks are not sufficient for inspiring engagement. Recognizing and supporting faculty autonomy, mastery and purpose is more effective for leveraging employee engagement.

3. Cultivate faculty engagement over the entire arc of a changing career. By focusing on the full arc of the faculty career and intentionally designing strategies to sustain faculty members for the long game, we can strengthen our institutions and strengthen faculty engagement.

• These three strategies exemplify practices in a research university that create the opportunity to lead. With clarity of vision, conditions that motivate, and cultivation of faculty careers over the life span, these strategies call upon presidents, chancellors, provosts, and deans to lead as genuine collaborators with faculty in the reinvention of the university during an era of disruption. Stabilizing Research Departments in a 10% World John F. Leslie, Head, Department of Plant Pathology, Kansas State University • Most land grant universities have 150+ years of history of conducting research in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Support for the research mission has varied through the years in terms of both amount and source.

• Since a high water mark for external funding in the 1960s, funds for STEM research have been slowly whittled down with most federal programs supporting STEM research now having a success rate near or below 10%. The scarcity of funds has led to questions regarding criteria for faculty to obtain tenure and promotion, and the measures used to evaluate department and institutional excellence.

• The survival of institutions and their constituent departments remain a primary, if uninspiring, goal. Faced with declining budgets and loss of faculty and other staff, successful departments have become more collaborative in their research efforts, more cautious in their hiring patterns, and more deeply involved in interdepartmental and inter-institutional research efforts.

• Institutions with a clearly enunciated vision for their future and the ability to form multidimensional collaborations – administration and faculty, across discipline boundaries, and between basic and applied researchers – are the best positioned to not only survive, but to prosper in a 10% world. Strategic Investments in Research in Microbiology and Immunology – Importance of Technology Infrastructure Mark McIntosh, Professor and Chair, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Director of Research Core Facilities, University of Missouri • Managing a microbiology and immunology basic science research department has long focused on developing a balanced faculty that provides breadth in expertise and that works

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within the institution to fulfill the three fundamental missions of education, scholarly research and discovery, and community service, whether local, regional, national or international.

• Infused into those missions in all basic and applied sciences over time has been an increasing emphasis on economic development as the fourth mission. The historical management perspective however has changed over the past several years with the growing emphasis on building comprehensive research teams that tackle complex research problems with a “translational” goal.

• This emphasis requires more targeted recruitment strategies, replacing the “cast a broad net and pick the best scientist no matter what the subject matter” approach. In parallel, high throughput, high resolution and highly analytical technical instrumentation and data analyses have become essential for the development of any comprehensive research strategy.

• This report will summarize the significant institutional challenges to investigator-driven research in the current federal funding climate and propose strategies for integration of highly focused basic science investigators into an interdisciplinary research network that depends on technology infrastructure to ensure and enhance research productivity.

• It is written from the perspective of a basic science chair at a public research institution who has experienced the transition from a siloed departmental set of academic objectives to an environment of networked and interdisciplinary research. It also touches on the growing concerns within such institutions in generating sufficient institutional resources to build an appropriate infrastructure capable of sustaining cutting edge research. Interdisciplinarity in Uncertain Times: Research Centers Karen Burg, Vice President for Research, Kansas State University • The barriers to interdisciplinarity in a university setting are many. The typical university units naturally promote territorialism. The perceived incentives for faculty members to participate in interdisciplinary research is low. Interdisciplinary units are inherently more difficult to manage, and a high university investment is required. Importantly, the return on investment is ill-defined and, although potentially extremely high, very difficult to quantitate.

• Interdisciplinary is a great buzzword, but is an exceedingly difficult activity to manage. The National Academies (2014) has released many position papers promoting the concept and has provided compelling rationale for striving to achieve interdisciplinarity. Interdis- ciplinarity is the convergence of multiple disciplines that results in longer term effects. That is, each participating discipline is richer for the experience and gains in some tangible manner.

• An interdisciplinary center generally spans university units and provides a collaboratory and infrastructure for team-based work. The ideal center relies on a core of permanent research faculty, rather than building on the talents of tenured or tenure track faculty, who have multiple responsibilities beyond the bounds of the center. Research faculty provide an environment which is industry friendly – particularly with respect to goals, deliverables, and metrics - they also provide a student friendly environment – i.e. training of students in a real world, collaborative environment.

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• The center is, in effect, a flexible clearinghouse. The institute or center must be independent from but complementary to departments and should serve as a hiring draw for departments (due to the ready-made collaborators and infrastructure). Longer-term stability is provided by the appointment of permanent research faculty members as the core. In contrast, tenured and tenure-track faculty are involved as dictated by the scientific needs of projects and investigator availability.

• There are several important reward concerns. In particular, effort toward and participation in a center must be recognized by tenure/promotion committees. Rewards are based on output; common output includes congressional testimonies, public policy initiatives, popular media, or product development. Center research tends to lend to multiple author publications, which incorporate different perspectives from different disciplines. Letters of support from collaborators, defining the critical role of a center researcher, can be vital to the tenure and promotion process.

• The described interdisciplinary center model is industry friendly, major government initiative friendly, and student friendly. Center research faculty complement departmental unit foci and provide stability. When based on existing collaboratives, a center provides a rich training environment. Most importantly, the center provides a microenvironment where the disciplines gain independently and collectively. The New Role of Land Grant Universities in the 21st Century: An Essay Henry Foley, Senior Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies, University of Missouri • Historically, land grant universities provided broad access to needed higher education for people of all backgrounds, especially from the industrial classes. The land grant universities played a significant role in advancing the state of agriculture and industry in the United States. By the end of the 20th century, the mission of the land grant institutions rested firmly on the three strong pillars of teaching, research and outreach. • Today, many land grant universities have added economic development as a fourth pillar under their missions. The federal government made clear that research universities, including the land grant universities, were to take on the challenge of driving economic growth. They were to do fundamental research and convert its outcomes into new products, processes, and innovation and in a transparent, demonstrable way. Land grant universities began to pay much more attention to technology transfer as it relates to economic development. The land grants are well suited for this because of their historical role as socially responsible institutions that seek to improve the well-being of citizens in their states and the nation. • At the University of Missouri, our research strategy is to become an even larger and more powerful engine of innovation and economic impact in the Midwest. With total research expenditures well over $270 million per year, our research engine’s displacement is significant, but we expect and need this displacement to grow. Our goal is to become the very best among Midwestern land grant institutions at the conversion of the products of research and scholarship into innovations that will make life better. By growing new businesses, by supporting and improving existing businesses and by growing jobs, we can play a significant role in raising prosperity.

• At this point in our history and that of our nation, we are asked to do even more than before; we are expected to drive innovation to help the country achieve renewed prosperity through sustainable economic growth. To do this, is to be an “engine of innovation.” To succeed at this, we need to bring our institutions closer to the real economy and to the business community. We need to do so locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. We need to test new approaches that will set the course for the land grant university for the rest of the 21st century, a course that will integrate the strengths of our past with entrepreneurship to bring forth more innovation from our research and scholarship than ever before. Top Secrets to Growing University Research in Uncertain Times Prem Paul, Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development, University of Nebraska Monica Norby, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research, University of Nebraska Nathan Meier, Director of Research Strategy, University of Nebraska • Flat federal funding for academic science and engineering research, increased competition and lower success rates for grants, heightened rivalry for top faculty talent and a larger burden of costs for research compliance make these uncertain times for university research.

• Like the federal agencies, we have to balance our investments in single investigator and inter-disciplinary centers and large teams. Our Programs of Excellence funding and other funds enabled us to hire new faculty, both senior and junior, in targeted areas. Multi-disciplinary cluster hires enabled us to build strong teams in a short time. Areas in which we have invested central resources include materials and nanoscience, atomic and molecular physics, virology, early childhood education, water and food security, computational sciences and digital humanities.

• We support junior faculty leadership development through our Research Development Fel- lows Program, a focused year-long experience of formal and informal learning sessions designed to help early stage investigators conceptualize project plans, interact effectively with program officers, identify funding opportunities, plan and draft effective grant proposals and develop an understanding of the proposal review process.

• We created an office that provides grant support to faculty from idea generation to facilitating team building and external review of proposals prior to submission to funding agencies. Our faculty have benefited from these services, which have increased their funding success. This focus on enhanced grantsmanship also includes developmental assistance with graphics and generation of grant proposal budgets.

• An effort to build connections among faculty through interdisciplinary faculty retreats in targeted thematic areas has been fruitful. The most recent retreat involved more than 275 faculty, featured nationally recognized speakers and talks and “quick pitches” by UNL faculty, panel discussions, networking activities and breakout sessions focused on thematic areas. At the conclusion of the retreat, a new seed grant program was announced. These retreats have proven essential to build faculty connections and stimulate the level of cross- disciplinary collaboration and innovative thinking needed for long-term funding success.

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• Data-driven decision making, emphasis on individual investigator and team-based projects (including multi-institutional and interdisciplinary efforts), targeted hiring and infrastructure investments, and focused research and faculty development resources represent some of the strategies necessary to maintain market share and facilitate academic R&D in the face of stagnant or diminishing extramural funding. A Newcomer’s View of Research Administration in Uncertain Times Sarah Nusser, Vice President for Research, Iowas State University • State investment and federal funding are at best volatile and more likely to be shrinking; we are experiencing increased scrutiny of our administrative, educational and research practices; and the role of research is also being reframed as part of the broader creative and translational process of innovation.

• We are working with a few basic tenets to help us move forward. First and foremost is the importance of a diversified portfolio in managing volatility in funding opportunities. The second focus area is preparing our faculty to respond to opportunity as it arises. A third and trickier consideration is managing risk in the research and development process as funding sources, regulatory guidelines, and commercial opportunities expand. Finally, serious strategic planning and effective resource management are required to meet our goals.

• We tend to invest heavily in the star researchers and research-intensive colleges, departments, and programs where the return on investment is most significant. However, there are pockets throughout the rest of the university that have the capacity to engage in sponsored research. These researchers may lack the knowledge required to identify funding sources and develop successful proposals, as is often the case with new assistant professors in research active domains. This problem is readily addressed by existing faculty development programs.

• ISU has a distributed and heterogeneous network of pre- and post-award support. To assist academic units with limited grant support, we are creating a shared pre- and post-award service that will be available to individuals, research groups, and academic units. Antici- pated benefits of this initiative include more efficient administrative processes in submitting grants and higher quality proposals. We also hope this reduces the barriers for capable faculty to submit proposals for sponsored funding.

• We are discussing how we evolve our culture and support activities that foster commercialization of research outcomes. In partnership with ISU’s Economic Development and In- dustry Relations unit, our main activities have focused on two areas: (1) initiating pilot programs to better understand what training is needed in order for our faculty to be successful in translating their research to commercial applications, and (2) determining what to prepare for as an institution in order to manage risk in the translation process.

• In recent years, the burden, complexity, and risk associated with research conduct and compliance have steadily increased. The dynamic, conflicting, and arcane regulatory environment makes it difficult for researchers to understand and engage with this responsibility, particularly given their intense workload. As we migrate to new software systems for compliance committees, we have an opportunity to evaluate our processes and see if we can reasonably address these forces. Anticipating New Directions in Human Subjects Research xvii

Michele Kennett, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research, University of Missouri • Human subjects research, highly regulated and overseen through the Institutional Review Board, is still viewed by many as a barrier to research. The question is, how we can as institutions, move from being the barrier to research to aiding in creating a culture of compliance?

• The changing funding environment is at the top of most lists of challenges. With decreased federal funding there is increased competition for research dollars and increased look to industry to remain competitive. In addition, institutions face challenges in dealing with the increasing number and complexity of regulations. Increased complexity of contracts creates challenges, extending timelines for study implementation in an already competitive environment. Difficulty recruiting subjects poses another challenge. Inadequate research training, poor mentoring of new researchers, research coordinators without appropriate skills to carry out a research protocols and lack of professional compliance staff, all cause inefficiency in the research enterprise and leads to dissatisfaction and frustration.

• Times have changed, we need to rethink and reanalyze our interpretations. Many in human subjects protections are currently rethinking the reliance on a single IRB in multicenter trials. Another area being explored is the option for equivalent protections in human subjects protections. Federal regulation dictates the regulations applied to federally funded research but flexibility is possible in non-federally funded research, provided it provides equivalent protections. This may lead to a lessening of the burden for some types of research i.e. research in schools.

• Metrics can show the value of what we do in human research protections. Today’s systems allow us to track and quantify the many activities that go into human subject protections. Metrics allow us to calculate time from submission to approval and identify where delays occur.

• Investigators often do not have the toolbox that would allow access to pertinent information directly related to their research needs. A toolbox would allow investigators to access information needed for IRB submission, forms and templates, FDA regulations, and guidelines on how to navigate the human subjects research experience. With the technology available to us, the ability to create a more centralized place for investigators and compliance staff to interact is possible. Building Research Capacity and Infrastructure Chitra Rajan, Associate Vice President for Research, Iowa State University • The last seven to ten years have been very challenging for universities: we have seen a growing scarcity of resources for research due to decreases in federal funding and reductions in state support. At the same time, research administrative costs have been increasing, as greater resources (including staff time) are required to handle the growth in compliance, accountability and reporting requirements.

• Despite severe cuts in state funding over a 3 year period, ISU was able to make critical investments, develop new programs, and improve processes and overall efficiencies. Some of these efforts included institutional strategic investments, new faculty hires (cluster hires), and a strong commitment to provide the research support services and facilities needed to enable research excellence and knowledge transfer.

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• Most notably, the VPR Office has stepped up the resources available to help faculty submit grant proposals and manage awards by offering a comprehensive menu of research development and support services chain (identify funding opportunities; proposal preparation and submission; project management and compliance; reporting and closeout), making it easy for faculty to develop, prepare, and submit grant proposals by reducing administrative/clerical work. The VPR Office and the Office for Sponsored Programs Administration also provided several training and workshops for support staff in departments and centers to upgrade their skills in grant preparation and post-award and project management.

• There is a strong commitment that all support service units under the VPR Office will be well managed, service-oriented, and responsive to faculty needs. Staffing for many of the critical research support offices such as sponsored programs administration and responsible research has increased, making it easier for these units to keep up with the growth in the volume and complexity of sponsored funding contracts. There are resources now for staff professional development and a cultural shift that emphasizes consultative decision making, and continuous self-assessment and improvement.

• By building on existing strengths, and working across and between disciplines, ISU was able to see growth in external funding from a range of sources across the breadth of the university’s research activity. It is critical that research universities develop a plan to diversify their funding portfolio to hedge against the vagaries of external funding and make selective, strategic investments even in difficult times. It is crucial for research universities to develop long-term sustainable plans for programs and units; and, although it may be politically unpopular to do so, discontinue support for unproductive and under-used programs and units. It is important that research universities are willing to take some calculated risks. Clinical Research: New Frontiers Richard Barohn, MD - Vice Chancellor for Research, University of Kansas Medical Center; Director, Frontiers: Heartland Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, University of Kansas Medical Center Laura Herbelin, BSc - Research Instructor, Department of Neurology, University of Kansas Medical Center Lauren S. Aaronson, PhD, RN, -Professor, School of Nursing and Dept. of Health Policy & Management, School of Medicine; Deputy Director, Frontiers: Heartland Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, University of Kansas Medical Center • Both NIH and PCORI recently have created and funded large programs aimed at doing clinical research better and more efficiently so that discoveries are brought to patient care and improve the health of the public more rapidly.

• The CTSA program is managed by the new National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS). Today, five academic institutions and 10 health care institutions comprise the Frontiers program, and investigators from all of these sites are eligible to apply for and use Frontiers resources.

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• Among the successful programs under the Frontiers umbrella is a pilot study funding program. Pilot study funding for a project has varied from $20-30K for each project. The Trail- blazer program provides a smaller amount of funding on a more flexible basis. These applications may be submitted at any time and undergo an administrative review.

• NeuroNEXT is a consortium supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) (http://www.neuronext.org). It was created to expand the capability to conduct clinical studies in neuroscience. Through the NeuroNEXT program, KUMC is currently involved with four studies, focusing on four diseases.

• The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) was established as part of the federal Affordable Care Act. The overall goal of PCORnet is “to improve the nation’s capacity to conduct clinical research by creating a large, highly representative national patient-centered network that supports more efficient clinical trials and observational studies”

• Central to this new frontier is collaboration. The shared hope is that through collaboration we can more rapidly and more rigorously find answers to the questions that matter most for achieving a healthier public. Can Research Inform us about the Efficacy of University STEM Education? Joseph Heppert, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, University of Kansas • The increased climate of accountability around the use of taxpayer funding has come to rest on the U.S. public higher education system. Key accountability metrics include both student retention in college and time to degree. These metrics present challenges for traditional models of university STEM instruction, which are perceived to contribute to higher than institutional average attrition from the ranks of STEM majors. Degree obtention rates of 60 percent represent a national average for U.S. Engineering programs, for instance. These challenges could, if left unaddressed, become a threat to the structure and mission of public research universities.

• There are many instructional models that accommodate a broader range of learning student learning styles, improve success in learning and increase student engagement with subject matter. We need to consider whether public research universities should systematically turn the tools of rigorous quantitative and qualitative research inward to study the instructional changes being driven, in part, by a culture of increasing accountability.

• The key questions we must ask: Can rigorous quantitative educational research answer fundamental questions about the efficacy of university curriculum reform, what are anticipated institutional commitments and costs for these studies, and what are reasonable boundaries for the implementation of such programs?

• It is to our advantage to demonstrate that resources aimed at STEM curriculum enhancement are providing the anticipated benefits for our students. We have the tools of research at our disposal, faculty who could benefit professionally from partnering in such studies, and the need to move away from an anecdotal narrative for evaluating the efficacy of educational change.

• This process can contribute to protecting the diverse, interrelated missions of public research universities and provide a narrative for engaging a sometimes-skeptical public in the discussion that the research and educational missions of the university are indivisibly linked. xx

Department of Defense Research Funding: Opportunities, Idiosyncrasies, and Risk Analysis Kurt Preston, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, University of Nebraska • Notwithstanding the relative modest proportion that DoD basic research funding takes in the federal budget, there are some disciplines, such as engineering, where the DoD basic research funding effort comprises a significant portion of its resourcing. Mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and aeronautical engineering respectively receive 80%, 61%, and 35% of their federal basic research funding through the DoD.

• The take away message from examining the DoD RDT&E budget is that there are two highly differentiated funding modalities. The first modality is the basic research mode in which one finds grants awarded, largely to research universities, through the vehicle of a broad agency announcement (BAA.) The second modality funds applied research and advanced technology development. In general terms, there is an inverse relationship between involvement by universities and maturity of the technology. The further one departs from basic research, the smaller the proportion of funding is likely to be found going to a college or university.

• There are two modes of DoD science and technology (S&T) funding. The first, basic research, is designed to engage the university research faculty member. The second mode, the rest of the (S&T) funding, rarely benefits university research faculty members unless they lead or find themselves in a team focused on applied DoD problems. It is critical to understand that applications, demonstrations, and systems are all outside the realm of basic research in the DoD context.

• DoD research funding has a place in planning for future research in public universities in uncertain times. However, the DoD is not the principal source of research dollars to colleges and universities. It is a distant fourth behind NIH, NSF, and DOE. It is unlikely that DoD research funding would form the basis for funding the University research enterprise. Nonetheless, the DoD basic research program provides a vehicle for university principal investigators to be involved in the defense of the nation through their research activities. Building upon Existing Research Strengths in Uncertain Times: Analytical Chemistry and ISU Emily Smith, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Iowa State University • Competitive start-up funds and space requirements for a research group are the most significant challenges to maintaining research strengths in the chemical sciences. The average start-up package for an assistant professor of chemistry for 19 selected universities across the Midwest is roughly $810,000 for an assistant professor, excluding associated costs for renovating space. The average start-up package for a senior faculty member is approximately $1.7 million excluding renovation costs.

• Industrial connections are increasingly seen as an important source of funding and partnership in times when obtaining federal funding for basic research is a growing challenge. These connections make particular sense for applied research projects that may offer a shorter-term payoff in the form of developed products or new measurement techniques. There is existing evidence for the successful partnership between industry and academic xxi

departments with analytical chemistry divisions. Named endowments, donated equipment for departmental use, and the use of equipment at remote sites may be beneficial approaches for fields in which analytical measurements are taken.

• The careful planning of shared university (center) equipment purchases may alleviate need for a portion of start-up funds for new faculty members, and the entire university community might benefit from the addition of on-site equipment experts.

• It is necessary to invest time and money in advertising the unique strengths within and outside one's own organization. Seminars and local conferences have been the traditional route for achieving this. Existing research strengths at public universities in uncertain times may not remain strengths unless the university invests both time and money to maintain them. This may be accomplished with traditional as well as innovative strategies. Leader- ship from all levels will be key to successful implementation of these strategies. Enhancing the Success of Early-Career Faculty in STEM Fields During Uncertain Times Joy Ward, Associate Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas • Early-career faculty face numerous challenges when working to establish an upward professional trajectory, particularly those in STEM fields. Federal resources for basic and applied science have diminished since ARRA funding ended. This presents challenges within universities, since investment in tenure-track faculty is often substantial (particularly in STEM fields), and the loss of faculty members through tenure denials is far from ideal.

• Teaching release: There are times when early-career faculty members would greatly benefit from teaching release for short periods of time (1-2 semesters) in order to enhance their research programs, and this may be essential to their success. Teaching release for early- career faculty to attain the momentum needed to sustain a long-term research career may be best applied in mid- to late stages of the pre-tenure period.

• Networking: Early-career faculty are eager to develop close networks with other colleagues that may be in different, yet complimentary fields. This may facilitate the formation of large multi-disciplinary teams that will eventually be highly competitive for large grants. Devel- opment of these networks can be particularly strong within new cohorts, since all are adjusting to new positions at a new university.

• Service: Within departments, there tends to be a movement towards minimizing hours spent conducting service for early-career faculty, mainly because this allows for greater time for teaching and development of research programs. I strongly agree with this practice, as the demands on early-career faculty can be overwhelming, and teaching and research productivity will be more heavily scrutinized when tenure decisions are being made.

• Mentoring and feedback: Early-career faculty require excellent senior faculty mentors, and these mentors need to be clear and outspoken if deficiencies exist that may block the candidate from gaining tenure. The mentor should then work with the early-career faculty member to overcome these deficiencies as soon as possible. On the other hand, when early-career faculty are thriving, and are clearly on a trajectory to gain tenure, it is imperative that faculty mentors convey this information to the candidate as well.

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37 Years an Academic Scientist Christopher Sorensen, Courtelyou-Rust University Distinguished Professor, Kansas State University • Despite a universal decline in science funding, we all owe our prosperity and our health prospects to advances in the sciences. NIH Director Francis Collins stated in recent testimony to Congress, “Our nation has never witnessed a time of greater promise for advances in medicine.” Yet NIH’s budget for fiscal year 2014 (FY14) is 11.7% below the FY04 peak. How can our universities help us win the grants to keep our researches going?

• Solid infrastructure is the foundation – access to diagnostic equipment that is too expensive and require too much expertise to run and money to maintain by a single investigator. Things like electron microscopes, XPS and X-ray diffraction. It is the university’s role to provide these devices, man them with expert operators and provide for their continued maintenance.

• Other ways the universities can help researchers: develop outreach connections across a wide range of venues such as K-12 schools, community colleges, minority institutions, civic groups, museums, etc. In addition, it would be very useful to have readers to read drafts of our grants and give advice - readers who know the current trends and buzzwords, the ins and outs of the funding agencies.

• In a recent editorial in Science, John Edward Porter argued that “we must convince the public and our representatives that cutting research is not a pathway to deficit reduction; it is a pathway to increased health threats, lost lives, and economic insecurity”. And yet, Porter points out “there has been little outreach by scientists to the public to help them understand how science contributes to better health, job creation, and global competitiveness.” Further- more he writes “Scientists remain largely invisible to the public”

• You would think professional teachers would be terrific at communicating these important messages to the public. Let’s try to communicate by writing op-eds and letters to the editor of local newspapers about the latest scientific breakthroughs and their implications for society, by volunteering to speak at local organizations, chambers of commerce, junior high and high schools about our work or the latest discoveries. We could offer to be a scientific advisor for candidates or create and serve on science advisory committees.

• In addition, I believe that we have the opportunity to profoundly influence the future every class day by teaching the value of science to our students - by letting our students know that we not only teach but do research as well. By being good and reasonable people to win their respect and thus ensure our arguments gain efficacy. What we do in the classroom might not have an effect overnight, but it will certainly change the future.

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Planning for Future Research in Public Universities in Uncertain Times

Sally Frost Mason, President, the University of Iowa

esearch will and must remain one of the core missions of our public universities. At the same time, public expectations—whether it’s from our public citi- R zenry or leadership—are changing regarding both what we do and how we do it. These changing expectations obviously can lead to uncertainty and challenges. But that has been the case forever, if we think about it. Today’s uncertainties and challenges are not necessarily the same ones we faced ten, twenty, or a hundred years ago. But our public universities—one of the great achievements of American society—have always risen to the challenge of leading our communities, our states, our nation, and the world into new discovery. And we will continue to do so as we move further into the twenty-first century.

Let me start with a brief review of how The first challenge is the muted projec- the current climate for university re- tions for federal research funding. A search presents us with some significant quick graph in Figure 1 below shows challenges. that even in the recent past—since

Figure 1 Source: AAAS presentation titled “Federal R&D in FY 2015: Context, Overview, Outlook” for the Council on Government Relations, 6/12/2014.

2010—total federal spending R&D post-sequestration scenarios, and the spending has declined in constant 2014 Ryan/Murray Congressional proposal dollars. changes—are forecasted to have only And as Figure 2 from the American very modest growth. Association for the Advancement of Sci- If we dig into some of the details of ence clearly indicates, federal non-de- the FY15 base R&D budget, we see in Fig- fense R&D dollars have in fact declined ure 3 that many of our stalwart basic sci- in the past ten years, and the prognosis ence federal funding programs—such as for the future is pretty stagnant. Project- the National Institutes of Health and the ing relatively far into the future—to National Science Foundation—are de- 2021—all likely scenarios—including the clining this year in constant dollars. This president’s request, the Budget Control year, though, those doing research in en- Act and American Taxpayer Relief caps,

Figure 2 Source: AAAS presentation titled “Federal R&D in FY 2015: Context, Overview, Outlook” for the Council on Government Relations, 6/12/2014.

ergy, transportation, or advanced manu- China garners the most attention in facturing will do better. All in all, the U.S. discussions about upward R&D trends, federal investment of nearly $140 billion and the numbers bear that out. Figure 4 in R&D, including the Department of De- from AAAS showing Organization for

Figure 3 Source: AAAS presentation titled “Federal R&D in FY 2015: Context, Overview, Outlook” for the Council on Government Relations, 6/12/2014. fense, remains a significant amount. Economic Co-operation and Develop- But this leads us to the second major ment (OECD) data confirms that China challenge in the current research climate: has substantially increased its R&D international competition. While the spending. The graph depicts gross do- United States’ public investment in re- mestic expenditures in the government, search over recent years has declined, re- business, and higher education sectors, mained stagnant, or increased only mod- all held constant in 2007 dollars. Clearly, estly—and will most likely continue on in the past ten years, the United States these trends for the foreseeable future— once again has remained relatively stag- many of our international colleagues nant while China has been aggressive (and competitors) are enjoying major up- and robust. The business sector has led swings in federal research dollars. this increase in China, whereas the US, although recovered from the recession,

has increased R&D expenditures much South Korea (the darker blue line) has more modestly. In fact, US R&D expend- shot well past everyone. itures in higher education are still down - I’ve focused on the national and in- 1.3% from 2008. As with China, US international scenes here, but issues at the creases have been mainly driven by busi- state level also are having significant im- ness at 5.8%, and government remained pacts on the research at our public uni- modest at 1.0%. versities, our third challenge. Across the

Figure 4 Source: OECD Main Science and Technology Indicators (MSTI) database.

If we expand our view to other country, a number of state legislatures OECD countries and other economies, and university governing boards are re- we see a number of similar trends. Figure examining the role of research in a state- 5 depicts research intensity—that is, R&D supported institution, sometimes amidst as a percentage of GDP—over a twenty- great controversy. While often these con- year period, from 1992 to 2012. For the troversies do not involve funding dollars first time, China’s R&D intensity to the extent that federal policy does, the (1.98%—the light blue line at the bottom) climate for and definition of research can caught up with the European Union be significantly impacted. Usually these (1.97%—the green line) in 2012, having questions and/or controversies center on previously surpassed the United King- a university’s emphasis on teaching and dom and Canada in 2011. We can also see a university’s role in state economic de- that, although itself declining some in re- velopment. cent years, Japan (the yellow line) re- Perhaps nowhere has the contro- mains well ahead of the United States versy been more heated than in the state (the red line) in research intensity, and of Texas. Texas is in the news again with

Figure 5 Source: OECD Main Science and Technology Indicators (MSTI) database.

the impending resignation of UT-Austin accreditation system that would grade in- President Bill Powers (though he has got- stitutions on how effectively they deliver ten a year’s reprieve). Many issues are in on promises to students, as well as split- play in Texas, but the controversies at ting university budgets for teaching and hand in the Lone Star state revolve research. Rick O’Donnell, a senior re- around disputes among Governor Rick search fellow at the Texas Public Policy Perry, the system governing boards, and Foundation who had a short but fiery ten- the university campuses themselves. ure as a special adviser to the UT board, Since 2010, controversy has swirled went so far as to once write that academic among the Texas A&M and UT systems research “has few tangible benefits.” In thanks to higher education reforms rec- 2011, a collaborative plan did emerge ommended by the Texas Public Policy called “A Framework for Advancing Ex- Foundation, a conservative research cellence Throughout the University of group that advocates departing from the Texas System,” and while it did not move traditional research-driven model for ac- as aggressively in the directions the Texas ademia. The TPPF and its ideas were em- Public Policy Foundation, the governor, braced by Governor Rick Perry and some and Rick O’Donnell were advocating, it of the Regents he appointed. The “Seven did include stronger emphasis on faculty Breakthrough Solutions” generated by teaching. the Foundation include creating a new Economic issues play into many such controversies across the country, whether

it’s the pressure for university activity to its own kind of “climate change,” espe- promote state economic development, or cially in three major areas: state priorities, the pressure to link institutional and aca- federal funding, and international com- demic program funding to student job petition. As with any kind of change, placement. A state experiencing the latter adaptability remains key. And as with cli- is Maine, where significant budget defi- mate change itself, complete reversal of cits at the public colleges and universities the higher education research landscape are leading to program eliminations. is unlikely if not impossible at this point. Many factions claim that that these cuts Some level of adaptation is necessary. Of are often based on student career utility course, we hope that federal funding will as opposed to academic merit. increase again, that the United States will Let me emphasize that I do not be- maintain leadership in a competitive in- lieve that research, economic develop- ternational field, and that our institutions ment, teaching, and student success are will continue to enjoy the support of our mutually exclusive. I don’t believe that, states’ leaders and citizens. But even as even in tough economic times, we need to our public universities remain committed sacrifice one for the other. In fact, at Iowa, to our core missions, we have always we’re finding ways to make sure these changed and adapted along with society various parts of our mission are mutually at large—and led that change if we’re do- supporting, and I’ll discuss those later. ing our jobs right. Granted, this is a time But I do want to mention here that in of particular change and uncertainty. But Iowa, we too are experiencing pressure we can navigate these times and come out from our governor, legislature, and gov- stronger rather than weaker. But it will erning board in some of these arenas. take vision, planning, and proactivity to Currently, we are in the midst of two be successful in the future that lies before Board of Regents initiatives—a system- us. wide transformation and efficiency re- So how are we to rethink our ap- view, and the implementation of a new proaches to the research enterprise in performance-based funding model that these uncertain times? I propose three places a heavy, though not exclusive, em- broad areas in which we must think phasis on enrollment of Iowa resident about playing a new game: 1) Research students. My approach is to work to use portfolio diversification, 2) new partner- these board priorities to strengthen the ships, and 3) interdisciplinary ap- university across the board rather than to proaches. And as I discuss each of these, fracture it. I am asking our university I will share with you some of the initia- community, how can we best fulfill the tives that we are undertaking at the Uni- full spectrum of our traditional academic versity of Iowa as way of example. mission, including research, and at the First is diversifying our research same time meet the expectations of our portfolio. All of our institutions have state’s leaders? their particular strengths and emphases. Metaphorically, the public univer- At the University of Iowa, while we have sity research enterprise is in the midst of many areas of excellence and renown, many know us especially for our medical

and health care research, and for our industry funding has increased from 7% world-class University of Iowa Hospitals of Iowa’s total research dollars to 17%, and Clinics. Five of our eleven colleges from $31 million to $71 million. are in health fields: the Carver College of One prominent example on our cam- Medicine, the College of Pharmacy, the pus is our research on driver safety. The College of Nursing, the College of Dentis- University of the Iowa is the home of the try, and our newest college, the College National Advanced Driving Simulator, of Public Health. the most sophisticated research-driving It should come as no surprise, then, simulator in the world. Developed by the that for many years, the National Insti- National Highway Traffic Safety Admin- tutes of Health has been our biggest re- istration, NADS offers the world’s high- search funder. But as Figure 6 demon- est fidelity real-time driving simulation strates, and as I noted before when dis- experience. The driving simulator has al- cussing federal funding, those NIH dol- lowed us to leverage a growing partner- lars are decreasing. Since FY2010, NIH ship with Toyota. The University of Iowa funding—represented on the chart by the Public Policy Center has recently re- grey bars and the black line—has de- ceived three grants totaling $17.2 million creased from 47% of Iowa’s total research as part of the Safety Research and Educa- funding to 38%, and it’s gone from $219 tion Program established by the recent million to $163 million. Even so, the NIH Toyota Economic Loss class action settle- remains Iowa’s single largest federal ment in California. agency sponsoring our research. As you Principal investigator Daniel McGe- can also see from this chart, we have re- hee, director of the Public Policy Center’s sponded by shifting our portfolio more Human Factors and Vehicle Safety Re- toward industry partners. Since FY2010, search Program, has worked with Toyota

Figure 6

before, having this year finished a three- which has played a prominent role in the year, driving-safety-related contract from Virtual Soldier Research program. With Toyota that examined foot behavior at the DOD as well as private industry funding, early stages of the driving sequence, such Dr. Abdel-Malek and the VSR have cre- as vehicle entry, engine start-up, and gear ated Santos, a human modeling and sim- selection. The projects resulting from the ulation environment used by military new Toyota grant will include an impres- and commercial clients to assess human sive array of multi- and interdisciplinary factors in the design of equipment, arma- efforts, as well as new partnerships: a na- ment, vehicles, and other large equip- tional survey on public perceptions of ve- ment. hicle safety technologies as well as driv- Other Iowa researchers have also se- ers’ understanding and use of defensive cured funding from the Department of driving techniques; a national education Defense, such as Professor of Sociology campaign growing out of the national Steven Hitlin, who has a special interest survey, designed to reach 90 percent of in values and morality. With nearly U.S. adults multiple times (this education $600,000 in funding from the DOD Office campaign is in partnership with the Na- of Naval Research, Professor Hitlin is tional Safety Council and Iowa City- conducting a study called “Moral Sche- based Digital Artefacts, a private multi- mas, Cultural Conflict, and Socio-Politi- media firm); a study at the National Ad- cal Action.” vanced Driving Simulator that examines The UI recognizes the tremendous replicating emergency events in a con- potential of the Department of Defense as trolled and safe environment; a study in a research funding source, and we are the Department of Neurology to measure taking a proactive approach to encourage and improve younger and older driver more faculty and staff to explore the pos- behavior when accelerating and deceler- sibilities. For example, our Office of the ating; and an engineering analysis being Vice President for Research and Eco- conducted by NADS and the Department nomic Development has presented infor- of Geography to determine if multiple car mational sessions by Lewis-Burke Asso- sensor systems can be used together to ciates for researchers on DOD funding for prevent certain types of crashes. health research. These sessions explain In addition to increased research the complex DOD landscape for health funding from private industry, we at the research, review the trends and priorities UI have also broadened our relationship across programs, and address such ques- with the federal government—with the tions as how working with DOD differs Department of Defense in particular. Our from other research agencies, the best most prominent current projects under points of contact for faculty in approach- the auspices of the DOD involve Profes- ing DOD, and what messages best reso- sor of Biomedical Engineering Karim Ab- nate with DOD health officials. del-Malek’s research on human modeling The second area of playing a new and simulation. Dr. Abdel-Malek is also game in our research mission is new part- the director of the College of Engineer- nerships. My previous comments on di- ing’s Center for Computer Aided Design,

versifying our research portfolios fo- interdisciplinary research for complex ill- cused on new partners, but those that re- nesses like diabetes. main in our traditional areas of funding: Over the next two years, meetings government and industry. At Iowa, we’re between the Eagles and the UI led to a also expanding our thinking about what partnership that included a commitment kinds of partnerships can move our re- by the Eagles to raise $25 million and an search enterprise forward, including the agreement that the research center would nonprofit sector, the private sector out- be housed in the new Pappajohn Biomed- side of traditional industries, regional ical Discovery Institute building, which economic development entities, and en- opened in 2014. The FOE gift funds entrepreneurship. Let me share a couple of dowed chairs and fellowships for diabe- examples of the first two—the nonprofit tes researchers, provides seed grants for sector and the private sector—on our innovative research ideas, and helps re- health sciences and health care campus at cruit leading scientists in diabetes re- the University of Iowa. search and translational medicine. The Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabe- In the years before the opening of the tes Research Center is a historic partner- physical facility, the research center al- ship that was formally established in Sep- ready accomplished much, including the tember 2008. This was the first time the first round of FOE Diabetes Research University of Iowa had partnered with a Center research grants to fund four inno- nearly million-person international do- vative pilot projects by young investiga- nor organization. And for the Fraternal tors; the selection of the first FOE Diabe- Order of Eagles, it is the largest organiza- tes Research Center Faculty Scholar, Dr. tion-wide project ever undertaken in the Christopher Adams, an endocrinologist group’s long history of giving to health- and associate professor of internal medi- related causes. cine; and the hiring of our new Center Di- The FOE and UI partnership began rector, Dr. E. Dale Abel, a renowned dia- at the 2006 Eagles convention in Grinnell, betes expert. Iowa. The then-Grand Worthy President- It is the mutual goal of the Fraternal elect Bill Loffer proclaimed to Dr. John Order of Eagles and the University of Stokes, a physician-scientist studying Iowa to understand and ultimately cure and treating kidney disease with UI diabetes by moving research findings Health Care and member of the Iowa City into the clinical setting as quickly as pos- Eagles Aerie, that the Eagles should fund sible. This unique partnership demon- a diabetes research center to find a cure strates how a shared vision between a for this disease that affects one in three of service organization and a university re- Eagles members. (By the way, Dr. Stokes search enterprise can create an entity that sadly has since passed away.) The timing is both innovative and essential. for this proposal was fortuitous. The uni- The University of Iowa established versity was in the midst of planning the another unique partnership and received UI Institute for Biomedical Discovery— another incredible $25 million gift in now the Pappajohn Institute—which 2013. This gift from Stephen A. Wynn, would house high-quality, high-reward chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts,

Limited, of Las Vegas, was made to sup- In 2012, I hired a new vice president port the UI’s Institute for Vision Research for research and soon added “economic and to accelerate progress toward cures development” to his title. Dan Reed’s for rare, inherited retinal diseases. In Mr. strong entrepreneurial perspective stems Wynn’s honor, the institute is now from a dual academic and industry back- named the Stephen A. Wynn Institute for ground, with teaching, research, and Vision Research. leadership experience at the University of The UI’s ophthalmology program is North Carolina, the University of Illinois, one of the best in the country, and Mr. and Microsoft. Wynn—who had no previous ties to the Along with our Associate Vice Presi- University of Iowa and himself suffers dent for Economic Development David from the degenerative eye disease retini- Hensley; our state economic develop- tis pigmentosa—recognized Iowa’s excel- ment director David Conrad; and our lence in this area of research. Mr. Wynn government relations team, Vice Presi- himself has said, “The army of clinicians dent Reed has affirmed the university’s and scientists at Iowa’s Institute for Vi- commitment to, as he himself has said, “a sion Research have uncovered many of new, more robust partnership with the the secrets of the genome and are now on citizens of Iowa, state and local organiza- the cusp of applying them in the clinic. I tions, and our sister universities, bringing never dreamed that I would witness such all of our assets to bear on the challenges breakthroughs in my lifetime, but the ahead in this rapidly changing, global- breakthroughs are now at hand.” ized world.” One of the most unique results of this Dan has envisioned what he calls a partnership, and one that put forward the new compact with our state to work in University of Iowa name in an unprece- partnership in order to accelerate busi- dented way, happened in 2014. Lazier ness and cultivate Iowa’s workforce. The Partners Racing chose to bring awareness prongs of this compact include turning to the Wynn Institute at the Indianapolis research ideas into innovative technolo- 500. Buddy Lazier, the 1996 Indianapolis gies for companies, creating startups and 500 winner and 2000 Verizon IndyCar Se- jobs, solving business problems, and ries champion, drove the No. 91 Univer- providing business and IT training not sity of Iowa Stephen A. Wynn Institute only on campus but in communities for Vision Research car in the 2014 race. across the state. I won’t go into all the de- I mentioned earlier that state eco- tails or pieces of this ambitious economic nomic development has become an in- development plan, but let me highlight a creasingly important state priority for few initiatives. our public universities, and that is cer- Our region itself is thinking in new tainly true in Iowa. And as I mentioned ways, and that includes a branding initi- earlier, we at Iowa are embracing that ative called the Iowa Creative Corridor. emphasis and moving full steam ahead This is a regional alliance in the Iowa City by both re-energizing older and creating and Cedar Rapids area that, in the initia- new programs. tive’s own language, is working to “connect, celebrate and support all those who

dream big, push boundaries, and create Partners also gives students opportuni- here. The ‘Big Idea’ is one region creating, ties to work on projects that allow them living, building together and being a to build their résumés while connect with globally known magnet for creative peo- innovative Iowa businesses. ple, families and commerce,” with the The University of Iowa is also eager goal of “an ever-thriving region, with res- to help create new startups and jobs in idents building innovative organizations, addition to providing support to existing participating in vibrant communities, businesses. This is the purpose of the UI and exuding so much pride that we’re Ventures initiative. This project works known around the world.” somewhat in the opposite direction of UI The Creative Corridor has been do- Partners in that we are working to bring ing much to promote and encourage in- funding, venture capital, mentors, execu- novation and entrepreneurship through tives, and entrepreneurs to the university traditional and new social media, sum- in order to assist our faculty members, mits and other programs, and a “We Cre- postdocs, and students in accelerating ate Here” pride campaign. Along with their own startups and entrepreneurial the long-standing Iowa City Area Devel- projects. opment Group, a more traditional but One other new initiative that brings still highly innovative organization, our UI expertise directly to Iowa communi- university research enterprise is building ties is our planned engagement centers, many more connections through commu- co-located with Iowa’s community col- nity and corporate partnerships. leges. We are creating the first one at Our UI Partners initiative focuses on home in Iowa City and are working on the direct business assistance piece men- opening one in the near future in Council tioned earlier. We created UI Partners Bluffs in western Iowa. These integrated specifically to help small Iowa companies centers will leverage University of Iowa innovate and grow. We want to work di- expertise and assets onsite to meet the rectly with businesses to solve their infor- needs of Iowa businesses and communi- mation technology (IT) challenges, using ties in such areas as information technol- practical insights and ideas drawn from ogy, leadership, entrepreneurship, and university faculty, staff, and students. We workforce development, training, and re- also will provide free IT needs assess- tention, all directed toward the specific ments for businesses, whether it be about needs of the local area. Our larger vision creating websites, managing databases, is to secure state funding in the future for e-commerce or general tech support, as a network of these engagement centers well as general business planning. And across the state. we bring leading-edge informatics exper- Let us move to our third area of play- tise and business training to organiza- ing a new game: interdisciplinary ap- tions, startups, and established busi- proaches. I think we all understand that nesses, too. I mentioned again that align- the problems confronting our world to- ing our research and economic develop- day are not one-dimensional. They are ment activities with student learning is not always neatly mapped to traditional beneficial from all directions, and UI disciplines. The pressing issues, or grand

challenges, of our time—such as human capitalize on our strengths. As I men- health, climate change, and international tioned earlier, we have a world-class aca- conflict—require interdisciplinary ap- demic medical center on our campus. proaches. We must break down the siloes That has led to some obvious strong we have often built within our institu- cross-disciplinary work, such as in bio- tions. Businesses and other types of or- medical engineering, where, for example, ganizations are doing it all the time these we have become leaders in simulation, as days, and we must continue to do so as I noted earlier. research universities. But Iowa also has very strong hu- At Iowa, like a number of other insti- manities programs. For example, as “the tutions, we have proactively constructed Writing University,” we host the world- interdisciplinary teams over the past few renowned Iowa Writer’s Workshop, the years in our faculty hiring through clus- top nonfiction writing program in the ters. The primary objectives of the Cluster country, and many other prominent writ- Hire Initiative are to (a) address im- ing programs. In recent years, then, med- portant scientific and/or societal chal- ical humanities has become an innovative lenges; (b) promote multidisciplinary re- and successful area of development at the search, scholarship, and creative work; University of Iowa. I don’t have space to (c) advance undergraduate and graduate discuss these programs in detail, but just teaching and learning; (d) enhance com- the list suggests the impressiveness of ac- munity engagement and service; and (e) tivity in this burgeoning area of inquiry: benefit the people of Iowa and beyond. the Program in Bioethics and Humani- Our cluster hire initiative has devel- ties, a research and education consortium oped on campus through a competitive within our Carver College of Medicine; process, building on our current the Writing and Humanities Program in strengths while also forging paths in new the Carver College of Medicine, which of- directions within those areas of strengths. fers individual consultation on medical Since we began the initiative, we have de- students’ writing, writing and medicine veloped innovative clusters in a diverse electives, extracurricular activities, writ- array of subjects and have added a num- ing contests, and more; the Humanities ber of talented new faculty to our institu- Distinction Track, an official credential tion who effectively cross departments, available to our Carver College of Medi- programs, and colleges. These new clus- cine students; the Medical Student Hu- ter areas are water sustainability, public manities Interest Group, which coordi- digital arts, public humanities in a digital nates student-initiated activities; confer- world, the aging mind and brain, genet- ences and symposia, such as the annual ics, obesity, and informatics. conference (now in its ninth year) entitled While not part of our cluster hire in- “The Examined Life: Writing, Humani- itiative, and while not a full-fledged ded- ties, and Arts in Medicine,” and this icated faculty program, I would like to year’s “Health Humanities: Building the mention one other area where Iowa has Future of Research and Teaching” sym- done some innovative things in order to posium, a working symposium through the UI’s Obermann Center for Advanced

Studies; and a professional creative writ- our core missions in terms of learning, ing journal, The Examined Life. discovery, and engagement. None of our Of course, as we shift to more inter- activities can any longer be conducted in disciplinary work, we need to provide fa- isolation. cilities that foster and facilitate it. One ex- The links between graduate educa- ample on the UI campus is a new facility tion and research are obvious, but we I mentioned before, the Pappajohn Bio- must also continue integrating the re- medical Discovery Building, which, as I search enterprise into undergraduate ed- said, will house the Fraternal Order of Ea- ucation. I often tout the benefits of attend- gles Diabetes Research Center and other ing college at a research university with centers and groups. Writ large, the build- high school (and even younger!) audi- ing houses the newly formed Pappajohn ences. Recent examples include a Rotary Biomedical Institute. Within the concept Youth Leadership camp in Grinnell, of “biomedical discovery” is the goal of Iowa, and a group of students on campus breaking new scientific ground by push- in a program called the Secondary Stu- ing and crossing traditional disciplinary dent Training Program. The latter is a boundaries. This project houses generic program run through our Belin-Blank In- wet laboratories with appropriate sup- ternational Center for Gifted Education port space and core facilities to foster a and Talent Development, and it’s for new investigative model that allows in- tenth and eleventh graders interested in terdisciplinary research teams to focus on STEM areas. These talented young peo- specific research problems. The institute ple are on campus for five weeks during and building emphasize greater collabo- the summer, conducting scientific re- ration, exploring high-risk and high- search in university laboratories under yield questions, and making the bench- the guidance of a faculty mentor. They to-bedside nature of research even also produce a research project/paper as quicker and more effective than ever be- a part of the program. Let me just share fore. By enhancing clinical translation, with you what I said to them: we realize better treatments and out- The research university is a very comes for patients, and better lives for all. special place. It is in the laboratory, As I suggested earlier, university re- the library, the faculty studios and of- search is not—if it ever was in the first fices of a research university where place—a self-contained part of the aca- the most cutting-edge knowledge is demic enterprise. But especially in these created and discovered. A research changing times, we need to integrate re- university is doing its job best when search with the other two legs of our mis- that cutting-edge knowledge makes sion stool: teaching and service. And as its way to the general public and into we do so, we need to demonstrate to our undergraduate classrooms. And I publics the value of research to these think a research university is achiev- other core missions. Many institutions ing its pinnacle of success when un- are now using the language of the Kel- dergraduates are actively engaged in logg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities that recasts

the research itself. So a research uni- Des Moines. ICRU also recognizes out- versity is a great place for a college standing undergraduate researchers and education! faculty mentors with special awards. The Of course, the most direct and com- program also provides research support mon way that our faculty research is and funding for students working with shared with our undergraduates is when faculty, including the ICRU Research Fel- they present and discuss it in their class- lows Program. Each year, 150 students rooms. But young students need to be ac- are selected by mentors to work on re- tively engaged in the research process, search projects and receive $2,000 to too, and we have to be sure to provide the $2,500 scholarships for doing so. infrastructure and encouragement to We also need to bring the big ques- make it so. At Iowa and s number of other tions of our faculty and institutional re- institutions, many undergraduate stu- search into the classroom in new, inquiry- dents have opportunities to work in labs based ways. At Iowa, we’re doing that and on research projects as interns, stu- through our new TILE classrooms. TILE dent employees, or undergraduate assis- stands for Transform, Interact, Learn, En- tants, as well as through special projects, gage. Faculty need to be trained as TILE as our UI Honors students do. instructors, and the goals of the initiative At Iowa, though, we take extra steps are to transform teaching practices to make sure these opportunities happen, through lively interaction, enhanced that students are connected with them, learning, and increased faculty/student and that students are supported and en- engagement. TILE instructors pursue stu- couraged in their research activities and dent-centered, active learning for a class- interests. The Iowa Center for Research room built around the issues of peda- by Undergraduates (ICRU) hosts numer- gogy, practice, and technology. Our TILE ous workshops and information sessions classrooms—of which we have several for students covering a range of research- now on campus—are equipped with cir- related topics, and it serves as a clearing- cular tables, laptops, flat screen monitors, house for information on research oppor- multiple projectors, and whiteboards to tunities across campus. ICRU staff also encourage and support collaborative and provide direct support to students inter- engaged active learning. The faculty ested in seeking research opportunities, workstation is not at the front of the and faculty and staff in search of student room, as with a traditional lecture-based researchers. ICRU hosts bi-annual under- classroom, but instead in the middle, cre- graduate research festivals, which pro- ating a free-flowing learning environ- vide an opportunity for undergraduate ment where the lines between instructor researchers to present their work. We and student are shared and blurred. also participate in the “Research at the A new initiative that utilizes TILE Capitol” event, along with Iowa State classrooms to engage students with our University and the University of North- faculty’s research is what we’re calling ern Iowa, when students display their re- TILE-Constellation Courses. The first of search in the State Capitol Rotunda in these was offered this past academic year, called “Origins of Life in the Universe.”

