leadership « The Spin on Research

The Research Office and the Office for Commercialization & Corporate Development gave their new Faculty Industry Partnering award to Brian Paul, professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, co-director of the Microproducts Breakthrough Institute, and seminal member of Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI).

Paul has been recognized for achieving extraordinarily high impact innovations through research collaborations with industry.

The award recognizes excellence by Oregon State research faculty, and will be announced during each University Day at the start of the academic year.

Please view the on-line “Prezi” presentation with more details about Dr. Paul’s contributions and career.

Note: The Faculty Senate posts information about nominations and criteria for this award and and the Faculty Innovator Award

In the final scene of the movie “Thelma and Louise,” the two main characters intentionally drive their convertible at high speed off a cliff in the desert.

The scene is proving iconic for the pending action associated with the Budget Control Act that Congress passed, and the President signed, over a year ago. We know that action as “sequestration.”

In short, because of real and growing concerns over the increasing debt of our federal government, our representatives in Congress laid out a series of control measures which, if not adopted by choice, would result in an automatic budget reduction of between 8.2% and 9.4% (for non-defense and defense discretionary budgets, respectively) on 2 January 2013. The action of sequestration was intentionally designed to be so aggressive and unpalatable that Congress would take more measured and reasonable approaches (presumably in the form of increasing revenue and decreasing spending, in some combination) well before that deadline.

Well, for a variety of reasons, including a contentious and highly charged series of election campaigns, that more measured solution didn’t transpire.

Speeding toward the cliff

Smart people are working to find a meaningful and implementable solution. This cannot simply be “voted down.” The fiscal problems are real (to paraphrase former Senator Everett Dirksen, “a debt of $1.2T is real money”). But the realists also recognize that trying to solve this problem with a draconian cut would be like losing 8.2% of your body weight through decapitation: not a sustainable solution.

My own belief is that Congress and the President, through a mixture of deferrals and compromises on spending/revenue generation, will soften the blow of the immediate FY13 crisis (but I kid you not, there will still be a blow), while buying time to develop a more sustainable solution that won’t cripple the current economic recovery

. . . kinda like throwing a detour in front of Thelma and Louise.

For folks like us, working in a predominantly federally funded research environment (roughly 70% of our university research revenue comes from agencies in Washington) this means we WILL have to make significant adjustments We have estimated that, unmitigated, these prescribed cuts will translate to an initial single-year hit of $15M to OSU’s research portfolio (plus an additional $2M to other programs).

Rest assured, at President Ray’s request, the Research Office and the Office of Government Relations are trying hard to determine what the impacts of such adjustments might mean. The problem is that nobody in DC is sharing much information about how each agency may choose to make their cuts.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released their ‘guidance’ for these cuts, at the request of Congress, last month (OMB Report Pursuant to the Sequestration Transparency Act of 2012 (P. L. 112–155)): 394 pages of Excel spreadsheet wizardry, revealing nothing more than what appeared to be a “peanut-buttered” distribution of cuts at the previously indicated 8.2% and 9.4% level.

What will happen?

There are, however, many rumors about how such cuts might be doled out. Having worked in four different federal agencies myself (and having had five separate trips to DC in just a couple of months, recently), I am willing to guess about how this might play out. I suspect those agencies that employ scientists in their own labs (DOE, Navy, NIH, EPA, USGS, etc.) will protect these “in-house” assets, at the expense of some of the extramural activities – meaning even larger cuts to competitive research programs. I also believe that agencies will try to soften the immediate blows to academic programs by simply deferring or delaying upcoming competitions, rather than rescinding actively funded programs. And I think we will see agencies trying to make surgical cuts to pare down to the bone those research projects that they still must continue to support, through efforts such as increasing matching requests, or perhaps even imposing salary caps (as some agencies already do). Let’s hope they don’t prescribe really dumb solutions, like reducing support for graduate students.

The real question: What can we do ?

