Strategy 3: Advance scientific discovery through transformational research

Target investment and build infrastructure in defined areas of excellence to elevate UI COM’s reputation, increase participation in team science, enhance research trainee experience, derive more benefit from partnerships, improve competitive positioning with funders, promote cross-campus collaboration, and drive innovation and discovery.

Tactic 3a

Reorganize research efforts using the areas of excellence framework. Emerging areas of excellence for consideration include the following: cancer, cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, and neuroscience (including visual sciences and psychiatric disorders). (Includes cross-cutting areas)

    Target Completion Date: Q3 2024

  • Disseminate RFI (Request for Information) to all faculty to better understand current and targeted thematic research areas
  • Analyze above data and assert results
  • Create and submit recommendations based upon analysis
  • Execute upon approved recommendations to establish and demonstrate alignment around research framework

Jalees Rehman, Angela Tyner, Subhash Pandey

Progress

Tactic 3b

Develop comprehensive multi-year workforce plan(s) to address faculty and staff recruitment and productivity.

    Target Completion Date: Q4 2022

  • Quantify a baseline research faculty workforce model by academic unit and/or research theme that can be robustly supported with the existing college resources, and communicate goals to department leadership.
  • Devise and distribute reports to college/departmental leadership on faculty salary compared to competitive market rates.
  • Create a census of early stage investigators and track progress towards externally sponsored research
  • Create standardized reports, including key performance indicators (KPIs), and make available to departmental leadership along with the underlying datasets
  • Determine optimal junior faculty start-up packages based on research and best practices analysis
  • Identify/document potential supplemental funding from central sources (e.g., dedicated gift funds within the Dean’s Office) for additional investment in mid-career research faculty

Nicholas Kane, Gelila Goba, Brian Layden

Progress

Tactic 3c

Establish enabling framework which will enhance the ability to successfully pursue new research partnerships to achieve national and international recognition for scientific excellence in key thematic areas.

    Target Completion Date: Q4 2022

  • Undertake analysis of current policies and procedures and challenges around partnering
  • Establish UI COM thematic-area value-proposition document that articulates what we bring to the table that is marketable and explains why potential partners would want to partner with us
  • Build systems to promote partnership among faculty and engage faculty around external partnering
  • Establish a system for prioritized-partner outreach both nationally and internationally

Maria Siemionov, Orly Lazarow, J.P. Jin, Kamran Avanaki

Progress

Tactic 3d

Promote team science, facilitate cross-campus faculty collaboration, foster faculty development at all levels, and provide training and career development opportunities for the next generation of researchers.

    Target Completion Date: Q4 2024

  • Build critical mass of faculty and resources at all campuses in order to effectively participate in collaboration and recruit toward synergizing
  • Survey faculty at all campuses to understand current barriers (for different levels of faculty); administer focus group with a good sample set of participants from different categories
  • Establish and understand methodology by which individual faculty are rewarded when participating in team science; adjust P&T impacts to align incentives, including awards programs, etc.
  • Build college-wide collaboration webspace around thematic areas; Potentially build database to enable people to understand others with shared interests
  • Determine a plan to break-down barriers across departments and ensure they are less siloed; develop a plan for “sharing”/splitting costs and provide benefits to help people move to these larger team grants

Robin Mermelstein, Marcelo Bento De Mello Soares, Ian Papautsky

Progress

Tactic 3e

Develop infrastructure to promote collaborative research and translational drug discovery/therapeutics, including but not limited to big data science and data management, analytics, equipment, shared services, space usage policies, etc.

    Target Completion Date: Q3 2024

  • Develop programs for incentivizing research collaborations
  • Revise space metrics to recognize collaborative research
  • Identify research infrastructure and equipment needed to support major research areas

Alan Diamond, Lea Smucker, Deepak Shukla
Progress

Tactic 3f

Streamline research processes from discovery to commercial application.

    Target Completion Date: Q1 2022

  • Develop and run regular workshops on IP, company formation, and SBIR/STTR
  • Develop and run regular workshops on funding and commercialization
  • Provide guidelines/information on funding and mechanism for assisting with applications
  • Develop and run regular workshops on business plan preparation and presentation
  • Build webspace with all information and resources needed for commercialization efforts

Bellur Prabhakar, Ramaswamy Kalyanasundaram, Bin He

Progress

Success Metrics

Metric 1 (S3M1):

Number of high-impact studies/publications

DRAFT ONLY

Current Value:

0

Target Value:

0

Metric 2 (S3M2):

Number of research grants award across areas of excellence

DRAFT ONLY

Current Value:

0

Target Value:

0

Metric 3 (S3M3):

Increased participation in clinical trials

DRAFT ONLY

Current Value:

0

Target Value:

0

Metric 4 (S3M4):

% of new license agreements / patents per year

DRAFT ONLY