This year-long course involved six of our and teams in the program receive a dedi- top faculty in physics and astronomy, bi- cated office space in our remodeled ology, geosciences, and anthropology. 10,000-square-foot facility, allowing them The class emphasized inquiry-based ac- to concentrate on developing their busi- tivities to build success in critical think- ness concepts. Bedell students also bene- ing, teamwork, and effective written and fit from one-on-one mentoring and oral communication. Topics presented in- coaching from our faculty and profes- cluded the origin of the universe, the bio- sional staff, funding opportunities, work- chemistry of life, the origin of life on shops and training, and networking and Earth, the evolution of life on Earth, the community exposure. Dozens of success- origins of humans, and the prospect for ful businesses have spun out of the Bedell finding life elsewhere in the universe. Lab, including those that offer design ser- Experiential learning is another im- vices for communities and charities; a portant area of emphasis for today’s stu- mobile app to encourage recycling; ge- dents, and at Iowa, entrepreneurship is netics and genomics research software; a catching fire and connecting undergrad- free information-sharing site called Clus- uates to our faculty in real-world applica- terFlunk.com that provides a virtual tions of their business acumen. Economic meeting space for students taking the development and student engagement same college courses; and much more. meet in our entrepreneurship certificates Although I’m emphasizing student (including technology and the perform- entrepreneurship here, we also have a ing arts), the John Pappajohn Entrepre- growing number of programs and facili- neurial Center, and the Bedell Entrepre- ties that focus on business and research neurship Learning Laboratory. spinoff incubation for our faculty, staff, The John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial community and corporate partners. Center is housed in the Tippie College of These include our long-standing UI Tech- Business, but it is a collaborative effort in nology Innovation Center, as well as our partnership with the Colleges of Engi- relatively new UI BioVentures Center, neering, Liberal Arts and Sciences, and which includes wet labs for life science Medicine. JPEC offers a wealth of pro- companies. The Iowa City CoLab is a grams for our students, including busi- partnership between the university, the ness plan and elevator pitch competi- Iowa City Area Development Group, and tions, seminars and workshops, and ac- several corporate partners, providing tual start-up business support in the Be- space and economic development and dell Entrepreneurship Learning Labora- workforce development services for in- tory. JPEC also offers similar programs terstate commerce companies in our ser- and consultation to businesses and entre- vice territory. And the UI THINC Collab- preneurs throughout Iowa. oration Space is a new additional innova- The Bedell Entrepreneurship Learn- tion and collaboration student space. ing Laboratory is a business incubator for THINC is collaborative-friendly, featur- entrepreneurial students pursuing the ing comfortable furnishings, whiteboard creation of a startup while attending the walls, and a gaming room to help aug- University of Iowa. Individual students

ment creativity. THINC is ideal for entre- role in the Voyager 1 and 2 missions preneurial students who are in the early launched in 1977. UI Chair in Public Af- stage of business development and need fairs, former Congressman, and former a space to meet with business partners or Chairman of the National Endowment mentors. Students can also use THINC to for the Humanities Jim Leach spoke on meet with business consulting clients or Nazi seizures of art, which was the basis work on team projects. And it’s a great for the recent film Monuments Men. Neu- study space, too! roscientist Steven Anderson discussed In addition to the teaching and learn- “The Aging Brain in the Workplace: ing arena, we must demonstrate our re- How's That Going to Work?” Art and search value in terms of public engage- Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies ment. I have already talked at length Professor Rachel Williams shared her about economic development and entre- work with women’s studies students at preneurship in other contexts, so let me the Iowa Correctional Institution for highlight here a couple of other ways we Women facilitating classes about healthy are pursuing public engagement at Iowa. relationships. Curators from the new UI Perhaps the most obvious way our Mobile Museum talked about this collab- faculty and staff can take our research to oration between the Office of the State public awareness is direct contact. Of Archaeologist, the Old Capitol Museum, course, many of us have done this in myr- and the UI Museum of Natural History. iad ways for many years. At the UI, we’re The Mobile Museum is a 38-foot, custom- redoubling our efforts to bring the best of built RV featuring exhibits on Iowa his- our faculty work to Iowa citizens through tory, archaeology, and paleontology, as the new Hawkeye Lunch and Learn se- well as an interactive digital wall that al- ries, which we launched in 2014. Spon- lows visitors to explore UI research and sored by the Office of the Provost, these creativity (and yes, the Mobile Museum monthly presentations aim to build con- itself was also there). And Sean O’Har- nections among Iowa communities, uni- row, Director of the University of Iowa versity faculty, and industry and govern- Art Museum talked about “Two Years in ment leaders. We want to highlight ways the Life of Iowa’s Most Famous Paint- the university is working with partners ing.” Sean discussed our most famous across the state, strengthening existing piece in the collection, Jackson Pollock’s relationships, and creating new ones. The painting Mural, which has recently un- monthly talks are presented first in Des dergone technical study and conserva- Moines at the UI John and Mary Pappa- tion treatment by research scientists at john Education Center. They are also the Getty Conservation Institute and con- streamed online and then re-presented at servators at the J. Paul Getty Museum in home in Iowa City. Our presentations so Los Angeles. In July 2014, we celebrated far have been wide-ranging. Provost and Mural’s return to Iowa, exhibited until Engineering Professor Barry Butler spoke April 2015 at the Sioux City Art Center. on “Wind Energy: Past, Present, and Fu- One other innovative initiative that ture.” J. A. Van Allen/R.J. Carver Profes- is bringing multidisciplinary UI expertise sor of Physics Don Gurnett discussed his to our state’s communities, with a special

emphasis on opportunities for graduate Student Project Award from the Ameri- research and learning, is the Iowa Initia- can Planning Association’s American In- tive for Sustainable Communities. stitute of Certified Planners, the organi- Founded in 2009 by Charles Connerly, di- zations’ highest honor for a planning stu- rector of the UI’s School of Urban and Re- dent project. gional Planning, the IISC has grown into Let me just briefly summarize my a campus-wide initiative that helps suggestions on how we might think Iowa’s communities build more sustaina- about “playing a new game” in the cur- ble futures by addressing the economic, rent public university landscape. First is environmental, and socio-cultural issues research portfolio diversification, seeking of today. The IISC previously matched new partners for our individual institu- Urban and Regional Planning graduate tions in governmental and industry fund- students with projects in a number of ing. Second is seeking new partnerships Iowa communities (transportation, local outside of the traditional government foods, energy, community gardens, and industry sectors—in, for example, waste systems, etc.). Now, the expanded the nonprofit sector, nontraditional pri- IISC is funded through the University of vate partners, regional economic devel- Iowa Office of the Provost; supported by opment, and entrepreneurship. Third is the Office of Outreach and Engagement; increasing our commitment to interdisci- and administered through the School of plinary approaches, capitalizing on our Urban and Regional Planning. IISC now institutions’ current strengths and forg- has a dedicated coordinator, graduate as- ing new paths through cluster hires, in- sistant, faculty/staff advisory board, and novative new programs, and new facili- campus-wide affiliated faculty and staff. ties that encourage interdisciplinary The most extensive project so far has work. Amidst all this, we must nurture been with the community of Dubuque. programs that bring our research exper- From 2011 to 2013, IISC partnered with tise into our core missions of undergrad- Dubuque’s Sustainable Dubuque Initia- uate education and public engagement. tive on such areas as sustainability indi- As with anything in life, these ideas cators, renewable energy, poverty, local are easy to say but not always easy to do. foods, and the Green and Healthy Homes I hope I’ve demonstrated to you that we program. Not only did our work in are hard at work implementing these Dubuque earn rave reviews in town and ideas at the University of Iowa, and back on campus, but the nation noticed as we’ve done so through a commitment to well. I am very proud that Dubuque was innovative thinking. But even once we ac- recognized in The Guide to Greening Cities, tually have “boots on the ground,” so to published in 2013, as a national leader in speak, implementing new programs and developing sustainability partnerships, approaches, there are still fundamental with our IISC Dubuque partnership high- policy and practical implications for us as lighted. And we were even more proud institutions. These policy implications that our graduate students involved in can be challenging and certainly need to the Dubuque project received the 2013 be addressed at the same time we are shifting our approaches to the research

enterprise. Let me just suggest three im- method of capturing faculty engagement portant areas that must be confronted to activity—and of course defining it in the play this new game. process—so that we may also have some The first is probably obvious: contin- consistency across campus when we talk ued advocacy for federal research fund- about faculty achievement for promotion ing. We know that the federal budget is and tenure. constrained and that there are forces in Change is daunting, no doubt about Washington advocating for continued it. But the university has always been cuts, including cuts in areas where we about change—the very essence of dis- have traditionally enjoyed rock-solid covery is the new. Public universities can support and ongoing growth. We must be difficult ships to steer, but if we’re do- remain vigilant and redouble our institu- ing our jobs right, we as teachers, re- tional advocacy for the nation’s research searchers, and administrators are always enterprise. moving them into new, unexplored wa- Second—and of course this is also re- ters. That needs to include how we go lated to funding, but more at the state and about doing our business as well as what private level—we must create the physi- subjects we wish to explore. cal space for new approaches to happen. The University of Iowa began over These include spaces that are flexible 165 years ago with a handful of faculty, enough to encourage interdisciplinary re- one building, and a few dozen students search, as well as classrooms that support to teach. Today, we are a world-class, inquiry-based learning. multifaceted enterprise with over 30,000 And third, we must continue to re- students. We conduct groundbreaking visit our standards for promotion and research in myriad areas for the better- tenure. Traditional publication, of course, ment of all society, we pursue creative en- can and should remain important to the deavors that the whole world recognizes promotion and tenure process. But we and is inspired by, and we are engaged must also develop real standards and with our community and state, making commitment to these areas that have of- life better for all Iowans, in ways our uni- ten been more difficult to measure and/or versity founders probably never have sometimes received little more than dreamed of. We wouldn’t have gotten lip service in the promotion and tenure where we are today if we had not process: interdisciplinary work, innova- planned and innovated in uncertain tion and excellence in teaching, and pub- times. After all, what times are not uncer- lic engagement. Just one example: at tain? Haven’t we been successfully navi- Iowa, I have appointed an Associate gating new waters since the beginning? Provost for Outreach and Engagement, Hasn’t that always been our stock in and one of her projects is to work on a trade?

Engaging with the Private Sector: Nebraska Innovation Campus

Harvey Perlman, Chancellor, University of Nebraska

n April 18, 2008, Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman signed Legislative Bill LB1116 into law, requiring that by 2010, the Nebraska State Fair move from Oits historic location on 250 acres adjacent to the University of Nebraska-Lin- coln to the center of the State in Grand Island. In turn, the bill transferred the property to the University for the purposes of creating Nebraska Innovation Campus. The bill was enacted in the Nebraska Unicameral with only 3 dissenting and 2 abstaining votes, but that did not reflect the intense controversy that led up to its passage. The University along with several in- Notwithstanding that since the move the fluential business leaders in Lincoln initi- State Fair has prospered in Grand Island ated the proposal. The State Fair Board far beyond anyone’s imagination, there strongly objected. As a statutorily desig- are those who mourn the loss of the Sep- nated member of the State Fair Board, I tember event in Lincoln as well as the quietly stopped attending the Board’s economic benefits it was assumed to meetings. The original proposal would bring to the city. have moved the State Fair to another site So why would the University em- in Lincoln but, in the end, an agreement broil itself in such a controversy and, was negotiated in which the $50 million more significantly, why would business cost of moving the Fair was borne in var- leaders in Lincoln as well as the City itself ious amounts by the City of Grand Island, support the legislation? And why would the State, the University, and the Fair. the Legislature come eventually to over- As a Fair Board member I knew the whelmingly support adoption of the bill? condition of the fair grounds. No signifi- The reason was the prospects of what a cant investment had been made there for new Innovation Campus could do for the decades as attendance at the Fair had University and the economic future of consistently declined. The buildings were both the City of Lincoln and the State of in a sad state of decay, some were no Nebraska. longer open to the public. The utility in- Our proposal, certainly not in itself frastructure, including water, sewer, and unique, was to create a research and tech- electricity, needed significant upgrades. nology park designed to attract private It was clear to me and others that the sector companies to locate adjacent to the Fair Board had neither the resources nor University to engage in joint research or the revenue to invest in the property and other relationships with the University. the future of the Fair itself was in jeop- We predicted that the University would ardy. But tradition in Nebraska dies hard.

19 occupy one-third of the campus and pri- Science Department, a department we in- vate sector companies or amenities tend to move in its entirety to Innovation would occupy two-thirds. Because of the Campus. flood plain issues, of the 250 acres, ap- From the outset we understood that proximately 120 acres are available for we could not attract private sector com- development, allowing for approxi- panies to locate on a property that was mately 2 million square feet of leasable managed by the State and subject to the building space. associated regulatory processes. We cre- We predicted that the campus could ated the Nebraska Innovation Campus generate 5000 jobs and would take from Development Corporation, an independ- 15 to 20 years to develop. While compa- ent 501(c)(3) company managed by a nies from any sector would be welcome Board of Directors, a majority of whom as long as they had a relationship with were from the private sector. NICDC has the University, the priority themes of the a ground lease from the University’s campus would be “food, fuel, and water” Board of Regents for the entire property reflecting the obvious strengths of the and is the contracting party with the de- University and the primary economic veloper or with any future tenants. Thus, drivers of Nebraska. the commercial relationships between During the legislative process I often NICDC and the private companies are argued that the infrastructure on the shielded from public records laws and property was obsolete and the Fair had other public regulations. no resources to replace it. With the trans- In addition to traditional partner- fer of the property to the University I dis- ships with the private sector, two addi- covered, unfortunately, that I had been tional facilities are planned for Innova- right about the infrastructure and I was in tion Campus. The first, an accelerator for no better financial position. However, we start-up companies, will be designed to were able to select a private developer give a short-term boost to enhance the who was willing to make some initial in- prospects for success of early stage com- vestments, as well as utilize TIF financing panies. to move the project forward. The second is what we are calling a To date, we have opened two build- “Maker Space.” Conceptually, it will be a ings with office space and a conference space with a variety of tools, equipment, center. Two more food science laboratory and supplies that will allow students, fac- buildings and a set of green houses are ulty, or community members to join a under construction. With the exception of “Maker’s Club” and then to use the facil- the Conference Center, all buildings are ity to “make stuff.” We announced a stu- owned by and leased from the developer. dent “Maker’s Club” and within three We have signed our first major private months it is the largest student organiza- sector tenant, ConAgra Foods, who will tion on campus with over 400 members. expand its joint research with our Food We hope this, and other activities, will create a real innovation culture that will spread to the rest of the university.

So, what does all of this have to do programs are insisting on proof of com- with the future of university research? At mercialization prospects for research pro- the risk of stating the obvious, it seems to posals or insisting that private sector me there are at least three trends that companies be a partner in funded re- must be accounted for as we plan our research. search future. As seems obvious, all three of these First, there is the macroeconomic trends dictate that universities develop phenomenon that, while innovation is a stronger ties with the private sector as an major driver for economic growth, most alternative source of research funding. public companies are withdrawing from Of course, as we have discovered, investments in basic research. Driven by this is easier to say than to accomplish. the market demands of quarterly income Merging the different cultures into a part- statements as a determinate of stock nership presents some unique challenges. price, long-term investments without And attempting to account for success or short term returns are problematic. And failure also has its complexity. What fol- there is nothing more long-term or uncer- lows is largely a random set of issues tain as basic research. Yet, companies also we’ve seen and steps we’ve tried to take understand they must position them- to address them. They are presented de- selves to access research that has com- scriptively, not normatively, since it is too mercial value and that research takes soon to know what will be successful and place largely within universities. Thus what will not. there are market forces that make univer- The “myth” of adjusting to the “speed of sity-private sector partnerships essential. business.” We have often heard from busi- Second, the continued level of fed- ness leaders how bureaucratic Universi- eral research support is uncertain, partic- ties are and how slow we are in making ularly in this period of political dysfunc- decisions. If only we could act at the tion in Washington. If Universities are to “speed of business”. sustain their core research enterprise, it Of course some of this is true. Public seems sensible to diversify our sources of accountability and regulation inevitably funding. Other potential sources are the build delays into any public organiza- private sector, international engage- tion’s decision-making. But private sector ments, philanthropy, and internally gen- companies can also have elaborate bu- erated resources. reaucratic processes, particularly when Third, the political pressure on gov- making significant, long-term investment ernment expenditures, like the pressure decisions. Market forces can be unrelent- on private sector companies from quar- ing. A change in stock price can instantly terly income reporting, causes even pub- alter a company’s priorities or at least lic funding agencies to demand more ev- slow decision-making. Negotiating with idence of returns from the investments in several potential partners in recent research. We all know this is short- months convinces me that engagement sighted but we would be foolish to ignore with the private sector can require pa- it. Increasingly, federal research funding

21 tience and flexibility. It is also true, how- hope to negotiate a resolution. This al- ever, that one must be ready to respond lows the dispute to be put in context of quickly when a company is ready to en- the entire array of joint activities and in- gage. terests. The agreement. Particularly in rela- In a long term relationship, one can- tionships with companies that are ex- not look at a single dispute in isolation pected to be on-going rather than one-off but rather it must be examined in the con- transactions, reaching a long-term agree- text of the larger relationship. (My father ment can be a challenging proposition. was an auto parts wholesaler and he al- Private sector lawyers, and university ways told me that it doesn’t hurt to give lawyers, are paid to protect their clients into a long term customer on a dispute, from the unexpected. Of course this is a even if that customer is wrong. You can non-sequitur because one cannot plan for always get even in the next transaction.) the unexpected. Similarly, in longer term If we cannot resolve it, the dispute goes relationships, neither party wants to be to a professional mediator and if not re- constantly renegotiating a contract or be solved there, to mandatory and binding in a position where each new initiative re- arbitration. Similarly, if a dispute arises quires a new agreement. over the relative intellectual contribution We have worked hard to develop to an innovation, a third party expert is master agreements that handle all of the brought in to resolve the dispute. major issues that are likely to arise. Our Having a good dispute resolution goal is a situation where, under our mas- process relieves the pressure to attempt ter agreements, the only elements need- dealing with the unknowable. In the end, ing negotiation for a new initiative are the the goal should be a relationship of trust scope of work and the price. Issues of ac- where if one has to ever pull out the mas- countability, reporting, intellectual prop- ter agreement after it is signed, some- erty, and dispute resolution should all be thing has gone wrong. within the master agreement. Intellectual property provisions. There Indeed, probably the most important is a vast literature on attempting to re- term of a master agreement is the dispute solve the IP considerations when engag- resolution provisions. You can be assured ing with private sector companies in re- disputes will arise, and they can do so at search and I don’t want to repeat it here. the researcher level, at middle-manage- These are difficult and complex issues. ment, or elsewhere in the two organiza- The respective interests change de- tions. We have tried to include a term in pending on whether the research is our agreements that specifies how a dis- jointly funded or individually funded by pute rises through both organizations for the company and the extent to which ei- resolution. So, for example, in one of our ther of the parties brings background agreements a dispute at a lower level technical information to the research. rises to my office and the company’s re- There are several models. In the ideal search vice-president. At that level we world, the parties can agree on a mechanism that is based on objective criteria

and is essentially automatic with no room sometimes in one-off transactions as well. for disputes around valuation or likely In organizing our effort to engage with commercial success. One has to remem- the private sector we have created what ber that a private sector research partner is perhaps a structure that is idiosyncratic may be more sensitive to the competitive and based more on the personnel in place advantage of a technology than they are rather than on any organizational theory. to the market value of that technology. We have two separate 501(c)(3) com- In the end, the terms will likely be panies managed by separate boards with driven by whether the university regards a majority of private sector members. We its involvement in these relationships as have spun off the commercialization of short-term or long-term. In one-off licens- faculty innovations into NUtech Ven- ing deals, I have always thought the Uni- tures, a private company with a mixed versity should be fairly compensated for board of directors from the university its innovation. In longer term relation- and the private sector. As I have men- ships, there are often returns beyond roy- tioned, we also have a separate company alties that may suggest a less aggressive with a separate board and CEO manag- posture. And establishing a methodology ing Innovation Campus. We also have an avoids the costs of constant negotiation “industrial relations” unit of our Office of over IP rights for each innovation that is Research and Economic Development produced by the joint enterprise. designed to foster private sector research Faculty, of course, have significant engagements. concerns going into a research relation- In one of our negotiations with a ma- ship with a private company. Since under jor international company to license Uni- our rules the faculty member is entitled to versity technology, we ended up accept- a share of the licensing or other revenue ing a license royalty, a significant philan- from an innovation, the IP terms are of thropic gift, and a research agreement, all personal interest. But they also want to be within the same transaction. And we still assured their inherent skill and experi- have some hope they may locate on Inno- ence is not exclusively acquired by a sin- vation Campus. It was not rocket science gle company—that they are free to en- to realize that one ought to think holisti- gage with other companies on similar but cally about relationships with the private unrelated projects. One has to assure fac- sector. The key is the relationship and ulty that the University is not selling benefits can flow in both directions in a them into indentured servitude and one variety of different forms. Initially we has to fight hard on their behalf to make worried that the natural instinct of the sure this doesn’t happen. CEO of NUtech Ventures, for example, Organizational Structure. As I have al- would be to channel a company’s inter- luded to, the returns on the investment in ests toward licensing technology and the private sector relationships can come in head of Innovation Campus would push many forms, sometimes in unusual and toward a physical presence on the prop- unexpected ways. This is particularly erty. This circumstance is not likely to true in longer term relationships but maximize the University’s interest.

We have created a team approach that may reduce the overall returns to the where all three directors get credit for an University. engagement with a private sector com- In conclusion, I think we are far be- pany regardless of the nature of that en- yond the question of whether we should gagement. We have a bonus plan where engage with the private sector in research individual bonuses are calculated on the partnerships. I believe that is a given and overall success of our engagement with a a necessity. However, there remains private company. It’s not clear to me this much to be considered in how these rela- would work were it not for the personal- tionships are structured, implemented, ities of the people involved. The point and assessed. Getting these items right though is that when engaging the private will have a lot of influence on the future sector one ought to have multiple defini- of our research enterprise. tions of success and eliminate barriers

Adaptive Planning in a Chaotic Research Environment: Aligning Academic and Business Issues

Brian L. Foster, Provost Emeritus, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, University of Missouri

t has become a commonplace that higher education today exists in an environment of fundamental change that is often unpredictable (Christensen and Eyring 2011; I Duderstadt 2012). It is not just that there is serious change underway; change in the research environment and other areas is strongly interactive, such that change in one area ripples through other areas. Formal planning will be especially important, given the volatility of the higher education environment, but planning as usual won’t be effective, given that strategic planning is often seen in a rather linear manner—as something that keeps institutions on a fixed path (Academic Impressions 2013). Changes in the environment are often seen as emergencies which are seen as abnormal conditions from which we need to recover or get back on track. Change—especially in the interme- changing environments, fundamental diate or long term—is not abnormal. cultural differences, differences in eco- Moreover, as noted above, it is multidi- nomic, social, aesthetic, linguistic, and mensional, with different kinds of change political norms and much more. interacting in complex ways. Good plans Dimensions of Change and Volatility must be dynamic and adaptive to accom- Given that the change that is cur- modate the rapidly morphing environ- rently challenging Higher Education is ment. But equally important, they must multidimensional, it poses particularly provide direction such that infrastruc- difficult challenges to planning. It is per- ture, human resources, IT capacity, and haps useful to approach the issue in three other critical elements—things that often overlapping steps: (a) external (environ- require a long time and large investments mental) and internal changes, (b) Higher to be achieved—are present to support Education’s responses to these chal- high-impact research and other academic lenges, both on the business side and the functions. academic side of the universities, and (c) In this paper, I take a broad anthro- adaptive planning in a chaotic environ- pological approach to examining how we ment. Because of the close connections can at the same time be adaptive and among the many factors, and given that a have effective, long-term direction, with simple, linear representation of the particular attention to academic research. changes is not possible, the presentation The relevance of Anthropology is that an- will be somewhat redundant and circu- thropologists routinely deal with extraor- lar. dinary complexity: human evolution, External, or Environmental, Changes 25

Most (but not all) of the environmen- changing distribution of potential stu- tal changes have their direct impact on dents across socioeconomic, racial/ethnic, the business side, and they take several gender, international, and other catego- fundamentally different forms: very ries. Moreover, tuition revenue is deter- broadly, resources (core revenue, re- mined by a combination of the number of search funding, expenses), international students and the level of tuition that they environment, regulation and compliance pay—the latter a matter of high visibility issues such as export control, classified and political interest as affordability and work, fiscal management, general ac- access to higher education becomes an countability, IT changes, and relations ever more important focus in political with private business sector and other and policy arenas (Gardner 2014). In any constituencies. There are many other sig- case, there has been a strong trend for in- nificant areas of change, but to discuss creasing tuition levels. Finally, student each one would not be possible in this loan debt has become a very hot topic context. Those listed here, though, need that could become a crisis should there special attention in relation to planning. develop a crash in the student loan busi- Resources, of course, receive a great ness similar to that in 2008 in the financial deal of attention in the press, in policy industry—an issue that is of great con- discussions, and in planning on cam- cern to many in government and in puses. There is a great deal of concern higher education. about core institutional funding. This is In the research area, resource issues about state appropriations for public in- are not just about decreases in funding stitutions—a resource that has decreased (though there are serious concerns about steadily for more than ten years (Schulen- this matter). In addition, there are many berger 2012: 82-86), and there is little op- developments that restrict the use of timism that this trend will be reversed funds. Priorities for research funding are significantly in the foreseeable future. changing, as reflected in distribution of Philanthropic fundraising and endow- funds across different agencies, in ment income are less important for most broader impact issues, and in recent con- publics and, although they are significant gressional discussions about limiting the for most institutions, they are not a major kinds of humanities, arts, and social sci- part of core operating funds even for ence research that can be funded. Moreo- most privates. ver, a very substantial amount of funding A major source of core revenue for now comes from agencies such as Home- virtually all institutions is tuition, which land Security, often in the form of con- has become a policy focus in several tracts with specific deliverables. Contract ways. Tuition revenue is profoundly af- work with the corporate sector has be- fected by current demographics (espe- come an ever increasing source of re- cially decreases in number of high school search funding—again, with clear deliv- graduates in many areas), competition erables. within the education sector, and the

An ironic issue in the research area is tion of the STEM research workforce con- that externally funded research and consists of graduate students, many students tract work—whether funded by govern- cannot work on projects which are sub- ment or from the private sector—often ject to export control restrictions. Simi- (one might say usually) does not fully larly, export control places strong limits fund indirect costs. Thus grants and con- on international collaboration/communi- tracts have to be subsidized by tuition, cation of U.S. researchers. Security and IP state appropriation, or other funding regulatory issues are of real concern with sources—in effect a substantial realloca- respect to ensuring our national security; tion of core funds from their initial pur- but our interventions produce side effects pose (Lowry 2014). An interesting twist that are controversial (e.g., embargoing on the fact that F&A rates generally do dissertations and faculty publications). not cover all indirect costs is that the These side effects can have significant im- problem of limited institutional core re- pact on other critical academic issues sources is exacerbated if the amount of such as scholarly communication, peer funded research grows or is even held review, and promotion and tenure. steady. Compliance and regulatory issues go The international environment for far beyond export control to areas as di- American higher education is unpredict- verse as conflict of interest, IRB, SEVIS, able but potentially of very high impact. and HIPPA, and have required substan- One critical element is that the U.S. for tial staff support for the compliance func- cultural reasons does not generate a via- tions themselves, significant time on the ble pipeline for people in the STEM disci- part of faculty and staff, and the constant plines, and a large proportion of students risk of significant penalties should there and faculty in science and engineering be lapses. State regulations on universi- are of international origin. In addition, ties offering on-line courses to students many Asian American students who whose home is in other states provide an come from recent immigrant families excellent example of the costs of being en- choose STEM fields and are very success- trepreneurial (though a fix on this one is ful academically. But perhaps most in the works). daunting is the stunning investment that Technology change is a key environ- other nations (e.g., China, India) are mak- mental issue for higher education—espe- ing in higher education—on the one hand cially changes in information technolo- becoming ever more competitive with gies. IT has fundamentally changed in- American institutions for students, and structional delivery (e.g., Chowdhury on the other hand, beginning to challenge 2014), management systems, research America’s prominence in research. methods, and much more. For example, A significant international issue re- recruiting students, admissions, registra- volves around American security and in- tion, and academic records are now sup- tellectual property (IP) issues that touch ported by ERPs, as is the case with ac- on research. Although a substantial por- counting, HR management (e.g., hiring, evaluations, payroll), space allocation,

27 and institutional research. Although such reason for existence of the business side technology is often seen as a way of re- of the university is to support the aca- ducing costs, in general the IT systems demic side. This gives a critical perspec- are extremely expensive to install, main- tive on academic business operations and tain, update, and often to replace. Data on academic planning—on how one storage issues have become daunting in plans to do something that has never several respects: for expense, for adapt- been done before… or how to plan to pro- ing as the technologies change, and for vide the resources/infrastructure neces- risk management (e.g., failure of a major sary to do something that’s not been done data warehouse could be devastating). before. It is this interface between the Needs and demands of constituent - business-side’s responsibilities and the groups has become one of the most unconstrained creative environment of daunting issues facing universities, given academic units/activities that sets the the diversity of these groups—alumni, business side of the university apart from legislators, athletic fans, students and the business sector. parents, professional organizations, do- It is important to note that the busi- nors, business collaborators, to name just ness sector has a creative side, but this is a few. It is critical that the many groups not the core of the business practice in the have different, often conflicting, de- same sense that it is in the academy. mands—e.g., research vs. instruction, ac- Clearly both the Universities and corpo- cess vs. rankings, or diversity vs. privi- rate businesses must adapt to the chang- lege. One constituency is particularly rel- ing environment in order to survive, and evant to this paper. Increased interaction such adaptation may even be a matter of with the business sector on its turf is a sig- creating new business models, products, nificant environmental challenge. Higher and management processes. An espe- Education business practices are similar cially interesting aspect of corporate cre- to those of the corporate business sector, ativity is product development. It is com- but there is a major difference in how a mon for radically innovative product de- business and the business side of a uni- velopment in corporations to be sepa- versity are positioned: the academic side rated from the management side of the of higher education is largely about crea- business in a “skunk works” in which tivity—i.e., research, arts, problem solv- current design standards, cost issues, ining (see Foster 2006). This creative envi- frastructure, and other matters are kept ronment builds on a mindset that is all from impeding creativity—from creat- about finding new ways of understanding, say, a “new car” that is really just an- ing, of managing, of solving problems— other Oldsmobile or Plymouth. of getting out of the box. Research, high- It is also important to note that the quality education, service functions—all academic side of the university has its of the academic functions are about doing own regulatory/accountability processes something that has never been done be- to deal with—e.g., accreditation, peer re- fore…something that by definition can’t view, rankings, IRB, and FERPA, though be structured. The point is that the sole in the academic domain it is somewhat (if

not perfectly) sensitive to the kind of free a profit motive. This has changed signifi- thinking that is the heart of creativity. cantly in recent years as universities are This is a key element in the difference be- more engaged in economic development, tween the academic and business side of in IP commercialization, in (hopefully) higher education: the interface between profitable on-line education, and in con- operations, regulation, and so on is sensi- tract work. Economic development, con- tive and must somehow align the two el- tract work, IP development, and other ements. But increasingly, there is political matters bring higher education into di- interest in regulating the academic oper- rect interaction with the business sector ations in ways not done in the past—e.g., on the latters’ turf. specifying educational outcomes, con- An interesting twist on this issue is straining research funding in ways that the special place of basic research, which determine what kinds of research can be doesn’t have an immediate, predictable done, thus creating an environment that ROI. This being the case, the private sec- significantly hampers creative activity in tor has all but abandoned basic research all fields. (e.g., the end of Bell Labs), which has The issues discussed above are pri- been de facto outsourced to higher edu- marily grounded on the business side of cation and a few independent research higher education, at least with regard to organizations. Higher education now the direct impact. It is important to note provides the subsidies that the private that a key difference between the busi- sector is unwilling to do. In addition, alt- ness side of higher education and the pri- hough many of the REALLY big IP op- vate corporate sector is that most of portunities come from important results higher education has not been driven by in basic research, higher education is not

Figure 1: Interaction among several important areas of operation/change

29 well positioned to commercialize it—e.g., private sector, as will the most sophisti- the costs of product development and the cated technologies used in on-line learn- risks in protecting patents (e.g., from pa- ing (Chowdhury 2014). Similarly, we are tent trollers). The convergence of public seeing profound technology-driven relations, politics, accountability, and re- change in scholarly communication—es- lated matters has come to affect finances pecially scholarly publications. The issue (see above), enrollments, state appropria- is too complex to address here except to tions, research funding, and much more. say that the changes involve both higher The point is that such issues can often hit education and the publishing industry, a tipping point which could have game- with significant impact on publishing (es- changing impact on the fundamental pecially university presses), libraries, the business model of higher education, with peer review process, and much more. The profound effects on research (Figure 1). importance of these changes is that the Internal Change dissemination and archiving of research Some of the most important change results is at the heart of what we do in the develops internally, though the compli- research arena (Foster 2012). cated relations between institutions and More firmly within higher educa- their environments often make the inter- tion, a groundbreaking research result nal/external distinction problematic. And could fundamentally change a Univer- the issue is made even more complicated sity’s research plan–e.g., by opening up by the differences among sectors. For ex- new opportunities for translational re- ample, much (perhaps most) of the major search, for commercializing IP that arises external impact is based on science and from the results, and/or opening up technologies that at the most fundamen- whole new tracks of basic research. These tal levels were created by research uni- outcomes are among the best of all possi- versities. Thus, although the IT technolo- ble research results, but they can also be gies themselves were not generally devel- major challenges. To take advantage of oped in universities, much of the under- new research paths, major investments lying mathematics and science was. may be required or, worse, major past in- That said, technologies have enabled vestments may become irrelevant. In ad- extremely creative innovation in instruc- dition, the potential for extremely large tional delivery modes and other areas. financial returns from developing some Many of these educational applications resulting IP can be (is likely to be?) were developed within universities, claimed by corporate players who will though it is important that corporate en- challenge the patent necessary for the IP tities (e.g., Wiley, Pearson) are now play- development. The costs of defending po- ing a large part in their dissemination. tentially VERY valuable IP in a patent And it is probably safe to say that the challenge can be millions of dollars. highest-level, most broadly used soft- A more long-term structural kind of ware for, say, simulation-driven hands- evolution is that, although higher educa- on learning classes will come from the tion is very discipline-grounded, the disciplines have been morphing for a long

time and they continue to do so. In some management, curriculum structure, strat- cases these changes may involve the egies for getting research funding, eco- emergence of new disciplines such as genomic development strategies, and struc- ospatial analysis, which involves the con- ture of academic units. But for the most vergence of many disciplines and in- part, higher education’s responses have volves applications in areas as diverse as been short-term efforts to mitigate the medicine, public health, journalism, law challenges, with the goal of protecting the enforcement, and marketing. Moreover, status quo rather than a long-term strat- some disciplines have merged and re-or- egy and action plan for adapting to the ganized—especially in the biological sci- deeper changes. The measures taken on ences, which over the past several dec- the business and academic side differ ades have seen merging and morphing of greatly, of course, but the interactions are agricultural sciences, bio-engineering, profoundly important. medicine, microbiology, botany, bio- In any case, all of the above environ- chemistry, and much more. Such changes mental issues have profound implica- involve significant adjustments to institutions for the internal academic functions, tional structure (e.g., departments, col- and the academic functions pose a daunt- leges), to research infrastructure (strong ing environment for operations of the links to the business side), to curriculum, business side. A key element of all the to faculty socialization, to scholarly com- above is universities’ research and in- munication, to credentialing, to rankings, creasingly important relations with the and to accreditation. business sector. An important point to stress here is Responding on the business side that planning for the unforeseen can in- Responding to change on the busi- volve potentially positive outcomes as ness side, the big focus is on revenue and well as negatives; not all surprises are expense, though the latter is somewhat bad news. But the magnitude of the posi- problematic, since most institutions have tive challenges can be extremely large a very limited understanding of their and complex, and IF a university is to costs. In fact, many conversations with pursue such opportunities, a plan must provosts and other administrators indi- be in place. cate that serious cost accounting is rare in Higher Education’s Responses to the higher education. One reason is that it is Current Volatility costly to do real cost accounting, both at Perhaps the most important observa- the accounting level and, even more, at tion about Higher Education’s response the level of creating the necessary data to the current changes is that little or no base. But perhaps more important, it just fundamental change has taken place (see is not in the culture of higher education. Christensen and Eyring 2011). There are The one area where significant cost anal- a few exceptions, perhaps the most visi- ysis is done is research, as part of the in- ble being Arizona State University’s dra- put for indirect cost negotiations. matic initiatives in course delivery, marketing, the Starbuck’s project, enrollment

Increasing revenue dominates most an institution that does not have a robust of the discussion about funding chal- structure in place. lenges on the business side, and the most Creating new revenue sources is the common item for discussion is tuition other topic that comes up frequently. The and/or, for publics, state funding (both is- idea that on-line delivery of education sues with very complex and conflicting could be a profit center is commonly engagement of constituents). Increasing raised, though some providers claim that tuition revenue can take two forms: rais- on-line delivery is more expensive than ing the level of tuition or changing enroll- traditional face-to-face instruction. Con- ment patterns (e.g., increasing numbers, tract work often is mentioned—e.g., with changing the balance of in-state and out- corporate clients—but costs are generally of-state, changing the balance of graduate not well understood, and pricing is prob- and undergraduate, recruiting full-pay lematic. Another commonly discussed international students, or changing the approach is commercialization of intel- distribution across different disciplines). lectual property created by the univer- But any changes raise issues with how fi- sity’s staff, faculty, and students. Again nancial aid is configured (ultimately the cost issues—and risk of such things as pa- discount rate), and many issues concern- tent trolling—are significant, and pro- ing costs arise. Perhaps the most critical duction of significant revenue is rare. An- issues related to tuition and enrollment other important area for revenue creation patterns are (a) whether the growth is in is auxiliary operations such as book high-cost or low-cost programs, and (b) stores and residential life. Perhaps the whether the programs have capacity to main point here is that we need to be talk- take in more students. These issues over- ing about not just revenue, but new net lap in complicated ways; for instance, it revenue (see pp. 26-27 on research fund- may cost more to add twenty students to ing). a low-cost program that is at capacity The issue of savings almost always (leading to a step function in cost) than in arises in these discussions. Perhaps the a high-cost program with excess capacity, most promising are changes in adminis- for which cost may be essentially zero. trative structures—e.g., shared services. This raises a very difficult area of cost ac- Often major efficiencies can be achieved counting: marginal costs. by fundamentally reengineering admin- Inevitably, such discussions will in- istrative systems (e.g., HR processing or clude philanthropic fundraising. This is, academic support systems such as admis- long term, an important topic, but it is not sions). But many of the discussions are a short-term solution for big revenue more vaguely focused on cutting certain changes, and in any case, for most insti- support functions or eliminating degree tutions, even very successful fundraising programs. The latter rarely happens, and will provide only relatively small when it does, it tends to produce minimal changes in the institution’s budget. It is savings, especially in the short term, since also important to note that fundraising is existing students must be served. In fact, not without significant cost, especially for many proposals for program elimination

focus on humanities and social sciences, changes to health care delivery. And so- which tend to be instructional profit cen- cial media has changed branding and ters (significant enrollments, many ser- marketing in virtually every corner of the vice courses, and relatively low costs of university. Costs, risk management is- delivery—one doesn’t save money by sues, rapid and often fundamental cutting a profit center). Merging depart- change, and strong opposition to certain ments and/or colleges or schools also technologies by some key constituencies arises in discussions about cutting expose daunting challenges, but overall the penses, and again, real savings tend to be effects have been positive. minimal without fundamental changes in Compliance and regulatory require- curriculum, instructional delivery, re- ments are not issues that can be avoided search, and other functions. for the most part. The risks of failure are In any case, higher education institu- great, including public relations, poten- tions most commonly address the finan- tial civil suits, and severe penalties from cial challenges by short-term measures regulatory agencies—e.g., financial pen- such as keeping salary increases at a low alties, loss of certification, or loss of re- or modest level (a source of significant search or other funding. That being the short-term impact, since salary is a very case, institutions’ investment in compli- big part of college and university budg- ance tends to increase constantly. This is ets). Another common measure is to defer an outcome that leads to more general maintenance and needed renovation—an conflict between the academic and busi- action that is not highly visible in the ness sides of universities, since it in- short term, but which can add up to cata- creases administrative costs in ways that strophic consequences if pursued for a often are not transparent and come at the long time. A very common strategy, cost of cuts (or lack of new investment, sometimes linked closely with enroll- salary increases, and more) on the aca- ment strategies, is to hire more adjunct demic side. faculty, who tend to be paid less and Responding on the academic side teach much more than regular faculty—a Responding on the academic side of strategy that has received a good deal of higher education is dramatically different national discussion recently, both posi- from the business side in part because it tive and negative. is embedded in centuries of tradition Changing technologies have been (highly sacred rituals that drive many be- adopted in many areas on the business haviors and practices), accreditation, and side. Not everyone is a fan of ERP sys- a long list of other conditions. But as tems, but they have been very broadly noted above, the most important issue is adopted and among other benefits, they the underlying fact that the academic side increase universities’ ability to integrate of the university—certainly research and data from HR, facilities, student matters arts, but also instruction and many ser- as diverse as admission, financial aid, vice functions—is primarily about crea- and academic performance. Electronic tivity, and a closely related sacred idea is Medical Records have brought important

33 about academic freedom and faculty con- functions or of the administrators respon- trol of curriculum and research agen- sible for them (as, it should be said, is true das—all very important ideas, even if for many people on the business side sometimes used in ways that are not use- who have limited understanding of func- ful (especially from the business perspec- tions, underlying mind-set, and focus on tive). creativity on the academic side). Finding new revenue is probably the Focused investment in a limited most important idea that arises from fac- number of strategic areas is another idea ulty—although it’s also important to note that arises in the academic side, generally that few faculty have a deep understand- with administrative buy-in. Such discus- ing of how revenues are generated. And sions usually focus on areas of strength most faculty, in line with most academic and, correspondingly, at least some disin- administrators, have little sense of the vestment to provide funds for the fo- complexity of cost issues. Nevertheless, it cused areas. Such ideas of focused areas is often the revenue side that dominates most often are based in research, but have the discussion on the academic side. strong links to philanthropic fundraising, Many of the issues discussed above (i.e., faculty hiring, state funding, corporate regarding responses on the business side) partnerships, and institutional stature. are equally applicable for the academic Although the very general idea of focus side, though complicated by the highly and supporting strengths is appealing to principled ideals and practices of the cen- most academics, the actual implementa- turies-long academic traditions. tion usually runs into resistance very Finding ways to cut administrative quickly. One of the main impediments is costs is another issue that arises fre- the faculty focus on disciplines and the quently. This idea is entirely in keeping fact that many focus areas will be inter- with the point that the university’s or col- disciplinary. Some of this resistance is lege’s reason for existing is academic, and grounded in highly principled commit- administration’s function is to support ment to the disciplines in which faculty the academic side. This concern has been were trained, socialized, and in which fueled recently by media coverage of they advanced their careers; but much is some research showing that in recent also based on protecting turf of depart- years, administrative positions have in- ments and colleges. creased faster than faculty—a significant Gaining efficiencies in delivery of issue from all perspectives. Certainly the curriculum seldom arises in faculty dis- goal of cutting administrative costs by cussions—e.g., increasing the number of system redesign, shared services, and cross-listed courses, eliminating redun- other initiatives (see above) are shared dant courses or program elements that with administrators, though the precise overlap multiple programs (e.g., research content may not align so well. It is very methods). Such matters run immediately common for faculty to have only limited into concerns about academic freedom understanding of various administrative and faculty control of curriculum—and, of course, usually unmentioned, issues of

turf protection, which often are incentiv- negatives include export control and ized by budget processes, space alloca- strong investment in research by China tion, and other business practices. Occa- and India and elsewhere. Many universi- sionally faculty will lean favorably to re- ties have strongly supported interna- ducing or eliminating programs that just tional research collaborations (e.g., con- don’t conform to their mind set—e.g., the ferences, research time abroad for faculty unfavorable opinion those in a basic re- and students) but they are in the early search area often have for applied pro- stages of development, and their politi- grams in the same general area, and vice cal, policy, and public relations future re- versa. Again, such issues are related to mains uncertain. The only thing that is highly principled commitment to and be- certain is that research in many fields in lief in the underlying ideas of a disci- our universities MUST develop effective pline—and of turf protection or even ex- international collaborations/competitive pansion. positioning if it is to be effective over the The international dynamics have be- next few decades. come influential in day-to-day opera- Compliance and regulatory issues tions, in determining the vision for our are extremely relevant to the needed pro- future, and in creating a daunting com- gress in international effectiveness, on petitive environment. Many of our aca- both the research and educational side— demic moves internationally have to do e.g., for economic development and med- with recruiting international students for ical care, as noted above. reasons outlined above—e.g., to create a In addition, the regulatory, compli- viable STEM pipeline and to generate tu- ance, and accountability issues on the ac- ition revenue. The dramatic growth of in- ademic side raise critical challenges. As vestment in higher education around the noted above, compliance on the business world will make the international compe- side is often seen by faculty as a negative, tition for these students a major issue in but accreditation and other academic is- the future. Ironically, there is a strong fo- sues are often seen as opportunities for cus on integrating the international stu- leveraging more resources. For example, dents into American universities and get- losing accreditation in a professional pro- ting them functional in English, while gram because of not meeting certain reg- American study abroad programs are far ulations is just not an option. less likely to stress language competency Just as accreditation can provide op- and social/academic integration in the portunities, political and other constitu- foreign university. This is an imbalance ent groups can be a valuable resource, but that will have a strong negative impact on they can also pose regulatory, funding, the U.S. global positioning in the future. and other restraints that are damaging to Global collaboration—and competi- higher education. Such restraints may tion—in the research domain is one of the stem from principled, but controversial, most important elements of the future policy issues. Or they may stem from fis- success of the U.S. Many related issues cal or other interests of a specific group. have been mentioned above—e.g., the