The short answer is to develop as many options as possible. Start looking at your existing grants and prioritizing your expenses. Start thinking about alternative funding sources. The University’s success in growing our industry support for research (up by 42% in two years) is not an accident. If you haven’t thought about this route, let’s start talking, since there might be private sector funding out there to help accommodate reductions in federal support. Let us know if there are foundations that you want to try working with. The OSU Foundation has had some success in getting these kinds of resources to faculty on campus. Discuss this issue with your peers, your students and your academic unit, and with us in the Research Office.

We have a lot of very clever researchers at OSU. We’re going to have to apply some of the same creativity we use in our research to resolve this issue.

And, as a final thought, remember that this doesn’t go away.

Even if we soften the blow of the FY13 consequences, we still have another 10 years of budget reduction work at hand. The challenge is to find a smooth downhill off-ramp for Thelma and Louise.

Thank You

Rick Spinrad, Vice President for Research

Your comments to this posting are welcome.

The Research Office and the Office for Commercialization & Corporate Development have created two awards recognizing excellence by Oregon State research faculty. The recipients for 2012 were announced at University Day in September.

The Faculty Innovator Award celebrates impact through engagement in commercialization partnerships, recognizing a faculty member whose extraordinarily high impact innovations from research are translated into transformative results that help promote economic development and social progress.

This year it was awarded posthumously to Richard Peterson, who passed away in February.

Dr. Peterson was arominent national expert in heat transfer, thermodynamics and combustion, and a leading researcher in miniature and microscale energy systems. He was a professor of mechanical engineering.

“Rich was a prolific inventor whose research will have a profound impact on lives well into the future. He submitted 34 invention disclosures in the past 15 years. Rich really believed in the potential impact his discoveries could have on millions of lives.”

Brian Wall
Director of the Office for Commercialization and Corporate Development

A resolution by the Board of Directors of the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI) noted Dr. Peterson’s leadership as one of the core founders and as co-director of the Microproducts Breakthrough Institute, and President, CTO, and co-founder of ONAMI Gap Company Applied Exergy. His many creative contributions to development of technology, included advances in grid energy storage.

Please view an on-line presentation with more details about Dr. Peterson’s career and about the criteria for the annual award.

“Rich was fiercely independent but passionate about his research making a positive impact. He also cared deeply about teaching and leaves behind a legacy of engineers who will continue making impact. He will be sorely missed.”

Brian Paul
Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering,
Director of the Microproducts Breakthrough Institute

Our research funding success (as reported in the recent media release) is a tribute, of course, to the brilliant, dedicated work of all in our research enterprise. I congratulate faculty, technicians, support staff, administrative units, post-docs, and students. In addition to the big-picture data that gains public attention are the back-door stories.

Increased funding means increased administrative tasks. In the Research Office, we have been working diligently to decrease the burden of red tape and paperwork on researchers. The new Cayuse electronic system for submission of proposals was an important move toward fewer human errors and greater efficiency. It also has involved learning curves for many. I thank Pat Hawk and her Office of Sponsored Programs staff for their flexibility, patience, and training efforts, keeping up with their amazing services while – mid-air – converting to a new system. We also appreciate all the faculty who have stepped outside their comfort zone to try that new system. We are celebrating that Cayuse indeed is galloping forward to make proposal processing easier for PIs. We greatly appreciate Eric Anundson, Cindy Rasberry, Kim Reese, Lin Reilly, Aedra Reynolds, Dawn Wagner, and Vickie Watkins (and, until recently, Laurel Neidigh).

Another story related to funding is our growing success in partnering with industry. We anticipate great results through innovative strategies being established by Ron Adams. Brian Wall and his Office for Commercialization and Corporate Development staff have steadily upped the pace of commercialization, licensing, and new business development. We have created new positions and recruited fantastic colleagues to support increasing opportunities to bring the benefit of research out to the public. Credit goes to Mitch Abrams, Shirley Chow, Kirt Fuller, Jianbo Hu, Mary Phillips, Denis Sather, Ann Schmierer, Susan Tillitt, and Berry Treat (and, until recently, Dan Whitaker).

