Research and Scholarship

Research awards in FY16 were $35.8 million, down from a high of $42.8 million in FY15 (which included several multi-million grants), but higher than the previous four years. While the number of proposals submitted declined from FY15 (286) to FY16 (266), the number of awards increased over the same period by 21 percent. Highly-competitive “early career” awards from prestigious federal agency programs have increased sharply. The Stevens Venture Center was launched to nurture innovation and entrepreneurship of faculty and students. Revenue generated from Stevens IP increased 243 percent YoY, and the number of patents issued increased in FY16.


Goal R1

Deploy policies that further empower and enable our faculty to innovate and conduct high quality research, produce high impact research publications, and develop and experiment with promising new teaching and learning approaches.

OWNERS: PROVOST GEORGE KORFIATIS, VICE PRESIDENT LOUIS MAYER, AND FACULTY SENATE (YEAR 4) PROVOST CHRISTOPHE PIERRE, VICE PRESIDENT LOUIS MAYER, AND FACULTY SENATE  (YEAR 5)

Policy changes and incentives introduced in Year 3 (i.e., tuition remission for post-Master’s degree Ph.D. students to support research faculty, accelerate time-to-graduation for Ph.D. candidates, and increase the number of graduating Ph.D. students per T/TT faculty; restructured Ignition Grant Initiative) were implemented.   The preliminary assessment of the impact of these initiatives is positive. 

In addition, the Stevens Venture Center was established to encourage and incentivize innovation and invention by faculty and graduate students.  

Year 5: Continue to analyze impact of recent policy changes and incentives or the need for additional changes.  Emphasize the recruitment of new tenure-stream faculty members who will demonstrably augment Stevens’ research impact and who could serve as catalysts or leaders in a particular research field, and develop and implement initiatives to recruit and support high-quality Ph.D. students who contribute fundamentally to faculty members’ research programs.


Goal R2

Stevens will design and construct an Innovation & Design Laboratory.

OWNERS: PROVOST GEORGE KORFIATIS AND VICE PRESIDENT ROBERT MAFFIA (YEAR 4) PROVOST CHRISTOPHE PIERRE AND VICE PRESIDENT ROBERT MAFFIA (YEAR 5)

The short-term implementation plan for the IDEaS (Innovation, Design and Entrepreneurship at Stevens) program is underway, enriching and streamlining the innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) elements of the curriculum and their integration with the design spine.  The PROOF Lab (PROtotype Object Fabrication), equipped with customized fabrication facilities capable of rapid, state-of-the-art 3D printing, laser cutting, machining and composites manufacturing, is fully operational in the Carnegie building with community wide access through an online interface. The 3D printer loaner program kicked off to students in select classes in Fall 2016.  Revisions have been made to senior innovation courses to leverage and strengthen the freshman experience. Full-scale and concurrent implementation of the senior innovation and capstone design courses started in AY15-16 with 140 project teams competing towards the final pitch competition at the Innovation Expo. The IDEaS program began centrally coordinating design spine course delivery. The corporate-sponsored senior design program has been expanded. The IDEaS program is working with the Stevens Venture Center (SVC) to provide access to various extra-curricular events (e.g., Hackathons, opportunities to practice pitching) to sophomores and juniors to fill in the I&E curriculum gaps. The undergraduate minor in entrepreneurship is being promoted Stevens-wide through study plan templates and advising. 

In addition, the ABS Engineering Center opened in Fall 2016, with modern facilities, including five laboratories, for interdisciplinary design, testing, collaboration and innovation by students and faculty.

Year 5: The freshman entrepreneurial thinking course will be rolled out in phases to computer science and other non-engineering programs. Begin activities to meet the long-term objective of reviewing and modernizing the design spine curriculum elements; kick off pilot initiatives.   


Goal R3 (Revised)

Externally-supported annual research awards will increase from $25.6M in 2012 to $45M in 2017 and $66.5M in 2022.

OWNER: PROVOST GEORGE KORFIATIS (YEAR 4) PROVOST CHRISTOPHE PIERRE (YEAR 5)

Research awards in FY16 were $35.8 million, down from a high of $42.8 million in FY15 (which included several multi-million grants), but higher than the previous four years.  While the number of proposals submitted declined from FY15 (286) to FY16 (266), the number of awards increased over the same period by 21 percent.

FY11

FY12

FY13

FY14

FY15

FY16

Number of proposals

266

285

283

303

286

266

Number of awards

95

100

93

111

89

108

Total value of proposals

$119M

$146M

$134M

$172M

$149M

$113M

Total value of awards

$30.4M

$25.6

$31.0M

$30.8

$42.8M

$38.8M

Highly-competitive awards from prestigious federal agency programs have increased sharply:

Sponsor

FY12

FY13

FY14

FY15

FY16

Increase from FY12 to FY16

NSF

$3.3M

$4.1M

$3.8M

$8.4M

$8.5M

157%

NIH

$1.4M

$2.6M

$0.9M

$1.1M

$2.7M

88%

CAREER+R01+YPIA

$0.55M

$2.2M

$2.6M

-

$4.4M

698%

A number of critical research support initiatives have been implemented to enhance the foundation of research, innovation, and entrepreneurship at Stevens. 