Or they may stem from raw politics. Reg- move to greater degree of hands-on ulatory and related constituent issues are learning. It is difficult to make a negative among the most critical challenges we argument about hands-on learning…ex- face in navigating our chaotic environ- cept that it is very expensive to deliver in ment—issues for which most universities most cases, among other things requiring have strong if not always successful as- a great deal of faculty time—a problem sets. that can be mitigated by technology. Changing technology has impacted Summary: Aligning the Business and academics in many more ways than can Academic Sides of Higher Education. The be addressed here—in instruction, re- academic and business sides of higher search, and in the many support func- education are like two different planets in tions like campus IT services. the sense that they are intimately con- The increased emphasis on hands- nected, but with underlying dynamics on, active learning is an important link to that are not just different, but often con- technology. Clearly there is increased tradictory. The business side is very com- pressure to prepare students for jobs or plex given the many-dimensional con- careers, and practical application of what nections with the broader business, polit- they learn in classrooms is highly valued, ical, policy, demographic, and other ele- as is providing students with high-level ments of the environment, but it is highly analytical and problem-solving skills. structured as is any business operation. And the shift toward the flipped class- The academic side, though, cannot be room, in which interactive learning is a structured in the same way, given that its key element, further strengthens the main purpose is creativity—doing things that have never been done before—which is done, ironically, in an environment buried in centuries of tradition. But that said, as indicated above, creative activity can’t take place without adequate infrastructure, which must be created and built without knowing just where the academic activity will go. Thoughts on Adaptive Planning in a Chaotic Research Environment All of the above provides context for addressing adaptive planning in a chaotic environment. Clearly planning cannot be a simple, linear, fixed set of priorities that are associated with resource development and allocation. Nor can we do comprehensive, highly accurate models of the future to inform the investment in people, allocation of time, development

of curriculum, management of research goals; but shorter term trends also have and/or instructional capacity. Uncer- to be considered (say, three to five years tainty is everywhere and can pose both at the objective level) and year by year, or negative and positive surprises—chal- even quarter by quarter for tactical and lenges and opportunities. Adaptive plan- action-plan level planning. Similarly, ning must address both in an on-going, other dimensions of environmental responsive way. change will have to be aligned with dif- What follows is a set of thoughts on ferent levels of the plan—e.g., political adaptive planning but, as a matter of dynamics at the long-term national and principle, no straightforward, clear pro- state levels, the immediate election re- cess can be laid out. Three guiding prin- sults, and session by session legislative ciples at the highest level begin to define trends. Other dimensions would include domains in which the planning will oc- major policy issues; the student market cur. The plan itself must be layered: at the (including demographics); the competi- highest level will be what is often called tive environment for student recruit- mission and vision, which determine ment, research grants, etc.; the dynamics where the institution is going. Then, to of the regulatory environment; and the achieve the vision/mission will be broad dynamics of scholarly communication. goals, which will have operational out- Guiding Principle 1: Institutional comes; then there will be objectives that Strengths. The most important guiding will have to be met to reach the goals, tac- principle is to build the plan—the priori- tics for reaching the objectives, and a de- ties—on institutional strengths. If the tailed action plan for implementing the point of the plan is to take the institution tactics. The number of levels and the ter- to where it wants to go, then building on minology are not so much of importance institutional strengths is the most likely as that the plan be layered such that the way to get there, the end goal being to po- higher level elements (vision, goals) are sition the institution favorably in relation fairly long-term (e.g., years, even dec- to other universities and other kinds of ades), while the lower-level elements are competitors. Similarly, it is critical to po- shorter term, getting down to the action sition the institution such that it is viewed plan, which changes day by day. favorably by its many constituencies (see Ultimately, the different-level ele- Principle 2). Strengths can mean many ments of the plan must be aligned/ad- things, even for institutions that are very justed to the environmental dynamics similar: even for constituent groups for that were described earlier in the paper; very similar institutions, the idea of accordingly, environmental issues will strengths has extraordinary variety, to have to be broken down in various levels. the point that strengths in one institution For example, for revenue elements of the would be weaknesses in another. It is crit- plan, it will be necessary to have a predic- ical to be clear that strengths are not de- tion of where certain kinds of revenue are fined as highly ranked programs, though likely to go over the next decade or more such programs may be an element in de- in order to address vision and broader

37 fining strengths. That said, the institu- their needs and expectations and map tions that are represented in this retreat them on one another to see patterns that are all major public research universities, can be in some way used strategically. An and there will be significant overlap in important footnote to this matter: it will the idea of what is a strength. A few ex- be critical to work with non-traditional amples: constituents whose interests, political po- • A record of high-impact outcomes in sitioning, and other properties can help a particular area, which will occur build on the institution’s strengths—con- most likely in research. High impact stituents such as large corporations, gov- outcomes are what we want, but as ernment agencies, beltway bandits, na- discussed above, they may pose optional labs, and economic development portunities or challenges (see p. 29). agencies. • A forward-looking strength might be As with the strength areas, the con- in emerging areas which are not of stituents’ needs and expectations will high prestige today but for which the vary according to the level of the plan institution is well positioned—e.g., that they engage with: e.g., a long-term • Emerging high-demand areas for ac- emphasis on biomedical research, short- ademic credentials—e.g., in a profes- term hiring of graduates in certain fields, sion such as Medicine, or in interdis- building a new stadium to enhance the ciplinary technical areas such as in- stature of athletics over the long term, or formatics; giving a small one-time amount to go to • Emerging science areas that are the the president’s discretionary fund. An- result of the complex dynamics that other kind of example would be a dean’s are operationally morphing the disci- advisory board that strongly advocates plines (see p. 30). for a doctoral program in a particular Guiding Principle 2: Constituent Expec- area. Another example might be an influ- tations, Demands, and Needs. A second ential legislator who is an alum and who guiding principle is to systematically has a broad agenda (say, in health care, align the plan with the expectations of the economic development, or the arts) who many external constituencies. Alignment needs a major institutional investment to of the plan with constituents’ desires move his/her agenda forward. A key must be done holistically, not taking each point here is that a very high-capacity do- constituent alone, but considering how nor, a powerful legislator, a highly com- the many demands and expectations mitted alum with little financial capacity come together: complementary, overlap- all fit into the picture at different levels of ping, inconsistent with, or irrelevant to, the plan. There is no clear way to build each other. The constituencies of a re- such dynamics into the plan, but the plan search university are extremely diverse, will not be a plan unless these dynamics, ranging from legislators, donors, parents, in all of their complexity, are systemati- employers of graduates, professional or- cally considered. ganizations, corporate partners, alumni, Guiding Principle 3: Engaging the Insti- and much more. The key is to identify tution Broadly. A third guiding principle

is to foster an extremely broad institu- dom happen that everyone agrees on an- tional perspective and engagement. In ything, and some actions will have to be some ways, this is similar to finding a di- taken about which there will be disagree- rection that meets the needs of different ment and/or opposition. A critical ele- external constituents. Thus, just among ment of such discussions is to systemati- faculty it is critical to cross the boundaries cally consider the incentive structures of the academic disciplines and the put in place by, say, facilities assign- closely associated organizational units ments, budget, P&T, curriculum, teach- like departments, centers, colleges, and ing load, and other operational elements schools. But in addition to the disciplines (some of which may come from outside themselves, there are the broader, highly the University, such as accrediting bod- influential groups of faculty such as those ies, professional associations, and corpo- in basic and applied research and aca- rate partners). demic vs. professional. But this is only the Aligning the Principles, the Plan, and academic side of the organization; there the Environment. All of the external and is also the business side, including internal change facing the institution budget and fiscal management, facilities, MUST be figured in such that it is feasible enrollment management, government re- to move forward, building on the first lations, research administration, fund- three principles. There is no point in raising, economic development, human building on strengths that require mas- relations, hospital administration, and sive investment that the institution can- much more. And then there is athletics. It not afford. By the same token, no strength is not reasonable to expect that all of these could go forward if there was no faculty groups will come together in total, pas- interest and influential donors and legis- sionate agreement about the institution’s lative constituents were strongly op- direction/plan, but strong push-back posed. In fact, all of the external change from key elements of the institution is (i.e., the changes discussed above as well likely to severely impair the chances of as the institution’s responses to date) reaching the goals of the plan. must be systematically built into framing My own prejudice on this matter is the first three principles and taking the that the key to engagement is to have real next step to vision and goals. And this discussions, not just show and tell, to must be done in a systemic way that takes bring together people who are positioned into account not just each factor on its very differently and who have different own, but the complicated interactions perspectives. Real discussions will get the among the many factors. Thus, for a sim- disagreements, value differences, and ple example: the size and nature of the special interests on the table so they can student body, curriculum, faculty profile, be dealt with. There will be significant public service, professional engagement ideas that will meet opposition strong each impacts faculty workload and enough to prevent them from being im- productivity rippling over into grant plemented. And reality is that it will sel- funding, publications, IP development, and facilities (e.g., see Figure 1). And it is

39 all affected by state funding, regulatory most that can be made of the specific in- burdens, salary competitiveness, and ef- formation is that it provides the first steps fective support from staff, post docs, and for mapping the particular institution’s graduate students. Again, the point is environment, linking it to the broad di- that the external influences must be rection it wishes to take, and creating a mapped systemically onto the priori- viable plan for implementing the goals to ties/goals that are crafted with reference get to where the institution wants to go. to the three guiding principles. Research Finally, I need to come back to the cannot be separated from the broader in- point that this paper is about research. stitutional (or broader Higher Education) The main point is that research is deeply dynamics. embedded in the broader Higher Educa- An obvious, but sometimes over- tion dynamics. Like other elements of looked, requirement is that there needs to Higher Education, it cannot be seen as be an implementation plan that is closely separated from fiscal, political, regula- aligned with the higher levels of the stra- tory, instructional, facilities and other el- tegic plan. This may consist of bringing ements of the university—and of Higher together the plan—say, the objective, tac- Education broadly. tic, and action plan levels—which must References be structured to reach the goals and ob- Academic Impressions. Meeting the Chal- jectives. Clearly, there must be evalua- lenge of Program Prioritization.” Monthly tions and accountability at all levels— Diagnostic, April 2013. and clearly, the levels cannot be sepa- Christensen, Clayton M. and Henry J. rated in this accountability process. There Eyring. The Innovative University: are countless reasons the plan could fail. Changing the DNA of Higher Education from the Inside Out. San Francisco, CA: One, of course, is that it just didn’t make Jossey-Bass. 2011. sense. Another is a fundamental change Chowdhury, Tradib R., Ed. The Flipped in, say, state appropriations. Another Classroom: A Selection of “Inside Higher would be regulatory changes that pre- Ed” Articles and Essays, April 2014. clude some of the necessary actions to Duderstadt, James J. “Creating the Future: reach the objectives and goals. Some the Promise of Public Research Universi- could be long-term disruptions, and ties for America.” In Precipice or Cross- some could be short-term. The important roads?, Ed. Fogel, Daniel Mark and Eliza- point is that all of this MUST be a core el- beth Malson-Huddle. Albany: SUNY Press, 2012. Pp. 221-240. ement in the planning process. Foster, Brian L. “From Faculty to Adminis- A critical point about my representa- trator: Like Going to a New Planet.” In tion of the environmental changes, about Transitions Between Faculty and Admin- higher education’s responses, and exam- istrative Careers, Ronald J. Henry, Ed. ples about the planning process: these San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, No. 134, Sum- MUST NOT be seen as anything other mer 2006. Pp. 49-57. than consciousness raising. The environ- Foster, Brian L. “Scholarly Communication ment differs for every institution; the rein the Age of New Media.” In Infor- sponses differ for every institution. The mation Systems as Infrastructure for Uni- versity Research Now and in the Future, 40

Ed. Mabel L. Rice. Lawrence, KS: Univer- Schulenberger, David. “Challenges to Viabil- sity of Kansas Merrill Advanced Studies ity and Sustainability.” In Precipice or Center, 2012. Pp. 46-54. Crossroads?, Ed. Fogel, Daniel Mark and Gardner, Lee. “Colleges Face a ‘Tough Love’ Elizabeth Malson-Huddle. Albany: SUNY Problem.” In Chronicle of Higher Educa- Press, 2012. Pp. 79-117. tion, June 19, 2014. Selingo, Jeffrey J, Editor. The Innovative Uni- Lowry, Judy. “High costs of research at university: What College Presidents Think versities made worse by funding gap.” About Change in American Higher Edu- Eurekalert.org/pub_releases, January 9, cation. Chronicle of Higher Education, 2014. 2014.

Enhancing University Research through Corporate Engagement and Collaboration

Jeffrey Scott Vitter, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor, The University of Kansas Julie S. Nagel, Executive Director of Corporate Partnerships, The University of Kansas

he University of Kansas is undergoing a transformation. It is driven by our strategic plan — aptly named Bold Aspirations — which guides and inspires us to T raise the expectations we have for ourselves, the aspirations we have for our state, and the hopes we have for our world. We are in the third year of Bold Aspirations, and the level of change on campus so far is unprecedented. Bold Aspirations outlines six im- Creating the Office of Corporate portant goals for the university. This pa- Partnerships per relates specifically to Goal 4, which As background to understand the is focuses on engaged scholarship: “to broader context surrounding the creation of engage local, state, national, and global the Office of Corporate Partnerships, KU’s communities as partners in scholarly ac- historical approach to developing partner- tivities that have direct public impact.” ships with businesses was local and ad hoc. As part of that goal, we seek to promote The university did not have impressive lev- active entrepreneurship and vibrant ex- els of corporate-funded research. KU’s re- ternal partners. A key component of this search assets were not organized as effi- strategy was the creation of the Office of ciently as they should have been to encour- Corporate Partnerships, developed to age engagement with outside groups. diversify KU’s research portfolio. The The KU Center for Technology Com- Office of Corporate Partnerships was in- mercialization (KUCTC) was established in troduced into KU’s existing commercial- 2008 as the separate 501(c)3 charged with ization enterprise, and in the two years the management and commercialization of since the office’s creation, we have al- the university’s intellectual property — but ready seen an increase in the amount of this activity was its only function. As a glar- corporate and foundation research funding example of why such a structure was far ing as a percentage of our overall re- from ideal, research agreements with indus- search portfolio. try sponsors were done by 16 different groups, across KU’s two campuses.

In 2011 we broadened the scope of working with universities. The net result our commercialization enterprise and be- is that we can more effectively translate gan consolidating corporate assets under KU research to make a real positive dif- single umbrella. We created a new posi- ference in people’s lives. tion of Associate Vice Chancellor of Inno- Five-year plan for commercializa- vation and Entrepreneurship to head tion KUCTC, which strongly signaled our When we reorganized our commer- new emphasis on this topic. Later that cialization and entrepreneurship assets in year, we created the Office of Corporate 2011, we assembled a five-year strategic Partnerships and made it a direct report plan with three key goals: 1) to create a to the Associate Vice Chancellor of Inno- national model; 2) to improve our finan- vation and Entrepreneurship. We also cial performance; and 3) to improve our brought into the fold our technology customer experience, which includes transfer and faculty startup resources. both internal customers (faculty) and ex- The idea behind this consolidation was ternal customers (companies.) straightforward: By bringing together To reach these goals, it was clear we these previously disparate functions — needed to create a strategic systems plan. technology transfer, faculty startup for- At the time, we did not have systems of mation, and corporate partnerships — we record and infrastructure that would al- could position ourselves to be more effi- low us to meet those goals. But we did cient and more flexible in pursuing agree- not just want to “catch up” to what other ments with industry partners. In fact, we universities were doing. Rather, we as- were so committed to the synergies and pired to outpace other universities and nimbleness represented by the new or- install new systems in new ways that ganization; we recently changed the would leverage each other and enable us name of KUCTC to KU Innovation & Col- to work with companies more easily, laboration (KUIC). while allowing us to make more in- The benefits of this new structure are formed, data-driven decisions on a already apparent. For example, we have smaller budget. created what amounts to a one-stop shop How companies partner with KU at KU for external groups looking to col- Today, companies can partner with laborate with us. Having these groups KU in many ways. To put it another way, working under a single set of metrics pro- KU has many different products (or do- vides for cross-collaboration. An example mains) that companies may want to ac- is efficiently working out an intellectual cess. These products include faculty ex- property section in an industry-spon- pertise, lab capabilities, student talent, sored research agreement that will allow workforce development opportunities, for easy downstream licensing activity. A technology licensing, and of course phi- portal for both faculty and industry spon- lanthropy, which entails sponsoring sors to work through to create research- scholarships, professorships, and other based partnerships removes barriers university needs. Some companies just companies often cited as reasons for not need one of these KU products. Other

43 companies may want to interact with KU The Office of Corporate Partnerships in a number of domains. More signifi- is based upon that comprehensive philos- cantly, interactions between KU and a ophy. We facilitate all aspects of indus- company can lead to other forms of part- try-sponsored research at our core, and nership with the company, which can we lead the university-wide strategy on move the company along a conceptual how to coordinate these different areas path of increasing engagement, as indi- with a central message. Yes, we like to cated in the figure below: have many boots on the ground and

There are several groups across cam- many ongoing conversations with com- pus that are involved in these various panies. But at the same time, we want all products that make up KU’s portfolio. that communication done in a coordi- But today, they all come together under nated and traceable way so that KU staff the umbrella of the Office of Corporate in different units know what their col- Partnerships to ensure they work to- leagues are doing and saying. Thus, it is gether in an efficient and integrated man- crucial for us to share information about ner. It does not concern us how a com- company visits and interactions and to pany wants to partner with the univer- put forward a highly coordinated face to sity; what matters is that the company companies. By so doing, we know exactly does want to partner with us in some how the company has worked with the way. Because of the Office of Corporate university in the past, which helps us ex- Partnerships, when a company ap- pand the collaboration in the future. By proaches us with a need or idea, we can sharing, each of the different groups that now expose the company to the entire works with companies can leverage the menu of KU resources — resources the others and create a greater benefit for the company might not have even known university. about prior to contacting KU. For exam- Building our team ple, under our current system, it would We continue to build out the Office not be unusual for a company to ap- of Corporate Partnerships utilizing a dis- proach KU to explore the capability of a tributive model for company engage- specific laboratory, yet end up investing ment. As part of this model, we have in KU via a sponsored research engage- jointly funded staff positions in a number ment as well. of our key schools — business and engineering, for example — enabling us to 44

have deep knowledge of the research and agreements to enable the collaborative priorities within those schools. work. An effective approach has been for While school-specific or subject-spe- the industry agreements group to handle cific expertise is important, companies of- the negotiation of those contracts as a sin- ten have broader interdisciplinary needs. gle entry point for all of KU. The number An understanding of those broader needs of agreements we have done through the is why it is so important for our school- industry portal continues to increase, specific staff to work together and com- while our negotiation time continues to municate with the representatives from decrease. We track these two metrics on a the other schools and units. Additionally, monthly basis. these individuals act as liaisons with the One of the great strengths of the new industry agreements group. They still structure is that our industry agreements serve as the single KU face for the com- group liaises with the licensing associates pany, but in addition, they conceptually in the technology transfer group. The in- have the industry agreements group and dustry agreements team negotiating the the tech transfer group behind them sup- contract understands the priorities and porting that transaction. This model has goals of the Office of Corporate Partner- proven successful at building more part- ships. As a result, we can ensure that IP nerships within the academic units. language favors downstream licensing so Industry portal that there are no surprises on the When the Office of Corporate Part- backend. This approach has allowed us to nerships was established, it was obvious be more efficient and strategic in the exe- that our external customers — our com- cution of research agreements with company collaborators — needed an easy pany sponsors. way to work with KU. We did not want Technology and a common tracking KU to be a “black box” in which partners system had to come to the table and then struggle As previously mentioned, one im- to figure out our university. We wanted mediate success was the tracking system to make it easy for companies to access that we put into place for the Office of the products we offer. Thus, we created Corporate Partnerships as part of the an “industry portal”: a single entry point overall strategic systems mission. for potential company partners to access Prior to the installation of the track- the specific things they wanted at the uni- ing system, we relied solely on monthly versity. We have a website that supports meetings to share information on corpo- this function as well. The different prod- rate engagement. As one might imagine, ucts that companies want to access are or- monthly meetings were not an especially ganized in this central location. efficient or comprehensive way of shar- Earlier in this article, we discussed ing the hundreds — or thousands — of the industry agreements group. It too is a different corporate touches made by fac- key part of the industry portal. A re- ulty and staff across the university. search focused collaboration typically re- Consequently, we envisioned a cus- quires negotiation of one or more legal tomer relationship management (CRM)

45 system, which is a best practice employed spects. Our Career Services staff mem- in the corporate world to track all sorts of bers use it to prospect new companies to data, especially in sales. We opted to use engage in career fairs. In addition, our Salesforce.com and configured it to track Endowment team uses it to get back- all our company engagements. Today, we ground on new philanthropic target com- have data feeds coming in from numer- panies. ous units across multiple campuses. Using data from the CRM These data feeds include details on tech Having that much data in one place transfer, development, research, and nu- really empowers us to dig in, do some ro- merous other ways in which companies bust reporting and analysis, and find new engage with KU. ways to do business. The CRM tool functions as a system For example, we have configured a of record for the Office of Corporate Part- 360-degree report showing all the interac- nerships. The system allows us to track tions any given company has with KU in all industry engagement data that previ- a single one-page report output. The re- ously had been scattered across different port includes market information about systems. Additionally, we went back and the company and areas in which KU ex- loaded data from the previous five years. cels that might be useful to the company. This tool now allows the Office of Corpo- These reports are used by deans, faculty, rate Partnerships to track all company senior administration, and other KU offi- meetings and to build institutional cials as intelligence prior to meeting with knowledge about company partners. The a new potential company partner. system is also available to the internal Another application we have added stakeholders who contribute to the sys- is data.com, a tool that provides us con- tem, using the following general princi- tacts from any company in our database. ple: “if you give data to the system, you We also have developed partnership get a seat at the table.” These internal reports, which enable us to understand stakeholders can log into the system, do KU’s portfolio of partner companies. We reporting, and see activity just as Office define a partner as a company engaged in of Corporate Partnerships staff can. at least three broad categories across KU, Additionally, the CRM has become a such as tech transfer, career services, de- strong prospecting tool for different divi- velopment, or research. By this defini- sions across KU that work with compa- tion, KU currently has more than 80 com- nies. For example, the CRM allows the panies as partners. With our new tools, Office of Corporate Partnerships to iden- we are now digging deeper to discover tify company partners that have teamed how we can weigh individual partner- with KU in some capacity but perhaps ships differently. For example, a mone- not on research. For technology transfer, tized partnership will be weighted more the CRM enables more efficiently market- heavily than a non-monetized interac- ing of KU technologies available for li- tion, allowing us to further narrow the cense by identifying new company pro- portfolio.

46 Another interesting thing we saw And we are not stopping there. We coming out of the CRM was how other have more infrastructure improvements groups within KU’s commercialization in mind that we think will further lever- unit have been able to leverage the data. age what we have already put into place. For example, one of the primary func- We have gathered requirements for a factions of our tech transfer group is to mar- ulty expertise search functionality that ket KU intellectual property for licensing. would leverage KU’s implementation of But prior to 2011, the group really did not Professional Record Online (PRO) system have specific targets or vehicles to get the where all faculty CV data are held elec- right information to those targets. Sure, tronically. Our vision for this tool is to be they had some database tools with mar- able to research scholarly and research ket information, but the processes were activity of all faculty — not limited just to not targeted and efficient. However, STEM faculty, as many search expertise things changed when the CRM came functionalities are limited at other uni- online. Suddenly our tech transfer group versities. We think companies would find could easily run reports within the sys- such a system very helpful in locating re- tem on all companies that already had en- search experts at KU in particular areas gagements with KU. The tech transfer where they have a need. Additionally, we group can narrow companies that are in anticipate a benefit for our faculty by pro- the same industry sector as the technol- moting multidisciplinary team for- ogy they are marketing using Standard mation, and it will help our students find Industry Classification (SIC) codes or faculty mentors and labs that meet their North American Industry Classification interests. Other external organizations System (NAICS) codes. They now have and media outlets could also use this tool. an instant list of leads to market the tech- The tool could also be benefit our local nology, and they then use data.com to economic development partners, who pull the contacts. The total package al- could use it to help recruit prospective lows them to market technologies at a companies to the area. must faster rate, which we expect will An interesting possibility is to com- lead to more licenses executed annually. bine the intelligence from our faculty ex- It’s working … and we are develop- pertise search tool with the company ing more infrastructure leads provided by the CRM. For example, Our efforts are already bearing fruit, we can make use of a search expertise as evidenced by our core metrics. Be- functionality that can easily search fac- tween Fiscal Year 2011 and 2013, our li- ulty from a research or creative activity censing revenue increased by a multiple standpoint. We also have cataloged all of 15, or by a multiple of four if you ex- the companies that work with KU, and clude an outlier that generated significant they are all classified and searchable by revenue to KU. Licensing agreements in- SIC and NAICS codes. How can we best creased by 15 percent, patent issues in- tie these two capabilities together? One of creased by 131 percent, and industry- the roles of our KUIC staff is to align in- sponsored research is up 40 percent. dustry needs with KU capabilities. Can

47 we perform that matchmaking more ef- forward, under the umbrella of the Office fectively with semi-automated tools? of Corporate Partnerships, we will con- That challenge is next on our agenda: to tinue to find new opportunities to engage join the database that holds our faculty with industry partners in ways that mu- expertise with our CRM by industry sec- tually benefit the university, our state, tor in order to visualize the end result. and society overall. We continue to envision how we can use Acknowledgements. We thank Joe these systems more creatively in order to Monaco and Gavin Young in the KU Of- get better results and with fewer staff re- fice of Public Affairs for their support in sources. translating our presentation into article Onward and upward form and Tricia Bergman in the Office of The University of Kansas has come a Corporate Partnerships for the develop- long way in the past two years. Moving ment of the figure.

Revolutionizing science through simulation: A junior researcher’s perspective on research challenges in uncertain times

Baskar Ganapathysubramanian, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University

imulation science can serve as a powerful strategy to explore and understand complex phenomena. It is especially suited to gaining insights into events occur- S ring at extreme scales (very small and fast or large and slow), rare events (hurri- canes, earthquakes), or events that involve interplay of a large number of phenomena (biological processes, multi-scale phenomena). Progress in cyber infrastructure (hardware) and concurrent development in computational tools (software) place practitioners of simulation science in a unique position. They can serve as a bridge between experiments and theory, supplement experimental observation with computational insight, and enable high throughput exploration and design. I show specific examples of how simulation science can effectively bridge disparate disciplines to solve complex problems. Such multidisciplinary activities seem to increase the possibility of research funding. Based on these experiences, I share my opinions on how administrators can enable faculty to successful multidisciplinary teams. My research group has domain ex- encouraged us to work very closely with pertise in developing high performance experimental scientists and practitioners computational methods and associated to ensure that our computational ad- tools for modeling and controlling vances directly enable the science prob- transport phenomena, particularly in the lem at hand. This has resulted in very context of advanced energy generation productive partnerships with a variety of and storage. This is an emerging topic of research groups (architects, control scien- research owing to the ever-increasing tists, computer scientists, civil engineers, need for high-performance materials, de- agronomists, chemists, physicists and vices, and processes in sustainable en- mathematicians). I illustrate a few con- ergy applications. We work on integrat- crete examples of this collaborative view- ing three key scientific issues related with point. this effort, namely: (1) accounting for the Simulation science for sustainable multi-scale, multi-physics nature of these buildings: processes, (2) the necessity of accounting for The construction, operation, and the inherent uncertainty in these processes, maintenance of buildings require an and (3) the importance of experimental vali- enormous amount of energy. Buildings dation and verification of any modeling consume approximately 36%-41% of the framework. This scientific viewpoint has U.S. total annual energy usage and about 49

40% of the global energy consumption [1- maintain indoor occupant comfort. That 3]. Even Heating Ventilation and Air is, under a variety of external conditions, Conditioning (HVAC) systems alone for the building design should ensure a rea- the U.S. use approximately 16% of the sonable modicum of comfort for the oc- U.S. annual energy usage [3]. In recent cupants. While this task is inherently dif- years, there has been a conscientious ficult, there is historical precedent of sus- push towards developing sustainable tainable buildings that achieve reasona- methods of designing buildings. Designs ble indoor comfort under extreme out- that leverage natural flows (wind and door weather conditions. A particularly buoyant ventilation), and passive heat- relevant set of architectures include ing/cooling (thermal mass effects) hold domed houses in Turkey and Syria, and promise for energy efficiency. To effi- wind-catchers in Iran. With this motiva- ciently leverage these naturally available tion, we have been studying the adobe energy flows (passive solar heating, nat- houses in Harran, Turkey. This is part of ural ventilation and cooling strategies), our long-term goal of comprehensively various elements need to operate to- understanding, and incorporating prom- gether -- windows need to be opened or ising features of the Harran house (chan- closed, shading devices opened or closed. neled natural ventilation co-opted with Additionally, active systems need to be thermal mass effects) into sustainable de- activated to start operation once the nat- signs in the US and Turkey. These ver- ural forces are no longer available at nacular buildings constructed with mud proper strength. and bricks provide agreeable thermal This vision calls for a holistic ap- comfort levels even under very high am- proach towards the design of space, en- bient temperatures, high solar radiation, velope, and environmental control and and low precipitation levels. Thermal operation systems in order to reduce their comfort is maintained via an interesting impact on energy resources and the envi- interplay between thermal mass effects ronment. Motivated by this, we formed and natural ventilation. an interdisciplinary team consisting of an We use simulations as a powerful architect, a computational scientist, a con- tool to help predict flow physics and trol theorist, and a material scientist. We identify problematic regions of existing are working on coupling engineering ex- buildings, and aid in the design and opti- pertise in computational fluid dynamics mization of energy efficient newly con- (CFD), advanced control system design with structed buildings. Computational Fluid architectural design and human factors to Dynamics (CFD) simulations break up build simulation expertise and associated the building into a set of pieces, also tools for designing free ventilation, heating known as mesh elements, and resolve the and cooling strategies in green buildings. governing equations of fluid flow and the The overarching challenge with inte- energy equation on each piece/element. grating sustainable strategies for condi- This discretization process of the build- tioning the indoor space is the ability of ing zone allows CFD simulations to eas- sustainable buildings to consistently

ily analyze thermal comfort in many dif- This collaborative effort has enabled ferent places in the occupied zone and us to integrate architecture with high identify ventilation patterns. This pro- performance computing towards vides a detailed picture of how energy understanding how thermal mass effects and air flow in the building. We have and natural ventilation affect comfort in made progress in developing mathemat- the Harran house. We are able to unravel ical formulations for modeling natural the competing effects of buoyancy and ventilation in complex geometries. Note wind driven natural ventilation, thermal that it is difficult to model natural venti- mass, short-wave and long-wave lation as it constantly fluctuates in real radiation, conduction, convection, wind time in response to changes in wind di- thermal energy, and surface roughness. rection and intensity [4]. Standard com- We have shown that this model performs putational fluid dynamics approaches very well in comparison with (CFD) based on Reynolds-Averaged-Na- experimental measurements made at the vier-Stokes (RANS) models have been Harran house. This sets the stage for shown not to work for this class of prob- future developments in adaptive controls lems. Recent results suggest that a more and architectural design to extend these high-fidelity approach using Large- concepts to sustainable buildings in the Eddy-Simulation approach would enable US. accounting for the effects of natural ven- Simulation science for sustainable tilation [5]. This calls for a concerted solar energy: high-performance computing based ap- Organic solar cells (OSC) represent a proach to design, explore and benchmark very promising low-cost, rapidly deploy- the ability of LES to account for natural able strategy for harnessing solar energy. ventilation. We have very promising pre- Organic solar cells manufactured from liminary work on a massively-parallel fi- organic blends are amenable to roll-to- nite element method variational multi- roll processing on flexible substrates, scale based LES framework for natural have high optical absorption coefficients, ventilation. allow low-temperature processing, and

Figure 1: Left: Picture of the Harran house. Notice the set of domed, corbelled roofs. Right: A high resolution computational fluid dynamics analysis of the house. This reveals that the thermal mass of the thick walls and the natural convection play equally key roles in maintaining reasonable temperatures indoors. 51

are easily tunable by chemical doping. in conjunction with experimental groups The past decade has witnessed consider- at KAUST (Saudi Arabia), NIST, UC Da- able advances in organic photovoltaic vis, UC Santa Barbara, Academica Sinica technology, both in terms of understand- (Taiwan), and Imperial College (Eng- ing of physical aspects of the underlying land). Some integrative activities include: processes and in improvements in power A new paradigm for computational sci- conversion (PCE) efficiencies (from PCE ence and predictive modeling in organic pho- below 3% to currently the highest re- tovoltaic technology: This collaborative ported efficiency 9% obtained in labora- group has formulated, implemented and tory conditions). This improvement was verified a computational framework of made possible through a three-pronged morphology evolution during solvent- approach: (i) new materials develop- based fabrication that approaches device ment, (ii) new device designs, and (iii) scale. This work is of significance, taking morphology control via processing. into account that this field is an experi- Despite these significant advances, mentally dominated field and faces sig- wide-spread use and profitable commer- nificant challenges related to morphol- cial production of OSCs are currently lim- ogy visualization, and linking processing ited. These goals await an increase in PCE conditions with morphology. This re- to the 15-20% range and an improved life search offers unique possibilities to ex- span. Two key advances are necessary to plicitly visualize the temporal morphol- improve PCE. The first is a predictive ogy evolution of 3D structure, including framework enabling practitioners (chem- internal structure, from early stages to the ists, material scientists, and manufactur- final structure. Our work allows predict- ing) to obtain targeted morphologies by ing the three-dimensional nano-mor- tailoring competing phenomena during phology evolution over large time and manufacturing. Secondly, we must be space scales during solvent-based fabri- able to quantify the relationship between cation of thin film organic electronics, morphology and photovoltaic perfor- which has enabled a deeper understand- mance. Taken together, the need for these ing of the physics involved in this process advances presents a fundamental materi- and thus, allows the design of better elec- als barrier to understanding the process- tronics. structure-property relationship govern- A major hindrance to the efficient ing OSC behavior. These challenges -- and commercial production of organic and moving beyond experimentally solar cells is the optimal choice of fabri- dominated, trial and error strategies -- cating conditions out of innumerable serve as compelling reasons to develop possibilities. These include choosing computational frameworks that can be from a wide variety of solvents and mix- used as virtual manufacturing tools and tures of solvents, the substrates used for virtual characterization tools for de- fabrication, the applied fluid stresses, and tailed, rapid and cost-effective analysis the temperature at which fabrication and and design of organic solar cells. My post-treatment annealing is performed. group is developing computational tools Experimentally exploring these infinite

possibilities is infeasible. Our recent It has also enabled the selection of opti- work has resulted in virtual frameworks mum blend compositions; and, thus, sig- that model the fabrication of organic pho- nificantly reduced the design time-line tovoltaic cells. This is analogous to the for next-generation organic photovoltaic development of virtual wind tunnels that devices. This tight integration of experi- accelerated the design and development mental and computational efforts has re- of the next generation of aerodynamic sulted in substantial breakthroughs in cars and airplanes. this field. In conjunction with experimental Simulation science for engineered colleagues, we have developed methods plants: of characterizing morphology using a Crop production has to double over graph-based approach. While earlier the next decade to support population analysis of imaged structures was purely growth and altered eating habits (e.g., in- visual and thus only qualitative, the creased animal production in Asia). This graph-based approach brings a greater has to be accomplished on the same or degree of quantitative rigor to this aspect even a reduced area of available land. At of the field. The analysis facilitates the the same time, climate change may lead prediction and interpretation of time-var- to increasingly adverse environmental ying three-dimensional snapshots of in- conditions for crop production. Recent termediate morphologies and enables events such as the extreme drought of high-throughput sorting of morpholo- 2012 showcase the urgency and need for gies. The high throughput sorting has producing more resilient crops. Current provided valuable insights towards more methods to engineer crop performance targeted synthesis and materials design. are based on expensive, agronomic experiments in multiple field environments

Figure 2: (A) Comparison between our numerical results and experimental results, (B) Difference in morphology evolution due to two different solvents. The arrow points along increasing time and decreasing height of the film layer [62]. (C) Representative 3-D APFO3:PCBM nano-morphology. The two slices below show the effect of two different evaporation rates on the average feature size of the morphology.

that link genotypes and phenotypes with Encourage: Universities must en- crop performance. There is, thus, a need courage faculty to aspire towards a diver- for establishing reliable associations be- sified portfolio of problems as well as tween DNA markers, phenotypes and funding agencies to target. There has to crop performance, before DNA markers be a conscious move away from a ‘gold- can be directly used for engineering crop standard’ of funding from a single federal performance. My group is part of a work- source (like NSF in engineering, or NIH ing group (consisting of agronomists, en- in medical sciences). This includes a gineers, statisticians and computational healthy distribution of funding between scientists) that built on the hypothesis industry and federal sources. One way to that an integrated approach combining accomplish this is to actively encourage genetic experiments (genomics and high- faculty to have a healthy distribution of throughput phenotyping), advanced short term and long term research pro- phenomics (high resolution x-ray visuali- jects, as well as to inculcate interest in col- zation, lab-on-a-chip measurements), laborative efforts: multi-, interdiscipli- physics-based numerical modeling (nu- nary. Fundamental research integrated trient and water transport and uptake, with applied research (associated with root growth dynamics) will deliver relia- targeted applications) is easier to articu- ble, predictive and cost-effective associa- late and argue for, especially with mis- tions between genotypes, phenotypes, sion specific agencies (DoD, DARPA, and crop performance. A specific focus DOE, etc.). Iowa State University encour- has been to use computational fluid me- ages faculty to do this by providing a chanics and mathematics to describe how clear message that team oriented large the phenotype of plants controls toler- projects are valued. ance to drought. These models will ena- In addition, there has to be clear ble us to discover plant phenotypes (i.e. feedback and reward/advancement for traits) with optimum resistance to faculty following this strategy. Promo- drought. tion and tenure documents may look dif- How can institutions help: ferent in this context of multi-disciplinary These three examples provide con- work, with half-dozen or more co-au- crete evidence that a multi-disciplinary thors on papers, jointly mentored stu- approach involving experimental and dents, and multiple co-PI’s on grants be- computational expertise can be leveraged coming the norm. The administration to solve complex societal problems should have clear guidelines for faculty (which could ensure a steady source of to articulate their contributions for P&T research funding). These examples also as well as awards/recognition. While a fo- suggest that institutions can enable and cus on foundational research is im- proactively encourage such research portant, departments should not discour- teams. These activities can be divided age junior faculty from participating in into three classes: Initiate, Encourage, large grants. and Enable. I briefly outline how institu- Initiate: The university and college tions can do (and are doing) so: can initiate research in strategic areas that

are of relevance at the univer- in a feeding frenzy of a diverse set of in- sity/state/national level. For instance, ISU ternal proposals every year. ISU has iden- recently launched the Presidential Initia- tified and disseminated a multi-year list tive for Interdisciplinary Research “to of strategic ideas for this competition support research efforts that could lead to (Year 1: HPC, Year 2: materials, Year 3: major advances, discoveries and technol- Bio etc.). This has significantly bolstered ogies”. These are awards in areas that are team building and has encouraged vari- (a) of strategic importance to ISU, (b) core ous groups to work together to form strengths to ISU, or (c) topical with a high teams with a concrete multi-year plan. return on investment. These awards ena- The multi-year list also serves as a tem- ble the formation of large teams and pro- plate for making strategic hires. vide pursuit funding. In addition, col- Universities (especially in the Mid- leges have similar (albeit smaller scale) west) can leverage existing facilities to programs that initiate activities of strate- create win-win conditions by actively col- gic interest at that scale. This has multiple laborating to enable large scale centers. ramifications - as an internal funding This avoids duplication of infrastructure mechanism in a funding climate where in a narrow geographic area and can ena- insistence on preliminary data is widen- ble significant cost-matching. Buy in ing, as an incubator of entrepreneurial from the faculty can be cemented by mak- ideas, and for providing successful role ing other university faculty part of cen- models for junior faculty to aspire to- ters, and by awarding courtesy appoint- wards. ments. It appears that this is strategically Enable: Universities should play a promising for the group of universities key role as an enabler by providing attending the Merrill conference in the ar- trained support staff who are well versed eas of engineering sciences, agriculture, in the budgetary and regulatory intrica- and medicine. cies of various funding sources (NSF vs Acknowledgements: I thank Mabel NIH vs DoD). Universities should also Rice for her kind invitation to be a part of enable faculty to nurture relationships. the 2014 Merrill Conference and Evelyn An example of this is providing travel Haaheim for making the experience so grants to visit funding managers across enjoyable. Several of these opinions are a the country. This is clearly a low-risk, result of extensive discussions with Sri- high-reward investment for the univer- ram Sundararajan and Balaji Narasimhan sity. Additionally, universities can try to at ISU. I am thankful to them for taking make industrial partners feel welcome by time to talk to me about these issues. making IP issues straightforward. Uni- versities can also streamline activities References and enable formation of teams by making [1]EPA, http://www.epa.gov/oaintrnt/projects/, 09/10/2013. strategic investments, and laying down [2] United Nations Environment Pro- guidelines for internal competitions for gramme, limited submission proposals. A case in www.unep.org/sbci/AboutSBCI/Back- point is the NSF MRI call, which results ground.asp, 2013. 55

[3] Department of Energy,”Buildings Energy Publishers) Ltd, 1998. Government publi- Databook,” cation (gpb); International government [4] Allard, Francis Santamouris M., and Al- publication (igp); CD for computer (cdc). varez Servando. Natural Ventilation in Buildings: A Design Handbook [in Eng- lish]. London: James and James (Science