The Office of Research Integrity plays an important role in our success. While we still seek a new director, Rich Holdren has been leading the efforts of the talented and smart people who help us ensure compliance with regulations, so our research progress is unencumbered. The team includes Kevin Buch, Stephen Durkee, Susan Glowacz, Jillian Grant, Helen Diggs, Lisa Leventhal, Candi Loeb, Mary Samuel, and Nicole Wolf.

Our Incentive Programs make the difference in moving many OSU projects forward. Across campus, work has been enhanced because Rich Holdren and Debbie Delmore make it possible to provide significant internal funding for general purposes, release time, equipment, and undergraduate projects. They also coordinate our university’s opportunities for limited-submission programs.

As director of Post Doctoral Programs, and liaison between the Graduate School and the Research Office, Barb Bond has been innovative in supporting researchers who are too-often unheralded. For one thing, the new Post-Doc organization will help strengthen the contributions of that important group.

I am well-aware that I could not keep up the front-line work without the many and varied services of our central staff. Please join me in thanking Tracy Elmshaeuser, Stephen Hotard, Deb Walker and Jana Zvibleman (and until recently, Erika Fleck) for their accomplishments. We all have also enjoyed help from some of Oregon State’s finest students.

“Space, the New Frontier!”

- Helen Diggs’ quip about the common challenge the Research Office shares with many across campus

While Research Office has bid farewell to a few members of our team this year, we have had a net increase in staff to carry the load, and so we’ve been knocking our elbows against the Kerr walls. The need for more office space to accommodate our new members has resulted – so far – in a temporary fix. That’s why, to find some of us, you’ll be coming to the 4th floor of Snell; others have shifted to different locations on the 3rd floor of Kerr. It is a priority that the services of the Research Office remain easily accessible to the campus community – stay tuned to hear of the better, long-term solution (i.e., where we’ll unpack our boxes).

Again I thank all in our research community for your perseverance and for your successes. We can all take pride in how, together, we are working to enhance health, the environment, and the economy – that’s still our news.
Thank You

Rick Spinrad, Vice President for Research

Please see oregonstate.edu/research/contacts for photos of staff and more information about the Research Office services.

Your comments to this posting are welcome.

Behind the Media Release

Our research funding success as reported in the press release [[url xxx]] is a tribute, of course, to the brilliant, dedicatedwork of all in our research enterprise.I congratulated faculty,technicians, support staff, administrative units, post-docs, and students. In addition to the big-picture data that gains public attention, there are stories “under the hood.”

Increased funding means increased administrative tasks. In the Research Office, wehave been working diligently to decrease the burden of red tape and paperwork on researchers. The new Cayuse electronic system for submission of proposals was an important move toward fewer human errors and greater efficiency. It also has involved learning curves for many. I thank Pat Hawk and her Office of Sponsored Programs staff for their flexibility, patience, and training efforts, keeping up with their amazing services while- mid-air- converting to a new system. We also appreciate all the faculty who have stepped outside their comfort zone to try that new system. We are celebrating that Cayuse indeed is galloping forward to make proposal processing easier for PIs. We greatly appreciate Eric Anundson, Cindy Rasberry, Lin Reilly, Aedra Reynolds, Dawn Wagner,and Vickie Watkins (and, until recently, Laurel Neidigh).

Another story related to funding is our growing success in partnering with industry. We anticipate great results innovative strategies being commandeered by Ron Adams. Brian Wall and his Office for Commercialization and Corporate Development staff have steadily upped the pace of commercialization, licensing, and new business development.We have created new positions and recruited fantastic colleagues to support increasing opportunities to bring the benefit of research out to the public. Credit goes to Mitchell Abrams, Shirley Chow, Kurt Fuller, Jianbo Hu, Mary Foley Phillips, Denis Sather, Ann Schmierer,Susan Tillitt, andBerry Treat (and, until recently, Dan Whitaker).

The Office of Research Integrity plays an important role in oursuccess. While we still seek a new director, Rich Holdren has been leading the efforts of the talented and smart people who help us ensure compliance with regulations, so our research progress is unencumbered. The talented team includes Kevin Buch, Stephen Durkee, Susan Glowacz, Jillian Grant, Lisa Leventhal, Candi Loeb, Mary Samuel, and Nicole Wolf.

