May 15, 2014

Date of Meeting: 

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Members present:  Carolyn Colvin, Peterson Maina, Scott Bounds, Edward Gillan, Jane Gilotti, Alberto Segre, George Hospodarsky, Gary Gussin, Patricia Gillette, Miriam Landsman, Robert Ketterer, and Barbara Eckstein

Others in Attendance: Dan Reed, Cheryl Reardon, Colin Gordon, Linda Snetselaar, and Bob Kirby

Item 1: Approval of Minutes from April 2, 2014

Minutes were reviewed and approved

Item 2: Remarks from Vice President for Research, Dan Reed

VP Reed thanked the Research Council members for attending and thanked Carolyn Colvin for her service as Chair of the Research Council for the 2013-2014 year.  VP Reed indicated that he plans to take the suggested revisions to the Research Misconduct Policy by the Research Council subcommittee to the next President’s Cabinet Meeting for review.

Updates from VP Reed:

  • Mobile Museum – There has been a phenomenal state-wide response as shown by the number of bookings and the number of visitors to tour the museum since its debut

  • Research Facts – research expenditures are up 5%.  The University of Iowa is up in both private and corporate funding.  The number of agencies funding research at UI is increasing as well.  The overall number of proposals and awards have increased.  There has been an increase in both gross and inflation-adjusted dollars awarded to UI as well.

  • Ideation Summits – Thus far, there have been two ideation meetings, the first focusing on senior faculty, the second on junior faculty.  Five themes have come forward as a result:  Smart Communities, Human Biome, Digital Lives, Adaptive Education, and Intelligent Biological Sensors.  The most positive aspect of the ideation meetings has been faculty meeting one another who hadn’t had the opportunity to meet before.  OVPR would like to pursue more events like this in the future.

  • Faculty Fellows – David Gier from the School of Music has been recently appointed as OVPR’s third Faculty Fellow.

  • Economic Development Restructuring – UI Ventures (startups) and UI Partners (small business engagement) have been separated out.  The office has worked with the physics machine shop to create UI Proto Labs for startup activities.

Questions from the Council:

  • Bob Kirby inquired as to the makeup of the ideation teams.

  • Ed Gillan asked about 3D printing.  Dan spoke about the Proto Labs partnership with Ginsburg jewelers, the Physics machine shop, and the College of Engineering 3D printing equipment.

  • Dan spoke about the Innovation Summit which provided researcher awards and celebrated UI licenses and patents

  • Miriam Landsman talked about her role in social work and how she doesn’t necessarily feel like it connects to the research initiatives.  Dan responded by talking about OVPR’s internal funding initiatives and ongoing interaction with faculty and leaders from the humanities.  Internal funding initiatives have been restructured so that faculty can submit three times per year, and submit for larger and more multidisciplinary proposals.  Barbara Eckstein asked whether there is a conversation across colleges about faculty time allocations in these multidisciplinary activities like the Ideation projects.  Dan indicated that the rules can vary between colleges and that the conversation has taken place, but also that nothing concrete has been set regarding the splitting of time for such projects

  • Carolyn asked about how much funding has been set aside for internal funding.  Cheryl Reardon responded that the October deadline would be funded at 300-330 thousand dollars and that the second deadline would be approximately the same.  Overall there should be between 1 and 1.2 million dollars set aside for seed grants

  • Peterson Maina asked about Lewis-Burke and their role with UI research.  Dan responded that Lewis-Burke attend the ideation summits, send information about research opportunities, identify opportunities for UI Faculty to sit on federal advisory boards, provide general updates on the federal research landscape, and introduce UI Faculty to research agencies.  Cheryl also pointed out that the UI Researcher Portal has regular updates from Lewis-Burke

Item 3: Colin Gordon - Carnegie Engagement Application

Colin brought the council up to date on the application, indicating the amount of work that went into it and that it has been submitted.  Colin keyed on the application process and the level of engagement from faculty and students to accomplish the submission.  Cheryl Reardon asked about other Iowa schools that have the designation.  Colin responded that UNI, ISU, and Loras all have it.  All CIC institutions also have the designation with the exception of Iowa, Nebraska, and the University of Chicago.  SUI had not applied before and since the initial offering, the application process has changed significantly.  All current designees will have to reapply at the new threshold.  Gary Gussin encouraged Colin and the Provost Office to engage emeritus faculty with the concern that their representation may not show up in assessments.

Item 4: Updates from the Office of the Provost - Linda Snetselaar, Associate Provost for Outreach and Engagement
  • Linda spoke about the Four Pillars, Student Success, Knowledge and Practice, New Frontiers in the Arts, and Better Futures for Iowans.  Project will connect UI Faculty and community partners
  • Linda spoke about the Iowa initiative for sustainable communities.  These are service learning projects focused on helping Iowa communities.  Examples include projects like the Muscatine Riverfront Development program and Maquoketa Art Projects.  Requests for proposals were sent around the state.  Applications included things that communities indicated they would like to do in conjunction with the University of Iowa.  Chosen applications include Sioux City (working with medical students who want to work with schools and hospitals in their home communities), Storm Lake (community health centers)
  • Other initiatives include theme semesters for students, working with resource conservation regions throughout the state, Lunch & Learns in Des Moines, and Play, Food for Thought

Questions from the Council:

  • Miriam asked about community assessment with regard to how much faculty is already working in a given community.  Linda replied that faculty do often work in communities around Iowa and that often, projects can dovetail with each other.  Linda would like the OVPR to look for ways to connect the interdisciplinary faculty for NIH and other federal applications
  • Bob Kirby asked what he can be doing differently for classes to help the assessment for the Carnegie designation.  Colin replied that we need to reconfigure the web presence for engaged work, a searchable version of cross campus APR, electronic CVs, etc…  Generally we need to increase the electronic availability and make it easier to search
  • Barb Eckstein asked how we can help students across different disciplines understand what service learning is and why it is important.  This would help to develop a climate for faculty to service learning courses that would fill.  Linda replied that they should promote the great things that happen when students are involved in learning opportunities and internships.  Dan spoke to the importance of engagement.  Peterson Maina touched on expanding beyond Iowans.  Linda noted that international students and projects are a big part of UI’s engagement and outreach and that she would like to see the proliferation of an “Iowa Model”