Interdisciplinary collaborations at work in brain-machine interfacing

Jonathan Brumberg, Assistant Professor, Speech-Language-Hearing, University of Kansas

ublic universities are facing growing uncertainty, specifically in our ability to recruit students and secure appropriate funding to support our research pro- P grams. In this paper, interdisciplinary and translational research are discussed as avenues of growth that have the potential to increase research productivity, and diversify institutional research portfolios capable of weathering these unstable times. Cognitive neuroscience, neurocomputational modeling and brain-machine interface research will be discussed as frameworks for pursuing interdisciplinary and translational research. Brain machine interfacing (BMI) is a integrate expertise from a number of dis- relatively recent addition to the field of ciplines according to the needs underly- neuroscience, and derives from a ing the specific BMI application. longstanding history of cognitive neuro- For success in an academic research science. It is truly an area of applied neu- environment, much of this expertise can roscience in the sense that the intended be drawn, or developed, from student in- goals of BMIs are to use neurological ac- volvement, particularly at the graduate tivity for interacting with computer- level. Management of such an interdisci- based devices without direct manipula- plinary project, however, requires team tion by a human controller (cf. keyboard leadership with sufficient experience in typing, mouse clicking, etc.). Such an many, if not all, areas of expertise. The achievement depends greatly on our abil- present paper begins with an overview of ity to quantitatively model the brain (i.e., cognitive and computational neurosci- neurocomputational modeling), and as- ence research in speech and language, sociate those measurements with sensory follows with examples of BMI research perception and motor behavior. One ma- for communication and concludes with a jor application of BMI devices is for reha- discussion of strategies for facilitating in- bilitation and assistive technology, interdisciplinary research, recruiting future cluding the remote control of movement generations of researchers, and engaging devices (robotic exoskeletons, wheel- our regional and national communities. chairs) and communication systems (e.g., Speech, language and hearing neurosci- augmentative and alternative communi- ence is specifically explored as a prime cation devices). The development, de- example of interdisciplinary research ployment and use of BMI technology re- with many potential translational appli- lies on a coordinated effort to effectively 57

cations. Three neurotechnological appli- growth of interdisciplinary research, in cations are discussed, each of which have an otherwise uncertain time, using ap- important societal value: cochlear implied speech neuroscience as a frame- plants to restore hearing for those with work. profound hearing loss, deep brain stimu- Cognitive & computational neuro- lators for ameliorating motor symptoms science in speech-language research of Parkinson's disease, and brain-ma- Speech and language are uniquely chine interfaces to enable communication human capabilities that in many ways de- for individuals with locked-in syndrome. fine our species, yet are also some of our Advancement in areas such as these have most underrated, or overlooked abilities. the potential to drive even greater discov- Often, it is not until a deficit is encoun- eries and benefit to society. Specific sug- tered that we truly realize the importance gestions are provided for fostering inter- of speech and language in our daily lives. disciplinary research at public universi- Deficits in speech, language and hearing ties. often have a neurological origin, which Introduction requires comprehensive study of the re- Cognitive and computational neuro- lated brain structures and activations in science has for many years been at the individuals with, and without disorder. forefront of discovering the link between Some of the earliest cognitive neurosci- brain and behavior as we experience the ence investigations took place in the nine- world. Using advanced neuroimaging teenth and early twentieth centuries as and electrophysiological tools such as researchers were uncovering the critical functional magnetic resonance imaging role of specific areas of the brain for pro- (fMRI), positron emission tomography ducing speech (e.g., Broca's area) and un- (PET) and electroencephalography derstanding speech (e.g., Wernicke's (EEG), we have been able to infer rela- area). One of the most frequent methods tionships between changes in the meta- used at the time relied on associating bolic and electrical activities in the brain post-mortem anatomical examinations of to distinct sensory, motor and cognitive human brains with the presence or ab- functions. Areas of particular interest are sence of specific production or compre- in the neuroscience of reading, speech hension deficits. At the same time, inves- and language production, speech percep- tigators were also discovering that election and language comprehension. It is trical stimulation of brain tissue could now possible to translate the experi- elicit behavioral responses and that spe- mental conclusions of cognitive and com- cific deficits or overexcitation led to the putational neuroscience into practice for occurrence of seizures, which could be al- diagnosing and rehabilitating disorders leviated by resection of the dysfunctional with a neurological deficit. The remain- tissue. Importantly, both approaches pro- der of this paper will discuss the interdis- vided the first steps toward understand- ciplinary basis of speech and language ing how the brain mediates speech and neurological research, translational ap- language, and whether they realized it or plications of neuroscience research and not, these early cognitive neuroscientists end with suggestions on supporting the 58

were engaging in interdisciplinary re- of speech, language and hearing has search involving medical treatment of pa- grown even more interdisciplinary to in- tients, neuroscientific study and an un- clude computer scientists, electrical & bi- derstanding of speech-language pro- omedical engineers, linguists and psy- cessing. This last point is very important chologists (among many others). An en- for the topic of the present paper; cogni- gineering branch of computational neu- tive neuroscience has been an interdisci- roscience seeks to move from using a plinary field from its inception. computer to model the brain toward the In the twentieth century, the advent brain modeling, or controlling, a com- of non-invasive functional neuroimaging puter. This inversion of computational methods (PET, fMRI) helped to expand neuroscience is at the heart of brain-ma- speech and language neuroscience be- chine interfacing. yond the study of disorder using innova- Applied neuroscience tive techniques. With these new methods, The term applied neuroscience is it was finally possible to systematically used here to refer to any aspect of neuro- investigate, in large populations of indi- scientific research that results in our abil- viduals without impairment, prior con- ity to alter or influence neurological pro- clusions regarding the speech and lan- cesses for rehabilitation. Some visible ex- guage processes of the brain obtained amples of this type of translational re- from anatomical and electrical stimula- search include the neuropharmaceutical tion studies [see Price (2012); and Inde- treatments (e.g., antidepressants) and frey & Levelt (2004); for reviews]. In the neurologically targeted rehabilitation of years since, multiple regions have been stroke and traumatic brain injury. Some shown to contribute to speech prepara- neurotechnological translational research tion and production, as opposed to a sin- examples include intervention in cases of gle region described by Broca. Similarly, sensorineural hearing loss via cochlear speech perception and language compre- implants, and motor deficits associated hension are subserved by a number of an- with Parkinson's disease via deep brain atomical regions working in concert. In stimulation. In both of these cases, neuro- more recent years, the dramatic explosion logical models were first constructed of computational power has led to the de- based on empirical evidence, then "in- velopment of neurocomputational mod- verted" to allow communication between els of speech and language processes computational devices and neurological (Saltzman & Munhall 1989; Guenther et tissue. al. 2006; Houde & Nagarajan 2011). These For developing cochlear implants, models extended previous theoretical the physiology of the cochlea was first models by using computer programs to mapped and discovered to encode acous- simulate the information processing by tic frequency according to location along the brain according to empirical evidence the basilar membrane. This frequency in- from functional neuroimaging studies. formation is then electrically transmitted As a result of the advances in modern through the auditory nerve to the nerv- cognitive and computational neurosci- ous system via movement of the inner ence, the study of the brain mechanisms hair cells of the cochlea. For individuals 59

with profound sensorineural hearing sonian motor symptoms. Through a the- loss, encoded sounds are not transmitted oretical and quantitative description of to the central nervous system, though the this complicated neural circuit, it was location-frequency representations of the possible to identify a specific portion of cochlea and auditory nerve are pre- basal ganglia that under electrical stimu- served. In accordance with this model of lation had the potential to ameliorate the cochlear function, the cochlear implant motor dysfunction of Parkinson's dis- uses a miniature computer to acquire and ease. analyze incoming sound for its frequency Both of the above applications, coch- content and electrically stimulate the lear implants and deep brain stimulators, cochlea at the appropriate location via are great examples of the translational re- implanted electrodes. In this way, the pe- search potential at the intersection of en- ripheral nervous system and a computa- gineering and neuroscience. In these ex- tional device are in direct communication amples, computers are interfacing di- to provide the central nervous system rectly with neural tissue in a one-way, in- with restored hearing information for put fashion (e.g., they direct the nervous processing. system to act in a prescribed manner). Similarly, in the case of deep brain The reverse design pattern in which neu- stimulating implants, neuroscientfic in- ral activity controls a computer is also rel- vestigations first uncovered the function evant for rehabilitation purposes, and are and structure of the brain regions impli- more traditionally considered brain-ma- cated in the motor deficits associated chine interfaces. with Parkinson's disease. These struc- Brain-machine interfacing tures, known as the basal ganglia, are im- In its most general sense, a brain-ma- portant for selecting and initiating volun- chine interface is any device designed to tary movements such as reaching with enable control of computational devices the arm or speaking. Two specific areas, (e.g., robots, assistive or augmenting the globus pallidus (GP) and subthalamic technology, communication aids) using nucleus (STN), appear to be particularly brain activity alone, without any overt affected in Parkinson's disease; their dys- motor intervention. One area of particu- function causes the basal ganglia net- lar interest is in the development of a BMI work, through its connection with neuro- as an assistive communication device for logical motor pathways, to excessively in- individuals with quadriplegia and mut- hibit movement. Here, the network of ism, which is often the result of amyo- structures are still intact, but are improp- trophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or brain- erly activated resulting in the motor stem stroke. Both of these conditions can symptoms of Parkinson's disease. The lead to locked-in syndrome (LIS; Plum & deep brain stimulator addresses this neu- Posner 1972), or the state in which an in- rological deficit through direct electrical dividual is completely unable to perform stimulation of the GP and STN resulting voluntary motor behaviors despite intact in the disinhibition of voluntary motor cognition and sensation. As a result of behavior, and the alleviation of Parkin- such profound speech and motor deficits, individuals with LIS are typically unable 60

to use even the most advanced computer- All of the previously mentioned BMI based augmentative and alternative com- examples selected communication as the munication (AAC) devices. High-tech desired outcome, and typing for the deliv- AAC devices are currently capable of de- ery method. Each example differed in the tecting the smallest amount of voluntary type of neurological activity used for the movement behavior (e.g., muscular activ- BMI, ranging from neural signals related ity and eye-gaze location) to facilitate ar- to intended motor actions (e.g., imagined tificially aided communication, but even or attempted limb movements or visual these capabilities are ineffective for indi- evoked potentials), but all used non-inva- viduals with LIS. In contrast, brain-ma- sive techniques involving the recording chine interfaces are an ideal alternative of electroencephalography. The statistical for individuals with LIS; a BMI requires mapping procedures often depend on the only a consistent and reliable source of neurological signal acquired for control- neurological activity for mapping user in- ling the device, but usually rely on some tentions onto a communication device. form of machine learning algorithm. An Principles of BMI development. A alternative BMI device to those men- number of varieties of BMI devices for tioned enables continuous control of an communication have been developed in artificial speech synthesizer, with the recent years, each focusing on some as- long-term goal of providing a means for pect of neurological activity that can be fluent speech production (Brumberg et al. willfully modulated by a participating 2010). This method also selects communi- user. Some examples include the P300 cation as the desired outcome, but uses Speller (Donchin et al. 2000), sensorimo- continuous synthesizer control with instan- tor rhythm keyboard spellers (Miner et taneous auditory output as the delivery al. 1998), event-related desynchroniza- method. For this BMI, motor-related neu- tion keyboards (Neuper et al. 2003; Ober- rological signals have been targeted both maier et al. 2003) and steady state visu- from intracortical microelectrodes ally evoked potential spellers (Friman et (Brumberg et al. 2010) and electroenceph- al. 2007). See (Brumberg & Guenther alography. The last principle, training / 2010) for a review of each of these tech- treatment, is an area of recent attention niques. Each BMI example follows a core and can most benefit from collaboration set of design principles in which a num- with speech-language pathologists spe- ber of factors are optimized. These factors cializing in AAC in order to help BMI us- include: ers learn the skills needed to control their 1. Choosing the desired outcome devices. 2. Determining the outcome delivery Institutional support for interdisci- method plinary research 3. Selection of information bearing neu- Computational neuroscience, brain ral signals from participant machine interface, and many initiatives 4. Statistical signal processing: mapping for translational research result in out- brain signals to outcomes comes that are both important to scien- 5. Training / treatment tific advancement and have benefit to society. Research universities that support 61

such initiatives can leverage these posi- The best way to increase the likeli- tive outcomes to further grow their local, hood of continued success as a public in- regional and national standing. The ques- stitution is to give current and future vot- tion of how to best grow and support ers a reason to support our endeavors. these lines of scientific inquiry is doubly Many universities already participate in important as public universities change research experience programs where un- their plans for future research in response dergraduate students work alongside to uncertainty in public higher education. faculty and graduate student researchers Much of the discussion of uncertainty is in a laboratory setting. These experiences related to the stability of federal funding are critical for shaping future careers and of scientific research, and state funding of perspectives, and should not be limited to public education institutions. In many undergraduates; opportunities for high ways, as research faculty of public uni- school and middle school students can versities, we are being asked to do more have a similar impact, and help direct with potentially much less. That said, younger students to our programs. public universities are in a unique posi- In the applied neurosciences, com- tion to thrive even in this difficult envi- munity and student engagement are es- ronment given our reputations as the face pecially important. Neuroscience educa- of our respective states' generators of ed- tion occurs primarily at the graduate ucated citizens and engines of innova- level, and public perceptions of neurosci- tions. We also have a special ability to ence often conjure images of medical doc- reach a broad cross-section of the popula- tors wearing white lab coats in hospitals. tion, ranging from our own students and However, modern applied neuroscience faculty, to the local communities who in the form of brain machine interfacing represent either future students, or future is much more accessible -- commercial voters who will be responsible for our devices exist for acquiring neurological long-term success. A focus on interdisci- data (e.g., Emotiv Epoc), recent national plinary and translational research is one initiatives in computer programming ed- avenue for of growth that is already fully ucation has increased the number of compatible with the research missions of young students with the skills to develop public universities. Further, these re- advanced software, mobile and educa- search efforts have the potential to truly tional computer hardware is more afford- do more with less (though we should al- able than ever (e.g., RaspberryPi, Ar- ways strive to do more with more), and duino), and a generation of "makers" are the linking of multiple disciplines can creating sophisticated robotics, electron- spur new ideas to attract currently non- ics and even communication aids in their traditional contributors to public univer- parents' basements. In addition, there is a sity research. growing awareness of speech-language- Engaging in community partner- hearing disorders, their neural bases and ships, and encouraging student partici- technological remedies, and an increas- pation in research. ing number of students interested in pursuing health and rehabilitation (e.g., speech-language pathology, physical and 62

occupational therapy) who need and In these times of uncertain federal want experience with tomorrow's tech- funding, junior and senior research fac- nology for aiding future clients. Public ulty must begin to look elsewhere for re- universities are in a prime position to search support. Especially in the sciences, guide and inspire this growing popula- the gold standard (particularly for pro-

Figure 1. In this example, each field ordinarily searches for faculty, applies for funding, recruits students and publishes in discipline-specific fashions. With the incorporation of an interdisciplinary field, such as applied neuroscience, the individual disciplines can more easily collaborate, transfer knowledge and ideas, and identify new areas of research that can benefit our students, universities and communities. tion of young people with sophisticated motion and tenure) has been significant skills and knowledge to pursue public external funding from the federal govern- collegiate education and make innova- ment (e.g., National Institutes of Health, tive and lasting contributions to our re- National Science Foundation). The effect gions and country. of either declining or unstable federal Adapting education for faculty to funding will hopefully result in an in- maximize funding. crease in funding from other sources in-

cluding private foundations, research in- lic universities on their communities. Ad- stitutes and commercial partners. Institu- ditionally, many national funding agen- tional support should be increased to cies are now requiring some practical or help investigators navigate the changing translational outcome for research pro- landscape of research funding, and iden- posals. Therefore, pursuing interdiscipli- tify new and creative models for main- nary connections and collaborations will taining our research programs. This is es- have a significant impact on the success pecially true for junior faculty who may and future of public universities in terms have less experience in obtaining external of local, regional and national support. funding. To build and maintain such pro- One area of particular growth for grams, universities, colleges and depart- brain-machine interfacing is collabora- ments may need to reconsider the tion with commercial partners. As an method by which they recruit new fac- area of applied science, BMI for commu- ulty. Researchers with experience in mul- nication are intended to be used by indi- tiple areas of study are prime candidates viduals as an AAC device. Fortunately, a to lead interdisciplinary efforts and forge strong industry already exists for devel- new connections between departments, oping AAC devices with frameworks in programs and schools; however, these place for interfacing with federal medical faculty candidates often do not fit in ex- agencies including Medicare, Medicaid isting departmental models for faculty and the FDA. Increasing outreach to search and recruitment. In the past, de- (new) faculty from the offices of technol- partments may have limited the scope for ogy transfer and business will be espe- faculty recruitment to either replace or cially helpful for pursuing collaborative augment an area of strength or bridge a and sponsored projects from commercial gap in a domain specific area of work. To partners for translational research appli- support interdisciplinary growth, depart- cations. Finally, as a result of these ments may find it advantageous to look changes in funding, departmental and outside-the-box for potential faculty can- college committees for promotion and didates with multiple interests and who tenure may need to reevaluate, or at least are capable of increasing the diversity of consider, the differences between candi- perspectives, skills and research. Simi- dates in federal-rich vs federal-sparse larly, once hired, interdisciplinary faculty funding intervals. These discussions may need additional support to make the should result in feedback to candidate appropriate connections for obtaining faculty to help establish a standard courtesy and / or joint appointments with against which future plans may be made. relevant collaborating departments and Recognizing interdisciplinary con- programs. Discussions with senior fac- nections in your field; building interdis- ulty mentors will be important to deter- ciplinary faculty. mine the impact of supplementary ap- Interdisciplinary and translational pointments, scholarly publishing in a va- research programs have the potential to riety of journals and sources of funding increase the relevance and impact of pub- on the promotion and tenure process.

Additionally, agreements between pro- reach out to new audiences to highlight grams may be necessary for enabling pri- the importance and impact of public uni- mary mentoring of graduate and under- versities on their communities as well as graduate students, standing on disserta- adapting to the new realities of local and tion committees, and other university national funding. Investing in interdisci- service opportunities. Finally, interdisciplinary and translational research can ad- plinary collaborations within the univer- dress many of these challenges and serve

Table 1: A summary of suggested considerations for growing university involvement in interdisciplinary research. sity and beyond are sometimes best dis- to reiterate the need for public research in covered and grown by student efforts. our culture and economy. We can support these efforts through Many academic institutions are al- cross-department, cross-school work- ready engaging in interdisciplinary and shops where faculty and students can translational research, and the sugges- meet and showcase their work. Such tions discussed in this paper are designed workshops can be expanded to regional to focus on these efforts as part of the dis- meetings to establish strong ties with our cussion on the future of research at public neighbors to take advantage of our universities. The main areas of emphasis pooled resources. include: (1) engaging our communities, Summary especially new generations of students Recent trends in national and local from primary school through college to policy have led to some uncertainty for stimulate an early interest in research, (2) the future of the research missions of adapting continuing and professional de- public universities. Rather than present- velopment for faculty to broaden their ing an obstacle to future research, these scope of research to help better demon- trends may potentially increase diversity strate the need for public university re- of scientific study and add to our ongoing search while searching for additional op- research activities. Success during these portunities for alternative funding (e.g., uncertain times depends on our ability to 65

private foundations and industry collab- Neural Engineering. Kohala Coast, HI: orations), and (3) discussing and plan- IEEE, pp. 354–357. ning for targeted interdisciplinary hires, Guenther, F.H., Ghosh, S.S. & Tourville, J.A., 2006. Neural modeling and imaging of and post-hiring support (e.g., considera- the cortical interactions underlying sylla- tions for promotion and tenure, cross- ble production. Brain and Language, 96(3), university affiliations, and infrastructure pp.280–301. needs for interdisciplinary faculty). Houde, J.F. & Nagarajan, S.S., 2011. Speech Table 1 provides a succinct sum- production as state feedback control. mary of suggested considerations for Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 5, p.82. how to enhance university involvement Indefrey, P. & Levelt, W.J.M., 2004. The spa- in interdisciplinary research. Interdisci- tial and temporal signatures of word pro- plinary research is not a solution in itself, duction components. Cognition, 92(1-2), pp.101–44. and universities pursuing such initiatives Miner, L.A., McFarland, D.J. & Wolpaw, J.R., should do so carefully to ensure sufficient 1998. Answering questions with an elec- planning, resources, and support are troencephalogram-based brain-computer available to future interdisciplinary and interface. Archives of Physical Medicine and translational researchers. If so, their addi- Rehabilitation, 79(9), pp.1029–1033. tion will contribute toward a diverse in- Neuper, C. et al., 2003. Clinical application of stitutional research portfolio capable of an EEG-based brain-computer interface: a adapting to the changing landscapes of case study in a patient with severe motor today and tomorrow. impairment. Clinical Neurophysiology, 114(3), pp.399–409. References Obermaier, B., Müller, G.R. & Pfurtscheller, Brumberg, J.S. & Guenther, F.H., 2010. De- G., 2003. “Virtual keyboard” controlled velopment of speech prostheses: current by spontaneous EEG activity. IEEE Trans- status and recent advances. Expert Review actions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation of Medical Devices, 7(5), pp.667–79. Engineering, 11(4), pp.422–6. Brumberg, J.S. et al., 2010. Brain–computer Plum, F. & Posner, J.B., 1972. The diagnosis interfaces for speech communication. of stupor and coma. Contemporary Neurol- Speech Communication, 52(4), pp.367–379. ogy Series, 10, pp.1–286. Donchin, E., Spencer, K.M. & Wijesinghe, R., Price, C.J., 2012. A review and synthesis of 2000. The mental prosthesis: assessing the the first 20 years of PET and fMRI studies speed of a P300-based brain-computer in- of heard speech, spoken language and terface. IEEE Transactions on Rehabilitation reading. NeuroImage, 62(2), pp.816–47. Engineering, 8(2), pp.174–179. Saltzman, E.L. & Munhall, K.G., 1989. A Dy- Friman, O. et al., 2007. Spelling with Steady- namical Approach to Gestural Patterning State Visual Evoked Potentials. In 2007 in Speech Production. Ecological Psychol- 3rd International IEEE/EMBS Conference on ogy, 1(4), pp.333–382.

Collaboration between engineering and the life sciences: Influence of surface attachment on the biologic properties of proteins

Shannon Bartelt-Hunt, Associate Professor, Civil Engineering, University of Nebraska

ollaborative research between the basic sciences and engineering is critically important to the ability of academia to answer future societal challenges. De- C spite the importance of fostering collaboration between scientists and engineers, there can sometimes be institutional or interpersonal roadblocks that limit successful collaborations. I have been fortunate to work as part of a successful collaborative team since 2006, and in this white paper, I will offer my personal narrative of collaboration as an example of what I think makes a strong collaboration between engineers and scientists. I joined the faculty in the Depart- the prion protein in the environment. Ja- ment of Civil Engineering in January son was very responsive, and almost im- 2006 and almost immediately, I contacted mediately, we began to collaborate on ex- Dr. Jason Bartz in the Department of periments to investigate the environmen- Medical Microbiology and Immunology tal behavior of the prion protein. In look- at the Creighton University School of ing back at the start of this collaboration, Medicine. I had read some articles de- I believe that something that lead to our scribing work investigating the environ- success was that in the beginning, we mental behavior of the prion protein, kept the research question very simple. which is the infectious agent for a group To illustrate this point, one of our of diseased called prion diseases. Prion first questions was ‘What is the most en- diseases, or transmissible spongiform en- vironmentally-relevant form of the prion cephalopathies, are fatal, neurodegenera- protein?” To answer this question, we in- tive diseases that include bovine spongi- cubated prion-infected brain homoge- form encephalopathy also called Mad nate at one of two different temperatures Cow Disease; scrapie, a prion disease of that simulated either a carcass decompo- sheep and goats, and chronic wasting dis- sition environment (37°C) or ambient ease, which affects deer, elk and moose. temperatures (22°C) and then collected In particular, scrapie and chronic samples at pre-determined time points wasting disease have been shown to be ranging from 0 hr to 1 month. transmitted in the environment, although To answer our question regarding at the time we began our collaboration, prion conformation as a function of time, very little was known about the fate of we exposed the brain homogenate to an- tibodies that response to a particular 67

epitope on the protein. If that portion of biologic model would not have been pos- the protein was degraded, the antibody sible without our collaborative research would not bind, and we would not ‘see’ relationship. that portion of the protein. By keeping Over the past eight years of our col- our question simple, we were able to laborative research, I have learned what learn the terminology and techniques of contributes to a positive collaborative re- the other discipline, and we also success- lationship. First – working collabora- fully answered our question. A more tively requires that you take the time to complex or complicated question might understand each other’s language and re- be important to answer, but with initial spect each other’s expertise. I would sug- collaboration, I would encourage keeping gest that meeting in person on a regular it simple. basis is very important to establish a pos- As any collaboration progresses, you itive collaborative relationship. learn more about the discipline and lan- Also, you must begin to read the lit- guage of your collaborator, and begin to erature outside your discipline to learn work together to pose questions. I feel more about the terminology and work this is another trait of successful collabo- being done in the discipline of your col- rations – they raise questions that may laborator. This takes a significant invest- not have been ever thought of by an indi- ment of time, but I find that this is a criti- vidual working in a single discipline. cal component to working together. Sec- Also, the answers to these questions ond, a collaborative research relationship many times requires the knowledge of requires trust between individuals. Col- people from disparate disciplines. To il- laboration means that you will share lustrate this point, as our collaboration ideas, resources, equipment, and student progressed, we began to formulate re- advising activities, often without know- search questions together. ing ultimately what benefit or products Once such question was “Does at- may arise from this work. This requires a tachment to soil influence the biologic leap of faith and a commitment to the properties of the prion protein? Biologic long-term collaborative relationship. properties such as infectivity and replica- Institutions can do things to incen- tion are a function of protein confor- tivize and support collaborative research. mation and protein conformation can be Administrators must recognize that initi- influenced by attachment to surfaces. To ating a collaborative relationship is time- investigate this question, we attached pri- intensive and may have a longer return ons to various types of soils or soil miner- period for funding and publications als and then evaluated their ability to rep- when compared with single discipline re- licate using in vitro and in vivo techniques. search. Our collaborative work allowed us to de- Similarly, collaborative research will velop a conceptual model of prion dis- often be published in journals outside ease transmission that encompasses both your discipline area. There must be an environmental behavior and passage into understanding and appreciation of this and within the host animal (Saunders et work and its contribution both to your al. 2012). This linked environmental and

own discipline as well as other disciplines. This is important for faculty going References through the promotion and tenure pro- Saunders, S.E.; Bartz, J.C.; and Bartelt-Hunt, cess. Institutions can also have policies S.L. (2012). Soil-Mediated Prion Trans- and programs in place to allow faculty mission: Is Local Soil Type a Key Deter- minant of Prion Disease Incidence? Chem- from outside your institution to serve as osphere, 87(7): 661-667 student committee members or co-chairs.

Institutions could also give credit to faculty for advising students in another department or outside your institution.

Research, Productivity, and Pressures on Faculty in an Era of Disruptive Change

Danny Anderson, Dean, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, University of Kansas

round 2009 and 2010, we began to use a new term as we looked at the future of higher education: the “new normal.” During the Great Recession of 2008, state support for public higher education declined. Institutions cut programs, Areorganized schools, and reprioritized initiatives to protect their core mission. At national meetings in 2009 and 2010, chancellors, presidents, provosts, and deans ex- changed stories of local tragedies and coping strategies. At the same time, they began to imagine new ways to steward higher education resources. Leaders from every public institution can probably tell their own versions of this tale. By these same years of 2009 and University of Iowa, framed the issue dif- 2010, we also had developed a new rela- ferently. She pointed out that public tionship with technology. MySpace and higher education has frequently operated Facebook gave a new meaning to social under disruptive conditions of changing networks. GoogleBooks and GoogleMaps social and political expectations, and we redefined information networks. Twitter should not be surprised that today we convened new online publics. And the face another wave of changing expecta- 2007 launch of the iPhone followed by tions. I add to this conversation my con- other smart phones created a new experi- cern for capturing at least portions of the ence of mobile networks (Jones 18-38). faculty point of view: How faculty mem- Harvard business professor Clayton bers experience and respond to the calls Christensen and others have character- for change and the opportunity to ized this convergence of economic pres- reimagine their roles in the university. sures and technological change as an un- The factors driving change converge precedented era of disruption. In sum- in the everyday life of the tenured or ten- mer 2014, The Economist featured the ure-track faculty at public research uni- topic of higher education change on its versities. Their careers are a juggling act cover with the lead, “Creative Destruc- combining research, teaching, and out- tion: Reinventing the University” (June reach under conditions of increasing con- 28-July 4, 2014). About the same time, in straint and unique opportunity. Nicholas The New Yorker, Harvard history profes- Lemann, dean emeritus of Columbia Uni- sor Jill Lepore questioned Christensen’s versity’s Graduate School of Journalism, model, especially when applied to higher suggests that throughout the late 19th and education. At the 2014 Merrill Research 20th centuries the ideal of mass higher ed- Retreat, Sally Mason, president of the

ucation and the American research union the use of contingent or adjunct fac- versity were able to “flourish in tandem.” ulty not on the tenure track and that all Today, however, the political and social faculty roles are subject to increasing expectations have shifted. External stake- scrutiny. The faculty career is one of in- holders seek accountability, transpar- creasing anxiety and tension as they are ency, metrics, and rankings focused on asked to juggle additional balls to enable universities as “skills-conferring, teach- the enterprise to adapt to rapidly changing-centric institutions.” In contrast, ing conditions. writes Lemann, “…most of the senior There are many different surveys leaders of universities believe that the in- and assessments in higher education, yet stitutions’ core mission is research.” not a common reference point for broadly From the faculty point of view, these benchmarking and tracking faculty work tensions create confusing and frustrating satisfaction on the tenure-track. The situations. Faculty members juggle many Chronicle of Higher Education annual sur- different balls striving to respond to mul- vey, “Great Colleges to Work for in tiple, competing priorities. On the one 2014,” includes an article by Audrey Wil- hand, faculty are asked to place a greater liams June, “The Uncertain Future of Ac- emphasis on students by increasing suc- ademic Work.” June notes the pace of cess as measured by retention, progres- change in academic work conditions, sion, and graduation measures, as well as measurements of faculty productivity, implement a variety of “high touch” cost containment practices, and expand- practices to achieve these goals. Faculty ing reliance on part-time or temporary are also aware of the institutional bottom faculty. There is a mismatch between in- line: in tuition-dependent institutions, fi- stitutional goals of quality instruction nancial stability corresponds to student and institutional commitment among the enrollment. On the other hand, for re- professoriate. Jeffrey Williams, also in search universities, rankings depend on The Chronicle of Higher Education, de- research productivity as measured by a scribes the situation as “the great stratifi- variety of metrics: publications, citations, cation” created by increasing specializa- external funding, and highly prestigious tion of “the faculty member” into “a mul- national and international awards. Out- tiple being, of many types, tasks, and po- standing faculty make strides to excel as sitions.” In summer 2014, the American teachers and mentors, to stand out as re- Council on Education’s Presidential In- searchers, and, in an age when the role of novation Lab released a white paper, the research university is poorly under- “Unbundling Versus Designing Faculty stood by the general public, to participate Roles.” Whereas faculty members may in community engagement and outreach think of themselves or their careers in activities. These are all excellent goals. terms of the “single provider,” the faculty And it is important to note that the role of role is today subject to “the differentia- the tenured or tenure-track faculty ap- tion of tasks and services” that may be pointment is vulnerable, especially in the distributed “among multiple providers way that public higher education relies and individuals” (1). The faculty role can be and is being unbundled. Although

“[u]nbundling does not have to have a things happen, and want to help the or- negative impact,” the white paper notes ganization move forward. In the next that “historically it has been imple- group, about 53% are individuals who mented without being carefully de- are “not engaged” with their work. They signed” (2). These touch points of rapid are not actively disruptive but they don’t change, rising productivity pressures, know or care about the mission. Finally, stratification, and unbundling create a there were 19% of the individuals re- context for considering broadly the data sponding who were considered to be “ac- from surveys like the Collaborative on tively disengaged.” They don’t like the Academic Careers in Higher Education change that is occurring and they want to (COACHE) at Harvard University’s see it stopped. They resist. This distribu- Graduate School of Education. For exam- tion curve of almost 30% engaged, 50% ple, noting that mid-career associate pro- not engaged or on the fence, and 20% dis- fessors report the lowest satisfaction rate engaged and resisting may not seem too among faculty, that such dissatisfaction distant from faculty reactions on our grows the longer the faculty member re- campuses during the same period as the mains in rank, and that such dissatisfac- Gallup survey. Jim Clifton, CEO of Gal- tion affects women and minority faculty lup, in The Coming Jobs War, notes that members in greater numbers, COACHE “the most powerful behavioral lever” for director Kiernan R. Matthews provides increasing performance and productivity data-informed advice for supporting in the workplace is “increasing the num- mid-career faculty. Or to state Matthews’ ber of employees who are engaged” proposal differently, we must become in- (112). tentional in listening to faculty voices and With mounting challenges, shifting we must become intentional in designing social expectations, redefinitions of the faculty careers for the future. role of the professoriate, increasing calls Within the context of employee satis- for productivity metrics, scarce re- faction, the 2010 Gallup Survey, “State of sources, and an increased pressure for the American Workplace,” provides an boards, presidents, and provosts to exer- interesting framework for thinking about cise greater top-down decision-making to how we might categorize the challenges drive agile change, we need to focus on for supporting faculty to ensure our suc- the role of our faculty and opportunities cess in higher education. Administered to increase their engagement. We need to about the time of the Great Recession of develop effective leadership strategies if 2008, the survey notes that there are they, and by extension the universities about one hundred million fulltime em- where they work, are going to succeed. I ployees in the United States, and rather have dwelled on the many contextual fac- than satisfaction vs. dissatisfaction, the tors that affect our present moment, be- survey uses response data to group em- cause understanding them is essential for ployees by their level of engagement with developing our best plans as university the workplace. About 28% of the re- leaders. All university presidents and spondents are “engaged employees.” chancellors, provosts, vice chancellors for They care about change, want to see good

research, and deans can enable their fac- graduation is the top priority, and yet an- ulty and strengthen their research univer- other semester that metrics for rankings sities by adopting and adapting three key are the top priority. And when the top strategies to fit our unique institutional 30% of engaged faculty become frus- cultures. trated, the next 50% of those not yet en- Strategy #1: Communicate laser- gaged or on the fence become much sharp focus regarding vision and goals. harder to reach and convince to commit Faculty members seek to understand to institutional excellence. This then is where the institution is heading and why likely to create an amplifier that magni- that is the best direction. Faculty engage- fies the voice of the 20% who actively re- ment and commitment are inspired by sist change. the larger vision of where the organiza- Communication strategies must rection is headed and why this destination is ognize the multiplicity of the faculty: essential to the university’s identity, suc- both the different strengths of individual cess, and distinctive core competency. faculty members to contribute uniquely After such a vision is identified and com- to different aspects of the collective goals, municated, there is the equally important and the changing arc of faculty careers communication challenge of ensuring that may allow individuals to develop that individual faculty members under- different strengths over the course of a ca- stand their roles and contributions. reer. While there may be collective goals At the level of the larger “why” and related to retention, graduation rates, stu- “where,” confusing goals, unconvincing dent learning, pedagogical innovation, or uninspiring rationales, or multiple top course redesign, curriculum change, priorities will create the sense of faculty technology in the classroom, assessment, members being asked to juggle too many increased publication and citation counts, balls. Shifting priorities and unexpected more grant dollars, and greater recogni- new goals, in the name of agility and re- tion with highly prestigious awards (to sponsiveness, will likely be experienced name just some of the many balls we are like a curve ball thrown into the juggling juggling), individual faculty members act. will contribute to these goals in different Clarity of focus includes a clear un- ways, taking a greater lead in one area ra- derstanding of individual faculty roles ther than another, but seldom taking the and contributions to the goals. If the fac- lead in all. Our faculty evaluation pro- ulty engagement distribution mirrors the cesses, performance expectations, and es- Gallup survey of U.S. employee engage- pecially our communication about ment, the top 30% support change. But change all need to acknowledge that an this top 30% will become frustrated as individual faculty member cannot and is they strive to fulfill their 40% teaching, not expected to do it all. He or she may 40% research, and 20% service perfor- need to set one or two of the balls on the mance expectation hearing one semester ground, while juggling others with that research productivity is the top pri- greater concentration and skill. Because ority, another that student retention and department chairs directly relay central

administrative goals to faculty, it is essen- hitch their desires to a cause larger tial to aid them in this communication than themselves” (131). challenge with clear priorities and con- Pink provides numerous examples of sistent talking points; support for effec- business organizations that are drawing tively using departmental talent is essen- upon these research-based strategies to tial. improve employee morale and increase Strategy #2: Construct conditions productivity. And he emphasizes that that motivate. As the academic career be- these practices do not undermine ac- comes more complex, the external moti- countability. This motivation-driven phi- vations of carrots-and-sticks are not suffi- losophy “presumes that people want to be cient for inspiring engagement. Journalist accountable—and that making sure they Daniel Pink draws upon social science re- have control over their task, their time, search in his book Drive: The Surprising their technique, and their team is the Truth About What Motivates Us to note most effective pathway to that destina- that in the workplace carrots-and-sticks tion” (105). tend “to encourage short-term thinking Although academic freedom, re- at the expense of the long view” (48). De- search opportunities, and teaching rived from 19th-century management choices would seem to make the univer- technology based in compliance and con- sity highly receptive to motivation-fo- trol (86), a carrot-and-stick approach is cused leadership practices, contextual more effective for routine tasks that forces are pulling in the other direction. “aren’t very interesting and don’t de- Transparency, accountability, and perfor- mand much creative thinking” (60). Mo- mance metrics are key characteristics of tivation, however, leverages employee public higher education in the 2010s. engagement by recognizing autonomy, State legislatures and institutional gov- mastery, and purpose. erning boards increasingly seek to use • Autonomy, not to be confused with these yardsticks for performance-based independence, means self-direction institutional funding; usually these ef- toward accomplishing a goal; it can forts seek to accomplish a specific social often involve a team. agenda. Similarly, presidents, provosts, • Mastery emphasizes deep engage- deans, and chairs may create internal per- ment with the process of accom- formance metrics as the starting point for plishing the goal: “the desire to get change. During a period of fiscal peril, better and better at something that like the post-2008 recession period, it is matters” (109), which is often charac- not surprising that legislatures, boards, terized as the state of “flow” defined presidents, and provosts increasingly by psychologist Mihaly Csikszent- rely upon top-down decision making to mihalyi. ensure the health of their universities. • Purpose links autonomy and mas- Risky times demand rapid responses. At tery: “The most deeply motivated the same time, returning to my emphasis people—not to mention those who on the faculty point of view, the incen- are most productive and satisfied— tives for getting on board with new plans

and initiatives and the extrinsic motiva- higher education drops two very im- tors employed to generated faculty buy- portant balls in this part of the juggling in are usually more characteristic of 19th- routine. First, as COACHE surveys indi- century management for compliance, cate, there is predictable variation in fac- control, and counting. The unexplored ulty engagement over a career as punctu- path is leadership by intrinsic motivation ated by promotions in rank and intensi- to increase professional engagement and fied by years in rank. Many resources productivity. support faculty in their early career to More broadly, there remains a ten- reach tenure and promotion to associate sion between intrinsic faculty motiva- professor. The path from associate to full tions and the extrinsic carrots available to professor, however, has less structure drive faculty behavior. Metrics and effi- and more room for wandering. Kiernan ciencies can be powerful plot points in R. Matthews describes the associate pro- the story we tell to represent the impact fessor “let-down”: that universities have to benefit society, Along with tenure comes an increased but they are not sufficient to intrinsically teaching load, greater expectations for motivate faculty to achieve the excellence service and advising, a more competitive market for grants, and the disappear- we seek in teaching, research, and service ance of mentoring programs that sup- to our world. We need accountability and ported them as early-career faculty. In metrics, and we need them to be mean- light of recent attention on “student suc- ingful and supportive of the intrinsic mo- cess,” these faculty are now being asked to add to their expectations for research tivations that increase engagement and excellence the new requirements to track productivity. Accountability and metrics student progression course by course, frame the story of faculty success; ac- even week by week. countability and metrics that do not reso- The toll of these obligations is heavier nate with the faculty will not force suc- on women and faculty of color who, given their fewer numbers at this rank cess or create cultural change. Restraint (in many disciplines), are asked to serve on extrinsic motivation and careful listen- more, advise more, show up more—and ing to faculty needs to attend to ways we not just for their department and the uni- can support intrinsic motivation and versity, but for their discipline too. (1) build new paths to lasting institutional Because of this mid-career slump, I transformation. speculatively wonder about the Gallup Strategy #3: Cultivate faculty en- engagement distribution curve, wonder- gagement over the entire arc of a changing how an individual faculty member ing career. We repeatedly say in higher may move from engaged to not engaged education, “A great faculty makes a great and even to disengaged and resisting at university.” Because of this principle, we different points in a career. devote resources and energy to searches Looking at the characteristics of fac- and hiring. We strive to broaden perspec- ulty relationships with the university tives and strengthen our dialogues may lend some insight into this dynamic. through diversity. We invest in develop- As Nicholas Lemann notes in “The Soul ing and retaining faculty talent. Yet of the Research University,” faculty employment is unique: “Most people work

for their employers. Faculty members at In conclusion, these three strategies research universities work for their disci- exemplify practices in a research univer- plines.” We reinforce this unstated ten- sity that create the opportunity to lead sion between loyalty to the university like researchers. With clarity of vision, and loyalty to the discipline through conditions that motivate, and cultivation many mechanisms that privilege and re- of faculty careers over the life span, these ward loyalty to the discipline, not least of strategies call upon presidents, chancel- which is the basic process of promotion lors, provosts, and deans to lead as genu- and tenure review. ine collaborators with faculty in the rein- Both Matthews and Lemann make vention of the university during an era of specific proposals that would address disruption. These strategies create oppor- these challenges and create new opportu- tunities for leadership experiments, to nities for engagement over the arc of a identify best practices and bright spots faculty career. Matthews identifies an ex- that can inspire the 50% not engaged to cellent range of practices that make visi- join the 30% of engaged employees who ble the stages of a career and create pro- care about change and want the univer- grams for building conditions of loyalty sity to thrive. As Sally Mason noted, it is to the institution. Lemann in turn notes urgent and important for university lead- that when research careers are “more ori- ers to convey optimism about our collec- ented toward the institution” where they tive ability to make the best of all oppor- take place “and less toward the disci- tunities and to see our challenges as op- pline,” there are many benefits such as portunities. The “new normal” and our new opportunities for institutional alli- new technologies have created many op- ances, internal research and teaching col- portunities, and we must have optimism laborations, and a rethinking of promo- about our creativity, insight, and drive to tion and tenure incentives. One of the take full advantage of the circumstances. most striking features of faculty presen- Engagement and optimism can energize tations at the Merrill Retreat, in contrast each other. The intentionality realized in to a national conference based on discipli- these strategies will strengthen the uni- nary specializations, is the sense of be- versity community and honor the princi- longing and pride in one’s home institu- ple that “A great faculty makes a great tion. Repeatedly faculty members take university.” pride in telling the story not of “research in the abstract” but of the way that their Works Cited specific university enabled them to ac- American Council on Education Presidential complish certain goals as a research fac- Innovation Lab. “Unbundling Versus ulty member. By focusing on the full arc Bundling Faculty Roles.” White Papers, July 2014. http://www.acenet.edu/news- of the faculty career and intentionally de- room/Documents/Unbundling-Versus- signing strategies to sustain faculty mem- Designing-Faculty-Roles.pdf bers for the long game, we can strengthen Christensen, Clayton M. The Innovator’s Di- our institutions and strengthen faculty lemma. 1997. New York: Harper Business engagement. Essentials, 2003.

Christensen, Clayton M. and Henry J. Mason, Sally. “Planning for Future Research Eyring. The Innovative University: Chang- in Public Universities in Uncertain ing the DNA of Higher Education from the Times.” Keynote address. Merrill Re- Inside Out. San Francisco: Josey-Bass, search Retreat, July 17, 2014, Nebraska 2011. City, Nebraska. Clifton, Jim. The Coming Jobs War. New York: Matthews, Kiernan R. “Perspectives on Mid- Gallup Press, 2011. Career Faculty and Advice for Support- Gallup. “State of the American Workplace ing Them.” Collaborative on Academic 2008-2010.” http://www.gallup.com/ser- Careers in Higher Education, Harvard vices/177077/state-american-workplace- University Graduate School of Education. 2008-2010-pdf.aspx July 2014. http://isites.har- Jones, Steven E. The Emergence of the Digital vard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic1023643.files//C Humanities. New York: Routledge, 2014. OACHE_Mathews_MidcareerFac- June, Audrey Williams. “The Uncertain Fu- ulty_20140721.pdf ture of Academic Work.” The Chronicle of Pink, Daniel H. Drive: The Surprising Truth Higher Education Survey of Great Colleges to About What Motivates Us. New York: Work for 2014 July 21, 2014. http://chroni- Riverhead Books, 2009. cle.com/article/The-Uncertain-Future- Williams, Jeffrey J. “The Great Stratifica- of/147755/ tion.” The Chronicle of Higher Education Re- Lemann, Nicholas. “The Soul of the Research view December 2, 2013. http://chroni- University.” The Chronicle of Higher Educa- cle.com/article/The-Great-Stratifica- tion Review 28 April 2014. http://chroni- tion/143285/ cle.com/article/The-Soul-of-the-Re- search/146155/

Stabilizing Research Departments in a 10% World

John F. Leslie, Head, Department of Plant Pathology, Kansas State University

and Grant universities have a long history of a trifold mission of teaching, research and outreach (extension) in the agricultural and mechanical arts. The L form of this mission has evolved over the 150+ year history of these institutions as the number of people involved directly in production agriculture has dwindled since the early 1900s and rural populations have decreased accordingly. Different departments and specialty areas within the university have changed as have the expectations of faculty. For faculty, the most significant scientists at the state Agricultural Experi- change in expectation has been that those ment Stations (AESs), who also usually in STEM-related disciplines are expected were faculty at the state’s land grant in- to obtain and maintain extramural fund- stitution, were not usually heavily ining for research programs. This funding volved in the quest for external funding may come from a variety of public because there were sufficient funds to sources - usually federal or state govern- support their research efforts through the ment - or private, usually grower groups, AES. Research funds from USDA for ad- commercial companies or foundations. ditional projects usually came with a This expectation has become larger with lower reimbursement for indirect cost ex- time, starting as a minor component in penses than did funds from other federal the early 1900s when John Wesley Powell agencies such as NSF, NIH, USDA, DOE first made the case for government sup- and USAID, but there were sufficient in- port of research as we know it through stitutional resources to cover the costs as- the US Geological Survey. After World sociated with proposal preparation and War II, this change became even more grant administration. profound as the amount of money di- Since a high water mark in the 1960s, rected to publicly funded research, pri- however, the overall funding trend line marily through the Federal government, has been downward. For agricultural sci- increased rapidly. entists, this change has meant that re- More senior attendees of this meet- search funds from their AES are primar- ing probably can recall times when indi- ily tied up in salaries, often only faculty vidual investigator grants above the 50th salaries, and that conducting a viable re- percentile in a federal grant panel stood a search program required external fund- good chance of being funded. Such ex- ing. As states have reduced funding for pansion encouraged many students to higher education, AES funding usually pursue careers in STEM disciplines, and has declined as well, but unlike universi- often as academics. At that time, many ties who can increase tuition to increase 78

funds available, AESs have been faced them. Thus, reductions in funding for with massive funding reductions that STEM-related research can crimp budg- have necessitated changes in mission and ets in many areas across campus. their approach and view of external From another perspective, research funds. State-associated budget reduc- is more a stepchild or royal bastard than tions often are presented as across-the- the king/queen of the castle. State budget board budget reductions, departments cuts are often distributed across the often lose a faculty position that is vacant board, but in a manner that protects the due to retirement or resignation. Such instructional component of a university’s losses are effectively strategic cuts that activities. Internal services take many of leave a department unable to do all that it these hits, with research support, espe- could previously since the specialization cially in technical staff, infrastructure and of most faculty members is not usually equipment maintenance, usually hit hard duplicated within a department. Main- as well. As budgets become more heavily taining core capabilities and addressing driven by tuition these problems increase new areas in a field are particularly diffi- as questions often are raised about the cult under such circumstances. propriety of using tuition funds for any- The Value of Research thing other than the direct support of the Research lives a bit of a schizoid life. teaching mission. Then there is the public In some ways research is the absolute misperception of faculty as working only king on campus. Research outputs – both when they are standing in front of class, quality and quantity – are used as with research considered to be a hobby or measures for institutional quality and a “spare” time activity. In the face of this measures of scholarly activity more often combination of factors it is little surprise than just about anything else. Grant that academic administrators often funds (preferably from a federal source choose research activities for cuts when that pays full overhead), h-factors and there are no good budget choices availa- various citation impact statistics, ble to them and something has to go. amongst others, dominate discussions of The recent decrease in the availabil- institutional quality. Becoming a member ity of federal funds for research has of the US National Academy of Sciences pushed both of these perspectives to even can be a bit like striking gold for a faculty greater extremes. Those who can win member in terms of the offers they may consistently in a world where the funding receive from institutions looking for a success rate is 10%, or less, become more means to increase their standing in rank- valuable as faculty and more vulnerable ing systems. Indirect costs associated to poaching by competitors. As the re- with externally funded research, alt- search enterprise becomes more costly to hough rarely recovered in toto, are critical fund in terms of both money and public components of many institutional budg- relations, its presence on many campuses ets and often enable scholarly or other ac- decreases and these institutions become tivities in areas that are not closely related (or revert to) primarily tertiary teaching to the research project that generated

institutions rather than research universi- minimize service work until after a ten- ties. In so doing student and public expo- ure decision has been made and try to sure to the research enterprise is reduced keep teaching loads as light as possible, and the way of thinking that underlies to enable more research to be done. the research process is limited to profes- Issues of students, grant funding, sional practitioners rather than permeat- and publications are often entangled. Ex- ing society for the benefit of all. ternal funds are needed to continue pro- Faculty Success jects beyond the initial start-up period. In No one at a university can succeed if a 10% world, obtaining these funds is in- the faculty are not successful. Defining creasingly difficult. Is the expectation success is a bit like defining “better”, it that all STEM Assistant Professors are ca- depends on where you are and where pable of landing a major federal grant re- you are trying to go. In some instances alistic, when success rates are at or below success is the best teaching evaluation 10%? scores possible, while in others success More established faculty also are requires maximizing the appropriate re- having great difficulties. Yet if there is no search indicator(s). Most commonly money, how can a new faculty member some combination of the two extremes is demonstrate that they have enough ideas the desired goal with additions for ser- and capabilities for a sustainable 25+ year vice and outreach required as well. At career? Acquiring additional teaching many research universities in STEM dis- duties is the traditional price for not ac- ciplines, tenure expectations include the quiring reliable external funding in a receipt of a nationally competitive (usu- STEM discipline, but the current contrac- ally federal) grant, and the graduation of tion is too severe for simply increasing a Ph.D. student in addition to high profile teaching duties for a few unsuccessful scholarly publications and perhaps the mid-career faculty to suffice as a solution. placement of a postdoctoral colleague in What obligations do institutions have to a significant permanent position. Newly faculty who are hired with a significant hired faculty may also be required to do research output expectation? extensive committee and other service In a 10% world our standard as- work and to teach large introductory sumptions and expectations are failing to classes on a regular basis. serve us either individually or institu- The 10% world is having a signifi- tionally. Many responses, e.g., hiring re- cant impact on these expectations. The researchers on non-tenure-track lines or duction in federal funding often costs hiring faculty whose sole job is to teach, universities faculty positions as research are philosophically and intellectually un- and indirect cost revenue streams shrink. settling or unacceptable given the values Hiring a new faculty member to replace of free speech within the Academy and someone who has left or retired is not au- the expectation for faculty to be continu- tomatic and newly hired faculty are often ously searching for new knowledge treasured. In my department we often through cutting edge research. If we need to reduce the number of faculty to meet

the 10% world’s harsh economic de- can survive many of the vagaries of a 10% mands, how should we do it? Will we end world because they have a vision for up with a series of elite institutions where where they want to go and have identi- most research is done? Or will we instead fied potential means to get there, both in- end up with some elite institutions and a dividually and collectively. They are ca- number of very good and excellent re- pable of independent work and capable search units at other locations where they of being team members. Departments are effectively orphans. Can we afford have cultures that are a product of the the balkanization that results from such people who populate them. egalitarian dispersion? Or should we in- Non-faculty staff often are important stead be thinking about ways in which bits of “glue” that keep things together as excellence is concentrated at a relatively others come and go. In effective depart- few locations and be altering the missions ments they “own” a bit of the department of departments, colleges and institutions just as much as a faculty member would. to these new realities? In a 10% world this diverse ownership Departments and ability to work in teams (or as a team) The center of academic life for a fac- provides the resilience needed to survive ulty member is the department to which and continue to thrive. Leaders for de- they belong. Departments provide an en- partments are numerous, with senior fac- vironment within which faculty mem- ulty often the largest cohort. Formal lead- bers work, but are not usually an entity ership also comes from a peer (Chair or that one works “for”. Departments are Head), who commonly has little, if any, the entities most commonly evaluated in formal leadership or management train- comparisons of different universities, ing. Such a “professional amateur” needs and their performance often is tracked as significant patience and buy-in to be suc- individual entities. They are the heart of cessful and a willingness to go along and academic communities and the compari- get along to keep a top-ranked depart- sons of them with family units is not at all ment functioning at its maximum abili- out of place. Look at the lengths to which ties. most departments will go to avoid not Continuing Department Head Fears tenuring an Assistant Professor when the and Whines time comes. A former Dean told me that Department Heads are the middle seeing even a single “no” vote, beyond management of an academic institution, the curmudgeons who could never vote but unlike their industrial counterparts “yes”, was a cause for worry because it more desire to go back down to the fac- was so much more difficult to vote “no” ulty level than to progress up the admin- than it was to vote “yes”. istrative ladder. Few are trained for the Keeping departments healthy and job and even fewer had being Depart- happy, not just functional, requires a ment Head as a career goal. Most serve sense of common purpose and a togeth- out of a sense of duty to their colleagues, erness that is both practical and personal. their department or their institution. Faculty in a well-functioning department