Our Incentive Programs make the difference in moving many OSU projects forward. Across campus, work has been enhanced because Rich Holdren and Debbie Delmore make it possible to provide significant internal funding for general purposes, release time, equipment, and undergraduate projects. They alsocoordinate our university’s opportunities for limited-submission programs.

As director of Post Doctoral Programs, and liaison between the Graduate School and the Research Office, Barb Bond has been innovative in supporting researchers who are too-often un-heralded. For one thing, the new Post-Doc organization willhelp strengthen the contributions of that important group.

I am well-aware that I could not keep up the front-line work without the many and varied services of our central staff. Please join me in thanking Tracy Elmshaeuser, Stephen Hotard,Deb Walker and Jana Zvibleman (and until recently, Erika Fleck) for their accomplishments.

“Space, the new frontier!”

- Helen Diggs’ quip about the common challenge the Research Officeshares with many across campus

While Research Officehas bid farewell to a few members of our team this year, we have had a net increase in staff to carry the load, and so we’ve been knocking our elbows against the Kerr walls.The need for more office space to accommodate our new members has resulted – so far – in a temporary fix. That’s why, to find some of us,you’ll be coming to the 4^th floor of Snell while others have shifted to different locations on the 3^rdfloor of Kerr. It is a priority that the services of the RO remain easily accessible to the campus community – stay tuned to hear of thebetter, long-term solution (i.e., where we’ll unpack our boxes).

Thank You

Again I thank all in the RO research community for your perseverance and for your successes. We can all take pride in how, together, we are working to enhance health, the environment, and the economy– that’s still our news.

Please see http://oregonstate.edu/research/contacts for photos and more information about the Research Office staff and services.

With my mentor, ADM James D. Watkins 2010

I promised myself years ago that when my mentor, Admiral James D. Watkins, passed away, wherever I was, whatever I was doing, I would make arrangements to go to his funeral.

And now it happened. So I jumped on a red-eye flight back to Washington, DC and attended the funeral ceremony. It was a beautiful service, in one of the largest Catholic churches in the country. It was attended by Senators, Cabinet Members, military, clergy, and many “just plain” people.

He was a highly decorated Naval officer, and a devoutly religious man. Maybe it was that mixture that gave him the special perspective that I as a younger man found so instructive.

Here are some of the lessons I learned from my mentor:

“Get out in front of your skis”

Sometimes it’s best to be a little uncomfortable. Sometimes you just need to move from where you are.

“Don’t look over your shoulder”

If you’re not sure whether you’ve got the backing of your team, then you probably need to build a better team. If you’re going the wrong way, they’ll jump in front of you to force a new direction.

“Do your homework, then put it away”

The value is in learning the lesson, not in showing everyone what you know. Build on the knowledge, don’t celebrate it.

“You can build an argument, but you have to earn support”

Collecting evidence to make your case is the easy part. The tough job is selling the case and making it important to others.

There are many other lessons that I learned from my mentor, and each one is remarkable in its breadth of relevance. I can apply those lessons to my work and my life. Every researcher should be so lucky as to have a mentor like mine.

Rick Spinrad, VP for Research

Please enter the conversation! We appreciate your comments to issues raised in this post and others on the Spin on Research blog.

“AN ACT Donating Public Lands
to the several States and Territories
which may provide Colleges
for the Benefit of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts.”
– First Morrill Act, 1862

It’s not a usual day when one gets to hear Bill Gates plus two Cabinet Secretaries, yet I was so privileged at the convocation of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) in Washington, DC in late June. The event was a celebration of the Morrill Act of 1862, the enabling legislation for the concept of Land Grant institutions.

I listened carefully throughout the day for hints at the speakers’ perspectives on - what else? – research.

