Research Advisory Council

Meeting Minutes

November 2, 2016

FDP update: Faculty workload survey (handout):

Federal Demonstration Partnership Faculty Work Survey Report-Dave Reed & Larry Sutter

The FDP 2012 Faculty Survey Research Report Supplement for Michigan Technological University (Institution L07) was shared with the council at the May 2016 meeting. The data have been reviewed, (by the appointed advisory council sub-committee), and the group would like to conduct an in-house survey of our faculty. They would like to determine which administrative duties faculty were referencing in their answers to the FDP survey. Once the results are compiled and reviewed, a meeting or luncheon would be held to discuss the findings, and brainstorm for resolutions. An increase in administrative support at the departmental level, and within the research centers and institutes, would greatly enhance faculty research productivity, and project time management. The Sponsored Programs staff has been providing support and training opportunities to principal investigators (PI’s), via meetings and the web, however participation has been limited. A new method needs to be implemented. Currently, some electronic signature processes are being developed which will assist with this issue. It was also noted the we had a wider distribution of answers, which varied among our participants, but the survey did not provide enough detail to determine if it was source related, or a local resource related burden. As an institution, we have provided a lot of support to relieve the burden. It was clarified, that while the tasks are not complicated, the volume and time management of the tasks can be overwhelming at times. The was a consensus that a designated administrative person for faculty members would be the key to a successful resolution, as the PI would need to work closely to ensure their project management effective to ensure successful grants. The main issue is lack of funding for such a culture, as faculty feel their budgets need to be economical to be competitive, thus administrative support is not requested. The recent changes in federal guidelines allow for this support, so proposals contained the budget line, and would grow the administrative support sector, but they did not add additional funds for this activity. We need to change the culture on campus, as federal program directors focus on the science content, and would provide some flexibility in the budget.

The on-campus survey will be conducted in the early part of the winter semester.

Grant Deadline Changes:

Sponsored Programs Office (SPO) has been discussing the possibility of implementing a staggered deadlines for proposal submissions. This would allow the PI’s to fine tune their scientific content up to a deadline closer to the agency deadline. If this occurs, it was suggested that the SPO staff clearly communicate which parts of the proposal they thoroughly analyze, and which parts are the PI’s sole responsibility. Discussion of moving the budget and justification deadline allow the opportunity to work on technical content longer, strengthening the scientific merit of the proposal. Discussions are on-going and the council will be updated as this progresses. A pilot program would be developed and rolled-out prior to a final change being implemented.

2017 Research Excellence Fund (REF) Internal Award Process Changes (handout):

Due to the implementation of the Portage Health Foundation research award process, the REF program was recently analyzed to ensure consistency between the internal funding opportunities. The program guidelines will be clarified on the web page, and there are also three modifications for the next proposal cycle (see handout for specific details).

Early Career Management Committees (ECM) (handouts):

The 2016-2017 ECM program was successful. The ECM committee was very encouraged by the results, and will continue to develop this program. The RAC will be updated as the program evolves. Council members were encouraged to share the November 10, 2016 Michigan Tech Research Forum TechTalks event information (see handout) with their departments and to encourage participation in the upcoming TechTalks events.

Council Action: Due to a lack of time remaining in the meeting, the Faculty Fellow Experience Report and the FDP Meeting Report were tabled until the next meeting. The Board of Trustees Report was provided to the council and if there are questions, the council was encouraged to contact the Vice President for Research (Dave Reed or Cathy Jenich).

All handouts are also available in the shared RAC Google drive folder. Contact Cathy Jenich if you experience any accessibility issues.