These reluctant leaders are now plines given current funding levels. An- thrown into a 10% world in which static ticipating not only whether a job candi- or declining budgets at the department date is likely to be funded but also level are the norm. The valuation an insti- whether they will be a long term fit with tution puts on a department is often diffi- other faculty in the department requires cult to discern - until the bottom falls out careful vetting, hard questions and because a stellar faculty member leaves broadly strategic thinking on the part of for greener pastures or departmental stal- all who are involved in the hiring pro- warts retire and someone must pick up cess. the essential duties that they had flaw- Finally, with the limited resources lessly an selflessly performed for years. available, rewarding those who have The safety nets currently available to done excellent work and are deserving of Department Heads might suffice to hold recognition financially and otherwise is small objects dropped from a few feet difficult. Telling a faculty member that above them if the object hits the net in- their performance is “average” may be stead of a hole. Ripping the net or hitting true, but most faculty have been in the the hole can degrade a department’s ca- upper portion of every evaluation they pacity almost overnight. For example, have experienced since they were in pri- major equipment can cost hundreds of mary school. If there are 12 people in a thousands if not millions of dollars to re- department with four Nobel prize win- place or repair, with departments often ners and four more National Academy of on the hook for all or much of the ex- Science members there are probably sev- pense. Loss of a major grant can leave a eral very good faculty members who are stellar research group in tatters. Techni- receiving at best average and more likely cians and postdocs scramble for alterna- below average performance reviews. In a tives that allow them and their families to 10% world these highly qualified individ- continue to live indoors and eat regularly uals would be primary targets for other while graduate students struggle to find institutions to lure away, potentially ways to finish nearly completed research leaving a stellar department with a dis- programs and avoid the pain and loss of mal future in terms of younger faculty to time that comes with identifying a new serve as replacements for their more sen- advisor and research project. ior colleagues. Open market negotiations Hiring and evaluating faculty also for top faculty are common at all institu- brings unanticipated tensions. The crite- tions. In a 10% world these negotiations ria for success of a new Assistant Profes- become even more critical as only the sor often has changed little, even though very best faculty are likely to be funded the external resources required for such continuously and provide the core sup- success are more difficult to obtain. Mak- port needed for the institution’s research ing the top 10% cut in any field as an As- enterprise to succeed. sistant Professor is an admirable feat that Interdisciplinary Efforts is all but expected in most STEM disci- Departments serve as the fundamental blocks on which the institution rests,

but aspersions about academics being in particular part of a field, e.g. genetics, to silos, insulated from the rest of the world work with others from different depart- abound. The suggested cure for these is- ments who have similar expertise but in sues is interdisciplinary centers wherein a different department, can lead to the ef- individuals from various backgrounds fective creation of a new department un- and diverse fields of expertise are hired der the guise of creating a center. In so to focus on a common problem. In some doing the best faculty from several differ- cases new buildings are built and faculty ent departments may be brought together are moved from their current depart- and in the process devastate the departments to a different physical location, ments they were in with their effective while in others, the center is a “virtual” departures leaving programmatic holes one whose members are physically dis- that cannot readily be patched. persed on campus but have occasion to If faculty that belong to an interdisci- get together on a regular, usually at least plinary center have a tenure home in a weekly, schedule. department, then the problem of having These efforts can be productive two masters arises. Both the department when they work as envisioned, and can and the center claim the faculty member, provide a means to build teams that are with the center providing a research competitive for large multi-PI grants that home (and perhaps even research sup- can be a critical part of the survival strat- port) and the department providing a egy in a 10% world. Yet for productive re- tenure and disciplinary home. Both have search departments there are often down expectations as the faculty member sides. These departments are often al- should be contributing to both. Should ready interdisciplinary in nature with the faculty member leave, then the ques- various faculty approaching a broad tion of whose faculty position it really is common problem from multiple direc- – center or department – can lead to ma- tions. Collaborations that range across jor disputes. Successfully developing and the basic-applied spectrum occur more implementing a center without diminish- naturally in such departments, since ing its contributing departments is far those involved are often at different from a trivial task. stages of a common research pipeline, ra- Then there are questions such as ther than trying to tie multiple pipelines does the center have the academic stand- together to give a novel output. Success- ing of a department, and can it offer ful departments also have identifiable ar- courses and degrees under its own name eas of strength in which multiple faculty or only under the name of the depart- combine their skills to attack common ments in which its faculty are tenured? problems as a team, in much the way en- For faculty, the simple manner of deter- visioned for interdisciplinary centers. mining who conducts annual perfor- Interdisciplinary centers, if not care- mance evaluations and the standards fully implemented, can disrupt highly against which performance is evaluated functional departments. For example, si- can be crucial to job satisfaction and phoning off faculty with expertise in a productivity. In the long run, the critical

question is whether the new resources competencies for which the institution available and the unique intellectual at- has an outstanding reputation provides mosphere that lives within the center jus- firm positions to which other programs tifies the trouble and care that it takes to can be tethered until circumstances manage it. Interdisciplinary centers may change and enable growth and expan- help some faculty survive in the 10% sion. world, but they are neither a panacea nor Stakeholders from alumni to stu- a cure all for currently limited external dents to faculty and staff and university funding. friends need to be able to own successes An Obvious Vision and Associated and to work together using their varied Advice strengths and skills to advance the insti- In a 10% world the obvious vision is tution and its critical programs. Develop- that we are all in this together and must ing the institution as a “destination” re- collectively find a way to survive. This quires a change in attitude, and a kind, message needs to reverberate within de- but firm, resolve to build areas of partments and centers, but it needs repe- strength to their highest possible level tition from the administration all the way while ensuring that all programs are up to the level of the governing board. competitive and of at least “average” Communication must be clear, frequent quality. Faculty are notorious for acting and never in just a single direction. Writ- independently and for functioning as ing is common as are speeches and “Lone Rangers” when it comes to pro- presentations, but one-on-one communi- moting their programs. Such independ- cation and communication across admin- ence may have been necessary to obtain a istrative levels are essential as well. In Ph.D. in the first place, but it can hamper many cases this type of communication the efforts to form suitable teams that can carries with it implied congratulations for address the big picture problems for a job well done. Why would a President, which funding often is available. Provost or Dean spend their time with Stabilizing and institutionalizing de- faculty, staff or students who are not departmental cultures so people cooperate livering something of great value to their because they want to rather than because institution? Senior leadership also should they have to, makes collaboration easier model efforts to explore alternatives for for everyone. Working with your friends getting things done so that everyone else is almost always more fun than working knows that such efforts are both expected with your colleagues, unless the two and supported. groups are more or less the same. A 10% Collaboration becomes the key to im- world presents stresses, but the stressors plement the vision. Collaboration in any are more readily weathered if they are and every possible form is essential to confronted by a group that can work and maximize local areas of strength and to play well together. enable extensive participation in the core Changes for a 10% Era areas of institutional competency. Main- The first fact to recognize in the 10% taining recognizable core and specialized era is that survival until times get better

is critical. Yet mere survival of everything Conclusions on a 10% Era and everyone is not a very inspiring goal. The current fiscal crisis that is en- The 10% era is one in which relatively gulfing university research is leading to strict winnowing occurs as the academic major rethinking of the value of research. enterprise is forced through a bottleneck With funds for research more difficult to of restricted funding. Getting through the attain, the value of research is being ques- bottleneck with style and grace refines tioned. In spite of the efforts and thought skills and reinforces alliances that are being put towards obtaining research necessary for success once the winnow- funds from foundations, companies and ing is complete. Astute academic man- other private sources, there is no effective agement during the winnowing process alternative to government funding for the can lead to a major shuffling and rear- research enterprise that has developed ranging of priorities and academic since the end of World War II. strengths within and between institu- The possibility that the country’s re- tions. Style and grace change the percep- search enterprise may be reduced during tions of what is occurring and provides this 10% era is quite real and faculty and another reason for stakeholders to buy administrators must work together to en- into the change process. sure that the embers that ignite research Partnerships in a 10% world need to activity survive the current fiscal quench- become symbiotic relationships in which ing. Without a vision for an institution’s both partners can anticipate the other’s role in research, such efforts are ham- needs and desires. Both administration pered and detrimental strategic decisions and faculty share the goal of their institu- may be made unknowingly. Collabora- tion being widely recognized and re- tive efforts have become all but essential spected, and of providing important ser- to obtain the external funds upon which vices and information for stakeholders, most research programs rely. These col- often on a global basis. Fiscal decisions, laborative efforts may result from depart- especially those where budgets are cut, mental or interdisciplinary interactions need to be made with unremitting focus depending on the nature of the question on their implications. Losses of positions, being asked. Enabling these efforts is whether through strategic or across-the- probably the single most important thing board cuts, almost always lead to a stra- that can be done to ensure the survival of tegic loss, whether intended or not. Hav- research activities through this 10% era. ing a sense of where we want to go pro- Acknowledgment: vides a different lens to use when view- This is Manuscript no. 15-218-A from ing a series of less-than desirable options. the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Manhattan.

Strategic Investments in Research in Microbiology and Immunology – Importance of Technology Infrastructure

Mark McIntosh, Professor and Chair, Microbiology and Immunology, Director of Research Core Facilities, University of Missouri

urrent challenges to investigator driven research The national climate for biomedical research has changed dramatically over C the past 10-12 years since the last stages of the doubling of the NIH budget were completed in 2003. These changes have resulted in significant new challenges to the concept of investigator-driven basic research at medical schools and undergraduate research campuses across the nation. The biomedical research enterprise, fueled by the resources provided to the NIH and other federal research agencies during the growth period, was incentivized to recruit an expanding work force to meet the research objectives of individual investigator research grants.

The growth of individual laborato- scholarly environments at research insti- ries and trainee populations was unsus- tutions. As a result, new strategies have to tainable over the long term as the federal emerge for building research strengths research funds began to diminish. Federal and infrastructure that are interdiscipli- funding in real dollars is currently 25% nary in nature and responsive to the below the levels reached in 2003, resulting changing requirements for successfully in a hyper-competitiveness for limited re- competing in the current environment. sources and an abundance of young in- Historically, in a medical school set- vestigators struggling to find research- ting, basic science departments focused based academic positions or the necessary on recruiting academic expertise that cen- funding to launch and sustain a produc- tered on human clinical interests in infec- tive research career1. As grant application tious diseases, immunity and human dis- rates have risen considerably over the eases that were associated with either of past 10 years, success rates have tumbled these “subdisciplines”. In most cases, in- from 20-30% at the beginning of this cen- dividual faculty research interests were tury to the current state of 10-13%. Pay- somewhat isolated, giving the depart- lines were reduced to the 6th-8th percentile ment as a whole a breadth of perspectives for many NIH institutions, with a 3-4 per- that encompassed the scope of medical centile bump for early stage investigators microbiology and immunology expertise. (see individual NIH institutional data on The teaching mission was concentrated the web). These historically low levels on the one hand to providing a basic un- have had a depressing impact on the con- derstanding of all aspects of infection and tinued recruitment and retention of bright immunity, and related human physiolog- young scientists that are the future of our ical consequences, to an information- 86

stressed medical student class through di- an independent research program off the dactic lecture and case examples, and on ground and to the point of being compet- the other to training the next generation itive for federal grant awards. The stand- of basic scientists to join the academy and ard calculation was three years of full sal- continue the more or less siloed discipli- ary support and $300-500K to fund equip- nary environment. On an undergraduate ment, personnel and supplies for the tran- campus, the scope of academic expertise sition period. This assumed no additional to meet student intellectual interests ex- specialized high end instrumentation was panded outside the biomedical realm to needed or what was needed was already include microbial interactions with ani- in place within the institution. Those esti- mals and plants, as well as environmental mates were defined by statistical data that and industrial microbiology. suggested approximately three years When a tenure track faculty position from faculty appointment to the first was vacated or a new position created, the awarded federal grant, up from one year recruitment strategy was to replace that in 1980 (2). With the first award and sub- expertise in a general sense – e.g. bacterial sequent renewal, the institution’s invest- or viral pathogenesis, host immunity, etc. ment was quickly recovered. I should A search ensued by casting a broad net in point out that there were also occasional the designated subdiscipline, hoping to targeted searches for investigators at a catch the best available young scientists in more senior level, with higher levels of in- that area. Most searches were targeted to vestment required and correspondingly the Assistant Professor level and most higher levels of expectations, including candidates were coming out of postdoc- that these recruits were expected to bring toral fellowships, with little or no experi- significant grant resources with them ence with major grant applications, and along with an established and recognized thus little or no funding to initiate the research program. In other words, though transition to independence. By the time there was a greater upfront investment, the top candidate or two was selected, in- there was less risk in evaluating the long terviewed and a transition package nego- term potential of the recruit to maintain a tiated, the replacement process could be productive research program. expected to take 6-12 months. That pro- In the period since the NIH doubling, cess worked well in the sense of infusing the landscape around biomedical re- the faculty with youth, intellectual crea- search has changed dramatically, espe- tivity and technical rejuvenation. It cre- cially with respect to recruitment of fac- ated many opportunities for the pipeline ulty investigators in the early stages of of young scientists being trained around their careers. Young scientists are having the country, most supported by individ- to spend more time in prefaculty training ual or training grants from the NIH. positions because of the decline in open Prior to 2003, the recruitment pack- faculty positions. According to an NIH ages for faculty candidates at the Assis- study, the average age at which PhD re- tant Professor level were designed to give cipients are recruited into their first ten- the investigator enough resources to get ure track position is now 37 years and,

when you couple this fact with the ever to attract the best and brightest, and an ef- diminishing grant funding success rates, fective mentoring environment to sup- it now takes an average of 4-5 years in that port and retain our strongest young in- position to win an initial federal grant, if vestigators. at all2. As a result, the initial investment 1. A creative environment really de- by the institution in salary and startup pends on minimizing barriers to effec- must consider additional resources for tive interdisciplinary research interac- the fourth and fifth years of faculty devel- tions, including the development of opment, resources that are substantially research and technology centers that at risk. This pushes the packages to promote such interactions. The era of $700K-$1M for an untested Assistant Pro- individual investigators working fessor, and higher for established investi- with one or two students in an iso- gators. Furthermore, the extended transi- lated laboratory is approaching ex- tion period for junior faculty runs head- tinction as faculty (and funding agen- on into the tenure clocks of many institu- cies) realize the effectiveness and im- tions, which are still geared to 5-6 years. If pact of scientific collaboration to bring the first award occurs near the decision diverse intellectual and technical skill year, there are no definitive data to assess sets together to address significant long term stability for many research pro- scientific questions. grams. 2. A supportive environment empha- What about retention of not only sizes recognition, as well as rewards those junior faculty with a high likelihood (including competitive salary struc- of success, but also of the top research fac- tures and incentives), for achieving ulty once their research programs have important benchmarks in scientific become firmly established and ade- discovery that bring visibility to the quately funded? Given the fact, as will be institution, not only in scientific cita- discussed in the sections that follow, that tion, but in research funding as well. many institutions, including MU, have A supportive environment also recog- begun to emphasize targeted recruitment nizes the critical importance of invest- of faculty into strategic areas of research ments in research infrastructure, espe- strength and who have a strong federal cially with respect to cutting edge in- funding record, what investments must strumentation and the technological be made to enhance the probability for support needed to transfer these tech- successful strategic recruitment and re- nologies to individual/collaborative ciprocally for keeping the best early stage research programs. investigators from being poached? In our 3. An effective mentoring environment collective discussions here at MU, the so- is essential in the early and sustained lutions revolve around the establishment success of the next generation of aca- of critical environments – a creative (inno- demic scientists. A strong mentorship vative) and supportive environment, program will connect faculty early in which includes technology enhancement, their careers with established investigators who are experienced, not only

in the relevant scientific disciplines examples. Recruitments and retentions and technologies and can provide for that matter must be evaluated with in- peer review for grant applications and tegration in mind, integration with exist- manuscripts, but as well in navigating ing research strengths and integration the ever more difficult regulatory en- with changing funding agency strategic vironment and government reporting plans (e.g. see NIAID Strategic Plan 2013; on such issues as animal welfare, radi- http://www.niaid.nih.gov/about/who- ation safety and human subjects re- WeAre/planningPriorities/Docu- search. Institutionally, resources must ments/NIAIDStrategicPlan2013.pdf). be directed toward career develop- There are clear examples from recent NIH ment and effective teaching modali- initiatives in the Human Genome Project, ties. Faculty mentoring should also in- the BRAIN Initiative and the Human Mi- clude an ongoing evaluation of how crobiome Project, all of which allocated their respective research interests con- impressive research resources toward es- nect to advertised research priorities tablishing basic research foundations that at federal agencies like the NIH. will underpin much of the “translational” Departmental strategies for targeted research efforts for the next decade or so. recruitment and integration into an in- These research initiatives, and the terdisciplinary framework subsequent applicable biology, are in- We are now in a period where federal creasingly dependent on an interdiscipli- funding of basic biomedical research is nary team approach. It is imperative to not allocated in a way that affords the pre- build collaborative research strengths in dictability and stability for growing re- genomics and metagenomics, bioinfor- search programs as it once did. To be matics, comparative animal models, cel- more effective in the environment of in- lular and structural biology, and drug decreasing competitiveness for these critical sign and development to be able to effec- but limited resources and to be more re- tively compete for resources under these sponsive to developing research initia- strategic initiatives. In parallel, there are tives from institutions like the NIH, pub- changes in the expectations from the lic research institutions must be more cre- funding agencies for team-based research ative and realistic in their approaches to approaches, and thus there must be investing in research scientists who fit changes in how public research institu- well with interdisciplinary programmatic tions respond. strengths. They must use these strengths 1. Multi-investigator R01-type grants as well to explore new funding opportu- are gaining traction and increasing nities in both the public and private sec- support because they bring together tors. This implies strategically targeted re- diverse research talents to address a cruitments that fill important needs in research problem from a variety of currently strong research areas at the ex- technical perspectives. These grants pense of the previously favored broad are less expensive than the previously spectrum approach, despite the latter’s popular Program Project grant be- evidence of success in clearly identifiable

cause they direct all the funding re- of scientific discovery and should also sources to the science and eliminate be identified in faculty promotion and administrative structures that are not tenure documentation. necessary to accomplish the ultimate 5. Whether in the academic setting of a objectives. There are no institutional university or medical school (e.g. requirements that the multi-investiga- basic/clinical integration) or in a uni- tor team reside on the same campus; versity/industry partnership, there is however, recruitment can be influ- an increasing emphasis on “transla- enced by the increased likelihood of tional applications”. such proposals being developed For an academic research department when recruitment is targeted to re- to be effective in the research environ- search interactions. ment that is likely to dominate the na- 2. Teamwork and complementary skill tional science agenda for the foreseeable sets may be needed to overcome risk- future, there must be a continuous assess- averse scientific review panels which ment of departmental research strengths dominate current review processes. relative to campus and regional intellec- Many individual investigator grants tual and technical resources and NIH re- can be (and are) criticized because of search priorities. How well do investiga- the limited expertise/experience of the tor research strengths integrate with cam- investigator. Strategic team building pus and regional research opportunities eliminates this as a legitimate scien- and match with changing NIH strategic tific criticism in many cases. plans? From such assessments, a strategic 3. The general strategy of building inter- recruitment plan should emerge that disciplinary research teams that seek makes these integrations more effective, funding and publish findings to- resulting in enhancement of opportuni- gether also requires that universities ties to be competitive for multi-investiga- reevaluate current promotion and tor research programs and a greater turn- tenure policies. At present, there are around time for institutional return on in- significant pressures on junior faculty vestment. for “independent research” for posi- Using the Department of Molecular tive tenure and promotion decisions. Microbiology and Immunology at the MU Within the productive interdiscipli- School of Medicine as an example, the nary team, however, individual con- analysis of our research strengths with tributions are relevant to the success those of the campus as a whole and the of the whole and can be evaluated for available technical resources enable a their respective merit. more effective strategic plan for targeted 4. As faculty become more entrepre- recruitment of new faculty talent to de- neurial and seek new avenues for re- velop. One advantage is that MU is a com- search funding from the private sec- prehensive campus, with multiple col- tor, these relationships should also be leges engaging in life sciences research. evaluated and recognized for their As we look around campus (concentrat- contributions to the academic pursuit ing on areas likely to synergize with

MMI), easily identifiable strengths in- • Structural biology – Significant intel- clude: lectual technical resources for crystal- • Comparative medicine – with the Col- lography and x-ray diffraction, NMR leges of Medicine and Veterinary spectroscopy and mass spectrometry Medicine, the Division of Animal Sci- provide critical opportunities for de- ences in Agriculture and three NIH- termining protein structures, protein- funded Animal Resource Centers protein and protein-lipid interactions, (mutant mouse, rat and swine), MU and macromolecular identification. has a strong cadre of research exper- The MMI departmental research tise in the genetic manipulation of an- strengths are centered on: imal models for both agricultural and • Viral pathogenesis, including capsid medical research. and polymerase structure and func- • Plant and animal genomics – MU has tion, antiviral therapies (small mole- long been a national leader in plant cules and RNA aptamers), viral-cellu- genetics and genomics and continues lar interactions in viral entry, replica- to invest in partnerships that enhance tion and assembly and the use of viral this strength (including the recent vectors in gene therapy for human ge- agreement with the Danforth Plant netic disorders like Duchenne muscu- Science Center in St. Louis to strategi- lar dystrophy and spinal muscular at- cally recruit four new investigators to rophy; build greater integration between the • Immune response to viral and bacte- two campuses). MU has made semi- rial pathogens and autoimmune dis- nal contributions to both the bovine eases including diabetes, multiple and swine genomic projects and is a sclerosis, asthma, inflammatory national leader in genetic manipula- bowel diseases; tion of swine as animal models for hu- • Bacterial genetics and pathogenesis, man disease. including membrane biology, adhe- • Biological engineering and nanotech- sion of host cell receptors, invasion nology – Bioengineering faculty re- structures and functions, bacterial ge- search strengths focus on nanostruc- netics and genetic manipulation, met- tured biocomposites for tissue inte- agenomics of the microbiome, bacte- gration, development of novel sens- rial toxins and their molecular interac- ing mechanisms and platforms, single tions with mammalian cellular targets molecule technologies for disease bi- and genetic diversity generating ele- omarker detection and improved ments. DNA sequencing, epigenetics and With these two comparative lists in proteome detections, and nanoparti- mind, we would focus the development cle development for targeted tissue of a recruitment strategic plan to take ad- delivery of molecular reagents and vantage of the likely connections between vaccines. departmental strengths, those of our comprehensive research campus and developing NIH research initiatives (along

with entrepreneurial opportunities in the and health/obesity, and clinical scien- private sector). One objective of such inte- tists interested in the relationships be- grated recruitment would be to create in- tween the human microbiome (espe- terdisciplinary centers of excellence that cially gut and vaginal) and human amplify the potential of any individual or health/diseases. Given that NIH has small group of investigators to compete already invested heavily in the foun- effectively for public or private sector re- dation for studies in the human mi- sources. Integrated within this plan crobiome and has recently announced would also be an increasing emphasis on major new initiatives in these areas “translational partnerships” in the clinical (included in Priority 3 of the recent sciences (human and veterinary medi- NIAID Strategic Plan referenced cine), the agricultural sciences, bio- and above), strategic recruitment of meta- chemical engineering, and of course eco- genomics and informatics expertise nomic development. For example: that can collaborate with ongoing • In the area of virology and viral path- campus program development repre- ogenesis, our nationally recognized sents an exciting new opportunity. strength is in HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C • In the area of immunology, NIAID and emerging viruses like Ebola and continues to emphasize basic innate SARS/MERS. Strategic recruitment of and acquired immune mechanisms investigators with interests in viral and the complex interactions between structures as targets for drug develop- microbial pathogens and the immune ment, viral vaccine development and system to develop and test therapeu- delivery and viral diagnostics will tic and vaccine strategies. In addition, open up significant new opportunities new emphasis is being placed on de- not only for federal research pro- velopment of the innate and acquired grams, but for global infectious dis- immune systems in relationship with ease initiatives and pharmaceutical the gut microbiome. Departmental re- industry partnerships. search strengths in T and B cell devel- • In the area of microbial pathogenesis opment, immune memory and innate and the microbiome, we have devel- defenses and autoimmune diseases oped a technology pipeline to interro- provide a foundation for targeted re- gate the microbial metagenome cruitment (in cooperation with Veter- within any population niche (clinical inary and Animal Sciences and Bioen- or environmental). Collaborations are gineering) in the function of a healthy rapidly developing with animal scien- immune system, vaccine develop- tists interested in the ruminant micro- ment and robust protection against biome and its relationship to animal bacterial and viral pathogens, and the health and food production, plant sci- underlying causes of diseases like di- entists interested in the plant rhizo- abetes, allergies and inflammation. sphere and it role in plant nutrition and disease, human nutritionists interested in dietary caloric extraction

Technology infrastructure and de- “Core Facilities” concept. For example, velopment investments MU had 3-4 electron microscopes scat- Maintaining a cutting-edge technol- tered among its various colleges and not ogy infrastructure is essential to creating enough local resources to maintain and an institutional environment where our operate them effectively as separate in- investigators can effectively and produc- struments. Consolidating them into an tively meet their ongoing and developing Electron Microscopy Core streamlined research objectives and within which we their operational requirements and made can recruit strategic new talent. On many it possible to recruit top technical talent to of our campuses, there are unique re- provide the technical expertise that cam- sources (like the MU Research Reactor) pus investigators needed to justify spe- that bring national visibility to the institu- cific experimental strategies in their grant tion and are a strong marketing tool for applications. Similar consolidations and recruiting the top scientific talent. How- investments have been made since that ever, there is significant (and continually time to centralize instrumentation and ex- expanding) expense associated with high- pertise in NMR spectroscopy, mass spec- end instrumentation and the technical ex- trometry (for both macromolecules and pertise needed for continued develop- small molecules), confocal microscopy, ment of the technologies and communica- flow cytometry, DNA and RNA genomics tion of their potential to the research com- and transcriptomics, bioinformatics, munities on our campuses. As a result, structural biology and x-ray diffraction, public institutions, in this period of di- and transgenic animal production. The minishing state and federal revenue result is a robust core facility system that sources to support the necessary techno- is administered through the campus Of- logical infrastructure, will benefit from in- fice of Research (www.research.mis- novative ideas to centralize (and not du- souri.edu/division/cores). It is also im- plicate) the needed technologies and to portant to emphasize that other technol- communicate their availabilities to the lo- ogy facilities on our regional campuses cal and regional scientific communities. are less centralized but nonetheless avail- This concept has been critically important able for collaboration. On the MU cam- on the MU campus and has great poten- pus, these include the VA Biomolecular tial within the Missouri-Kansas region in Imaging Core (small animal whole body general. I will briefly discuss how the MU imaging), the Brain Imaging Core (with a campus is currently implementing a core 3T MRI), the Plant Transformation Core, facility infrastructure and the develop- the International Institute for Nano and ment of recent initiatives to communicate Molecular Medicine, the Nanofabrication these technology capabilities to other re- and Material Sciences Core and of course gional institutions. the MU Research Reactor. The real thrust to identify and consol- The advantages of centralizing such idate our institutional technology re- technologies of course are easy to enu- sources began in the late 1980’s with the merate. They provide the cutting-edge development and implementation of a technologies and state-of-the-art high end

(and very expensive) instrumentation retain. Without this expertise, the technol- needed to produce competitive research ogies are available to only a select few proposals. They provide technical exper- highly trained scientists. tise on site – as investigators integrate the With the increasing costs to individ- newest and most sensitive or quantitative ual institutions of providing core techno- technologies into their research program, logical resources, especially when the they rely on the technical support and user base for any one expensive technol- consultations with the core facility tech- ogy may be limited at a given institution, nical staff. And as importantly, they offer there is merit in marketing these technol- the services at competitive rates because ogies regionally. Such a strategy would they can spread the costs over many pro- benefit the institution supporting the jects and investigators. Implementation of technology by spreading costs over a many of these technologies on a depart- stronger user base and would open new mental or even college level would be cost opportunities for collaboration, and it prohibitive. would also benefit the regional institu- There are considerable challenges as tions by preventing the unnecessary du- well, even with a robust core facility sys- plication of expensive technologies. There tem. (i) High end technologies are expen- is a strong interest from the Missouri- sive from both the equipment and tech- Kansas region to develop strategic part- nical personnel perspectives. Spreading nerships that encourage and support the fixed costs out to keep fee structures technology sharing in this way. A consor- low and affordable requires an adequate tium of institutions, including MU, KU, user base. At any one institution, there KU Medical Center, Kansas State, and the may be a limited number of specific tech- Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute, nology users (though it is absolutely es- with its academic, health and corporate sential to their research progress). Ac- membership, have recently undertaken a cording to national core facility bench- project to bring the regional technical and marking studies provided each year by intellectual resources together using a iLab Solutions, the current rate of institu- web-based communications and market- tional subsidization of such technologies ing tool to illustrate the regional capabili- is 30%. (ii) State-of-the-art instrumenta- ties and academic expertise and provide tion is evolving at a rate faster that its de- its representative scientific communities a preciation, making it continuously more source of information for identifying difficult to keep pace. This is clearly ap- needed resources. This tool, to be known parent with genomics technologies where as the BioInnovation Research Exchange implementation of the latest instrument (BRIX) is being developed in partnership (at $500-700K per instrument) is soon out- with a California-based company called dated by the introduction of a new tech- Assay Depot, founded by MU graduate nology. (iii) And finally, the critical tech- Kevin Lustig. The tool should be ready for nical expertise on site is increasingly dif- implementation within calendar year ficult and more expensive to recruit and 2015.

References: 4. University of Missouri Research Core Fa- 1. Alberts, B., M.W. Kirschner, S. Tilghman, cilities: (www.research.missouri.edu/divi- and H.A. Varmus. Proceedings of the Na- sion/cores). tional Academy of Sciences, U S A. 2014 5. iLab Solutions 2014 Benchmarking Study: Jul 1; 111(26):E2632-3. doi: http://www.ilabsolutions.com/bench- 10.1073/pnas.1408267111. Epub 2014 Jun marking-study/ 11. 6. Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute: 2. National Institutes of Health (2012) Bio- http://www.kclifesciences.org/ medical Research Workforce Working 7. Assay Depot: https://www.assayde- Group Report (National Institutes of pot.com/ Health, Bethesda, MD) 3. NIH-NIAID Strategic Plan 2013: http://www.niaid.nih.gov/about/who- WeAre/planningPriorities/Docu- ments/NIAIDStrategicPlan2013.pdf

Interdisciplinarity in Uncertain Times: Research Centers

Karen Burg, Vice President for Research, Kansas State University

he Interdisciplinarity Advantage Evolving research problems are complex, we therefore need experts and tools T from multiple fields. Surprisingly, we take for granted that carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and others work together to build houses (would you make an offer on a house that was built solely by a team of plumbers?), but our existing research structure remains highly compartmentalized and we seem insecure and somewhat in- ept in promoting interdisciplinarity. The simple fact remains – interdisciplinary approaches allow disruptive leaps forward, rather than incremental steps. They allow more complete solutions to the world’s complex problems. Interdisciplinary centers, if built thoughtfully, provide a means to realizing complete solutions. The Challenges of Interdiscipli- while economic development and intel- narity lectual property is not uniformly valued The barriers to interdisciplinarity in across a university. Interdisciplinary a university setting are many. The typical units are inherently more difficult to university is configured in units and manage, for a variety of reasons, and a units naturally promote territorialism. high university investment is required. Each unit has unit specific goals, and the Importantly, the return on investment is unit leaders and members are generally ill-defined and, although potentially ex- quite familiar with the goals and the re- tremely high, very difficult to quantitate. wards system. Therefore, those activities Interdisciplinary is a great not captured within goals or rewards are buzzword, but is an exceedingly difficult generally given significantly lower to no activity to manage. The National Acade- attention. Additionally, infrastructure is mies (2014) has released many position built to support the unit goals. Each unit, papers promoting and outlining the confor example, has service infrastructure cept and has provided compelling ra- (e.g. human resources, sponsored pro- tionale for striving to achieve interdisci- grams, etc.), so creating initiatives that plinarity. Indeed, according to Popper span units leads to logistical issues of (1963) “we are not students of some sub- knowing which service units to access ject matter, but students of problems. and how those units will handle addi- And problems may cut right across the tional workload. The perceived incen- borders of any subject matter or disci- tives for faculty members to participate in pline”. A series of discipline related interdisciplinary research is low. Tenure buzzwords has emerged over the years. and promotion is discipline specific, Multi-disciplinary, for example, is a con-

vergence of people and ideas for a de- provide an environment which is indus- fined amount of time, with generally no try friendly – particularly with respect to long-term impact. That is, upon removal goals, deliverables, and metrics - they of the impetus for the multi-discipli- also provide a student friendly environ- narity, the participants return to their dis- ment – i.e. training of students in a real ciplines. Interdisciplinarity, however, is world, collaborative environment. the convergence of multiple disciplines There are several classic structural that results in longer term effects. That is, problems, specific to centers. First, simple each participating discipline is richer for use of the term interdisciplinary does not the experience and gains in some tangible guarantee interdisciplinarity. Seeding manner. In this instance, there are money for cross-disciplinary interactions marked effects on the participating disci- in the foreground does not ensure inter- plines. Transdisciplinary is a melded dis- disciplinarity in the long-term; typically, cipline; the participating disciplines con- once the money disappears so do the par- tribute to the creation of a new, ticipants. Often, research groups are not standalone discipline. cohesive and do not tackle well-defined Considerations in Purposefully problems. Research administrators often Building Interdisciplinarity define a list of people and disciplines, The needs of an interdisciplinary with little regard to the research problem center that is not located in a college or or to the potential for integration of these department are unique. Points to con- individual efforts. The accounting for in- sider include the physical and budgetary direct returns, proposals submitted, etc. location, the budget and deliverables, the cannot stimulate competition with de- academic review process in place, the partments or the center will not survive. staffing necessary from the unit or from Often there is lack of administrative sup- the university, the focus on student par- port units such as human resources or ticipation (as students are centric to the sponsored programs. There is a myth of university mission), and the realities of self-sufficiency; nationally, very few in- faculty involvement. A center generally stitutes or centers realize complete self- spans university units and provides a col- sufficiency. This is typically due to an un- laboratory and infrastructure for team- realistic view of return on investment and based work. The ideal center relies on a lack of a business plan. Often the center core of permanent research faculty, ra- lacks a unified and unifying problem def- ther than building on the talents of ten- initions and project directions. ured or tenure track faculty, who gener- The center is, in effect, a flexible ally have multiple responsibilities be- clearinghouse. The institute or center yond the bounds of the center. Research must be independent from but comple- faculty are 100% dedicated to research, mentary to departments and should yet they can connect with tenure/tenure- serve as a hiring draw for departments track faculty who are dedicated to teach- (due to the ready-made collaborators and ing, research, service. Research faculty infrastructure). A permanent director is responsible for marketing and direction.

Longer-term stability is provided by the Rewards System Overhaul appointment of permanent research fac- There are several important reward ulty members as the core. In contrast, ten- concerns. In particular, effort toward and ured and tenure-track faculty are in- participation in a center must be recog- volved as dictated by the scientific needs nized by tenure/promotion committees. of projects and investigator availability. It Rewards are based on output; common has been shown that a flexible and dy- output includes congressional testimo- namic participation model of this type nies, public policy initiatives, popular provides benefits. According to Rhoten, media, or product development. Center “Researchers who felt free to enter and research tends to lend to multiple author exit collaborative relationships reported publications, which incorporate different more progress with their interdiscipli- perspectives from different disciplines. nary projects and greater satisfaction in Letters of support from collaborators, de- their professional lives overall”. fining the critical role of a center re- Budget and Deliverables searcher, can be vital to the tenure and Many centers and institutes are de- promotion process. veloped on the enthusiasm of the tech- Center Impact nical experts and without in-depth atten- Center education and training im- tion to the financials. Hence, a business pact may be monitored by a count of new plan must be developed with contribu- “languages”, number of disciplines, per- tions from finance and technical person- formance in courses and retention, as nel. A focused mission statement should well as student participation in research provide the “filter” for investment in fu- programs. Research metrics may be mon- ture projects. A realistic return on invest- itored by a count of publications, presen- ment should be identified, along with a tations, and intellectual property devel- self-sufficiency plan and related metrics. opment. The metrics should be meaning- Annual and multi-year reviews should ful – for example, the number of disclo- be defined, along with assessment plans sures filed may suggest positive impact; and goal setting exercises. The unit will however, licensing is probably a more need mavens, connectors, and salesper- meaningful measure of translation and sons (M. Gladwell, 2000). That is, needed impact. It may be possible to identify are individuals with great expertise in the short-term, high return intellectual prop- discipline but high critical thinking skills, erty opportunities to support the broader individuals with ability to connect, and center mission. individuals with ability to communicate Thus, the described interdisciplinary the value of the center. Generally center center model is industry friendly, major connectors include industry and educa- government initiative friendly, and stu- tion liaisons, while mavens include hu- dent friendly. Center research faculty man resources and sponsored programs complement departmental unit foci and personnel. Highly functional centers in- provide stability. When based on existing corporate research personnel with re- collaboratives a center provides a rich spect to technical diversity. training environment. Most importantly,

the center provides a microenvironment References: where the disciplines gain independently Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research, Na- and collectively. tional Academies, National Academies Press, 2014 Gladwell, M., Tipping Point, Little Brown (New York), 2000. Popper, K. R. Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge. New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1963, p. 88. Rhoten, "D. Interdisciplinary research: Trend or transition." Items and Issues 5.1-2 (2004): 6-11. 2004

The New Role of Land Grant Research Universities in the 21st Century: An Essay

Henry C. Foley, Senior Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Research, and Economic De- velopment, University of Missouri

art 1. A Time of Change and a Call to Action Recently, higher education celebrated the 150th Anniversary of the Morrill Act. P It is nothing short of astonishing that land grant universities were conceived and birthed during some of the darkest days of this nation's history. It was this visionary act in the 19th century that set the country on the path to the American Century. It was the land grant universities that provided broad access to needed higher education for people of all backgrounds, especially from the “industrial classes.” With new curricula in agriculture and mechanical arts, experiment stations and agriculture extensions, the land grant universities played a significant role in advancing the state of agriculture and industry in the United States. By the end of the 20th century, the mission of the land grant institutions rested firmly on the three strong pillars of teaching, research and outreach. Today, just 14 years into the 21st cen- decades, prior to these economic down- tury, many land grant universities, in- turns, our nation’s economy had been cluding the University of Missouri, have steadily shifting away from manufactur- added economic development as a fourth ing.i The economic crises of 2000 and pillar under their missions. Multiple fac- 2008, and the retrenchments that ensued tors brought on this change at the conflu- in their wake precipitated an irreversible ence of several potent socio-economic loss of jobs. These job losses in turn di- factors that have had a significant impact minished the middle class and widened on the nation in less than two decades. In the gap between the upper and lower 2000, the stimulation of the stock market economic classes in the US. by the seemingly unlimited potential of Other factors are also in play that new web-based technology companies have spurred the land grant universities came to an abrupt end when the dot-com to embrace economic development as a bubble burst. After a slow recovery, the social responsibility. Whereas in the post- economy suffered mightily again and world War II decades from the 1940s to merely eight years later in 2008, when the the 1980s large corporations prospered, housing and mortgage bubble burst. Af- and in turn they richly supported re- ter these two shocks, jobs lost in the search laboratories that conducted funda- downturns were not added back as the mental research. Bell Laboratories epito- economy slowly improved. Over several mized such laboratories. Staff scientists at 100

Bell Labs were doing basic research of that the pace of innovation in the United such a high caliber that it led to many No- States was slowing measurably during bel Prizes. Breakthroughs included the the last 20 or so years. A new global com- solid-state transistor, the detection of the petitor, China, was on the scene. By many "background" radiation in the universe, measures, from the numbers of patents and the development of the laser. Many issued to the possession of the world’s of the programming languages used to- fastest super computer, China appeared day to write computer code stem from to be ascending while the US was de- basic research done at Bell Labs and scending. The argument that these prog- RCA-Sarnoff Labs.ii In the 1970s, 80s and nosticators made ran along these lines. 90s, the post-war economies of Japan and Because China was funding fundamental Asia rose from the ashes of their earlier research more innovation is expected destruction and became excellent manu- from China. China will have continued facturers and effective competitors. This economic growth while, in this country, new global competition caused many of we will not. Instead of investing in new the largest American companies to cut research, we seem to be rending the last back on their budgets for fundamental re- remnants of innovation from research search. They either shuttered such labor- done in the past. We cannot do this for atories outright or transitioned them into much longer and maintain growth; we tech-service organizations doing little or need investments in basic research to fos- no fundamental research. When scruti- ter innovation and prosperity again. The nized from a financial perspective, in- argument continues that growth is sput- vestments in fundamental research could tering because the current investments in not be justified. Fundamental research basic research do not rival those that were had not continued to lead to significant made by prior generations. Hence, the returns in an acceptable time frame, and pace of innovation will slow even more in the returns were episodic. With the loss the US and with it the rate of economic of these corporate laboratories, the nation growth will diminish further. Some econ- lost a source of seed corn for a continuous omists contend that we are reaching a new crop of technologies. It was the new point in the US where there are real limits technologies based on science done in to further future growth that will lead to these labs that had led to so much eco- economic stasis or secular stagnation. nomic growth and prosperity. Without Finally, in 2008 a new administration the steady flow of new science to lead to took office in the midst of a financial cri- new technology, what would be the effect sis that was nearly as bad as that which on the economy? To whom would the re- ensued after the stock market crash of sponsibility for doing fundamental re- 1929. Their goals and objectives also af- search be transferred? fected land grant universities. The Another factor affecting land grant Obama administration set out on a course universities and their thought leaders of neo-Keynesian stimulation of the econ- were analyses from think tanks and other omy with extra governmental (deficit) academic observers. Many began to note

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spending. This spending went to corpo- John Holdren is the Assistant to the rate enterprises critically in need of sup- President for Science and Technology port (General Motors), into new technol- and Director of the White House Office of ogy firms that were also aligned with the Science and Technology Policy. In June administration’s agenda to move toward 2010 he said, “It is essential to document sustainable energy (Solyndra) and into with solid evidence the returns our Na- academic research aimed at spurring in- tion is obtaining from its investment in novation. Through the America Re- research and development. STAR MET- sponse and Recovery Act (ARRA), the RICS is an important element of doing Federal Governmentiii invested over $830 just that.” At the same time Francis Col- billion in the economy beginning in 2009. lins, Director of the NIH said this: “STAR Spending included “shovel ready” infra- METRICS will yield a rigorous, transpar- structure projects, education programs, ent review of how our science invest- tax incentives, and new energy initia- ments are performing. In the short term, tives. Funding of about $ 7.6 billion was we’ll know the impact on jobs. In the long allocated for scientific research with the term, we’ll be able to measure patents, greatest portion of that spending (~$6 bil- publications, citations, and business lion) going to NSF, DOE and NASA. start-ups.” The President, Dr. Holdren, With this federal largesse for aca- Dr. Collins and others in the federal gov- demic research came some harsh criti- ernment, made clear that research uni- cism that such spending would not stim- versities, including the land grant univer- ulate the economy, or at least that it sities, were to take on the challenge of would not do so in the near term. The ad- driving economic growth. They were to ministration responded by creating met- do fundamental research and convert its rics that would indicate that it had indeed outcomes into new products, processes, been economically stimulating in an ap- and innovation and in a transparent, de- propriate time frame. Thus, ARRA fund- monstrable way. ing for universities brought with it new Clearly, for all these reasons astute reporting requirements about metrics land grant universities began to pay even such as job growth per dollar of funding more attention to technology transfer as expended. Soon after this the NIH along it relates to economic development. The with the NSF and OSTP created STAR land grants are well suited for this be- METRICS - Science and Technology for cause of their historical role as socially re- America’s Reinvestment: Measuring the sponsible institutions that seek to im- Effect of Research on Innovation, Com- prove the well-being of citizens in their petitiveness and Science. STAR MET- states and the nation. Thought leaders RICS is a federal agency and research in- and top administrators in Washington, stitution collaboration aimed at creating a D.C. challenged research schools to be repository of data and tools that would more relevant and active in economic de- be useful to assess the impact of federal velopment. They tied demonstrated suc- R&D investments.iv cess in technology transfer and economic development to potential for continued

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success in bringing federal support for re- will benefit our state and region as we search to these campuses. Whereas, in meet these new federal expectations. previous times, the linkage between fed- There is harmony between achieving suc- eral investments in basic scientific re- cess at the federal level with sustained research and their economic impact was left search funding and success at the state mostly unstated and implicit, almost and regional level in terms of economic taken on faith, now it was to be explicitly growth. demonstrated. The new metrics would go If we accept the idea that land grant considerably beyond the usual academic universities, such as the University of measures that universities had tracked Missouri, are to be engines of innovation for decades. Hence, adaptation to this and economic lift, then we have to con- new paradigm was essential. As a result, sider how best to do this. In the past, es- many land grant universities assimilated pecially in the early to mid-20th century, this new thinking, and many of these in- outcomes of research in agricultural sci- stitutions added economic development ence and engineering were “translated” as the fourth pillar upon which their mis- to the agricultural community through sions rested. To its credit, the University the agricultural extension. At the same of Missouri had added the fourth pillar of time, the agricultural community “trans- economic development to its mission in lated” their needs and experiences back 2004. to the university also through the conduit Part 2. A Plan of Action at the Uni- of the extension. The key to the success of versity of Missouri land grants universities in agriculture At the University of Missouri, the re- was this involvement of the community search strategy is to become an even in informing our research. Knowledge larger and more powerful engine of inno- gained from agricultural research and vation and economic impact in the Mid- field-testing was brought to the class- west than before. With total research ex- room as the most up-to-date curricula for penditures well over $270 million per students of agricultural science and engi- year, our research engine’s displacement neering. When it worked well, the inte- is significant, but we expect and need this gration of research, outreach and teach- displacement to grow. Our goal is to being created an upward spiral of progress. come the very best among midwestern Today, in the 21st century, we need to land grant institutions at the conversion do something quite similar. As we ap- of the products of research and scholar- proach the problem of spurring economic ship into innovations that will make life growth, we need to bring together re- better. By growing new businesses, by search, teaching and outreach once again. supporting and improving existing busi- To be successful, we need the "commu- nesses and by growing jobs, we can play nity” to be our partners in the endeavor. a significant role in raising prosperity. Today, the “community” is those en- The leadership of the federal agencies gaged day-in and day-out in the real that provide our funding expect nothing economy, which is to say business peo- less of us. The achievement of this goal ple. From the smallest new company led