Mr. Gates was quite enthusiastic in his advocacy of extending higher education to broader audiences via – no surprise – technology. He loves that universities already are putting courses on line for hundreds of thousands of students – a first wave of future capabilities. He intimated that such use of technology begs the need for more advances in managing educational content, delivery and assessment. I sat proudly thinking about how OSU is right where we should be on this wave, reaching out to the far corners of the state and the world, and developing better ways to do so.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack made an impassioned plea: when you think of agriculture, think beyond food. Think, for instance, textiles. Think biofuels. I appreciated his broadened perspective, which got Dean Arp (sitting next to me at the session) and me thinking about emerging OSU leadership in the intersection of ag sciences and material sciences. In both fields, OSU researchers already hold positions of preeminence.

The presence of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan helped remind me that our researchers are superlative not only in their fields of study, but also in inspiring and training the next generations of researchers – and how that also is integral to our land-grant commitment.

One of my favorite presentations emphasized the role of Land Grant universities in building and sustaining our national strengths in physical sciences and engineering. Dr. Chuck Vest, President of the National Academy of Engineering, and past President of MIT, really inspired me to think about our strengths in these areas here at OSU.

The APLU convocation was a great confirmation of what so many of us here know: Land Grant Universities are a linchpin in the technological progress and leadership of our nation. And they have been for a century and a half. Our challenge is to continue to build on that legacy. I imagine our descendants celebrating the Morrill Act with the same enthusiasm at the tercentennial in the year 2162!

Rick Spinrad, Vice President for Research

Work & Life Children & Career Academia & Family

“I heard about the workshops with a researcher about work-life balance. I didn’t have time to go, of course – I’m too overwhelmed. Did she have a solution?”

Dr. Rachel Connelly visited campus in May bearing tips for parents in academia – particularly for women. Co-author of the book Professor Mommy: Finding Work-Family Balance in Academia (Rowman & Littlefield), she presented research and international examples of the problems– and strategies to address them.

She also offered personal stories from raising four children while succeeding as a professor of economics and of gender studies. “Having achieved tenure, I feel the obligation to give back,” she said. “There are things that individual women can do to adapt, but we also need to change the institutions.”

In workshops for students, post-docs, faculty and staff, and a lecture open to the public, Connelly addressed feelings such as guilt (“for not doing more in mothering / for not doing more in teaching and research”) , offered reassurance (“ it gets better”) and got down to practical tips – for work as well as home life.

Here are her ten on-the-job tips for academic researchers (For full explanations, refer to her publications)

1. Figure out when your best research time is and use it for research.

2. Always have a plan for the day and one for the month

3. Don’t prepare for teaching until the last possible moment.

4. Go to conferences every year even if you don’t have something new to present

5. If you really don’t like your position, go find a new one. This can be inside the university or at another institution

6. Apply for grants even if you don’t think you will get them

7. Don’t be afraid to take on a new branch of research.

8. If you know you are going to have to do some committee work, try to insure that it is work you want to do.

9. Don’t answer every email immediately

10. Think of ways that will make you happier with your teaching.

Connelly’s area of research is at the intersection of demographics and labor markets. She has published articles on the effect of broad demographic trends on the labor market decisions and on the economics of child care.

Connelly’s visit was hosted by the President’s Commission on the Status of Women, as part of the President’s Lecture Series.

For those who did not have time to attend, here are resources:

Article: Chronicle of Higher Education, July 2011 http://chronicle.com/article/Professor-Mom-Finding/128306/

Book: Professor Mommy http://www.amazon.com/Professor-Mommy-Finding-Work-Family-Academia/dp/1442208589
Website with Excerpts; Review of Book; and Blog: http://profmommy.com

President’s Commission on the Status of Women, Oregon State University http://oregonstate.edu/leadership/pcosw/

- Jana Zvibleman

Sitting on the University’s Promotion and Tenure Committee is one of the most important roles that I can fulfill as VP for Research. Most tenure/tenure track faculty appointments include a percentage of time dedicated to research activities. The measures of performance in research are varied, and their relationship to scholarly productivity proves to be an important focus of discussion.

It doesn’t take long before some challenging questions emerge from individual curriculum vitae:

How much effort should be focused on hypothesis-driven research, versus more service-oriented productivity?
What constitutes a legitimate proportion of attention to “high-impact” journals?
How should one represent one’s contribution to publication activity (e.g. first authorship)?
Is there a best balance of students and post-docs?
How do we weigh the respective merits of intellectual property development (e.g. patent disclosures) to peer-reviewed publication?
What is the “community ” standard for rates of publication within a given discipline?

