Minutes - Oct 13, 2009

Date of Meeting: 

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

9:00-10:00pm -- 201 GILH

Council members present:

Jordan Cohen, Laura Dallas, John Doershuk, Carin Green, Kenneth Hubel, Johna Leddy, Cheryl Reardon, Catherine Ringen, Paul Romitti, Alberto Segre, Linda Snetselaar

Guests:

Richard Hichwa, Associate Vice President for Research, Jay Semel, Associate Vice President for Research, James Walker, Associate Vice President for Research

Chair Linda Snetselaar called the meeting to order at 9:10am. The majority of the meeting was spent discussing possible topics for Research Council. Possible agenda items include Centers and Institutes, Communication, Diversity in Research, research computing, and Research Council membership.

Agenda Item 1: Centers and Institutes

Fundamental questions regarding Centers/Institutes:

  • What is the definition of a Center? (Collegiate Center vs. Departmental Center)
  • How can we identify existing Centers? VPR will develop a preliminary list.
  • What is the approval process for creating a center?
  • What happens if the funding dries up?
  • How often is effort being duplicated between UI centers? Between centers at other State Institutions?
  • What are the strategic plans for each center?
  • Sub-committees to address this broad topic?

Agenda Item 2: Communications

Need for more effective communication methods as the volume of messages, especially regarding research compliance, is increasing.

Cheryl Reardon described the "Research Portal," a system currently under development that will replace mass-emails as the primary mechanism to communicate with faculty and research staff on campus. Targeted communications will go directly to an individuals "portal," similar to Self-Service.

The system is expected to be more interactive and configurable as it matures. In future, it could link with grant accounting and allow investigators to view project expenditures. Focus groups are currently meeting to review the system. Council members are welcome to join.

Cheryl and Linda to develop framework for this conversation. Portal is only one aspect of this larger issue.

Agenda Item 3: Diversity in Research

Richard Hichwa discussed the need for a virtual entity or integrated program for diversity in research. There are several groups on campus that oversee diversity, but none that specifically addresses diversity in research.

Better research compliance: some research programs have a required diversity component, such as the T32 training program. Currently, it can be difficult to show changes in the diversity of a research program.

Agenda Item 4: Other Topics

Research computing

ARRA funds: Trying to fund a data center for research to allow for large amounts of data storage, computational storage, high-speed networking to import and extract data.

Implications for recruiting/ hiring. A centralized center would decrease an investigators research costs and energy costs.

Strategic taskforce on research

Cheryl Reardon noted that the taskforce is currently gathering community input through open forums and questionnaires. They are trying to narrow research issues down to 5 - 10 specific areas that the University should focus on. The committee report is due in mid December.

Research coun​cil membership (COM representation)

Hold until strategic plan is developed.

Other possible topics

Sub-committee for publication waivers is needed for this academic year.

Responsible conduct of research training for graduate students

Meeting adjourned at 10:15am.