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by an entrepreneur to the largest corpo- universities have cooperated at the mar- ration faced with daunting global compe- gins but they have mostly competed for tition, we need to become partners for research funds and revenue streams. As growth. Extending the metaphor of the state appropriations have decreased, and land grant university as an engine of in- student mobility has increased, these innovation, then it is through the business stitutions increasingly compete for stu- community that its power is transmitted dents from around the nation and over- to the wheels and provides traction in the seas. Competition is often very good in real economy. The challenge of seeking to that it drives toward higher efficiency drive economic growth is too multifac- and leads to better outcomes, but only up eted for universities to attempt to take it to a point. Today, in the University of on alone. Without broadly based partner- Missouri System, it is to MU’s advantage ships with established businesses and en- to seek ways to leverage all investments. trepreneurs, we will not be successful. In One important way to do so is by cooper- an earlier era of our history, we would ating with the other campuses at Kansas not have been successful in advancing ag- City, Rolla and St. Louis. As we seek to ricultural progress without a partnership drive economic lift through better part- between our agricultural research and nerships with the community, having ac- the agricultural practitioner in the field. cess to and partners in the two largest ur- This kind of a deeper partnership be- ban areas of the state is invaluable. Capi- tween the university and community we talizing on the engineering strengths at have dubbed "communivation" as short- Missouri S&T in Rolla, provides even hand for community-university partner- more potential success. As partners, we ships for innovation. can do much more for the benefit of the Next, to organize our thinking and state than we can as mere competitors. In our action at the University of Missouri, the same way, wherever and whenever we have developed a strategy consisting possible, we seek to cooperate with all the of five themes that will allow us to public universities around the state of achieve our goals. These are as follows: Missouri. 1. Cooperate and collaborate rather than Cooperation within the University of compete. Missouri System and the state of Mis- 2. Grow our own entrepreneurs and inno- souri is better than mere competition. It vators. also seems logical to seek greater cooper- 3. Be smart with intellectual property. ation among the top public research uni- 4. Unleash the power of the willing. versities in the Great Plains region. As 5. Don’t be jealous; shamelessly borrow the one example, consider the expenditures best ideas of others. that must be made today to provide the Each of these is essential to the over- kinds of tools that are required to do na- all strategy and they are explained as fol- noscale science. Given the high cost of in- lows. struments, it makes sense to cooperate in 1. Cooperate and collaborate rather seeking funding for such tools and to than compete. For decades, land grant

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avoid duplication if sharing can be effec- because it moved the possession of the in- tive. Leveraging capital to the greatest ex- tellectual property from the federal tent possible is paramount today, and it agency that funded the research, to the will be going forward in time. From this university. Ownership created a financial perspective cooperation and collabora- incentive for the university to drive the tion are more necessary than optional. invention to the marketplace, something 2. Grow our own entrepreneurs and the federal agencies had not done. The innovators. Missouri and the Midwest Bayh-Dole act, however, was never are wonderful places, but seeking to at- meant to chill the funding of research at tract entrepreneurs to our regions and universities by industry. In fact, one may away from Boston, Austin and Palo Alto surmise the authors of this legislation is not a winning strategy. On the other would have wanted the opposite to hap- hand, many of our graduates would ra- pen. Nonetheless, it is the case that for the ther stay in their home state and region, better part of the last 30 years, most uni- but opportunities for them to do so may versities have had a rigid position on the be limited. Hence, there is a real drain of disposition of intellectual property de- talent from the Midwest toward the east rived from industry-funded research. and west coasts. If we can begin to foster They often cite their interpretation of the entrepreneurship among our students, Bayh-Dole act as the basis for that rigid- then we can begin to grow our own en- ity. That rigid stance is one of absolute trepreneurial communities up from the ownership of all inventions, even if the grassroots. To do this, we must put resource of the funding was from a private sources into new programs that foster en- company. Universities also found it nec- trepreneurial learning and that make it essary to point out during the negotiation attractive for our graduates to stay with of a research contract that the cost of a li- us and to build these communities. If we cense on intellectual property that might can begin to retain entrepreneurial grad- emerge ultimately would be set by the uates in our college towns, then we can university. The university also asserted over time begin to overcome the "man- the right to license that intellectual prop- agement" gap and attract investment cap- erty to a competitor if an agreement could ital to our regions. To do this successfully, not be reached with the original sponsor we must partner with our communities to of the research. In some other cases, a bit create the entrepreneurial ecosystems more liberal position on licensing was that nurture and support the growth of taken. Often in industry-funded aca- seasoned entrepreneurs. demic centers and consortia, all sponsors 3. Be smart with intellectual prop- might be offered a royalty-free, non-ex- erty. Since the passage of the Bayh-Dole clusive license. It is the case that when act, universities have been granted the asked, industrial research leaders will ownership of intellectual property that identify the argument over the disposi- stems from federally supported research. tion of the intellectual property as the The act was a brilliant piece of legislation, number one problem they face in work-

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ing more closely with academia. There- closely with practitioners on particular fore, the hardline approach that we have problems, faculty researchers can iden- taken on intellectual property when tify new and important problems of a working with industrial sponsors has di- more general kind to work on that are minished the number of collaborations fundamental in their nature. For indus- that might have been. trial specialists, collaboration with schol- It is impossible to determine accu- ars also reaps benefits. Academics are of- rately the amount of research not done be- ten at the leading edge of research in tween academia and industry in the terms of theory, simulations and experi- United States over the last three decades mental methods. Thus industrial profes- because of this stance. With a more sup- sionals, who collaborate with academics, ple approach perhaps as much as three to can bring cutting edge approaches to bear four times more research could have been on difficult problems encountered in done over this time. Also, we cannot esti- practice. This can lead to breakthroughs mate accurately the value of the lost inno- and to more innovation. vation that could have occurred had in- Another benefit of collaboration of dustry and academia been working more this kind is that it brings seasoned profes- closely together. One wonders why in sionals together with students, which other regions of the world, most espe- leads to sharing of experience. Coaching cially in Europe and more recently in may take place that otherwise would not Asia, cooperation and collaboration be- happen, and that mentoring can acceler- tween industry and publically funded ate the effective performance of young universities is both active and produc- professionals when they enter the work- tive. One thinks of such schools as Eind- force. When it comes to entrepreneurs in hoven University and Delft University startup companies, all the same benefits collaborating with Phillips and Royal and more accrue from them when they Dutch Shell, or the Royal Institution in collaborate with academics. In fact, these Copenhagen and Chalmers collaborating collaborations are central to the growth of with Volvo as examples of healthy uni- many technology-based entrepreneurial versity-industry partnerships. enterprises. Aside from driving innovation, fos- For all these reasons, we as universi- tering collaboration between industrial ties are in the controlling position and we practitioners and professors provides in- must reevaluate our stance on how we valuable benefits to both. For the profes- handle intellectual property. If we are to sors, many of whom may never have stimulate innovation and to have a real practiced their disciplines, these collabo- impact on economic growth, then land rations are valuable because they give grant universities that receive state and them a chance to grapple with practical federal funding should reconsider how problems. The benefit is that they can they manage the formation and disposi- bring this experience with them into the tion of intellectual property. Whether we classroom, thus informing their teaching. accelerate innovation and job growth At the same time, by working more within established companies or in new,

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startup companies through collaboration, Lastly, we must also keep in mind we must do both since we have a broader that whether an invention is disclosed to social responsibility to help spur sustain- us or not, is ultimately a decision that able growth. Public research universities rests with the principal investigator. The have a social responsibility to improve researcher may share the results publi- economic conditions for the benefit of the cally as an article in a journal rather than citizenry. disclose them as an invention. There is no A more nuanced stance can be taken university that would or should take ac- to the disposition of intellectual property. tion against such a decision maker. In in- The more nuanced stance is in effect a dustrial laboratories research manage- new approach to intellectual property ment closely monitors results and pro- management.v In the first place, when it gress. Disclosure to the public without comes to industry-funded research, uni- permission would have dire conse- versities need not insist on owning intel- quences. By contrast at the university, ad- lectual property that may result from the ministrators have little or no knowledge research. In coming to this conclusion, of that which is coming to fruition in a consider the following points. Most re- given faculty member's laboratory at any search projects do not lead to invention given time. Unless that faculty member disclosures, patents, licenses and revenue divulges it to us, we do not know about streams. Furthermore, even fewer indus- it. Universities give faculty members tre- try-funded projects do so. Thus, when a mendous latitude in making these deci- university negotiates for ownership of in- sions on their own, as is appropriate. tellectual property that may result from a Therefore, at the University of Mis- research project, it is negotiating for souri, we created a process whereby the something that does not yet exist and that decision to negotiate or not for the reten- probably will not come into existence. tion of intellectual property is deeply in- This hardline stance over something formed by the faculty member before the that may not come to pass, (and usually negotiation begins. If the faculty member does not) can result in the project never contends that there will not likely be in- being undertaken. If, on the other hand, tellectual property developed in the the contract negotiation does succeed, the course of the research, then we do not ne- project is undertaken, and actual funds gotiate for the sole rights to the intellec- will flow to that principal investigator. tual property. Alternatively, if the faculty Even more, a successful research project member does want us to retain the intel- creates a relationship between the faculty lectual property that may issue from the member and a sponsor that can be ongo- research, we negotiate for those rights. If ing and beneficial for both. From many the faculty member is not sure how they such relationships can begin a partner- want to proceed, which is sometimes the ship between the university and the cor- case, the new process catalyzes a deeper poration that can pay much higher divi- analysis with the technology manage- dends than can imagined, but not real in- ment office. This analysis can lead to tellectual property. much better strategies for handling that

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faculty member’s research and their intel- strengths and into which we will invest lectual property. The early inclusion of our limited funds. But we will remain faculty in the decision-making process is open to and alert to the possibility of new a critical part of being “smarter” about in- products, processes and technologies tellectual property. stemming from any discipline or interdis- At the same time, we need to be even ciplinary research center on our campus. better about how we handle invention When a disclosure is made that will disclosures that we will not likely ever not lead to a filing by the university, it is convert to a patent. Whereas some pri- important to waive the rights to that vate and some public universities have property back to the faculty member to enough revenue to file a patent applica- pursue privately. Again this is a part of tion on almost any and all invention dis- smart practices around intellectual prop- closures, most public land grant universi- erty management. The university can ties do not. Therefore, to be “smart with stand on its rights and not immediately intellectual property,” most schools will move on a disclosure, but it should do need to create a transparent rubric for this only under extraordinary circum- making decisions on which disclosures stances. For instance, if there is reason to that they will fund filings. The rubric suspect that the results upon which the should layout the areas of science and disclosure is based are not valid, or if the technology of highest interest to the uni- results appear to have been purloined. versity, and these areas should be tied Another reason could be that the person logically back to the school’s strategic making the disclosure is not in good strengths. Once established, this rubric standing with the institution. Under such must be shared widely on campus, so circumstances, a disclosure may be held that the faculty members know what is pending some other action. Otherwise, likely to lead to a filing and what is not. action should be take including waiving With limited resources and the ever-in- the disclosure back to the inventor makes creasing costs of patent filing and man- good sense. agement, creating a rubric is not only log- Finally, the ways that industry ical, it is expedient and necessary. brings capital to the university to drive Of course, at the same time, there new technology and innovation to the needs to be some flexibility in the use of market are in flux. In the past, large, well- the rubric so that something truly novel established companies would often li- outside of the areas of strategic strengths cense a technology directly from the uni- will not be squelched. Getting this de- versity, and then develop it within their tailed balancing act right is not and will laboratories and engineering organiza- not be easy, but it is a part of the art of tions. Today this route is being taken less managing an academic technology office frequently. Instead, large corporations in- with a limited budget. At the University creasingly prefer to purchase a pre-reve- of Missouri, not surprisingly, we view nue venture company that has developed plant and animal sciences, nuclear medi- the technology sufficiently to reduce the cine and new media as areas of strategic risk of making an investment too early. If

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this trend continues, then universities culture. We need to move from a culture will need to support this new pathway to that has been at best ambivalent to faculty the market by taking equity in new ven- starting new ventures to one that is more tures. Aligning capital from external in- supportive and that values such activi- vestors for such ventures will also be part ties. Many schools allow faculty to be of the university's role as it works closely more entrepreneurial today than in the with entrepreneurs to take the technol- past and others even support it with in- ogy to a more advanced stage that is cubators and accelerators on their cam- closer to market. puses. More than anything else, we as ad- 4. Unleash the power of the willing. ministrators need to speak plainly about Faculty in many disciplines must be entrepreneurship, what it is, why it is im- highly entrepreneurial by the very nature portant and how best faculty members of their appointments and the expecta- can pursue such activities. We need to in- tions that their institutions have of them. vest in educating faculty (graduate stu- To operate a well-funded and active re- dents, and post-doctoral fellows) on is- search group in the sciences, in medicine sues that relate to the new environment or engineering takes no small amount of in which research is being done. Most fac- entrepreneurship and is not all that dif- ulty members have not typically had the ferent from managing a small business. time to do so on their own. At the Univer- For the university researcher, the “cus- sity of Missouri, we will be educating our tomer” is the agency that provides the faculty, post-docs and graduate students funding. The point is that many of our with three introductory sessions on intel- faculty members have strong entrepre- lectual property, entrepreneurship and neurial skill sets and strengths that have industry funding. We call these meetings not been fully unleashed. the "Let's Talk Series". Each session will When it comes to creating an entre- run about two and a half hours but not preneurial entity, universities vary con- more. We will have experts from around siderably as to the way they handle the the campus and community give the par- activities of their faculty members so en- ticipants the “what, why, how, when and gaged. We need to rethink the messages where” about each of these topics. If par- we send with our policies and their im- ticipants want to learn even more, they plementation regarding work on technol- are then provided maps to guide them to ogy transfer and entrepreneurship. It is further resources. In the case of entrepre- the case that at most public land grant neurship, follow-on courses and boot universities, our views about faculty en- camps will be offered for those who want trepreneurship have evolved over the last to delve in and try this. At the end of the decade. There is little doubt that they will "Let's talk series," faculty members will continue to evolve over time, but in the know we are changing our school's cul- meantime there are some basic practices ture, why we are changing it and how to follow. they can better align with it, if they Perhaps the most important change choose to do so. we need to embrace is a change in our

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5. Don’t be jealous of others and bor- developed other schools, to see if the idea row their best ideas shamelessly. The will work at their university. idea of shifting a University’s culture to At the University of Missouri, we one that is more open for innovation, have borrowed approaches to managing more collaborative than competitive and intellectual property related to industrial more embracing of entrepreneurship can contracts developed at Penn State and the be daunting. It seems to be such a signifi- University of Minnesota, and have cant departure from the past. One can im- adapted these for our use. We also will be agine that in the minds of many academic engaged with the MIT Venture Mentor- leaders, the risk of making changes of this ing System, in order to align the entrepre- kind may seem considerable. However, neurial assets that we have among our the risks are more apparent than real, alumni and within our community. Simi- more imagined than actual. Furthermore, larly, when we see other good ideas at the old business model for the public other institutions around the country or land grant university has run its course. the world, then we will borrow them There is no alternative to change, and we shamelessly. must find new business models. Change Conclusions. The land grant univer- is all a part of that creative disruption sities have survived and thrived for 150 process. years. Our mission in the 21st century re- Bringing about change at most land mains consonant with our past. At this grant universities will not be as intimi- point in our history and that of our na- dating as it may seem. The reason is that tion, we are asked to do even more than many schools have been making changes before; we are expected to drive innova- to how they operate and have been exper- tion to help the country achieve renewed imenting with new approaches for some prosperity through sustainable economic time. Experiments that create new dy- growth. To do this, is to be an “engine of namics in support of the university's innovation.” To succeed at this, we need fourfold mission are underway at pro- to bring our institutions closer to the real gressive schools such as Arizona State, economy and to the business community. the California System, Penn State, Minne- We need to do so locally, regionally, na- sota and now the University of Missouri. tionally and internationally. We cannot Learning from these experiments is one proceed with the same approaches that way for other schools to reduce their risk we have taken in the past. Instead, we as they also seek to make changes to their need to test new approaches that will set cultures and modes of operation. As the course for the land grant university schools do experiments, take some risks for the rest of the 21st century. The new and learn, there should be more sharing course will integrate the strengths of our of outcomes, amongst universities, espe- past with entrepreneurship to bring forth cially among the public, land grant uni- more innovation from our research and versities. For sharing to happen, univer- scholarship than ever before. sity leaders need to be more willing to di- Endnotes vulge information, and to embrace ideas

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i. In 1955, just six decades ago, the United Exxon Mobil, Google, Microsoft, and States had an economy based on manu- Berkshire Hathaway. facturing. The top five employers were ii. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Labs General Motors, US Steel, General Elec- iii. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ameri- tric, Chrysler and Standard Oil. Today, can_Recovery_and_Reinvest- the top five employers are quite differ- ment_Act_of_2009 ent – they are Walmart, Yum! Brands, iv. https://www.starmetrics.nih.gov/ McDonalds, IBM and the United Parcel v. Foley, H. C. (2012). A New Approach to Service, now known simply as UPS. Our Intellectual Property Management and economy has shifted away from manu- Industrially-Funded Research at Penn facturing. We can see how profound this State,” Research and Technology Man- shift is when we consider that the top agement. Research and Technology five companies in the US based on their Management, 55, 12-17. market capitalization are Apple Inc.,

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Top Secrets to Growing University Research in Uncertain Times

Prem Paul, Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development, University of Nebraska Monica Norby, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research, University of Nebraska Nathan Meier, Director of Research Strategy, University of Nebraska

t is no secret that the budgetary environment for academic research funding has been more challenging than ever during the last six years. Flat federal funding for I academic science and engineering research, increased competition and lower success rates for grants, heightened rivalry for top faculty talent and a larger burden of costs for research compliance make these uncertain times for university research. De- spite these challenges, it is more important than ever that universities continue to grow their research enterprise. Universities perform much of the been increases in funding, and the num- basic research essential to the nation’s bers can be sliced and diced different long-term competitiveness, contributing ways, the main story is that federal obli- to technology development and stimulat- gations for science and engineering to ing economic growth at the local, state universities and colleges have essentially and national levels. Unfortunately, recov- been flat, even prior to the 2008 recession. ery from the recession of 2008 has been Since the recession, sequestration has hit slow, debt levels are high and the na- funding hard at some key funding agen- tional budget deficit is huge, leading to cies, especially the National Institutes of an increased focus on cutting federal dis- Health, where sequestration in FY2013 cretionary spending – the source of more lowered appropriations by more than 5 than half of academic research funding. percent or $1.55 billion below the previ- Funding for Academic Research ous fiscal year 3. The federal government has been the Federal expenditures for science and primary source of funding for academic engineering academic R&D increased 4.5 research and development for more than percent from 2009 to 2012 compared to - 50 years1. In FY2008, the federal govern- 0.6 percent from 2005 to 2008. But the ment provided approximately 60 percent higher growth rates in the later years of an estimated $51.9 billion of research largely reflect American Recovery and and development funds expended by ac- Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) ex- ademic institutions2. While there have penditures. The 11.0 percent decrease in

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current dollars from FY2010 federal obli- institutional funds – self-funding – from gations ($35.3 billion to 1,219 academic universities and colleges comprised the institutions) reflects the absence of ARRA second-largest source of funding for aca- stimulus funds in FY2011. The last ARRA demic S&E R&D, more than 19 percent of funds were obligated in FY2010 and ac- the total, a number that has been fairly counted for 14.5 percent of FY 2010 S&E steady since 1990. This institutionally fi- obligations to academic institutions. Uni- nanced R&D also includes unrecovered versities reported $4.2 billion in expendi- indirect costs and committed cost shar- tures funded by ARRA in FY 2011 and an ing4. additional $2.4 billion in ARRA expendi- Public universities, which rely on tures in FY2012. The loss of ARRA funds state funding, have seen this source re- has created a negative “cliff effect,” with duced as state economies struggle and most academic institutions seeing their non-discretionary budget spending federal funding decrease during the last grows. From 1992 to 2010, state appropri- two years. ations as a percentage of public research The NIH is by far the largest funder universities’ total revenue fell by 15 per- of academic research, providing about 56 centage points, from 38 percent in 1992 to percent of total federal academic S&E 23 percent in 2010. At the same time, stu- R&D expenditures in FY 2012. The Na- dent enrollment from 2002 to 2010 in- tional Science Foundation and Depart- creased 13 percent, and state spending ment of Defense are the next largest, each per student failed to keep up. The result: providing between 12 and 13 percent of state funding per enrolled student the total funding. The Department of En- dropped 20 percent during this time and ergy, National Aeronautics and Space hit a 25-year low in 20116. Administration and U.S. Department of Together, these numbers add up to Agriculture provided smaller shares of uncertain times for academic research between 3 and 5 percent of the total in FY funding that have wide-ranging effects 20124. on our institutions’ research faculty and Institutional and State Funds. Other the nation’s research enterprise. sources of research funding also have Greater Competition for Fewer Dol- been flat or faced reductions. In FY2012, lars. Research is a growing part of the

Federal Academic S&E Obligations 2007-2011. Source: NSF Statistics, NSF 14-309, "Federal Science and Engineering Obligations to Universities and Colleges Drop by 11 percent in FY2011," Michael Yamaner. Total Federal obligations for S&E US-wide in FY2011 was $128 billion.

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mission of universities, including those award total has been reduced – as has who may not have emphasized it in the been the level of faculty summer salary past. Strong research programs are key to covered by NSF awards. a university’s reputation and attract tal- The average number of months of ented faculty, students and donors. As salary support for individual Principal universities push faculty to grow their re- Investigators continued its 10-year de- search programs, more and more re- cline and is now just over 0.8 months, searchers are applying for the flat, or down from 1.5 months in 2004. Addition- sometimes reduced, pool of funds. Com- ally, during the last two years, the num- petition for research funds has never ber of requests for proposals has de- been more intense, and funding rates are clined, and some of the NSF programs dropping. have reduced the number of submissions The success rate for NIH R01 grants, from twice to once annually. the bread and butter of biomedical research, NSF Proposal Success Rates has dropped from 32 percent in 2001 to 17 percent in 2013 – an historic low. Nearly all NIH funding metrics, from the number of new awards, average size of awards and total amount of funding for research grants, declined in 2013 due to the 5 percent decline in appropriations due to sequestration 3. At NSF, the success rate for competitively reviewed proposals in 2013 was 22 percent, the lowest rate since 2001. The funding rate varies by NSF Directorate, from a low of 18 percent in Education and Hu- man Resources to a high of 26 percent in Geosci- ences6. The average

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These trends can have profound ef- Successful Approaches for Build- fects on a researcher’s career. A scientist ing University Research may not receive her first NIH R01 grant We have had good success in grow- until age 40 or older, following several ing our research enterprise at the Univer- submissions and rejections. Researchers sity of Nebraska-Lincoln during the last spend more and more time developing decade. In a recent 10-year span, UNL and submitting grants, with less chance ranked seventh among all major U.S. re- of success. Thus, the demand for faculty search universities in the percentage who are well-funded or have shown the growth in total NSF R&D federal research potential to bring in funding is increas- expenditures. We have used multiple ap- ingly intense. proaches to achieve this growth, aiming Greater Competition for Talent. The for quick success in key areas and build- quality of any research program depends ing for the longer term in other areas. In- on its faculty talent, and the competition vestments have to be made in many ar- for both talented faculty and students is eas, ranging from faculty talent and cen- intense. Institutions understand the value ters of excellence, to infrastructure and of proven, talented faculty who are vi- partnership building. Data is invaluable sionary and have track records of estab- in this kind of strategy, and one of our lishing competitive, externally-funded first investments was the development of research programs. These faculty can in- NUgrant, an in-house research admin- stantly enhance the research competitive- istration system used to manage all as- ness and stature of an institution and can pects of research activity. also provide leadership in successfully What the UNL data tell us. At UNL, competing for large grants. There also is a small number of faculty earn the vast increased demand for entrepreneurial majority of the institution’s research faculty who can translate research into funding. During the last four years, 5 per- technologies and solutions through part- cent of faculty brought in more than 50 nership with clinicians, industry and percent of UNL’s federal research fund- start-up companies. ing. Twenty-five percent of faculty Recruitment and retention of faculty brought in 90 percent of the funding. has become a top priority at most institu- The majority of our funding come in tions, and this is driving increases in sal- larger grants: 16 percent of research aries and especially in start-up packages. grants are for more than $1 million, but Recruits are demanding larger packages they account for more than 50 percent of as they recognize the competition among our research funding. A majority of our recruiting institutions and their own top-funded faculty are affiliated with power to negotiate. In the life sciences, centers or major initiatives, but the larg- physical sciences and engineering, start- est percentage of our faculty have single up packages can total more than $1 mil- grants rather than multiple or collabora- lion for faculty in high-demand areas. tive projects. This trend is not sustainable.

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Single investigator-initiated grants All of these, and many of our other large vs interdisciplinary centers or program projects, include partners from other in- projects. The relative merits of funding stitutions. These multi-institutional col- agency support for individual investiga- laborations are critical to our ability to tor-initiated grants versus larger team win large awards. science grants has been the subject of ex- Like the federal agencies, we have to tensive discussion in the scientific com- balance our investments in single investi- munity. The argument for investigator- gator and inter-disciplinary centers and initiated grants such as the NIH R01 is large teams. We have to invest in the fu- that these make up the strong investiga- ture by hiring top junior faculty, nurtur- tor-inspired, fundamental research base ing their careers and building their lead- that produces innovative ideas and major ership skills. At the same time, we are in- discoveries. Larger, team-science based vesting in centers of excellence through approaches, it is argued, are required to targeted hires, fostering collaborations address major societal challenges and are with other institutions and the private best supported through center and pro- sector, and building infrastructure to gram project funding mechanisms. support research. Both approaches are needed, and the Faculty hires in Programs of Excel- federal agencies maintain a balance. In lence. A decade ago, we decided that the 2013, NIH invested $2.799 billion in 769 best way to grow our research enterprise research center grants and $14.9 billion was to invest in a small number of areas on 49,581 research project grants (R01, where we were already strong or where R15, R21). NSF invested $1.2 billion in we needed to be stronger to address re- single PI grants and $2.1 billion on multi- search challenges important to Nebraska ple investigator grants. and the nation. Our Programs of Excel- At UNL, our data show that half of lence funding and other funds enabled us our federal funding comes in grants of $1 to hire new faculty, both senior and jun- million and larger, and a significant ior, in these targeted areas. Multi-disci- amount comes through grants to interdis- plinary cluster hires enabled us to build ciplinary teams and center grants. Our strong teams in a short time. Areas in current large multi-disciplinary grants which we have invested central resources and centers include NIH Centers of Bio- include materials and nanoscience, medical Research Excellence in virology, atomic and molecular physics, virology, redox biology and obesity research; an early childhood education, water and NSF-funded Materials Research Science food security, computational sciences & Engineering Center in quantum and and digital humanities. spin phenomena in nanomagnetic struc- Developing faculty leadership. Key tures, a large NSF-funded project on the to building successful research programs Large Hadron Collider and a USDA Co- are visionary faculty who are also willing ordinated Agricultural Project aimed at to lead faculty teams and pursue collabo- detecting and preventing E. coli infection rative research. We support junior faculty throughout the beef production pipeline.

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leadership development through our Re- that multi-user equipment be placed in search Development Fellows Program, a department-wide or university-wide focused year-long experience of formal shared instrumentation facilities. During and informal learning sessions designed the last three years, we have built four to help early stage investigators concep- such shared instrumentation facilities. A tualize project plans, interact effectively few examples: with program officers, identify funding • The Volte-Keegan Nanoscience Research opportunities, plan and draft effective Center, which houses a shared in- grant proposals and develop an under- strumentation core facility to sup- standing of the proposal review process. port our faculty research in nanosci- We also provide a variety of targeted ence and materials science. The workshops for faculty, including those on building was partially funded successful proposal writing, faculty ca- through a competitive ARRA grant reer development award programs, interacting with specific agencies like the De- partment of Defense and strategies for integrating research and education to achieve broader societal impact. Research Competitiveness Support. In today’s tough budget environment, proposals have to be top quality with innovative ideas that are well presented. We created an office that provides support to faculty from idea generation to fa- from the National Institutes of cilitating team building and external re- Standards and Technology. The view of proposals prior to submission to 32,000-square-foot facility is funding agencies. This mechanism is equipped with clean room space and very much utilized and appreciated by equipment for making and charac- faculty, especially for large multi-investi- terizing nanomaterials provides cen- gator grants. Our faculty have benefited tralized research facilities for more from these services, which have in- than 80 physics, chemistry, engineer- creased their funding success. This focus ing and other faculty members. on enhanced grantsmanship also in- • The Extreme Light Laboratory is home cludes developmental assistance with to one of the nation’s leading pro- graphics and generation of grant programs in laser research and has cre- posal budgets. ated an extensive infrastructure, in- Shared Facilities. The traditional cluding the Diocles laser, one of the model for faculty hires provides start-up world’s most powerful compact la- packages to purchase equipment to be lo- sers, delivering up to 1 petawatt of cated in the faculty member’s laboratory. power. In 2014 a new specialized la- Often this equipment is not accessible to ser Archimedes, housed in a facility other faculty. Our approach is to require designed for multiple research

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teams added to our capabilities. The blood to guide training, and devel- multi-user facility was funded by oping technologies to reduce injury ARRA funds from NSF and the laser and improve performance. was funded through an Air Force Faculty engagement. Communica- Research Laboratory grant. The Ex- tion and engagement with faculty is ab- treme Light Laboratory is a truly col- solutely critical to research success at laborative effort, created through in- UNL. The UNL Research Advisory vestments from UNL, the state of Board, made up of top researchers from Nebraska, DoD and NSF. disciplines throughout the university • The Center for Brain, Biology and Be- was established in 2001. The RAB has havior features shared research areas provided crucial advice on the research that encourage faculty collaboration, agenda and in defining what is most im- state-of-the-art equipment and a portant to faculty success. An early sug- unique partnership between UNL gestion that has paid big dividends was research and athletics that deepens to build connections among faculty the university’s growing expertise in through interdisciplinary faculty retreats concussion research. Other Center in targeted thematic areas. The most re- research ranges from uncovering the cent retreat, held in May, 2014, involved biological underpinnings of political more than 275 faculty from across cam- leanings and the nature addiction to pus, featured nationally recognized exploring the heritability of social at- speakers and talks and “quick pitches” titudes and language development. by UNL faculty, panel discussions, net- It is one of the only labs in the world working activities and breakout sessions to simultaneously capture functional focused on thematic areas developed in magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), conjunction with the RAB members7. At record brain electrical activity and the conclusion of the retreat, a new seed track eye movement. The Center, grant program designed to facilitate com- which occupies half of a more than petitiveness for external funding was an- 50,000-square-foot addition to nounced. These retreats have proven es- UNL’s Memorial Stadium, is adja- sential to build faculty connections and cent to the Nebraska Athletics Per- stimulate the level of cross-disciplinary formance Lab, a collaborator on joint collaboration and innovative thinking health and performance initiatives. needed for long-term funding success. NAPL provides shared facilities for Conclusion investigating the impact of training In the current budgetary environ- interventions and nutrition on per- ment, research universities face a number formance and recovery, assessing of significant challenges related to the the biomechanical impact of perfor- pursuit and capture of external funding, mance on the athlete’s body, har- including the recruitment and retention nessing biomarkers in saliva and of top faculty talent. This concept paper highlights some of the strategies that

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have enabled UNL to mitigate these chal- National Science Foundation, “Universities lenges and maintain its research growth Report $55 Billion in Science and Engi- and progress. Data-driven decision mak- neering R&D Spending for FY2009: Rede- signed Survey to Launch in 2010,” Info- ing, emphasis on individual investigator Brief, NSF10-329, September 2010, p.1 and team-based projects (including http://nexus.od.nih.gov/all/2014/01/10/fy2013 multi-institutional and interdisciplinary -by-the-numbers/ efforts), targeted hiring and infrastruc- National Science Board. 2014. Science and ture investments, and focused research Engineering Indicators 2014. Arlington and faculty development resources rep- VA: National Science Foundation (NSB resent some of the strategies necessary to 14-01). maintain market share and facilitate aca- National Science Board. 2012. Diminishing demic R&D in the face of stagnant or di- Funding and Rising Expectations: Trends and Challenges for Public Research Uni- minishing extramural funding. Strategies versities, A Companion to Science and such as these represent but a few of the Engineering Indicators 2012, Arlington, secrets to success that may be adopted – VA: National Science Foundation (NSB- in whole or in part – by other institutions 12-45). seeking to enhance their research profiles Report to the National Science Board on in these uncertain times. NSF’S Merit Review Process, 2013. Ar- lington, VA: National Science Foundation References (NSB-14-32). National Science Board. 2012. Science and Office of Research and Economic Develop- Engineering Indicators (p. 5-7). Arlington, ment, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. VA: National Science Foundation) 2014. 2014 Interdisciplinary Faculty Re- treat. Retrieved from http://research.unl.edu/facultyretreat14/.

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A newcomer’s view of research administration in uncertain times

Sarah Nusser, Vice President for Research, Iowa State University

or many years, faculty have faced considerable uncertainty in their research funding environments as well as increased requirements in managing research. F In response, researchers have evolved their programs to take advantage of changing research priorities and funding availability, and have learned how to couple fundamental research with a good management plan, compliance and outreach activities, and an explicit focus on broader impacts. In many ways, the public university expe- move forward. First and foremost is the im- rience is not so different from that faced by portance of a diversified portfolio in man- researchers. State investment and federal aging volatility in funding opportunities. funding are at best volatile and more likely The second focus area is preparing our fac- to be shrinking; we are experiencing in- ulty to respond to opportunity as it arises. creased scrutiny of our administrative, ed- A third and trickier consideration is man- ucational and research practices; and the aging risk in the research and development role of research is also being reframed as process as funding sources, regulatory part of the broader creative and transla- guidelines, and commercial opportunities tional process of innovation. expand. Finally, serious strategic planning Like our faculty, we must evolve to and effective resource management are re- meet this challenge. When I joined the Of- quired to meet our goals. fice for the Vice President for Research, we This paper briefly reviews four exam- began evaluating the research environ- ples that illustrate how these themes are ment at Iowa State University from the per- shaping our thinking. spective that being responsive to change Range of focus in research develop- offers an opportunity to improve how we ment (increasing diversity and engaging operate. For example, the focus on account- opportunity) ability sets the stage for developing a re- We tend to invest heavily in the star research culture that actively commits to eth- searchers and research-intensive colleges, ical behavior. The push for embracing the departments, and programs where the re- full innovation chain enables us to more turn on investment is most significant. fully express our applied research and con- However, there are pockets throughout the sider a much broader set of research spon- rest of the university that have the capacity sors. to engage in higher levels of sponsored At this point in our thinking, we are funding. For example, some faculty and re- working with a few basic tenets to help us search groups are active in niche disci-

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plines that may not become a major univer- ment process is largely limited to con- sity priority, but for which funding is avail- tracted staff and consulting support from able and the competition for funds is not as VPR staff on larger proposals. To compli- intense as it is at NSF and NIH (e.g., federal cate matters, government, industry, and statistical agencies support statistical meth- nonprofit/foundation agreements enter the ods development for national surveys). sponsored programs system from three Some of these researchers may lack the distinct administrative units, which can be knowledge required to identify funding confusing to researchers and supporting sources and develop successful proposals, staff. as is often the case with new assistant pro- We are contemplating a mixed strategy fessors in research active domains. This to fill gaps that exist in campus grant sup- problem is readily addressed by existing port and reduce the burden in preparing faculty development programs, outlined in and administering sponsored funding. To C. Rajan’s paper in this volume. They may assist academic units with limited grant also face cultural barriers (e.g., negative support, we are creating a shared pre- and perceptions of seeking funding, particular post-award service that will be available to research area or funding sources not val- individuals, research groups, and academic ued by colleagues), which can be trickier to units. We are also developing a proposal address. support system that will serve researchers Supporting proposal development and who wish to submit moderate to large pro- award management (increasing diversity posals that require good planning and exe- and opportunity, reducing risk, improving cution and involve interactions with partner how we function) institutions. This will be supported with a Funding streams are becoming more combination of dedicated ISU and tempo- diverse and complex. Today, a large por- rary contract staff to address variation in de- tion of a grant proposal consists of admin- mand for services. istrative elements that document the capac- Anticipated benefits of this initiative in- ity of the university and research team and clude more efficient administrative pro- address compliance and regulatory mat- cesses in submitting grants and higher qual- ters. In addition, engaging with larger pro- ity proposals. We also hope this reduces the posals requires a massive coordination ef- barriers for capable faculty to submit pro- fort. posals for sponsored funding. This concept ISU has a distributed and heterogene- could be extended to include other services ous network of pre- and post-award sup- that represent challenges for funded report. Some colleges and centers have well- search, such as preparing position descrip- developed grant proposal and award staff tions to support hiring as soon as an award capabilities. In other parts of campus, avail- is made. able support varies in relation to an aca- Embracing the innovation chain (in- demic unit’s resource base, which may not creasing diversity and opportunity, reduc- be large if grant activity is historically low. ing risk, improving how we function) Central support for the proposal develop- The innovation paradigm links fundamental research to commercial opportunity

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and is well suited to the land-grant univer- campus researchers to address the emerg- sity mission. However, preparing our re- ing research needs of businesses. searchers to engage with the full processes Responsible research and conduct (re- is not without its challenges: we hire reducing risk, improving how we function) searchers for their creativity in knowledge In recent years, the burden, complexity, development, and they may not carry an in- and risk associated with research conduct terest in entrepreneurship or commerciali- and compliance have steadily increased. zation or wish to navigate the contrasting in- These forces demand a more coherent ap- terests of industry and academia. proach than we currently have. Fortunately, To address these issues, we are discuss- the ability to investigate and address non- ing how we evolve our culture and support compliance and misconduct works well at activities that foster commercialization of re- ISU. We are now discussing how to address search outcomes. This work is being con- campus culture more broadly to increase re- ducted in partnership with ISU’s Vice Pres- searchers’ understanding and commitment ident for Economic Development and Busi- to responsible research conduct. ness Engagement. Our main activities have Our main work thus far has focused on focused on two areas: (1) initiating pilot pro- understanding the landscape and its chal- grams to better understand what training is lenges. The dynamic, conflicting, and arcane needed in order for our faculty to be suc- regulatory environment makes it difficult cessful in translating their research to com- for researchers to understand and engage mercial applications, and (2) determining with this responsibility, particularly given what to prepare for as an institution in order their intense workload. Our office also faces to manage risk in the translation process. In issues in keeping abreast of new changes to our first pilot project, we are recruiting fac- regulations and evolving roles of faculty ulty who are interested in entrepreneurship (e.g., via start-ups). It can be especially com- and initiating a mentorship program with plex to balance the forces of keeping compli- local business leaders and angel investors. ance procedures simple and uniform and From this experiment, we hope to identify thus potentially too restrictive versus tailor- what kind of support is needed to more ef- ing the procedures to specific research set- ficiently spawn commercial products and tings and resolving the resulting confusion businesses from our research efforts. Our and workload associated with a more flexi- second project is designed to help us under- ble approach. As we migrate to new soft- stand appropriate roles for personnel with ware systems for compliance committees, dual commitments in conducting research we have an opportunity to evaluate our pro- and engaging with start-ups. We are work- cesses and see if we can reasonably address ing with a center that has spun off a handful these forces. of start-up companies to identify which Ultimately, we need to more actively roles arise and how we wish to separate the engage campus in a discussion of research academic and business functions to avoid ethics and increase our training opportuni- conflict of interest. Finally, we are discuss- ties for researchers. This work is still ahead ing structures needed to connect industry to of us.

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Anticipating New Directions in Human Subjects Research

Michele Kennett, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research, University of Missouri

uman subjects research, highly regulated and overseen through the Institu- tional Review Board, is still viewed by many as a barrier to research. The Hquestion is, how we can as institutions, move from being the barrier to research to aiding in creating a culture of compliance?

Challenges gotiations over items ultimately inconse- Today, research and academia face quential to the institution. Integrated sys- an ever-growing number of challenges. tems of contract review with timely The changing funding environment is at weigh-in need to be developed to cut the top of most lists. With decreased fed- down the turnaround time and move eral funding there is increased competi- contracts on in a timely fashion. tion for research dollars and increased Difficulty recruiting subjects poses look to industry to remain competitive. another challenge. Adequate feasibility Institutions face challenges in deal- analysis needs to be conducted to deter- ing with the increasing number and com- mine that the population is available to be plexity of regulations. These unfunded recruited. Investigators need to take into mandates provide both fiscal challenges account for the amount of work that is in- and challenges in implementation in an volved in recruiting subjects – “build it environment where investigators are al- and they will come” rarely works in the ready feeling the burdens. Even potential research enterprise. You need to create changes to the regulations, such as has relationships, revisit those relationships been suggested by the Advanced Notice and put a significant amount of elbow of Public Rulemaking (ANPRM) propos- grease into the recruitment and retention ing to revise the human subjects regula- of research subjects. In addition, if you do tions, creates an unknown which may not have a strong culture of research you benefit the research environment but have to educate the community you are might also bring increased burdens to the recruiting from. The community needs to institution as well as the investigator. understand the value and availability of Increased complexity of contracts research. creates challenges, extending timelines Inadequate research training, poor for study implementation in an already mentoring of new researchers, research competitive environment. Contracts may coordinators without appropriate skills have to go through countless sets of ne- to carry out a research protocols and lack of professional compliance staff, all cause 123

inefficiency in the research enterprise and and quantify the many activities that go leads to dissatisfaction and frustration. into human subject protections. Metrics How do we respond? allow us to calculate time from submis- We must be proactive not reactive, sion to approval and identify where de- balance accountability and risk manage- lays occur. We can determine the portfo- ment and understand the needs of the in- lio of studies by funding type, type of vestigator. We need to rethink the way subject, or regulatory status - giving a we do business. Many times we get stuck much better picture of what a human in the mindset that we have to do it this subjects protection program does. way because we have always done it this How do we help investigators? way. We have forgotten why or if there We need to help investigators under- ever was good justification for doing it stand what the rules are, when the rules that way. Times have changed, we need apply, whom they apply to, and what the to rethink and reanalyze our interpreta- consequences are. Investigators often do tions - are they still good, or do we need not have the toolbox that would allow ac- to adjust? Many in human subjects process to pertinent information directly re- tections are currently rethinking several lated to their research needs. A toolbox areas, one is the reliance on a single IRB would allow investigators to access infor- in multicenter trials. In some places this mation needed for IRB submission, forms has been off limits, either it was reviewed and templates, FDA regulations, and at the institution it was being conducted guidelines on how to navigate the human at or it was not done. Today, many are re- subjects research experience. There is thinking this position and facilitating generally no one-stop shop for regulatory multicenter research through a single compliance, but today with technology IRB. Another area being explored is the available to us, the ability to create a more option for equivalent protections in hu- centralized place for investigators and man subjects protections. Federal regula- compliance staff to interact is possible. tion dictates the regulations applied to Technology can allow submission of a federally funded research but flexibility protocol for IRB review, access to conflict is possible in non-federally funded re- of interest disclosures and reviews by bi- search, provided it provides equivalent osafety and radiation safety all within the protections. This may lead to a lessening same system. We need to make the most of the burden for some types of research effective and efficient use of time and ef- i.e. research in schools. Metrics are an- fort in order to meet the needs of both the other way to show the value of what we institution and the investigator. do in human research protections, today’s electronic systems allow us to track

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Building Research Capacity and Infrastructure

Chitra Rajan, Associate Vice President for Research, Iowa State University

he last seven to ten years have been very challenging for universities: we have seen a growing scarcity of resources for research due to decreases in federal T funding and reductions in state support. At the same time, research administrative costs have been increasing, as greater resources (including staff time) are required to handle the growth in compliance, accountability and reporting requirements. Greater investments are needed to maintain, let alone grow funding streams in these uncertain times and the administration of research has become more complex. Public support for higher education institutions is on the decline, and universities are expected to demonstrate their relevance in terms of their abilities to solve complex societal problems. During this time, Iowa State Univer- make critical investments, develop new sity (ISU) witnessed a period of rapid programs, and improve processes and growth in its external funding; during a overall efficiencies. Some of these efforts period of 5 years (2008 – 2011), sponsored are described below: funding increased from $274 million to 1. Institutional strategic investments $365 million (after peaking at $385 mil- were made in a few critical areas: lion during the ARRA funding years). bio-economy, vaccine development Prior to this period, from 2005-2008, and delivery, integrated health, sponsored funding had been decreasing and HPC. Criteria for identifying and so the university made some deliber- these strategic priorities included ate and calculated decisions that helped (i) the existing base or at least, not only reverse the downward trend but pockets of excellence, in the pro- increase the level of funding to unprece- posed area that included a critical dented levels. Although ISU’s approach mass of researchers with senior fac- was neither new nor unique, it is none- ulty leadership; (ii) the theme/area theless worth recounting some of these would address scientific/eco- strategies since it underlines the im- nomic/social challenges that re- portance of institutional investments in quired broad-based interdiscipli- research administration and infrastruc- nary approach; (iii) there were ture (broadly defined), without which, clearly defined focus areas within research capacity cannot be built and re- the themes where ISU was seen as search advancement cannot take place. capable of providing leadership Despite severe cuts in state funding and setting the research agenda over a 3 year period, ISU was able to and/or had collaborative networks 125

with other institutions that were rec- project management and compliance; ognized as world leaders in that area. reporting and closeout), thereby mak- 2. New faculty hires (cluster hires); ing it easy for faculty to develop, pre- these were inter-departmental and in- pare, and submit grant proposals by ter-college hires with the objective of reducing administrative or clerical developing interdisciplinary exper- work. The VPR Office and the Office tise. It was also meant to reinforce a for Sponsored Programs Administra- culture of collaboration by sending a tion also provided several training clear message that the university sup- and workshops for support staff in ports and values interdisciplinary re- departments and centers to upgrade search. Many of these cluster hires their skills in grant preparation and were at the entry level (assistant pro- post-award and project management. fessors) and very few at senior posi- 4. Develop the capacity and capability tions mainly due to financial reasons. to deal with the growth of compliance These junior hires were paired with requirements’ complexity and inten- senior faculty who are known for sity. The VPR Office has been helping their collaborative work in order to create a culture that promotes compli- provide them with the mentoring in ance, research integrity and ethical cross disciplinary work. conduct by incorporating awareness 3. A strong commitment to provide ex- at all levels. There has also been cellent research support services and greater efforts to help researchers and facilities that are needed to enable re- staff understand and deal with these search excellence and knowledge requirements and at the same time, transfer. These include sponsored develop efficient and proportionate program accounting and administra- processes to meet compliance and re- tion; responsible research and com- porting requirements so that they do pliance; core facilities and laborato- not become unduly burdensome for ries. The former and current VPRs researchers. held ‘listening sessions’ that helped 5. A broad plethora of professional de- us identify the impediments and chal- velopment programs for all research- lenges that researchers faced with re- ers – faculty, staff, postdocs and spect to any aspect of research admin- graduate students – are offered each istration and plans to address the is- year to help early career researchers sues/obstacles have been in progress. gain grantsmanship and research ad- Most notably, the VPR Office has ministration related skills. In addi- stepped up the resources available to tion, and in collaboration with the help faculty submit grant proposals Provost Office, new mentoring pro- and manage awards by offering com- grams were developed that were prehensive menu of research devel- based on a ‘distributed model’ that opment and support services chain involved department chairs and sen- (identify funding opportunities; pro- ior faculty. The goal was to allow fac- posal preparation and submission; ulty at every stage of their career, and