As an oceanographer, I bring my own “community” biases to the discussion of research impact. For example, I’ll look at a publication in Nature (with its high impact factor) much differently from one in, say, Journal of Geophysical Research. I also know what it means to have served as a Chief Scientist on a major research cruise, but I may not know what an equivalent activity might be in another field. Those are metrics that may not be part of the culture in, say, plant pathology. You should know the culture of your field. If you don’t, speak with your mentors, ask your peers. It is to your benefit to understand early in your career how you will be judged within your field so that you can reach your aspirations.

This year, alone, the P&T Committee read through nearly 10,000 pages of dossiers, and spent hundreds of cumulative hours in review, discussion and consideration. And that doesn’t count the time and effort put in by the candidates, faculty committees, administrators and staff! The time-honored traditions of P&T merit this investment, an investment that pays off to guide the careers of our university’s educators, researchers, administrators and service providers.

So, as we close out another academic year, let me be one of the first to congratulate those who’ve been promoted and/or attained tenure. Your accomplishments are noteworthy and significant. It’s a pleasure to recognize your success!

Rick Spinrad

Vice President for Research

Comments to this blog are welcome! From the main “Spin” page, select “comment” below, and “Leave a Reply.” From this individual post, simply “Leave a Reply” in the field provided.

Recognizing the growing importance of research that addresses complex societal challenges, we know that innovative integrative approaches to the research process itself are required. At the same time, many sponsors have been emphasizing projects requiring interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary teams.

To succeed in an increasingly competitive funding environment, most major research institutions have invested in capacity for “research development”* – many have thus dramatically increased their research proposal success and revenue.

OSU’s Strategic Plan and supporting Research Agenda already lay out a broad vision for expanding the research enterprise and achieving international recognition. Last year an OSU task force led by Cherri Pancake studied best practices at other institutions and the background of and capacity for collaborative research at OSU. The group, including participants from six colleges and the Research Office, met throughout the year to develop recommendations for our research development, focusing on strategic support for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research and proposals.

The resulting strategy is a complement and can jump-start our implementation efforts. It is broad-based, for researchers at all levels. While I know that resourcing this strategy will be a challenge, many of the recommendations are immediately “actionable” with our existing resources, and there was excellent thought put into phasing for long-term success.

With appreciation for the fruitful efforts of the task force members (named at end of this blog post), I am pleased to share below a brief summary.

Facilitate development of large-scale proposals: Establish “strategic criteria” that can assess the institutional importance of particular large-scale proposals and develop a fast-track for expediting large proposals supported by selected and trained clerical staff that could evolve into a “SWAT team” providing proposal management services .

Institutionalize our “lessons learned”: Track OSU’s experience, success rate and lessons learned with medium-to-large group proposals, and make information about funding successes and valuable contacts available to potential proposers.

Position OSU to compete successfully on large-scale opportunities: Adopt mechanisms to bring in faculty who will engage in transdisciplinary activities and create flexible ways to credit/reward researchers participating in large scale proposals. Build relationships with Minority Serving Institutions, private sources and foundations to support these activities.

Foresee and create new opportunities for large-scale research: Identify our “resource people” for foreseeing new opportunities and establish a mechanism for identifying in advance what solicitations for large-scale efforts will be emerging. Proactively “market” our research and cultivate relationships with agencies, foundations, industry, and private donors.

Make interdisciplinary/transdisciplinary research an institutional priority: Make it part of the role and responsibilities of someone at the Research Office to take ownership of the future success of OSU’s interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research proposals. Establish metrics that reflect what is needed to achieve success and track progress toward success.

(Please note that the report does not imply that single investigator and/or single-discipline research are not valued at OSU,especially for less-experienced researchers. Many of the needs identified are also important to individual researchers, and the recommendations would have positive impact on them as well.)