Year 5: The FY17 goal for research awards is $37 million.  In addition to recently-introduced programs, a number of new initiatives to increase research productivity and value of research awards secured have been planned and implemented to support faculty in meeting this goal.  


Goal R4 (Revised)

The annual ratio of graduating Ph.D. students per T/TT faculty member will be at least 0.6 by 2022 from the 2011 baseline of 0.38 for those programs that offer Ph.D. degrees.

OWNER: PROVOST GEORGE KORFIATIS (YEAR 4) PROVOST CHRISTOPHE PIERRE (YEAR 5)

The number of Ph.D. degrees awarded per T/TT faculty in programs that offer Ph.D. degrees was .35 in AY15-16, compared to .46 in AY14-15.

Year 5: Develop a plan to increase Ph.D. student enrollment and retention, and decrease time-to-degree. 

PhD Degrees per TTT Instructional Faculty Member


Goal R5

Stevens will have at least 6 designated national research centers from the current baseline of 3 in 2012.

OWNER: PROVOST GEORGE KORFIATIS (YEAR 4) PROVOST CHRISTOPHE PIERRE (YEAR 5)

Efforts continue to build the capability to position Stevens for competitive, large-scale national research centers: the Institute for Cognitive Networking (iCON); the Center for Distributed Quantum Computing and the Center for Dynamic Data Analysis.

Year 5: Continue efforts to establish national research centers, including a Stevens ARDEC Research and Development Institute (SARDI), in addition to those above.


Goal R6

A significant percentage of Stevens T/TT faculty will be serving in prestigious service positions, e.g., on national advisory boards, editorial boards and in positions of leadership within academic and industry associations.

OWNER: PROVOST GEORGE KORFIATIS (YEAR 4) PROVOST CHRISTOPHE PIERRE (YEAR 5)

Good baseline data for the number and corresponding percentage of faculty serving in prestigious service positions is not available; however, among the full-time (tenure-stream and non-tenure stream) faculty more than 90 serve on the editorial boards of one or more archival journals. In addition, 63 participate or hold office in various professional societies at the national, regional, or local levels; assist with governance or professional programs and conferences; and/or serve on review panels for funding agencies, accrediting bodies, or federal/state/city commissions.  More than 50 percent of full time faculty members serve in such roles.

Year 5: Create a systematic method to track faculty engagement in prestigious service positions, and intensify efforts to encourage and recognize those faculty who are named to such posts.   


Goal R7

We will conduct a review of the incentives and policies that would advance the engagement of faculty and students in entrepreneurial activities, including liberalizing our intellectual property (IP) policy.

OWNER: PROVOST GEORGE KORFIATIS (YEAR 4) PROVOST CHRISTOPHE PIERRE (YEAR 5)

The Stevens Venture Center was launched in Spring 2016, with representation from faculty and student teams.  Total revenue generated from Stevens IP increased 243 percent over FY15. The number of patent disclosures and patent applications filed decreased from FY15 to FY16, while the number of patents issued increased in FY16.

IP Licensing / Program Revenues - 5 Year Summary

 

FY 2012

FY 2013

FY 2014

FY 2015

FY 2016

IP Revenue

$1,000

$98,000

$8,000

$113,000

$388,000

Program Revenue

$450,000

$309,000

$334,000

$0

0

Total Revenue

$451,000

$407,000

$342,000

$113,000

$388,000

Patents Disclosed, Issued, and Filed

 

FY 2014

FY 2015

FY 2016

Patent Disclosures

49

66

57

Patent Applications Filed

23

19

15

Patents Issued

6

8

13

Year 5: Increase selectivity of invention disclosures recommended for filing.  Continue to convert most disclosures to provisional patent applications, and require significant evidence of commercial potential prior to conversion to full utility patent applications.  This change is expected to increase potential revenue from licensing while keeping costs constant. Expand collaboration with venture funds to increase the number of funded companies that license Stevens IP.


Goal R8

We will achieve an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship on campus that includes innovators and entrepreneurs who see the value of associating themselves with Stevens.

OWNER: PROVOST GEORGE KORFIATIS (YEAR 4) PROVOST CHRISTOPHE PIERRE (YEAR 5)

The Stevens’ incubator, referred to as the Stevens Venture Center, opened in January 2016 in the Pearson Building, a Class A office tower in Hoboken.  A diverse set of programming has been launched to develop and nurture an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship, including hackathons, a “start-up weekend,” recruitment of “Entrepreneurs-in-Residence” who have hosted workshops for companies located at the SVC; the Scholl Lecture Series for Visiting Entrepreneurs, participation in and hosting of Hoboken-based entrepreneurial activities, the submission of an NSF I-Corp proposal, and others.   

Year 5: Expand to more than 10 teams/companies by Spring 2017.  Recruit additional Entrepreneurs-in-Residence to add diversity in subject areas covered by mentors.  Establish three verticals, wherein an external source funds development of teams in specific subject areas aligned with Stevens' research strengths.