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in all disciplines, to flourish and de- portance of investments in develop- velop. The creation of a grants office ing new or ‘tuning up’ existing re- to assist arts and humanities faculty search programs cannot be over- obtain external funding is perhaps stated. The VPRED Office used to most noteworthy. This office helps have a modest budget for seed grants, identify funding opportunities for but it was lost during the budget cuts. specific projects, assists faculty mem- Using some limited amount of funds, bers with proposal development and a new and revised seed grant pro- submission, and trains them to be- gram was introduced that extended come eventually self-sufficient. The beyond the traditional planning VPR Office uses the limited submis- grants and/or pilot projects from yes- sion internal competition to provide teryears. The primary goal of these targeted support and maximize the new seed grants was to build new chances of success (example, internal cross-disciplinary research themes. peer reviews of grant proposals and Some of the colleges offered their manuscripts, assistance with pro- own ‘venture capital’ funding to posal coordination for large grants, build large inter-disciplinary teams. and sharing of best practices from After surviving three years of severe previous successful grant proposals). state budget cuts, the VPR Office be- 6. Although most cross-disciplinary in- gan to offer funds to meet other needs teraction occurs spontaneously, the such as (i) seed funding to gather pi- VPR Office proactively facilitated lot data for NIH grants, (ii) graduate team formation by providing the- student funding – especially to sup- matic contexts for cross-disciplinary port training grants – and required interaction based in large part on co-supervision from faculty in differ- emerging new opportunities. These ent colleges; (iii) build collaborations efforts helped develop multidiscipli- with industry partners (both contrib- nary communities that were well- ute for a pre-commercialization equipped to address problems de- phase); (iv) small grants for junior fac- manding diverse expertise. This was ulty teams -- junior faculty partner also a time when the President and with junior faculty in another disci- Provost Offices were willing to invest pline and have a senior faculty as their own resources to foster an envi- mentor; and (v) modest funds for in- ronment where openness to cross-dis- ter-disciplinary seminar programs, ciplinary interaction was recognized conferences and workshops. and rewarded through campus-wide 8. A deliberate strategy was adopted to discussions on tenure and promotion broaden our funding sources and tar- criteria. get specific programs within tradi- 7. In an effort to build interdisciplinary tional funding agencies that had been research capacity, a seed fund pro- beyond our reach until that point. In gram was re-introduced. The im- particular, the focus was on large center grants were targeted and ISU was

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awarded 7 large center grants during offices to develop contracts and this period. agreements in a timely manner. They 9. By partnering with other units, the would also help with the stewardship VPR Office helped expand ISU’s en- of the projects: correspondence, an- gagement with industry through an nual reports, site visits focused on integrated team approach, making it showcasing the work done and recog- easier for companies to work with nition/appreciation to promote the ISU as well as for researchers to com- collaborations. municate their expertise and interests 10. The VPR Office helped provide lead- to industry. At this time, there was ership in building strategic alliances strong institutional support from the regionally and nationally -- with top to these efforts, which demon- other universities, national laborato- strated a commitment of the univer- ries, and industry. With each partner, sity leadership to corporate relations. we identified prospects where ISU created an ‘industry relations strengths are complementary and team’ by bringing together profes- synergistic and where combined ef- sional staff who were distributed in fort offers exceptional potential. different offices across campus (in While many of these collaborations subsequent years, additional staff were driven by partnering needs for were added to this team). This team’s large center-based solicitations, oth- goal was to work with internal and ers were deliberately cultivated to de- external partners to build corporate velop broad-based engagement (as engagement (overcome barriers); with industry) or to enable sharing of provide one point of contact for the key infrastructure and equipment corporation, build awareness of uni- that made it easier for ISU to compete versity programs and strengths, iden- for equipment grants. tify each company’s strategic needs 11. Last, but not least, and especially now and match those needs with the uni- under the new VPR, there is a strong versity’s strengths and strategic pri- commitment that all support service orities, and generate new leads and units under the VPR Office will be prospects. Specifically, the industry well managed, service-oriented, and relations team was expected to gain responsive to faculty needs. Staffing knowledge about faculty strengths for many of the critical research sup- and research capabilities in specific port offices such as sponsored pro- areas that would be of interest to tar- grams administration and responsi- geted industries (example, aerospace, ble research has increased, making it biofuels, food, agro-based, pharma- easier for these units to keep up with ceuticals) and communicate those the growth in the volume and com- strengths to corporate partners. Once plexity of sponsored funding con- an area of mutual interest is estab- tracts. There are resources now for lished, the team was expected to close staff professional development and a the deal by working with appropriate

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cultural shift that emphasizes consul- growth in external funding from a range tative decision making, and continu- of sources across the breadth of the uni- ous self-assessment and improve- versity’s research activity. A few lessons ment. are noteworthy: (1) it is critical that re- CONCLUSION search universities develop a plan to di- The VPR Office played a proactive versify their funding portfolio to hedge role in anticipating emerging themes and against the vagaries of external funding; areas for new funding, in building capac- (2) make selective, strategic investments ity, and developing a research portfolio even in difficult times; (3) develop long- that capitalized on ISU’s position of lead- term sustainable plans for programs and ership in targeted areas. Even during pe- units; (4) although it may be politically riods of budget cuts, the university iden- unpopular to do so, discontinue support tified institutional resources that were for unproductive and under-used pro- flexible and deployable for capacity- grams and units; and (5) be willing to building in areas of emergent research ex- take some calculated risks. cellence. By building on existing strengths, and working across and between disciplines, ISU was able to see

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Clinical Research: New Frontiers

Richard J. Barohn, MD - Chair, Department of Neurology; Gertrude and Dewey Ziegler Professor of Neurology; University Distinguished Professor; Director, Frontiers: The Heartland Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, Vice Chancellor for Research; President, Research Institute: University of Kansas Medical Center Laura Herbelin, BSc - Research Instructor, Department of Neurology, University of Kansas Medical Center Lauren S. Aaronson, PhD, RN, -Professor, School of Nursing and Dept. of Health Policy & Management, School of Medicine; Deputy Director, Fron- tiers: The Heartland Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, University of Kansas Medical Center

linical research is undergoing significant changes due to both technological advances and new visions about clinical research by the NIH and PCORI, two C major funders of health related research. An often quoted statistic is that on average new discoveries have taken 17 years to make their way into common practice. All acknowledge this is far too long. Both NIH and PCORI recently have created and funded large programs aimed at doing clinical research better and more efficiently so that discoveries are brought to patient care and improve the health of the public more rapidly. In 2006 and 2007 we provided initial information about the status of the long standing General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) program supported by NIH for over 40 years and the then newly launched Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program designed to subsume and replace the GCRC program (Barohn, 2006; Barohn and Aaronson, 2007). In this report we provide an update on these and other programs that are aimed at improving clinical research as we know it. First, we briefly discuss the CTSA and the PCORI Clinical Data Research program funded by the National Center Network (CDRN) and identify several infor Advancing Translational Sciences dividual clinical research projects funded (NCATS) at NIH and describe the current by PCORI. KUMC was awarded one of 11 status of Frontiers: The Heartland Institute CDRNs earlier this year, one of the au- for Clinical and Translational Research, the thors of this paper (Barohn) is the princi- CTSA program headquartered at KUMC. pal investigator of a specific comparative Second, we discuss the NeuroNEXT pro- effectiveness clinical trial also funded by gram, a consortium program funded by PCORI earlier this year, and KUMC in- the National Institute of Neurological vestigators have been successful in ob- Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), NIH, and taining additional clinical research grants for which KUMC is one of 25 funded site from PCORI. participants. Third, we discuss PCORI 130

The Clinical and Translational Sci- (http://frontiersresearch.org). From its in- ence Award (CTSA) Program ception we were committed to advancing The CTSA program is a signature program aspirations of making the Kansas City of NIH (https://www.ctsacentral.org). With a area a major hub for life sciences re- budget of $475M annually it is the largest search. We reached out beyond KUMC single program funded by NIH. Initially and the University of Kansas Hospital to established under the former National the other local academic health centers Center for Research Resources, as identi- and their affiliated hospitals. Today, five fied above, it is now managed by the new academic institutions (KUMC, KU-Law- National Center for Advancing Transla- rence, KUMC-Wichita, UMKC, and

Table 1. The Frontiers network of academic and health-delivery institutions Academic partners Health system partners University of Kansas Medical Center - Kansas The University of Kansas Hospital, Kansas City, KS. City Wesley Medical Center, Wichita University of Kansas Medical Center - Wichita Via Christi Health, Wichita University of Kansas - Lawrence Veterans Administration Medical Center, Kansas City University of Missouri-Kansas City St. Luke's Health System, KS and MO Kansas City University of Medicine Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics KS and MO and Biosciences Truman Medical Center, Kansas City, MO. Swope Health Services, Kansas City, MO. Center for Behavioral Medicine, Kansas City, MO. Center for Practical Bioethics

tional Science (NCATS). KCUMB) and 10 health care institutions When first launched, the purpose of (see Table 1) comprise the Frontiers pro- the CTSA program was to establish a gram. Investigators from all of these sites transformative and integrated academic are eligible to apply for and use Frontiers home for clinical and translational sci- resources. ence. Each site was required to have a Among the successful programs un- number of key function areas or cores der the Frontiers umbrella is a pilot study and was allowed to propose unique funding program. It is increasingly com- novel methods programs drawing on petitive to obtain extra-mural funding for strengths of the applicant organization. research and having solid, supportive Funding formulas varied over the years data from a pilot study has become essen- since 2006 when the first CTSAs were tial for success with such funding. Since funded. Frontiers: The Heartland Institute our initial funding in 2011, we have had for Clinical and Translational Research was four annual rounds of Requests for Pro- funded in June 2011 for $20M over five posals. Across these four years, we re- years and became part of what is now a ceived 294 applications and funded 71 62 site national consortium. projects to investigators from Children’s Frontiers: The Heartland Institute Mercy Hospital, KU-Lawrence, KU- for Clinical and Translational Research. Wichita, UMKC, and St. Luke’s Health The Frontiers program, headquartered at System, in addition to investigators from KUMC, is a regional program KUMC. Pilot study funding for a project has varied from $20-30K for each project. 131

For the Frontiers pilot study pro- to an investigator who received Frontiers gram we have used reviewers from pilot study funding for preliminary work across all Frontiers sites and have invited and one large PCORI grant has been other units and programs that have pilot awarded to another Frontiers pilot study study funding to award to join our pro- recipient. These four funded projects cess for review and funding decisions. amount to over $3.2M in extra-mural re- Each year we have modified our process search funding. in response to past years’ experience. We In 2013 the Frontiers program now use an approach where the peer re- launched another program to provide a views of applications are taken to a fund- smaller amount of funding on a more ing council composed of representatives flexible basis than the annual call for the from the Frontiers sites and from other formal pilot study program. Dubbed the programs/units with pilot study funding Trail Blazer program, this opportunity al- to award. Combining the review and lows for obtaining that last bit of data funding decisions of several programs needed for a competitive extra-mural re- has enhanced efficiency, reduced redun- search grant application or for an oppor- dancy, and extended awareness and tunity to capitalize on an existing funded knowledge of the breadth of clinical and project and extend its work toward an ad- translational research across our institu- ditional area of inquiry. These applications. The investment in these pilot stud- tions may be submitted at any time and ies has been substantial. For the 71 pro- undergo an administrative review. While jects funded so far, $1.1M came from the applicants may ask for up to $5K, often CTSA grant and $685K was contributed less is requested or awarded. In its first 18 as ‘cost-shared’ funds from other pro- months, 45 applications were received for grams (the KUMC Research Institute, the Trail Blazer awards and 33 were funded K-INBRE program, an American Cancer for a total investment of just over $88K. Society grant program at KUMC, the All Trail Blazer recipients commit to sub- KUMC Diabetes Center and departments mitting an extra-mural grant application of internal medicine, neurology, and within 12 months. While it is still too physical therapy & rehabilitation sci- early to see return on our investment in ences, KU-Wichita, UMKC, and Chil- these Trail Blazer awards, two recipients dren’s Mercy Hospital.) used their Trail Blazer funding to extend While some of these pilot studies work on their active NIH R01 grants. were recently funded and are currently Another major component of all ongoing, we already have seen substan- CTSAs is education to train the next gen- tial return on the investment of pilot eration of the clinical and translational study funding. Two R01s have been workforce. To this end, the Frontiers pro- awarded by NIH to investigators for program established a Clinical and Transla- jects based on their pilot study work and tional Education Center (CTREC) to coor- one other pilot study recipient anticipates dinate and manage several specific train- receiving funding for an R01 this fall. In ing programs. The CTREC currently of- addition, one NIH R03 has been awarded

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fers a pre-doctoral clinical research train- KL2 Scholars in each of the two cohorts of ing program (TL1), a post-doctoral men- Scholars thus far. While the second co- tored clinical research scholar program hort only recently started their training, (KL2), and a post-doctoral fellows and two of the first six Scholars already have junior faculty Clinical Research Curricu- garnered independent funding for their lum Program. Trainees in each of these research—one was awarded an R01from programs may complete a formal Mas- the National Cancer Institute at NIH and ters in Clinical Research degree (MS-CR). the other received a Blue KC Health Out- The Clinical Research Curriculum Pro- comes Grant. gram primarily provides tuition assis- The Frontiers program also provides tance so that these post-doctoral fellows other resources to support investigators. and junior faculty may take classes re- While we are not describing all of these in quired for the MS-CR degree. Tuition this paper, it is worth noting that Fron- costs also are covered for the TL1 trainees tiers serves as a matchmaker for finding and the KL2 Scholars. colleagues or mentors and provides a fo- The TL1 program is a year-long pro- rum in which investigators may brain- gram that provides institutional support storm their research ideas or get specific to students in clinical doctoral programs feedback on developing grant applica- who are seeking a practical introduction tions. This has shown to be a very valued to clinical and translational research. Stu- resource. In the words of one investiga- dents selected for the TL1 program take tor, recently funded by NIH for an R01, this year out of their regular degree pro- and who did not receive any specific gram, thus extending their training by funding assistance from Frontiers but did one year. The Frontiers TL1 program has take advantage of our collegial assis- supported four students each year from tance: “I can’t sing the praises of the the KU Schools of Medicine and Phar- CTSA enough for the help it provided to macy, and from KCUMB. us.” The KL2 program offers institutional Network for Excellence in Neuro- support for mentored career develop- science Clinical Trials (NeuroNEXT) ment of investigators who have recently While the CTSA program is “disease completed professional training and are agnostic”, some of the categorical insti- beginning a career in translational and/or tutes at NIH have established national clinical research. It is generally a two- consortia specific to their institute’s focus year program that involves a 75% time areas. NeuroNEXT is one such consortium commitment with salary largely covered or network supported by the National In- by the Frontiers CTSA grant. Commit- stitute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke ments from the scholars’ home depart- (NINDS) (http://www.neuronext.org). It ments were obtained to cover up to 25% was created to expand the capability to salary so that each scholar would have conduct clinical studies in neuroscience. the requisite 75% dedicated time for their One of the authors of this paper (Barohn) research training and experience. This is the principal investigator of the Neu- cost-sharing allowed us to support six roNEXT program at KUMC and chairs a

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formal CTSA/NeuroNEXT committee to Through the NeuroNEXT program, promote synergy between these two pro- KUMC is currently involved with four grams. studies. These studies focus on four dis- The goals of NeuroNEXT are four- eases. The first involves looking at bi- fold. The first goal is to test promising omarkers in spinal muscular atrophy. therapeutics in Phase II clinical trials, us- The other three are intervention trials ining biomarkers when available, and to volving multiple sclerosis, myasthenia generate results that may support mov- gravis and stroke. ing forward with a larger Phase III trial The PCORI Clinical Data Research using a Go/No-Go decision process. The Network (CDRN) second goal is to accelerate drug develop- The Patient-Centered Outcomes Re- ment through an established clinical tri- search Institute (PCORI) was established als infrastructure. In addition to funding as part of the federal Affordable Care Act the 25 sites that comprise the NeuroN- and authorized by Congress to fund and EXT network, NINDS also funded a Clin- disseminate research on the best evidence ical Coordinating Center at Mass General available for patients and health care pro- Hospital and a Data Coordinating Center viders to make the best decisions about at the University of Iowa to provide this health care. It has a very substantial clinical trial infrastructure. Through budget and has become a major player in these entities, the NeuroNEXT network the clinical research arena. One large pro- has the flexibility to take advantage of op- gram launched by PCORI is the PCOR- portunities that emerge and to foster net. The PCORnet is composed of both a sharing of expertise in different diseases clinical data research network (CDRN) across the 25 network sites. and a patient powered research network. The third goal of the NeuroNEXT In this paper we address the CDRN pro- program is to decrease the cost of con- gram. ducting trials and the time between trial In January 2014, KUMC signed a design and trial completion. Two mecha- $7M contract with PCORI for the 18 nisms that support this goal are the use of month Phase 1 part of PCORnet as one of a central IRB and standard master trial 11 funded CDRNs (R Waitman, KUMC, agreements for all studies conducted PI). Called The Greater Plains Collaborative through the NeuroNEXT program at the (GPC), our CDRN involves seven states 25 sites in the network. The fourth goal is and 10 institutions (see Table 2) from to coordinate efforts between the public Minnesota to Texas—all of which are and private sector and test the best thera- home to the greater prairie chicken, our peutics coming from both academic and namesake and mascot. Nine of our 10 industry investigators. To this end, sites also are part of a local CTSA pro- NINDS leverages their existing relation- gram. While some other CDRNs are at in- ships with academic investigators, indus- stitutions with CTSAs, we believe the try investigators, and patient advocacy GPC has done the most to integrate and groups (Kearney, et al., 2014).

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create synergy between these two large sent in hospitals and health care prac- national programs. tices, there has been little quantitative ev- The overall goal of PCORnet is “to idence for determining the degree to improve the nation’s capacity to conduct which EHR data can be used to assess clinical research by creating a large, clinical effectiveness. Given the diversity highly representative national patient- of EHRs, there also are many challenges centered network that supports more ef- to establishing the interoperability and ficient clinical trials and observational common language standards needed to studies” (http://www.pcori.org). A key conduct research across institutions us-

Table 2.The Greater Plains Collaborative (GPC) is a network of 10 leading medical centers in seven states.

State Medical Center Kansas University of Kansas Medical Center Missouri Children’s Mercy Hospital Iowa University of Iowa Healthcare Wisconsin University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical College of Wisconsin Marshfield Clinic Minnesota University of Minnesota Academic Health Center Nebraska University of Nebraska Medical Center Texas University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

concern for PCORI is involvement of pa- ing different EHRs. Technical issues in- tients and other stakeholders in all phases volved in establishing the GPC and of clinical research involving people— working with our 10 sites are discussed from idea conception to study design and elsewhere (Waitman, et al., 2014). implementation, data analyses and inter- While it is too soon to have any spe- pretation, and dissemination and imple- cific outcomes from the GPC to discuss mentation of treatments shown to be here, we do want to identify that the GPC most efficacious. This is based in the will be working within the PCORnet on PCORI commitment to supporting re- three specific conditions. All applicants search “that will be useful to patients and for a CDRN were required to select one other clinical decision makers by ensur- common condition, one rare disease, and ing that their questions and concerns are to agree to work on obesity as an all- the focus of our work.” (Selby, et al, 2013). CDRN focus area. After consulting with The specific role of the CDRN pro- our community stake-holders through gram in PCORnet is to harness the rich our respective CTSA community engage- data currently residing in electronic ment core function areas, the GPC se- health records (EHRs). The GPC views lected breast cancer as our common con- the CDRN program as a test of the na- dition. For our rare disease we selected tion’s multi-billion dollar investment in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), com- EHRs. While EHRs are increasingly pre- monly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease,

135 because of the expertise we have in this more rapidly and more rigorously find an- specific rare disease. swers to the questions that matter most for Last, we introduce two independent achieving a healthier public. projects recently funded by PCORI to illustrate the types of research that PCORI sup- Acknowledgements: ports. Patient Assisted Intervention for We would like to acknowledge funding by a Neuropathy: Comparison of Treatment in Clinical and Translational Science Award from NCATS at NIH, UL1TR000001; a Clinical and Real Life Situations (PAIN-CONTRoLS – R Data Research Network award from PCORI as Barohn, PI) is comparing four different part of the PCORNet initiative, CDRN-1306- drugs used to treat neuropathic pain to see 04631; a NeuroNEXT award from NINDS at which is most effective. The other study, NIH, U10NS077356; and a comparative effec- Smoking Cessation Versus Long-Term tiveness research project award from PCORI, Nicotine Replacement among High-Risk CER-1306-02496. Smokers (E Ellerbeck, PI) is comparing two different methods for smoking cessation in References patients with chronic obstructive pulmo- Barohn RJ. Clinical Research Resources at the University of Kansas Medical Center: Gen- nary disease (COPD.) Both studies are on- eral Clinical Research Centers (GCRC) and going and both actively sought input and Clinical Translation Science Awards involvement of patients in designing the (CTSA). The Merrill Advanced Studies Center, studies—resulting in changes and addi- Report 2006; 110:51-60. tions that made the studies more relevant Barohn, RJ. and Aaronson, LS. The General to the patients affected by these conditions. Clinical Research Center (GCRC) and the These are just two examples of how this Heartland Institute for Clinical and Transla- new funding resource is allowing our in- tional Research (HICTR) at the University vestigators to conduct practical compara- of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC), in Fu- ture Directions for Federal Research Funding, tive effectiveness studies in our region and Merrill Series on the Research Mission of Public to do so in partnership with the people Universities, edited by Mabel Rice, Univer- whose health we hope to improve. sity of Kansas, 2007; 111:32-43. In sum, collectively, the CTSA pro- Kearney M, Ecklund D, Bosch M, Thornell B, gram, the institute-specific research net- McNeil D, Korshetz W, Kaufmann P, works like the NeuroNEXT program, and Coffey C, Cudkowicz M. Network for Ex- PCORI for both its ambitious PCORNet cellence in Neuroscience Clinical Trials. program and its general portfolio of sup- NeuroNEXT: Increasing Efficiency in Clini- ported health outcomes research are driv- cal Trial Management. Neurology April 8, 2014 vol 82, no. 10 Supplement P1.334 ing a new frontier in clinical research. Cen- Selby, J., Beal, A., Luce, B., and Yan, R.A strate- tral to this new frontier is collaboration gic path to realizing our vision. PCORI 2013 across disciplines and institutions, within Annual Report. and outside academia, with industry and Waitman L.R., Aaronson L.S, Nadkarni P.M, the public sector, including patients, advo- Connolly D.W, and Campbell J.R. The cates, and policy makers. The shared hope Greater Plains Collaborative: APCORNet is that through such collaboration we can Clinical Research Data Network. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2014; 21:637-641. PMID: 24778202 136 Can research inform us about the efficacy of University STEM education?

Joseph A. Heppert, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, University of Kansas

ccountability for Student Learning and Its Potential Effects on the Public Research University: Creating more effective models for science, mathemat- A ics, engineering and technology (STEM) education represents one of the per- ennial problem/opportunity scenarios for the future of U.S. public research universities. Trends since the 2007 recession show enrollment in STEM fields on the increase [1], which provides a ready-made response for universities engaged in discussions of their contributions to regional and national economic development. However, improving the retention of students in STEM majors has been a longstanding challenge for universities. Based on recent discussions it appears that many states intend to incorporate student retention, including retention in STEM majors, as a metric in the evaluation of the efficacy of public university performance. [2] Resulting institutional efforts to im- Over the past 15 years, the increased prove the quality of STEM instruction climate of accountability around the use and learning outcomes of STEM students of taxpayer funding has come to rest on will provide an opportunity for public re- the U.S. public higher education system. search universities to broaden the scope Key accountability metrics commonly of the university research mission embraced by both State governments and through the application of rigorous, organizations influencing national higher quantitative social science research meth- education policy include both student re- ods to our own efforts to drive educa- tention in college and time to degree. [3] tional improvement. Employing the These metrics present challenges for tra- methods and metrics of research to stud- ditional models of university STEM in- ies of undergraduate STEM curriculum struction, which are perceived to contrib- change may insulate public research uni- ute to higher than institutional average versities from specious arguments that attrition from the ranks of STEM majors. our education and research activities are In a ground breaking 1999 study, something other than indivisible aspects Seymour and Hewitt examined the moti- of our mission, and from the even more vations of students who leave degree pro- destructive argument, promulgated by grams in STEM majors, but go on to com- some, that the research activities of public plete university degrees in alternative ac- research universities detract from our role ademic fields. [4] The study related a in teaching undergraduate students. [2] number of the factors contributing to this attrition to characteristics of traditional 137

STEM curricula: Overwhelming amounts usually required to unequivocally estab- of vocabulary, perceptions of poor teach- lish a connection between constructivist ing, and loss of interest in STEM subject based course interventions and improve- matter. These factors relate to some of the ments in specific, desirable learning out- challenges facing U.S. Engineering pro- comes. grams, where degree obtention rates of 60 In order to demonstrate both to the percent represent a national average. [5] Academy and to external stakeholders Given the current focus on degree com- that STEM curriculum changes are actu- pletion and time to degree as metrics for ally having the effect we anticipate, we university success, these challenges need to consider whether public research could, if left unaddressed, become a universities should systematically turn threat to the structure and mission of the tools of rigorous quantitative and public research universities. qualitative research inward to study the Research on the nature of human instructional changes being driven, in learning has provided a window into ef- part, by a culture of increasing accounta- fective solutions to these challenges. bility. Though this path would increase Many instructional models that accom- the cost of implementing curriculum in- modate a broader range of learning stu- novation, it would also provide a range of dent learning styles, improve success in benefits for our institutions, including: learning and increase student engage- • Development of a broad, new area of ment with subject matter are based on the multidisciplinary scholarship that is cognitive development theories of Piaget. only practicable on a large scale in re- [6] Flipped classroom and peer instruc- search universities, tional models which are intended in part • Creation of a vehicle that allows fac- as vehicles for enhancing student success ulty who have largely shifted their fo- and self-efficacy are based on construc- cus to teaching and learning to con- tivist learning theories. Constructionist tribute more broadly to the scholarly instructional models tend to be more stu- life of the university, dent-centered than traditional direct in- • Validation for the university commu- struction methods. (Interestingly, recent nity about the efficacy of the human asynchronous instructional methods, in- resources and dollars expended on cluding massively open online courses these efforts, and (MOOCS) may, but often do not, employ • Development of ready-made talking constructivist-derived learning models.) points for accountability discussions While constructionist learning mod- with external stakeholders. els hold promise for generating improve- Most top-flight public research uni- ments in metrics such as time to degree versities began to take steps to support and degree obtention in STEM majors, faculty efforts to create a scholarship of they are likely to be relatively expensive learning as a follow on to the Boyer report in terms of supportive infrastructure and [7], and some have developed extensive, faculty opportunity costs. Furthermore, nationally recognized expertise in this rigorous educational research studies are area. [8] The key questions we must ask

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about applying these capabilities to stud- universities where primary interests may ies of STEM curriculum change are: Can lie in longitudinal questions relating the rigorous quantitative educational re- influence of large-scale curriculum search answer fundamental questions change to post-graduate outcomes. Such about the efficacy of university curricu- studies require an extended timeline and lum reform, what are anticipated institu- more careful research design than studies tional commitments and costs for these of a single innovation in an individual studies, and what are reasonable bound- course. Achieving this goal would re- aries for the implementation of such pro- quire long-term collaborations among grams? faculty teaching STEM courses, capable Commitments and Costs for Educa- quantitative and qualitative educational tional Studies researchers, and full time university staff Among the most daunting challenge dedicated to providing continuity in the of conducting high quality institutional study. studies of curriculum change is the rigor Appropriate longitudinal evaluation of designing experiments that will proof curriculum change can be relatively ex- vide meaningful answers to our ques- pensive. Guidelines for budgeting evalu- tions. Collecting a data set that provides ation studies in NSF curriculum innova- adequate statistical power to study all tion programs call for commitment of as targeted subcategories of learners, main- much as 15 to 20 percent of the total pro- taining 95 percent confidence limit stand- ject budget. In larger more comprehen- ards, cleaning and analyzing data sets sive curriculum innovation projects, this with large numbers of variables, ensuring can amount to hundreds of thousands of the statistical similarity of control and dollars for a longitudinal evaluation. treatment cohorts in an environment of While quality analyses of student out- quasi-experimental design (most institu- comes can be built into university courses tions and faculty are uncomfortable with for a far lower level of cost, the magni- random assignment studies), and ensur- tude of resources required to carry out ing compliance with human subjects these studies requires a degree of surety (IRB) requirements all add to the commit- that the study will provide useful out- ment made when undertaking this type comes for the institution, as well as care- of analysis. ful consideration of the scope and objec- A compounding factor associated tives of the study. with such studies is that creating and im- Potential Applicability and Utility plementing a relatively straightforward of Educational Research curriculum innovation in a single course, First and foremost, we need to ask together with designing a course evalua- whether rigorous scientific studies of tion and collecting and analyzing student learning innovations in STEM curricula outcome data can easily comprise the can provide useful insights into benefits topic of an entire doctoral thesis. This for our students. My own scholarly STEM timeline is problematic for studies of discipline, Chemistry, is a good context in STEM curriculum innovation in research

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which to address this question. Tradition- chemistry course for science majors. [9] ally structured university Chemistry cur- Facility with algebra and algebraic rea- ricula have many of the characteristics soning are among the most critical skills identified as problematic for student re- required for success in freshman chemis- tention in STEM majors in the original try courses; consequently, these are top- work by Seymour and Hewitt: Chemistry ics that tend to be emphasized in the ini- courses are built upon abstract concepts, tial weeks of Chemistry instruction. are laden with vocabulary, and require The fact that standardized examina- facility with algebra and more advanced tions developed by the American Chemi- mathematics from the outset. cal Society indicate this area to be a weak- Moreover, over the first three years ness in up to 30 percent of our students of study, the Chemistry curriculum has tended to reinforce the early coverage swings from algorithmically based mate- of chemistry-related algebra concepts. rial, to subjects requiring substantial Unfortunately, subjects such as signifi- memorization, and on to material where cant figures, ratios, and negative logarith- calculus becomes the lingua franca. Op- mic scales are scarcely the most charis- portunities to create a synthesis of these matic and integrative aspects of the disci- different perspectives on the nature of pline of Chemistry. Dr. Barker's study Chemistry often do not occur until the was intended to determine whether these senior year of undergraduate study, or subjects could be covered asynchro- even well into the graduate experience. nously, and whether this change might The initial two years of the undergradu- enhance student achievement and self-ef- ate chemistry sequence have the unfortu- ficacy in the course. Students participated nate reputation of being gatekeeper in a series of 40 online chemistry oriented courses. mathematics tutorials over the course of These factors make the Chemistry the first semester. curriculum a useful test bed for studying Studies of student achievement whether the application of rigorous edu- showed that benefits were dependent on cational research methods to the study of student persistence though the majority new and modified STEM curricula can in- of the units. Students persisting through form us about improvements in student the tutorials showed nearly a full grade learning, attitudes and motivation. The point improvement over a control group three brief examples that follow will illus- and half grade point improvement over trate this is possible and that such studies students receiving traditional in-class can also yield interesting, unexpected in- math concept instruction. (Note: Stu- sights. dents who persisted through 35 or more In my group Dr. Danielle Barker re- units started the program with demo- cently pursued a study of whether asyn- graphic and academic characteristics that chronous mathematics learning tools were indistinguishable from the class as a built using a constructionist educational whole.) Students completing the tutorial framework would improve student per- also showed sustained higher levels of formance and self-efficacy in a freshman

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self-efficacy with respect to chemistry We were surprised to discover that content knowledge than their peers. students choosing to enroll concurrently Ms. Linda Myers is currently confor the lecture and laboratory, and stu- cluding a study of whether peer-led un- dents who enroll first in the lecture dergraduate supplements (PLUS), group course and then enroll in the laboratory work problem-solving assignments coor- in a subsequent semester begin Organic dinated by a trained student leader, im- Chemistry with statistically indistin- prove student achievement in freshman guishable demographic, academic, and chemistry. These learning tools are re- motivational characteristics. Despite lated to peer-led team learning (PLTL) these initial similarities, Dr. Pakhira’s 3- and process-oriented guided inquiry year study demonstrated students choos- learning (POGIL) strategies that have ing concurrent enrollment during the been successfully employed as active first semester Organic Chemistry course learning supplements to lecture and la- showed a quarter grade point average boratory experiences in other contexts. advantage in achievement over their col- [10, 11] Ms. Myers’ studies show that stu- leagues enrolled in only the lecture por- dents persisting in weekly PLUS session tion of the course. During the second se- show a 14.5 percent improvement on mester course, this advantage increased chemistry examinations over comparable to a half grade point for students choos- peers. This result is moderated by gen- ing concurrent enrollment. Moreover, der, with male students experiencing students concurrently enrolled in lecture higher benefits than female students. In- and laboratory showed higher longitudi- terestingly, the cohort of pre-pharmacy nal motivation and self-efficacy regard- students in the course showed no overall ing the Organic Chemistry course se- benefit from participation in PLUS ses- quence. sions. Based on prior academic perfor- Recommended Boundaries for the mance, pre-pharmacy student can be cat- Evaluation of Curriculum Reform Efforts egorized as being among the most aca- As these examples show, it is possi- demically capable of the major-cohorts in ble to gain useful, sometimes surprising freshman chemistry. insights from rigorous evaluation of cur- Finally, Dr. Deblina Pakhira has ex- riculum reform efforts. However, the re- amined whether the common practice of sources required to conduct such studies allowing students to choose whether to on a large scale should lead us to engage enroll concurrently in Organic Chemistry in a careful consideration of the circum- lectures and laboratories has any effect stances that justify an intensive evalua- on student learning and achievement in tion of STEM curriculum innovation. The these classes. [12] This project relates to following list identifies some of the char- an ongoing study of whether practicing acteristics that might reasonably trigger a components of the discipline of chemis- need for institutionally supported longi- try within the laboratory benefits student tudinal STEM curriculum studies: learning.

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• True novelty in curriculum design, metrics that we want to promote...in- instructional practice or application creased retention in majors, reduced of technology, time to degree, improved rate of de- • Networks of STEM curriculum gree attainment, etc.? change across multiple courses or dis- • How have curriculum changes influ- ciplines that together are intended to enced retrospective student percep- create a broader impact on student tion of educational value? learning and outcomes, • What degree of improvement in stu- • Curriculum interventions that re- dent learning, perception and atti- quire substantial investment of insti- tude is sufficient to justify a specific tutional resources, level of institutional investment in • Experiments in curriculum change curriculum innovation? that are part of a broader, national re- • Is the institutional commitment to form study, longitudinal research on STEM cur- • Changes that may have high stakes riculum innovation contributing to consequences for students, faculty expanding the productivity of STEM and instructors, and the institution, and education faculty researchers? and Given the stresses that external ac- • Efforts to engender longitudinal countability is exerting on university (post-graduation) advancements in budgets and faculty researchers, it is to student knowledge, skills and abili- our advantage to demonstrate that re- ties. sources aimed a STEM curriculum en- Finally, we need to consider the hancement are providing the anticipated range of questions we should strive to ad- benefits for our students. We have the dress through institutionally supported tools of research at our disposal, faculty research studies. The following are exam- who could benefit professionally from ples of big picture questions that should partnering in such studies, and the need drive our curiosity in this area: to move away from an anecdotal narra- • At what threshold of curriculum tive for evaluating the efficacy of educa- change (class component, course, tional change. This process can contribute core education program, major cur- to protecting the diverse, interrelated riculum) do we observe the onset of missions of public research universities specific desired benefits in student and provide a narrative for engaging a learning and success in degree pro- sometimes-skeptical public in the discus- grams? sion that the research and educational • Have curriculum innovations created missions of the university are indivisibly noteworthy enhancements in student linked. ability to obtain and apply new Acknowledgements. knowledge, skills and abilities in fu- I wish to thank the KU Office of Di- ture professional endeavors? versity Training; the KU Office of Institu- • Beyond performance in individual tional Research and Planning (OIRP); and courses, what are the key educational Drs. M. Danielle Barker and Deblina

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Pakhira, and Ms. Linda Myers whose the- 7) Carnegie Foundation for the Advance- sis research is highlighted in this work. I ment of Teaching, 1995, Reinventing Un- also wish to thank Ms. JoAnn Williams dergraduate Education: A Blueprint for America’s Research Universities.” (OIRP) for her work with obtaining KU 8) For example, see University of Colorado, institutional data. Portions of this work Center for STEM Learning, were supported by the National Institutes of http://www.colorado.edu/csl/ Health (NIH IMSD R25 GM062232-08). 9) Danielle Barker, 2011, “Constructivist- Based Asynchronous Tutorial to Improve References Transfer between Math and Chemistry 1) Scott Jaschik, 2014, “The STEM Enroll- Domains: Design, Implementation, and ment Boom.” Inside Higher Education. Analysis of the Impact of ReMATCH on 2) Patricia Kilday Hart, 2011, “Perry’s vision General Chemistry Course Performance for colleges has professors seeing red.” and Confidence”, Doctoral Thesis, Uni- The Chronicle of Higher Education. versity of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 3) Kansas Board of Regents, 2011, Foresight 10) Pratiba Varma-Nelson and Brian Cop- 2020 Strategic Agenda pola, 2004, Team Learning in The Chem- 4) Elaine Seymour and Nancy Hewitt, 1999, ists’ Guide to Effective Instruction, Pren- “Talking About Leaving: tice Hall, V.1. Why Undergraduates Leave the Sci- 11) J. N. Spencer, 2006, “New Approaches to ences.” Westview Publishers. Chemistry Teaching”, J. Chem. Ed., 83, 5) John Marcus, 2012, “High Dropout Rates 528-535. Prompt Engineering Schools to 12) Deblina Pakhira, 2012, “Analysis of the Change Approach.” Effect of Concurrent Enrollment in Or- http://blogs.ptc.com/2012/08/06/high- ganic Chemistry Lecture and Laboratory dropout-rates-prompt-engineering- Instruction on Student Learning and Mo- schools-to-change-approach/ tivation towards Learning Chemistry”, 6) Hildegard, Bauer, 1975, “Theories of Doctoral Thesis, University of Kansas, Learning”, Ch. 10, Piaget’s Developmen- Lawrence, KS tal Psychology.

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Department of Defense Research Funding: Opportunities, Idiosyncrasies, and Risk Analysis

Kurt Preston, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, University of Nebraska

ince World War I the federal government has funded universities to perform research in the defense of the nationi. World War I saw the invention of armored S vehicles, chemical weapons, and submarine warfare; the broad use of combat aircraft; and the industrial production of explosives through the development of the Fritz Haber process for ammonium nitrate production. As a result of this modernization, American universities and their associated laboratory facilities became involved in defense research. What World War I initiated, World Over the last 70 years, the leaders War II perfected. The nation’s colleges of the DoD understood that our univer- and universities produced many of the sities and the research they produce are scientists and engineers that would pro- key to accomplishing the DoD mission: duce radar, sonar, and the first nuclear to protect the American people and ad- weapons. By the end of the war, the vance our nation’s interest. Endless Frontier was recognized as a Federal Research Budget frontier requiring full involvement by The federal research budget is a com- the defense community. ponent of federal discretionary spending.

Figure 1. Federal Budget for Basic Research by Agency 144

In Fiscal Year 2011 it totaled $134 billion. If not in basic research, where does 51% of the total budget is allocated to the the defense portion of the federal science Department of Defense. As a result, there and technology budget wind up? The Re- is often the misplaced assumption that search, Development, Testing, and Eval- the Department of Defense correspond- uation (RDT&E) budget in fiscal year ingly funds about half of the research per- 2014 totaled $67.52 billion or more than formed at the nation’s research universi- about half of the federal science and tech- ties. The fact of the matter, which will be nology budget. To understand the described in detail below, is that most of budget in detail, however, one must be that 51% is not spent on University re- familiar with budget activities which lated research but on the development of comprise the Planning, Programming DoD relevant systems. and Budgeting system (PPBS), the system When the federal budget for basic re- which organizes the RDT&E budget: search is examined by agency, a second Planning, Programming and Budgeting picture emerges (Figure 1). Over half of System (PPBS), Budget Activitiesiii federal basic research is funded by the Budget Activity 1, Basic Research. Basic Department of Health and Human Ser- research is systematic study directed toward greater knowledge or understand- vices (DHHS) through the National Insti- ing of the fundamental aspects of phe- tute for Health (NIH.) The NIH budget nomena and of observable facts without takes up 55% of the nation’s federal basic specific applications towards processes research funding followed by the Na- or products in mind. It includes all scientific study and experimentation directed tional Science Foundation (NSF) at a dis- toward increasing fundamental tant second at 16%. The Department of knowledge and understanding in those Defense is not even third on the list. That fields of the physical, engineering, envi- position is held by the Department of En- ronmental, and life sciences related to long-term national security needs. It is ergy (DoE) at 13%, followed by the De- farsighted high payoff research… partment of Defense (DoD) at 6%, with Budget Activity 2, Applied Research. the Department of Agriculture (DoA) Applied research is systematic study to and the National Aeronautics and Space understand the means to meet a recog- Administration (NASA) both at 3%ii. nized and specific need. It is a systematic Notwithstanding the relative modest expansion and application of knowledge to develop useful materials, devices, and proportion that DoD basic research fund- systems or methods. It may be oriented, ing takes in the federal budget, there are ultimately, toward the design, develop- some disciplines, such as engineering, ment, and improvement of prototypes where the DoD basic research funding ef- and new processes to meet general mission area requirements. Applied re- fort comprises a significant portion of its search may translate promising basic re- resourcing. Mechanical engineering, elec- search into solutions for broadly defined trical engineering, and aeronautical engi- military needs, short of system develop- neering respectively receive 80%, 61%, ment… and 35% of their federal basic research Budget Activity 3, Advanced Technol- ogy Development (ATD). This budget funding through the DoD. activity includes development of subsys-

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tems and components and efforts to in- evaluation efforts and funds to sustain tegrate subsystems and components into and/or modernize the installations or system prototypes for field experiments operations required for general research, and/or tests in a simulated environment. development, test and evaluation. Test ATD includes concept and technology ranges, military construction, mainte- demonstrations of components and sub- nance support of laboratories, operation systems or system models. The models and maintenance of test aircraft and may be form, fit and function prototypes ships, and studies and analyses in sup- or scaled models that serve the same port of the RDT&E program are funded demonstration purpose. … this category in this budget activity... do not necessarily lead to subsequent de- Budget Activity 7, Operational System velopment or procurement phases, but Development. This budget activity in- should have the goal of moving out of cludes development efforts to upgrade Science and Technology (S&T) and into systems that have been fielded or have the acquisition process within the future received approval for full rate produc- years defense program (FYDP). Upon tion and anticipate production funding successful completion of projects that in the current or subsequent fiscal year. have military utility, the technology Of the seven activities, it is only in should be available for transition. Budget Activity 1 that universities are Budget Activity 4, Advanced Compo- nent Development and Prototypes generally funded. Most often they will be (ACD&P). Efforts necessary to evaluate funded from the Army Research Office integrated technologies, representative (ARO), the Air Force Office of Scientific modes or prototype systems in a high fi- Research (AFOSR), the Office of Naval delity and realistic operating environment are funded in this budget activity. Research (ONR), or the Defense Ad- The ACD&P phase includes system spe- vanced Research Projects Agency cific efforts that help expedite technol- (DARPA.) The funding will come almost ogy transition from the laboratory to op- exclusively in the form of grants to the erational use. Emphasis is on proving component and subsystem maturity Universities awarded through Broad prior to integration in major and com- Agency Announcements (BAAs). plex systems and may involve risk re- Broadly speaking there are three duction initiatives... types of BAAs. The first type is the an- Budget Activity 5, System Develop- nual broad agency announcement which ment and Demonstration (SDD). SDD programs...are conducting engineering describes the research interest of the re- and manufacturing development tasks spective offices and their program man- aimed at meeting validated require- agers. For the faculty member pursuing ments prior to full-rate production... DoD research funding for the first time, Prototype performance is near or at planned operational system levels. the annual broad agency announcement Characteristics of this budget activity in- is a critical document to review before volve mature system development, inte- contacting the program manager in their gration and demonstration..., and con- respective discipline. ducting live fire test and evaluation (LFT&E) and initial operational test and Program managers take great care in evaluation (IOT&E) of production repre- crafting the program descriptions found sentative articles... in annual broad agency announcements Budget Activity 6, RDT&E Manage- because there are two inherent mutually ment Support. This budget activity in- exclusive goals in their message. On the cludes research, development, test and 146

one hand, the program manager would The third and final type of broad like to describe the program in suffi- agency announcement is the recurring ciently narrow terms so that a practi- announcement which, as the name im- tioner in the discipline will understand plies, is advertised at set intervals, often the technical goals and objectives in some annually. The Defense University Re- detail. On the other hand, the program search Instrumentation Program (DU- manager seeks to describe their program RIP) announcement is an example of an in a broad manner that practitioners with annually recurring announcement. It is unique approaches to relevant technical often released to the public in the fall, problems will be encouraged to submit September or October, with winners an- their ideas. nounced in February or March just before The second type of BAA is one that is funding from the new annual budget is topic specific. It is difficult to predict released to the research offices. when the topic specific broad agency an- Although Budget Activity 1, basic re- nouncement may be posted to grants.gov search funding, is the most common type or at agency websites. The topic an- of funding received by colleges and uni- nouncements often result from internal versities, it represents but a small portion of DOD research funding. discussions in which senior leaders in the Figure 2 describes the budget re-

Figure 2: DoD FY 2014 and 2015 RDT&E Budget Request Comparisoniv

DoD science and technology enterprise quested by the President and submitted determine that a particular topic area to Congress for DoD RDT&E budget in warrants extraordinary focus due to fiscal years 2014 and 2015. In both years, rapid advances in the discipline, per- the RDT &E budgets were approximately ceived technological risk, or a myriad of $65 billion with basic research receiving other factors. 147

the smallest portion (red block and cir- Two Highly Differentiated Fund- cle), approximately $2 billion. The largest ing Modalities proportion in both years went to opera- The take away message from exam- tional system development, Budget Ac- ining the DoD RDT&E budget is that tivity 7. Also noteworthy in Figure 2 is there are two highly differentiated fund- the observation that science and technol- ing modalities. The first modality is the ogy funding, which includes budget ac- basic research mode in which one finds tivities one through three, proportionally grants awarded, largely to research uni- increased from FY2014 to 2015. One inter- versities, through the vehicle of a broad pretation of this increase is that it reflects agency announcement (BAA.) In the the intent of the senior leadership to basic research environment the secret to avoid an erosion of basic and applied re- funding is to propose high risk, high pay- search funding in the face of a very diffi- off research that creates a scientific foun- cult budgetary climate. dation for future DoD capabilities. The Drilling further into the budget, Fig- second modality funds applied research ure 3 provides a breakout of the science and advanced technology development. and technology funding across the “Ser- In general terms, there is an inverse rela- vices” (the Army, the Air Force, and tionship between involvement by univer- Navy), DARPA, other agencies, and the sities and maturity of the technology. The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD.) further one departs from basic research, DARPA possesses the largest overall sci- the smaller the proportion of funding is ence and technology budget at $2.793 bil- likely to be found going to a college or lion; however, the largest single basic re- university. search funder is the Navy at $576 million.

Figure 3. Total FY 2015 Science and Technology request which is $11.51 billion.