Thanks again to the task force:(CAS) Susan Capalbo, Dan Edge; (CLA) Kathleen Dean Moore; (COAS – now CEOAS) Phil Mote; (COE) Terri Fiez, Cherri Pancake; (COF) Barbara Bond, Jim Johnson; (COS) Aaron Wolf; (Research Office) Pat Hawk

* Research Development encompasses a set of strategic, proactive, catalytic, and capacity-building activities designed to facilitate individual faculty members, teams of researchers, and central research administrations in attracting extramural research funding, creating relationships, and developing and implementing strategies that increase institutional competitiveness.

Research Development professionals initiate and nurture critical partnerships and alliances throughout the institutional research enterprise and between institutions—and with their external stakeholders. With the goal of enabling competitive individual and team research and facilitating research excellence, Research Development professionals build and implement strategic services and collaborative resources that span across disciplinary and administrative barriers within their organizations and beyond.

Research Development includes a broad spectrum of activities that vary by institution, including: funding opportunity identification and targeted dissemination, grant/contract proposal development, budget preparation, forms and submission assistance, research team building, interaction with funding agencies and institutional research administration and leadership, and outreach activities and training.

from National Organization of Research Development Professionals

If you are interested in the full report which includes specific recommendations, please contact the Research Office.
I am very interested in your responses and ideas, whether you are faculty, staff or student – please comment via this blog.

- Rick Spinrad
Vice President for Research

Oregon State University has established a new Center for Latino/Latina Studies and Engagement, and named a prominent faculty member as interim director.

Susana Rivera-Mills, a professor of Spanish and diversity advancement, will direct the new center, known as CL@SE (pronounced claw-SAY), which is designed to meet the research and outreach needs relating to Oregon’s growing Latino population. Rivera-Mills also is the associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts, and has been an active leader on the OSU campus in advancing diversity.

“Research and outreach on issues surrounding the Latino population
affect every discipline at OSU,
and are integral with our university’s strategic areas and our research agenda.”

- Sabah Randhawa, Provost and Executive Vice President

The new center will integrate studies of Latino communities in the United States with analyses of their histories, politics, cultures and societies, officials say. Among the research themes that will be explored are colonialism, race, gender, nationalism, globalism, immigration, economic development, language and identity.

“The center will promote engaged research and outreach
devoted to advancing knowledge and understanding of Latino contributions
and the issues surrounding this population in our state, region and beyond.
I am enthusiastic about the opportunities.
Our action-based agenda will promote
economic, political, physical and educational well-being and development.”

- Susana Rivera-Mills

Rivera-Mills has been on the OSU faculty since 2007, and has mentored Latino students and been involved with the university’s internationalization and transnational efforts, as well as been a leader in student engagement and global learning initiatives. She specializes in Spanish language maintenance and loss, sociolinguistics, and Spanish as a first and second language.

CL@SE will be affiliated with both the OSU Provost’s Office and the Research Office, officials say.

“Our recently developed research agenda emphasizes
relevance, integration, collaboration and leadership.
Its principles support team-based research, student involvement,
partnership with communities, and transdisciplinary research.
CL@SE has at its core all of these principles
and reflects the values of the OSU research community.”

- Richard Spinrad, Vice President for Research

“The advancement of social justice
is among the important things that will be fostered
with Susana’s able leadership.”

- Scott Reed, Vice Provost for University Outreach and Engagement

CL@SE will collaborate with several units on campus, especially the colleges of liberal arts, science and education, and Outreach and Engagement.

The Spin on Research

Updates from the VP & the Research Office

Category Archives: leadership

Industry Partnership Award

Sequestration, Thelma and Louise . . . and Peanut Butter?

Faculty Innovator Award 2012

“Rich was a prolific inventor whose research will have a profound impact on lives well into the future. He submitted 34 invention disclosures in the past 15 years. Rich really believed in the potential impact his discoveries could have on millions of lives.”

“Rich was fiercely independent but passionate about his research making a positive impact. He also cared deeply about teaching and leaves behind a legacy of engineers who will continue making impact. He will be sorely missed.”

Behind the Media Release

“Space, the New Frontier!”