RESEARCH COORDINATING COUNCIL

Memorandum 141

March 28, 2002

Members Present: Sean Anderson, Curtis Anderson, John Bennion, Alok Bhushan, Phil Blick, Steve Byers, Deb Easterly, Nancy Griffin for Kay Flowers, Dianne Horrocks (presiding), Terry Livingston, Pamela Park, Rosemary Smith, Dennis Stowe, Jane Strickland, Doug Wells, Brian Williams, Dan Wolfley

Members Absent/Excused: Larry Ford, Frank Harmon, Edwin House, Richard Inouye, Skip Lohse, Subbaram Naidu, Kris Robinson, Beth Stamm, Keith Weber, Paul Zelus

Ms. Horrocks declared a quorum was present.

I. It was MSC (13y,0n) to approve Memorandum #140 with the following corrections:

Under reports, item II.B., change the second sentence to “Dr. House said that would be done.” Change the first sentence in item II.C. to read “Dr. Anderson said the Calls for Proposals and Symposium Abstracts are out.” Under Council Business, change the third sentence under item A. to read “Dr. Bennion reported that only one person has been holding the biological and physical science position since 1992.”

II. A. Faculty Research Committee – Dr. Bennion reported that the committee will meet again on March 4. Four faculty members were selected as Outstanding Researchers—Dr. Richard Inouye, Dr. Ken Rodnick, Dr. Charles Petersen, and Dr. J. B. Owens. The committee will select the Distinguished Researcher on April 1. Research proposals are due April 8. The committee will meet on April 22 to discuss the proposals and will make the awards on

April 29.

B. Graduate Student Research and Scholarship Committee – Terry Livingston reported that 26 research proposals and six dissemination proposals were submitted.

C. Undergraduate Research Committee – Dr. Anderson reported that research and travel proposals are due April 9, and awards will be made April 16. The Undergraduate Research Symposium will be held April 4 in the Pond Student Union Ballroom. It will begin at 1 p.m. with Dr. Lai as the keynote speaker. There are 38 posters with 54 student authors this year, the largest group yet. There is a wide diversity of participating departments including biology, chemistry, pharmacy, business, sociology, and economics. These presentations will be held from 2-4 p.m.

D. Humanities/Social Sciences Research Committee – Ms. Horrocks reported that there was no new business to report for the Humanities/Social Science Research Committee.

E. University Research Committee – Ms. Horrocks reported that proposals are due April 1 and this committee will meet late in April to discuss proposals and make awards.

F. Federal Relations – Ms. Horrocks reported that Dr. Ford and Dr. House met with the Congressional staff regarding ISU’s federal initiatives. Out of 23 original proposals, 13 went forward. Some proposals were merged, so 16 were consolidated into 13. Ms. Horrocks shared the federal initiative booklet with the Council. She relayed Dr. House’s message that those proposals not forwarded were good ideas, but either did not fit an appropriation category or the University had a higher priority in another area. The initiatives forwarded totaled about $35 million.

G. Ms. Horrocks reminded the Council the banquet honoring the Outstanding Researchers will be held March 29.

H. The Council members each received a copy of Dr. Woodhouse’s report for his Release Time to Seek External Funding award. He has written and submitted a proposal to the Health Resources and Services Administration for $584,114.00 plus indirect costs over three years. Notification of results is expected in September.

I. Other – There were no other reports..

III. Council Business

A. Library Concerns – This item was deferred until the next meeting because Kay Flowers could not be present.

B. Increase in Allocation to the Graduate Student Research and Scholarship Committee – Terry Livingston explained to the Council that proposals are ranked from 0-24 points and funds are allocated according to the number of points received. The maximum award is $1,000. This committee would like to see more proposals receive funding. Ms. Horrocks informed the Council that the Graduate Student Research and Scholarship Committee would receive a $4,000 increase in funds due to an increase in funding from NSF EPSCoR (National Science Foundation Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research). In the past few years, this committee has been allocated $21,000 annually—approximately half from NSF EPSCoR with a match from Dr. House’s research budget. Ms. Horrocks also relayed information from Dr. House that the budgets for the University Research Committee and Faculty Research Committee (about $80,000 each) will be reduced by 10% next year, so the Graduate Student Research and Scholarship Committee is fortunate to have increased funding in a year when most budgets are being reduced. Dr. Strickland suggested that this committee could pursue external funding. Ms. Horrocks offered the services of her office to assist with this effort. Terry Livingston said she would take the information back to the Graduate Student Research and Scholarship Committee for discussion.

C. Dr. Anderson spoke to the Council regarding the changes in the UgRC Guidelines for Proposals. He informed the Council that the changes came about primarily because the committee awards two different types of proposals--research proposals and travel proposals and there were several editorial changes. One Council member asked whether matching funds were considered on the research proposals since there was no line for it on the research proposal budget page but there was one on the travel proposal budget page. Dr. Anderson said this was a good point. Ms. Horrocks suggested a statement regarding matching funds be put in the narrative, perhaps somewhere on page 3. Another Council member mentioned the scoring might need to be modified, specifically how the matched funds would affect the scoring. It was MSC (13y, 0n) to approve the changes put forward in the UgRC Guidelines for Proposals with one addition--on page 2, item C.1.a. in the first sentence, delete “that is competitively awarded”. Dr. Anderson will take the issue of matching funds back to the committee for clarification and bring that information to the next meeting.

D. Other – No other council business was conducted.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:40 p.m.