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There are exceptions to the general core competencies found in that univer- rule such as University Affiliated Re- sity. search Centers. Fourteen UARCs have Idiosyncrasies been established by the DoD to focus on The take away message for a univer- areas of science, engineering, and tech- sity research faculty member is that there nology possessing particular importance. are two modes of DoD science and tech- UARCs may receive sole-source funding nology (S&T) funding. The first, basic re- or may compete for science and technol- search, is designed to engage the univer- ogy development work across the budget sity research faculty member. The second activities. Each UARC is unique in both mode, the rest of the (S&T) funding, its core competencies and structure. rarely benefits university research faculty Likelihood of Award High Medium Low National Quality Congressional High Quality, DoD Sophisticated, DoD High Earmark. Networked Team. Networked Team. ID/IQ or other Networked MURI MURI team continuance of Medium team encouraged encouraged from contracted > 6.2 from whitepaper whitepaper research. Encouraged Encouraged Single DURIP Shot in the Dark Low Investigator /HBCU/MI Proposal the Institution the Proposal from a Proposal from Positive Impact to Impact Positive QPI QPI (Italics denotes basic research activities)

Figure 4: Risk Analysis. The items in italics represent those activities associated with the DOD basic research program and open to individual faculty members or a team of faculty members. The Quality Principal Investi- gator (QPI) referenced is principal investigator that is performing high-impact research relevant to the DOD and willing to engage the DOD basic research program managers in the discussion of the research interest. Shot in the dark proposals are those in which no attempt has been made to discern the interest of the relevant DOD program manager. Some have been in existence since World members unless they lead or find them- War II. The newest, the National Strategic selves in a team focused on applied DoD Research Institute (NSRI) affiliated with problems. It is critical that the faculty the University of Nebraska and estab- member understands in which mode lished under the auspices of USSTRAT- they are pursuing funding. There is no COM, is two years old. The DoD seeks better way for a research faculty member only to establish UARCs when there is a to undermine their proposal to a basic re- need that can be uniquely filled by the search program manager than to focus on

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applications, talk about what they will Networked teams are also critical demonstrate, or insist that they know for success in pursuing Multidiscipli- how to improve a system. Applications, nary University Initiative (MURI) pro- demonstrations, and systems are all out- jects. In the case of a MURI, the teams side the realm of basic research in the are generally academic researchers net- DoD context. worked across disciplines and institu- Competitive Environment tions. At approximately $1.25 to $2.5 At the university institutional level, million per year, however, MURI’s are the question then becomes where does insufficient to form the foundation for DoD research funding fit into a univer- an institution’s research program. They sity’s overall strategic and operational certainly are welcome and important planning, especially when this planning for an individual faculty member or is occurring in uncertain times. The an- teams of faculty members, but the level swer to this question comes from risk of resourcing is such that they are in ad- analysis. Since proposal development is a dition to, but not the basis of, a univer- resource intensive process, the institution sity research enterprise. must balance the potential for positive An opportunity with the potential impact against the likelihood of success- for medium positive impact to the insti- ful award. tution and a high likelihood of award is Figure 4 provides a simple initial for the university to be part of the team approach to such risk analysis. In the contracted for research beyond basic re- past, congressional earmarks were search (BA 2 [aka 6.2] or higher). These probably the awards which possessed applied research efforts, however, can the highest potential to produce a posi- pose significant challenges for the uni- tive impact at the institution and the versity. These challenges often include highest likelihood of award. Even in high administrative burden and intel- their heyday, however, congressional lectual constraints that come from ex- interest or earmark projects were a very port control and other restrictions when small fraction of total basic or applied working on DoD applied research pro- research budget. Today, absent ear- jects. marks, the highest likelihood of pro- Conclusion ducing a positive impact at the institu- DoD research funding has a place tion are the development of sophisti- in planning for future research in public cated, networked teams of national universities in uncertain times. How- quality researchers performing research ever, the DoD is not the principal source of interest to the DoD. These teams of research dollars to colleges and uni- must integrate university researchers versities. It is a distant fourth behind and corporate technology developers to NIH, NSF, and DOE. Absent a unique provide DoD technology development relationship created by either a UARC pathways. These are the types of teams or other contract, it is unlikely that DoD that are often funded in DARPA efforts. research funding would form the basis

150 for funding the University research en- iii “Definitions of Research and Develop- terprise. Nonetheless, the DoD basic re- ment: An Annotated Compilation of Offi- search program provides a vehicle for cial Sources”, Available at National Sci- ence Foundation, http://www.nsf.gov/sta- university principal investigators to be tistics/randdef/fedgov.cfm. involved in the defense of the nation iv “Mr. Bob Baker Deputy Director, Plans & through their research activities. Programs, Assistant Secretary of Defense References (Research & Engineering). Fiscal Year i 50 USC 1 – Council of National Defense. 2015 President’s Budget Request for the ii National Science Foundation, National DoD Science & Technology Program. Center for Science and Engineering Statis- April 8, 2014. Available at http://www.de- tics. 2012. Federal Funds for Research and fenseinnovationmarketplace.mil/re- Development: Fiscal Years 2009–11. De- sources/FY14DoDSTBudg- tailed Statistical Tables NSF 12-318. Ar- etRequestPresentation.pdf. lington, VA. Available at: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf12318/.

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Building upon Existing Research Strengths in Uncertain Times: Analytical Chemistry and ISU

Emily A. Smith, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Iowa State University

he chemical sciences have been a research strength at Iowa State University for several decades. Departmental rankings among state institutions and research T expenditures are two criteria used to determine this strength. Both the cost and space requirements to start a new chemistry laboratory, as well as competition for existing faculty, are challenges that need to be considered in order to maintain a vibrant chemistry department (as is the case for many others). The challenges of uncertain funding require new and innovative, as well as traditional, approaches to maintain research strengths in a highly competitive environment. Some strategies are proposed herein using an analytical chemistry case example. Background. The field of chemistry the steel and iron industries [2]. The dis- is traditionally divided into five divi- cipline thrived through World War II for sions: analytical, biochemistry, inorganic, two primary reasons: measurement organic, and physical. Undergraduate needs for the Manhattan Project and pe- chemistry majors usually complete sur- troleum analyses [3]. Analytical chemis- vey courses in each of these areas. Ana- try at Iowa State University has strong lytical chemistry is a measurement sci- connections with the Department of En- ence: the focus of analytical research is to ergy's Ames Laboratory, a national labor- both develop new and improve existing atory located on the ISU campus, as early methods of analysis to measure qualita- as the 1940s. Improved techniques devel- tive and quantitative information. A ma- oped by Ames Laboratory and ISU chem- jority of students who earn a B.S. in chemists enabled the production of about 2 istry in the United States will enter grad- million pounds of uranium metal ingots, uate school or industrial employment. a vital material used by the U.S. military Analytical chemists represent the largest during the war effort [4]. The connection group (14.8 percent) of employed mem- between ISU's analytical chemistry divi- bers of The American Chemical Society sion and Ames Laboratory lasted well be- [1]. This highlights the need to maintain a yond WWII. In the intervening decades vibrant analytical chemistry faculty. many universities were shrinking or Analytical chemistry, as a defined eliminating their analytical divisions; ISU scientific field, has a historical foundation continued to invest in this research area. dating back to roughly the turn of the In 2004, there were five analytical faculty 20th Century. Then, it was as an applied at ISU and 31 total (tenured or tenure- field focused on methods of analysis for track) faculty in the department. The 152

analytical division was ranked 5th in na- may be associated with hiring a new faction for analytical chemistry, and was ulty member. generally recognized internally and ex- While the start-up costs in the chem- ternally as a strength [5]. ical sciences are high, the average yearly Competitive start-up funds and research expenditures in the chemical space requirements for a research group sciences for 19 selected universities are the most significant challenges to across the Midwest are $18 million per maintaining research strengths in the department (Figure 2) [6]. Federal fund- chemical sciences. The average start-up ing represents a majority of the research package for an assistant professor of expenditures as reported for the years chemistry for 19 selected universities 2011-2012. Industrial-funded research across the Midwest does not statisti- expenditures represent about 10 percent cally vary by division (Figure 1). The of the total.

Average Start Up Funding for Assistant Professors hired for 2012/13 (excluding Renovations) $1,400,000

$1,200,000

$1,000,000

$800,000

$600,000

$400,000

$200,000

$0 a. Analytical b. c. Inorganic d. Organic e. Physical f. Other Biochemistry

Figure 1. Citation Midwest Chairs 2012-2012 Survey including information from University of Chicago, University of Illinois-Chicago, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, Indiana University-Bloomington, Iowa State Univer- sity, University of Iowa, Michigan State University, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, University of Minnesota, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Northwestern University, University of Notre Dame, Ohio State University, Penn State University, University of Pittsburgh, Purdue University, University of Washington, Wayne State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison. average start-up package across all di- Selected Strategies for Maintaining visions is roughly $810,000 for an assis- Research Strengths in Uncertain Times. tant professor, excluding associated In times of uncertain state and federal costs for renovating space [6]. The aver- funding for research, maintaining re- age start-up package for a senior faculty search strengths should include innova- member is approximately $1.7 million tion. The following suggested considera- excluding renovation costs [6]. Many tions and approaches for maintaining re- research groups have unique space search strengths are not exhaustive. They needs and considerable renovation costs are presented here in the context of the

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Average Research Expenditures 2011-2012 $20,000,000 $18,000,000 $16,000,000 $14,000,000 $12,000,000 $10,000,000 $8,000,000 $6,000,000 $4,000,000 $2,000,000 $0

Figure 2. Citation Midwest Chairs 2012-2012 Survey including information from University of Chicago, Univer- sity of Illinois-Chicago, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, Indiana University-Bloomington, Iowa State University, University of Iowa, Michigan State University, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, University of Min- nesota, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Northwestern University, University of Notre Dame, Ohio State Uni- versity, Penn State University, University of Pittsburgh, Purdue University, University of Washington, Wayne State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison. field of analytical chemistry. Most should Glucose Analyzer, a technological ad- be applicable to other research fields. vancement that can't be overstated in im- In times when funding sources are portance, measured roughly 16.25 inches increasingly emphasizing the importance by 13 inches by 8.375 inches [8]—it was of documenting the benefits of funded re- not a portable unit. Over the ensuing search projects, strategies to justify the years, numerous measurement advance- benefit of a scientific project, department ments were made; today, accurate, porta- or field should be prominently adver- ble blood glucose meters fit in the palm tised to numerous audiences. To this end, on one's hand and some continuously it is useful to define a few examples of monitor in vivo glucose [9]. fundamental research and technological On a more local scale, the two main advancements benefiting society, the sci- objectives of the Smith research group entific endeavor, and the field. Within the are: (1) to measure the organization and field of analytical chemistry, examples dynamics of cell membrane components, are numerous. For example, in the 1970s, and (2) to demonstrate Raman spectros- Dr. Leland Clark of Yellow Springs In- copy analyses of biomass, enzymatic ca- strument Company developed the Model talysis, and thin films. These objectives 23 Glucose Analyzer [7]. This was the are accomplished through a combination first whole-blood glucose meter, and pre- of measurements, instruments, and decessor to blood glucose analyzers used methods development. The instruments today by millions of diabetics to monitor being developed focus on improvements and manage their disease. The Model 23 to traditional optical microscopy approaches. Optical microscopy is used to

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image objects that can't be visualized by been reinvested in research and develop- eye. The spatial resolution, meaning the ment [12]. There is existing evidence for ability to image increasingly smaller ob- the successful partnership between in- jects, is limited by the diffraction of light. dustry and academic departments with Typical optical microscopy techniques analytical chemistry divisions. For in- have a limit of a few hundred nanome- stance, the University of Texas at Arling- ters. To put this in context, the diameter ton partnered with Shimadzu (ranked 5th of a human hair is about 90,000 nanome- in instrument sales) to develop the Shi- ters, much larger than the diffraction madzu Institute for Research Technolo- limit. However, many biological and ma- gies on the UT Arlington campus. Shi- terials samples have important spatial madzu Scientific Instruments donated scales of tens of nanometers or less, and $7.5 million as a corporate gift and $3 mil- these can't be measured with traditional lion as an in-kind gift of instrumentation optical microscopy techniques. There are [13]. Named endowments, donated other (e.g., electron) microscopy tech- equipment for departmental use, and the niques with a finer spatial resolution. But use of equipment at remote sites may be these techniques don't often allow dy- beneficial approaches for fields in which namic information to be measured. One analytical measurements are taken. can't measure and obtain information Since a significant amount of start- about processes as they happen. The up funding in analytical chemistry is de- Smith laboratory focuses on developing voted to scientific instruments, collabora- optical microscopy techniques that get tive hires whereby shared equipment around the diffraction limit of optical mi- (e.g., nuclear magnetic resonance, mass croscopy, thus enabling dynamic pro- spectrometers) can be built into a compet- cesses to be measured in smaller and itive start-up package may be a useful ap- smaller spatial scales [10-11]. This has approach. The careful planning of shared plications to medicine (e.g., pathology), university (center) equipment purchases biology, materials science, and many may also alleviate need for a portion of other fields. start-up funds for new faculty members, Industrial connections are increas- and the entire university community ingly seen as an important source of might benefit from the addition of on-site funding and partnership in times when equipment experts. Finally, there is a obtaining federal funding for basic re- need to have easy access to shared uni- search is a growing, unnerving challenge. versity (center) equipment that is easy for These connections make particular sense the community to locate on campus. This for applied research projects that may of- may reduce the need for an individual fer a shorter-term payoff in the form of faculty member to possess selected in- developed products or new measure- strumentation, make it easier to find out ment techniques. In 2013 analytical in- what is available on campus when nego- strument sales for the top 25 sellers was tiating start-up packages, and avoid du- approximately $32 billion (Figure 3) [12]. plication of instrument purchases across Reported values of 4.2-19.5 percent of units on campus when multiple units sales from selected manufacturers have may share instrument time.

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2013 Instrument Sales (millions) $7,000 $6,000 $5,000 $4,000 $3,000 $2,000 $1,000 $0 FEI JOEL Nikon Tecan Bruker Horiba Qiagen Waters Spectris Illumina Danaher Olympus Sartorius Carl Zeiss Shimadzu Eppendorf Hitachi High… Perkin Elmer Mettler-Toledo Xylem Analytics Merck Millipore Roche Diagnostics Agilent Technologies Bio-Rad Laboratories Bio-Rad Thermo Fisher Scientific

Figure 3. Citation Thayer, A.M. “Top Instrument Firms” Chemical & Engineering News, November 18, 2013, 91 (46), 10-14. Investing in junior faculty members of strengths; to be included in these has several benefits. If adding faculty to a teams, a department’s strengths must be department, an $810,000 average start-up commonly known. Highly collaborative package for a junior-level hire makes fields, such as analytical chemistry, may more economic sense than a $1.7 million be an effective route to establishing part- offer. Of course, one must expect a longer nerships both within and outside an or- term payoff that may not be as certain as ganization. For example, as stated by Jon- hiring a senior faculty member. But, there athan Sweedler, the current Editor of An- is also a benefit of building loyalty to the alytical Chemistry, “In all processes, university, to provide resources and whether in engineering, science, or medi- mentoring that will have a future impact. cine, you need quantitative numbers to Part of building loyalty also means in- optimize the goals [14].” Analytical vesting in the leadership skills of junior Chemistry is well suited to make connec- faculty through dedicated programs and tions in the field of medicine, environ- opportunities, as well as highlighting the mental monitoring, energy, agriculture, appreciation for junior faculty's contribu- basic biological sciences, and engineer- tions to the university. ing. In other words, teams that target all Finally, it is necessary to invest time the major federal funding sources. and money in advertising the unique In closing, existing research strengths within and outside one's own strengths at public universities in uncer- organization. Seminars and local confer- tain times may not remain strengths un- ences have been the traditional route for less the university invests both time and achieving this. Many funding mecha- money to maintain them. This may be ac- nisms are making a transition to empha- complished with traditional as well as in- size interdisciplinary teams. Forming novative strategies. Leadership from all well-situated teams requires knowledge

156 levels will be key to successful implemen- [8] Chemical Heritage Foundation (August tation of these strategies. 15, 2014): www.chemheritage.org/discover/collections/collection-items/scien- References tific-instruments/ysi-blood-glucose-ana- [1] Rovner, S. L. “Salary & Employment Sur- lyzer-model-23a.aspx vey for Chemists” Chemical & Engineering [9] Yoo, E.-H.; Lee, S.-Y. “Glucose Biosen- News, September 24, 2012, 90 (39),40-43. sors: An Overview of Use in Clinical [2] Hirsch, R.F. “75 Years of the Division of Practice” Sensors 2010, 10, 4558-4576. Analytical Chemistry of the American [10] Lesoine, M.D.; Bose, S.; Petrich, J.W.; Chemical Society” Analytical Chemistry Smith, E.A. “Super-continuum Stimu- 2013, 85, 3472−3475. lated Emission Depletion (STED) Fluores- [3]“Milestones in Analytical Chemistry Edited cence Lifetime Imaging” J. Physical Chem- by the Washington Editors of Analytical istry B, 2012, 116 (27), 7821-7826. Chemistry”. Washington, D.C.: American [11] McKee, K.J.; Smith, E.A. “Development Chemical Society (1994). of a Scanning Angle Total Internal Reflec- [4] Ames Laboratory (August 15, 2014): tion Raman Spectrometer” Review of Sci- www.ameslab.gov/about/our-history entific Instruments, 2010, 81, 043106. [5 ]“America's Best Graduate Schools” (edited [12] Thayer, A.M. “Top Instrument Firms” by Duffy, B.). Washington D.C.: US News Chemical & Engineering News, November & World Report (2004). 18, 2013, 91 (46), 10-14. [6] Midwest Chemistry Chairs 2012-13 Sur- [13] Shimadzu Institute for Research Tech- vey (an average of self-reported values nologies (August 15, 2014): from 19 universities across the Midwest) www.uta.edu/sirt/about.php [7] Yellow Springs Instrument Company [14] Henry Arnaud, C. “Giving Chemists A (August 15, 2014): www.ysi.com/his- Helping Hand” Chemical & Engineering tory.php News; September 9, 2013, 91 (36), 10-14.

157 Enhancing the Success of Early Career Faculty in STEM Fields During Uncertain Times

Joy K. Ward, Associate Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas

arly-career faculty face numerous challenges when working to establish an upward professional trajectory, particularly those in STEM fields. Almost E without exception, federal resources for basic and applied science have diminished since ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) funding ended. As a result, the academic careers of many early-career faculty may be in jeopardy, particularly since federal grant funding is usually expected for tenure in STEM fields, and is often essential for conducting scientific research. Currently, many programs at NSF and NIH remain at funding levels that are at or below 10%. Clearly, this presents some national well those of my closest colleagues who challenges in determining how federal have become highly successful faculty funding can be leveraged to maintain our members in their own right. Some of my national standing as a leader in scientific recommendations come with little to no research. Alberts et al. (2014) recently laid cost, whereas others may require re- out specific recommendations for how sources and time on behalf of university this may be achieved at the level of grad- leaders. uate training. This also presents local Although much of the success of challenges within universities, since the early-career faculty is driven by their investment in tenure-track faculty is of- own desire to work hard and succeed, the ten substantial (particularly in STEM university can also play a major role in fa- fields), and the loss of faculty members cilitating the success of these faculty through tenure denials is far from ideal. members. This is certainly true in my In this article, I will not attempt to case, and I will provide insights as to how tackle the national problem of scientific the University of Kansas helped me at- funding since it is well beyond the scope tain my goals. I have had a successful of my own experience and expertise. Ra- early through mid-career path, while ther, I will provide practical ideas and in- raising two children with the support of sights into how academic leaders can a spouse who was also a faculty member help early-career faculty members attain in the biological sciences. I maintained their highest potential, as well as meet the continuous funding for my research current standards for achieving tenure at through NSF, including a CAREER research institutions. These recommen- award. I also received the Presidential dations are based upon practices that had Early Career Award for Scientists and En- a positive outcome in my own career, as 158 gineers (PECASE) in 2009. I was also for- journals. My ideas in this article are based tunate to have received an endowed po- on my own perspectives, as well as infor- sition at the University of Kansas for mation that I gathered from numerous early-career faculty, the Wohlgemuth discussions with my closest colleagues on Faculty Scholar Award, through a private successful strategies for elevating the donation. I have worked with the Na- productivity and success of early-career tional Academy of Sciences as a Kavli Fel- faculty. low for both the Arab-American and Jap- Practical Strategies for Enhancing anese-American Frontiers of Science Pro- the Success of Early-Career Faculty Mem- grams. bers in STEM These professional successes were 1. Short-term teaching release to en- due in part to an innate drive that many hance the momentum of early-career re- scientists possess to answer important search programs questions, as well as the commitment to Early-career faculty members are work hard to achieve these goals. Im- generally hired with traditional 40-40- portantly, these successes were also due 20% (Research-Teaching-Service) ap- to factors beyond my own personal drive pointments, and most already under- and ambitions, through a willingness by stand (or quickly learn) that course devel- my university (University of Kansas) to opment and teaching are very time-inten- provide tangible support at vulnerable sive processes. This has become even points in my career when I needed re- more relevant over the last several years sources and/or time to remain competi- as more efforts have been made to flip tive in the realm of grant funding and re- courses and to reform approaches to search. These successes were also due in STEM education. In my experience, the part to the mentorship of several senior vast majority of early-career faculty faculty members and administrators that members are committed to providing helped me to understand how the univer- high quality teaching in their courses, sity works, and to make informed choices and many invest time in teaching that ex- about how I spent my time and how I ap- tends well beyond the typical 40% ap- proached my scientific endeavors. Below pointment. When taken to an extreme, I will describe several strategies taken by this can have negative consequences the University of Kansas that aided me, (sometimes disastrous) on the research as well as my colleagues, in moving programs of early-career faculty, particu- through the early faculty ranks. The ma- larly if the faculty member is unable to re- jority of my closest colleagues include my focus their time through their own ef- spouse, as well as women faculty mem- forts, or from advice of a close mentor or bers in the biological sciences who also departmental chair. Thus, an important have substantial family responsibilities component of the early-career transition (e.g., raising of children, assistance with is to effectively manage time, and be effi- elderly parents, spouses who are also sci- cient at achieving an appropriate balance entists), and who have been highly suc- between research, teaching, and service. cessful at receiving grant funding, gain- Department chairs should be quick to ad- ing tenure, receiving national awards, dress these issues if they are not being and publishing articles in prestigious achieved by early-career faculty.

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There are, however, times when Here, however, I am recommending early-career faculty members would teaching release for early-career faculty greatly benefit from teaching release for to attain the momentum needed to sus- short periods of time (1-2 semesters) in tain a long-term research career, and this order to enhance their research pro- may be best applied in mid- to late stages grams, and this may be essential to their of the pre-tenure period. This recommen- success. This is not a recommendation dation comes when hours invested in re- that is intended to correct poor time man- search can range from upwards of 40-60 agement or work ethic, and these are hours/week. This approach can also be rarely problems for successful early-ca- coupled with the availability of bridge reer faculty members. Rather this recom- and/or seed funds that help promote ac- mendation is in response to the increased quisition of preliminary data for grant demands that are placed on early-career proposals. To allow for teaching release faculty members to produce competitive without adversely affecting students, grant applications that will rank among there may need to be a temporary redis- the top 10% in the country (to allow for tribution of teaching duties within a de- funding). In addition, this is necessary for partment. Such an approach allows for developing research programs to a stage increased momentum of an already high- where funding is more likely, which in- quality researcher, and this ultimately cludes publications in top-tier journals benefits students, since faculty members that are also becoming increasingly more can bring the results of their own research competitive. In other words, I am refer- into the classroom and can train under- ring to the needs of early-career faculty graduate and graduate students in the who are excelling at teaching and re- practice of research within their laborato- search, and would greatly benefit from ries through grant support. additional time to devote to research. A previous Dean of the College of These are faculty who are most likely to Liberal Arts and Sciences at the Univer- produce a strong return on an investment sity of Kansas implemented this ap- made in their time. proach with an amazing level of success. My recommendation for short-term A number of early-career faculty mem- course release is based on two main fac- bers (approximately 7) requested teach- tors: (1) it is difficult to attain one’s first ing release from the Dean during a meet- research grant from federal sources, and ing to discuss how the early-career expe- (2) it is even more difficult to compete for rience could be enhanced at the Univer- a renewal of ongoing research. Generally, sity of Kansas. Following agreement from in many STEM fields, faculty members the departmental Chair, the Dean are granted teaching release for their first granted permission for a one-semester semester in order to set up their research course release for each early-career fac- laboratory and this is a highly recom- ulty member. This release was imple- mended practice. Teaching release may mented across several years in order to also be applied in cases of pregnancy and allow for full coverage of courses. The other family emergencies- and again, this outcome of this approach was the fund- policy is not only wise, but may be critical ing of two NSF CAREER awards, a PE- for the health of the individuals involved. CASE award, and three additional NSF

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research awards. Together, these suc- proach that worked quite well at the Uni- cesses also directly benefitted students at versity of Kansas when I arrived in 2003 the University of Kansas since grant re- was a series of introductory receptions sources were ultimately used to support for new faculty. These involved a number undergraduate and graduate research in of units on campus such as the Chancel- faculty labs. Thus, when short-term in- lor’s Office, the Provost’s Office, the Kan- vestments are made to enhance time for sas University Center for Research, En- research among promising early-career dowment, International Studies, a variety faculty, the outcomes can be dramatic, of centers, and Athletics. They included long-term, and beneficial to all constitu- many different venues and styles, such as ents involved. an informal buffet lunch, an evening re- 2. Opportunities for networking ception with drinks and appetizers, as among early-career faculty to enhance re- well as a tailgate party and tickets to a search collaborations football game. These receptions tended to The arrival of new faculty members be well done, informal, and facilitated (at all ranks) brings a multitude of new faculty interactions by having new mem- talent and expertise to a university cam- bers introduce themselves and provide a pus each year. In many cases, new faculty description of their scholarship/research. arrive with knowledge of the newest Then time was allotted for new faculty challenges and approaches in their re- members to meet each other and to dis- spective fields, as many had previously cuss their research in a social setting. By been focused on research and scholar- the time this series of receptions was ship. Oftentimes, early-career faculty are completed at the end of the first year, eager to develop close networks with most new faculty members knew each other colleagues that may be in different, other well, and some had even begun to yet complimentary fields. This may facil- collaborate on research projects. There itate the formation of large multi-discipli- were also many lasting collaborations nary teams that will eventually be highly that initially developed from these recep- competitive for large grants. Develop- tions and that persist to the present day, ment of these networks can be particu- and these groups often recall that it was larly strong within new cohorts since all simply a few “get-togethers” that al- are adjusting to new positions at a new lowed them to compile such highly pro- university, which presents a number of ductive teams. challenges that are best shared and dis- Most likely, these receptions were in- cussed. In addition, these early-career itially meant as simply an informal wel- networks can last many decades, and coming tool, although in the end these strong networks within cohorts can facil- produced some very notable outcomes. itate retention of faculty over the long- I will expand on some of my own ex- term. periences with early networking as a re- There are relatively simple, yet sult of these events. At several receptions, highly effective, approaches that can be it became clear that a number of new fac- implemented to facilitate networking ulty (at both early- and mid-career within new faculty cohorts. One ap- stages) had strong expertise in climate change research. This ranged from areas

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involving geology, biology, and the social their own departmental and lab environ- sciences. In response to this, the new fac- ments. ulty quickly organized as a team within 3. Engagement with the university the first two years to acquire funding through strategic service from the W. M. Keck Foundation for de- Service expectations typically com- velopment of a stable isotope facility that prise 20% of early-career appointments at is required for climate change research in research-oriented universities. At the na- a number of fields. It is important to note tional and international levels, service by that since hiring is usually done at the de- early-career faculty can be quite prestig- partmental and/or college level, it may ious and should be encouraged, particu- not be obvious that new faculty from dif- larly when it involves serving on grant ferent academic units will be complimen- panels, STEM education reform, editor- tary. ships, and planning national meetings or Thus these events are critical to allow symposia. Along with this, service is re- for the organic organization of highly ef- quired at the university level, and I will fective multidisciplinary research teams. mainly focus on those types of service I firmly believe that the successful Keck commitments here. proposal would not have materialized if Within departments, there tends to these new faculty receptions had not oc- be a movement towards minimizing curred. In addition, I have written two hours spent conducting service for early- separate grant proposals with faculty col- career faculty, mainly because this allows leagues outside of my department whom for greater time for teaching and develop- I met at these receptions. A number of my ment of research programs. I strongly other colleagues have built similar collab- agree with this practice, as the demands orative projects following these early in- on early-career faculty can be over- teractions as well. In my view, this is a whelming, and teaching and research very simple and inexpensive approach to productivity will be more heavily scruti- enhancing multi-disciplinary collabora- nized when tenure decisions are being tions beginning at the early stages of a made. Thus, it is critical that for the ser- faculty member’s career. This likely vice component that does exist, it should worked because these receptions allowed be carefully selected by/for the early-ca- natural bonds to build between faculty reer faculty member such that these ef- members rather than forcing these inter- forts are of value to both the university, actions, and faculty discovered that they and the faculty member alike. In several did not have to look outside of the uni- cases that I have observed at the Univer- versity to find the collaborative expertise sity of Kansas and a number of other uni- that they needed for their research. Fur- versities, early-career faculty were placed thermore, faculty members in their first in service commitments that were not year tend to be more open to considering particularly important to the faculty collaborations with other colleagues, and member, or to the university for that mat- quite frankly, this is a time when faculty ter. Such service committees tend to be are more likely to attend university func- characterized by ineffective leadership, tions before becoming more isolated in unproductive meetings, and few tangible outcomes. Although these were most

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likely honest attempts to “protect” the working with senior faculty members at early-career faculty member from “exces- the University of Kansas through univer- sive” service, this may place the faculty sity service commitments. member in a position to develop poor In addition, I was able to gain men- leadership skills through example, may tors at the highest faculty ranks (e.g., dis- prevent potential access to senior faculty tinguished professors) as a result of serv- and administrative leaders, and may re- ing on university committees. In a num- sult in early-career faculty members de- ber of cases, these distinguished faculty valuing the role of service on a university members guided me to make better campus. Furthermore, when service re- choices in my professional development, sides only at the departmental level, the and were effective at helping me to more university loses the potential for new per- effectively manage my time. I am in- spectives from its early-career faculty at debted to the mentors that I met through higher levels. Thus, I would argue that university service for helping me to be- service commitments need to be selected come a better faculty member and to be carefully for all faculty, but especially for more highly engaged within the adminis- early-career faculty members who have trative structure of my university. Such limited time to devote to these endeavors, interactions also facilitated my involve- yet have the highest potential to benefit ment in the University of Kansas C- from them. CHANGE IGERT program that was During my pre-tenure years, I was sponsored by NSF (PI: Joane Nagel) and engaged in numerous university commit- that allowed me to gain a multi-discipli- tees that began with my election to the nary perspective on climate change is- University Athletics Committee, and that sues through inclusion of the social sci- grew to university strategic planning for ences. All of these benefits were attained research, trustee for the Kansas Univer- from having been active in authentic ser- sity Center for Research, and a number of vice roles at my university at a relatively Dean and Director search committees. In early stage, and these have benefitted me looking back, I likely overcommitted my to the present day. time to university service, although I 4. Internal recognition for achieve- would never trade this experience due to ments made at early-career stages the benefits it provided me. First, I be- Early-career faculty are often highly came more effective at national service in anxious about the prospects of gaining my own field following service on these tenure, and this occurs among the most university committees. This was particu- successful of STEM faculty in my experi- larly obvious to me as I chaired the Fron- ence. I would argue that too much energy tiers of Science Program for the Japan- is expended at this stage in worrying American Program (Kavli fellow) and about tenure, and this is counter-produc- helped to plan the Arab-American Fron- tive for making progress in teaching and tiers of Science program. These programs research, especially in uncertain times. require a high level of sensitivity in work- This is also not beneficial to the health of ing with people from different cultures, the individual or the families involved. as well as a high level of organizational skills, and I acquired these skills while

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To help rectify this problem, early- Along with excellent mentoring at career faculty require excellent senior fac- the departmental level, the university can ulty mentors, and these mentors need to also provide mechanisms for recognizing be clear if deficiencies exist that may outstanding achievements made at early- block the candidate from gaining tenure. career stages among its faculty. For exam- The mentor should then work with the ple, endowed chairs at the pre-tenure early-career faculty member to overcome stage may be highly beneficial for retain- these deficiencies as soon as possible. On ing faculty through enhanced resources the other hand, when early-career faculty for salary and research, and may serve to are thriving, and are clearly on a trajec- elevate the confidence of such faculty tory to gain tenure, it is imperative that members as future university leaders. faculty mentors convey this information Such endowments may also allow early- to the candidate as well. There tends to be career faculty to get to know their donor a culture within many departments that in some cases, and these individuals may is hesitant to recognize achievements serve as additional mentors and sources made at the early-career ranks. Perhaps of support for the early-career faculty this is because there are concerns that member. In addition, early-career faculty positive feedback in early stages of the members should be considered for uni- pre-tenure period could eventually be versity teaching and research awards, used against the university if tenure is and their major accomplishments should not granted. However, one needs to real- be highlighted in media releases made by ize that competition at the national level the university when appropriate. Over- for gaining grants and for getting re- all, this allows the early-career faculty search published in top-tier journals far member to recognize that they are valued exceeds the challenge of acquiring tenure within the university, particularly when at most universities when considering the external pressures at the national level for success rates of each (although these fac- research funding are possibly more in- tors are obviously not independent of tense than they have ever been. This may each other). also allow a university to retain their best As a result, the combination of exces- early-career faculty, and this is absolutely sive pressure while competing at the na- critical during uncertain times. tional level, matched with lack of positive In conclusion, I have laid out a num- feedback at the departmental level, can ber of practical solutions (some obvious, have severe negative consequences on maybe some not so obvious) that may be the physical and mental health of early- highly beneficial for enhancing the suc- career faculty. I therefore recommend cess of early-career faculty in STEM that department chairs as well as senior fields. If I have achieved my goal, readers faculty mentors be clear and fair at both who are early-career faculty should be ends of the spectrum by alerting early-ca- shaking their heads in agreement that reer faculty when tenure is truly in jeop- these represent at least some of the major ardy, while simultaneously recognizing issues (and solutions) that confront them. the achievements of those that are likely I also hope that I may have reacquainted to attain tenure and that are excelling in readers that have not been in the early- the pre-tenure period. career stages for some time with some of

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the challenges that they experienced in the success of future cohorts of STEM fac- the past, and introduced them to some ulty at research institutions in the United new areas of concern and strategies for States. overcoming these concerns. My greatest hope is that this article will promote in- References Alberts B, Kirschner MW, Tilghman S, Var- creased dialogue among administrators mus H. 2014. Rescuing US biomedical re- and faculty at a variety of career stages search from its systemic flaws. Proceed- concerning the challenges that confront ings of the National Academy of Sciences early-career faculty in order to enhance 111: 5773-5777.

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37 Years an Academic Scientist

Christopher M. Sorensen, Courtelyou-Rust University Distinguished Professor, University Distinguished Teaching Scholar, Kansas State University

he basis for this brief paper is my 20 minute presentation at the Merrill Ad- vanced Studies Center conference “Planning for Future Research in Public Uni- T versities in Uncertain Times” that was held July 16 – 18, 2014 in Nebraska City, Nebraska. These are uncertain times; indeed, aren’t they all? As Heraclitus observed “one does not step into the same river twice.” Change is time itself, and as such, we should embrace it; we should use it. How can we use these uncertain times to our advantage? I think that by being more prepared for change, we gain an advantage over our rivals. To be prepared for change we must learn from the past and plan accordingly for the future. That is my purpose here. I began my career as an academic sci- Looking at summaries (abstracts) from entist in August 1977, 37 years ago. I be- those early grants one immediately sees gan as a tenure track assistant professor the lack of Intellectual Merit and Broader of physics at Kansas State University. As Impacts categories now mandated by the a professor, one has two major missions, NSF. One might say that back when I teaching and research. Added to these is started my career, NSF only cared about a smaller service component. In this pa- intellectual merit, and it was assumed the per I will use my experience as an aca- reader was smart enough to find that in demic scientific researcher to gain a per- the abstract without a category. I guess spective of the state of academic research they saw it like I saw it in the 50’s, that is, today and how we got to where we are. good science was enough, the rest, The majority of my first grants were broader impacts, would follow. Indeed, it funded by the NSF. This is consistent was the National Science Foundation, with the fact that I trained to be a scien- wasn’t it? tist, not an engineer or applied scientist. My most recent grant funded by NSF Looking further back, I trained to be a sci- (2013) has the Intellectual Merit and entist because I grew up in the 50’s, only Broader Impacts categories. Without a few decades after the revolutions in these categories explicitly included, physics, quantum mechanics and relativ- grants are returned without review (re- ity theory. My junior-high mind clearly gardless of the scientific quality). Read- saw that scientists, driven by simple curi- ing the summary reveals more differ- osity, could revolutionize not only our ences. My early summaries only talked world view but lay the foundation of about the science and its implications for modern technological wonders as well. science. The most recent grant summary 166

discusses global climate change (the re- one in eight probability of funding is search will study light scattering by aero- quite desperate. This problem is not lim- sol particles), integrating research with ited to astronomers; it’s endemic teaching, a summer workshop for teen throughout the sciences. However, as- women, involvement of undergraduates tronomers, like all scientists, I believe, are in research, an upper level undergradu- resilient, as indicated by their collective ate course on light scattering, talks at response to this dire situation. They sub- high schools, mentorship of ACS Project mitted grants three times more often! SEED students, and writing of a mono- My own funding success rate tells a graph on light scattering. Whew! Tell me similar story. My NSF Fastlane site shows again, how many hours are there in a that I’m successful on about 15% of my

Figure 1. Funding success rate and number of proposals submitted for NSF astronomy programs since 1990. [1]

day? So the point is that in 1978 I pro- grant requests over the past few years. posed to do good science while in 2013 How did I respond? I wrote more grants. I proposed to do good science and a It’s good to have a solution in hand, whole bunch of other stuff too. writing more grants, but writing more A well-known change that has oc- grants takes time away from the reason curred through my years is the proba- why we write the grants, doing more sci- bility of getting a grant funded. As ence. I also think that preparing to do all above, I will use NSF as an example. the outreach and teaching activities gets Figure 1 is from a recent article in Sci- in the way of the science. Half of my job ence [1]. It shows the funding success (and my passion) is teaching and I really rate for astronomers over the past quar- don’t need NSF to insist I pay attention to ter century has steadily declined from it. 48% in 1990 to 15% in 2013, a drop of The universal decline in science over a factor of three. That is a drastic funding leads to the irony that we all owe fall off and anyone would agree that a our prosperity and our health prospects 167

to advances in the sciences. NIH Director trends and buzzwords, the ins and Francis Collins stated in recent testimony outs of the funding agencies. to Congress, “Our nation has never wit- Through my 37 years there has been nessed a time of greater promise for ad- an unmistakable trend for research to be vances in medicine.” Yet NIH’s budget performed in collaborations. I see this as for fiscal year 2014 (FY14) is 11.7% below part of a more general trend for group ac- the FY04 peak [2]. I write this article at a tivities. For example, we now identify desk top computer with orders of magni- peer instruction as a viable teaching tude more power than the mainframe method and encourage our students to computer that I used for my first scien- work on their homework in groups (So tific researches as an undergraduate at much for the rugged individual). The the University of Nebraska in the late other undeniable trend is for interdisci- 60’s; a computer that occupied a large plinary or multidisciplinary research. room. We all know this but many of us Funding agencies and others claim that don’t seem to recognize that if this pros- modern problems are too complex for a perity is to continue we must support the single investigator or a single discipline (I sciences as much as ever. guess we long for the good ol’ days when So what do we academic scientists problems were simple and straightfor- do in this dire situation? How can our ward). So, like it or not, we find ourselves universities help us win the grants to aspiring to win big grants for lots of keep our researches going? money involving many researchers. I Let me itemize things that are either have led a handful of such grant efforts necessary or would be very helpful for and with those experiences, I can itemize single or few investigator grants: things that are either necessary or would • Solid infrastructure is the foundation. be very helpful for multi-investigator I need a plethora of diagnostic equip- grants: ment that are too expensive and re- • A coordinator from the pre-awards of- quire too much expertise to run and fice who knows all the ins and outs of money to maintain by a single investi- organizing and constructing large gator. Things like electron micro- multi-investigator grants. This person scopes, XPS and X-ray diffraction. It is advises the group during grant con- the university’s role to provide these struction, works alongside the PI, and devices, man them with expert opera- perhaps more than anyone reads the tors and provide for their continued RFP! maintenance. • A secretary for the PI during construc- • The university should also have in tion. The PI no doubt has his or her place outreach connections across a own research and teaching responsi- wide range of venues such as K-12 bilities that cannot be neglected. schools, community colleges, minority • As for single investigator grants (and institutions, civic groups, museums, perhaps even more needed) outreach etc. in place: K-12 schools, community col- • It would be very useful to have readers leges, minority institutions, civic to read drafts of our grants and give groups, museums, etc. In addition, big advice. Readers who know the current grants typically stress diverse student

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recruitment and connections to minor- collaborative group is smaller than the ity institutions. scope of the RFP. This leads to the collab- • Solid infrastructure is the foundation. orative group “beating the bushes” to • A technical writer. The PI and CoPIs find other researchers who might add to will write the science, the technical and complete the team to fit the RFP writer will make sure it is communi- scope. Beating the bushes is much easier cated very well. if the university has a detailed database • Readers who know the current trends. of the research interests and capabilities Perhaps people who have served on of the faculty. And such a database war- previous review panels. Much like all rants a bullet. universities have congressional liai- • A detailed data base of the research in- sons they should also have funding terests and capabilities of the faculty. agency liaisons. These are not lobby- Collaborations might not exist to sat- ists. Rather they are liaisons in the tru- isfy the objectives of a particular RFP, yet est sense: people who foment mutu- the objectives could well align to partial ally beneficial interactions by knowing extents with a variety of faculty. Thus it the needs of both parties very well. would seem wise if the university could • Institutional Assessment ability. Very anticipate RFPs. This can be done by often major grants propose novel pro- looking at previous calls for proposals grams to advance science, teaching or and the programs that stimulated them. outreach. Such programs need assess- For example, NSF has for years funded ment to determine their efficacy. Materials Research Science and Engineer- • Administration for big grants. Once ing Centers (MRSEC). It would be wise to the grant is awarded (oh happy day!) plan ahead of the next RFP by assembling it must be managed. The scientists a group of researchers who might con- want to be in the lab doing the science, tribute to a MRSEC. Led by senior faculty I assume, so managers need to be a research agenda could be outlined. found to run the non-science part of Then a crucial step would be to gain a sig- the grant. nificant record of collaborative previous • Last but not least, a record of collabo- work. Such work needs to be funded and rative previous work. the university should fund it with seed Although I list it last, a record of col- moneys. These moneys would pay for laborative previous work is the first re- students, for the entire degree cycle, ma- quirement to improve the chance of suc- terials and supplies and some travel. cess. How is such a record acquired? Cer- Such a seed grant is an essential invest- tainly research collaborations are born, ment a university must make if it is to one way or another, all the time. Some- compete effectively for major grants. times such collaborations fit the request Thus I add another bullet. for proposals (RFPs) and those collabora- • Seed grants to gain a record of collab- tions can adapt to the RFP and submit a orative previous work must be sup- viable proposal. Most of the time, how- plied by the university. ever, the fit is imperfect and adjustments Another use of seed money is to pre- need to be made in research direction. pare a failed but worthy major grant re- Even more often, with major RFPs, the

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quest for the next opportunity for fund- something more. We can produce “clas- ing. We all know that to win grants one ses” that would have general appeal to must often try and try again. Use the re- the public. These could be Nova-like pro- viewer’s criticisms, address them with ductions on science, or interesting more research to support a hypothesis or presentations in the arts or humanities. develop a technique. And the university These presentations, either singly or as a should make the investment to do this. series (a class), would be available on line for a price. This is much different than the Who should fund our work? many MOOC style classes available for A growing funding source is the pri- free on the internet. We would be selling vate sector. Corporate entities based on intellectual entertainment, not technology need research to create new knowledge nor degrees. and competitive products. However, From the societal or governmental there are many cultural differences be- point of view, I propose the future should tween the corporate and academic heed the past. Most academics know very worlds that need to be overcome or dealt well the prescience of Vannevar Bush with. These differences are not insur- who wrote “Science the Endless Frontier”, a mountable if a philosophy of mutual ben- letter to the president [3] that laid the efit is kept in mind. This is a huge and de- foundation for the NSF and set the tone tailed topic that I know only a little about for other government funding agencies. so I will stop here. Bush foresaw that curiosity based science I think universities should plan to was both part of human nature and the support their own research by proper necessary foundation for technical ad- management of the intellectual property vances. Academic science has thrived for (IP) their faculty produces. This appears nearly 70 years as a result. Although to be a growing realization but still awak- funding from such agencies is getting ening. Younger professors are much more difficult, as described above, the more aware of IP than I was 37 years ago, agencies are not going away yet. Hence and so am I! We need to ensure that pro- the federal government will still be a sig- duction of IP is seen as valuable to the ac- nificant source of academic research ademic world and an indication of schol- funding, especially following the advice arly success when evaluating faculty for above. tenure and promotion. We also need to We must also recognize we are not as have active research offices that continue powerless in influencing the federal to encourage the production of IP as well budget and the public perception of aca- as publications from the faculty. These re- demic research as some of us seem to search offices also need to develop strate- think. In a recent editorial in Science [2] gies for help faculty produce more IP and John Edward Porter, a former U.S. con- how to effective license it once produced. gressman and chair of Research!America Most generally, IP has to become part of argued that “we must convince the public the culture of the university. and our representatives that cutting re- A novel idea is to use our teaching search is not a pathway to deficit reduc- abilities to create capital. Yes, I know, tion; it is a pathway to increased health that’s been called tuition, but I mean

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threats, lost lives, and economic insecu- for candidates or create and serve on sci- rity”. And yet, Porter points out “there ence advisory committees. has been little outreach by scientists to Finally, I believe we should not for- the public to help them understand how get that we have the opportunity to pro- science contributes to better health, job foundly influence the future every class creation, and global competitiveness.” day by teaching the value of science to Furthermore he writes “Scientists remain our students. By letting them know that largely invisible to the public” we not only teach but do research as well. You would think professional teach- By being good and reasonable people to ers (which we academics are the other win their respect and thus ensure our ar- 100% of our time) would be terrific at guments gain efficacy. What we do in the communicating these important mes- classroom might not have an effect over- sages to the public. Well maybe we are, night, but it will certainly change the fu- but we rarely try. Let’s try. ture. We can try, Porter suggests, by writing op-eds and letters to the editor of lo- References [1] J. Mervis, Just one proposal per year, cal newspapers about the latest scientific please, NSF tells astronomers, Science 344, breakthroughs and their implications for 1328, 20 June 2014. society. We can volunteer to speak at lo- [2] J. E. Porter, Science 344, 1207, 13 June cal organizations, chambers of com- 2014. merce, junior high and high schools [3] V. Bush, Science the Endless Frontier, a about our work or the latest discoveries. July 1945 report to the president, United We could offer to be a scientific advisor States Government Printing Office, Wash- ington: 1945.

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RETREAT PARTICIPANTS 2014

Keynote Speaker Sally Frost Mason, President, University of Iowa Iowa State University Sarah Nusser, Vice President for Research Chitra Rajan, Associate Vice President for Research Baskar Ganapathysubramanian, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering Emily Smith, Associate Professor, Chemistry Kansas State University Karen Burg, Vice President for Research Ruth Dyer, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs John F. Leslie, University Distinguished Professor and Head, Plant Pathology Chris Sorensen, Courtelyou-Rust University Distinguished Professor, University Distinguished Teaching Scholar The University of Kansas Bernadette Gray-Little, Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Mabel Rice, Fred and Virginia Merrill Distinguished Professor of Advanced Studies; Director, Merrill Advanced Studies Center Danny Anderson, Dean, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences; Professor of Spanish Richard Barohn, Vice Chancellor for Research, KUMC Jonathan Brumberg, Assistant Professor, Speech-Language-Hearing John Colombo, Director, Life Span Institute Douglas Girod, Executive Vice Chancellor, KUMC Joseph Heppert, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Mary Lee Hummert, Interim Vice Chancellor for Research Julie Nagel, Executive Director of Corporate Partnership Sara Rosen, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Robert Simari, Executive Dean, KU School of Medicine Deb Teeter, University Director, Office of Institutional Research and Planning Joy Ward, Associate Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Missouri Henry C. Foley, Senior Vice Chancellor for Research & Graduate Studies – MU; Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs – UM System Brian L. Foster, Provost Emeritus, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology Michele Kennett, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research Mark McIntosh, Professor and Chair, Molecular Microbiology & Immunology; Director, Research Core Facilities University of Nebraska-Lincoln Harvey Perlman, Chancellor Shannon Bartelt-Hunt, Associate Professor, Civil Engineering Kurt Preston, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Prem S. Paul, Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development

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Notes

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