New initiatives to support a thriving research enterprise are beginning to bear fruit. In Year 2, the number and dollar value of proposals in FY14 exceeded that of FY13, and the value of awards also increased slightly over FY13 to more than $31 million, with current year projects running significantly ahead of the previous years. The $60 million renewal of the Department of Defense-sponsored Systems Engineering Research Center, and three NSF CAREER awards were highlights of Year 2 research efforts. A new IP policy was formulated in Year 2, and adopted in the current year (Year 3). A suite of new programs were introduced to enhance the I&E ecosystem. A review and planned overhaul of the Ph.D. program was initiated with the goal of providing better doctoral student support to research faculty, reducing time to graduation for Ph.D. candidates, and increasing the number of graduating Ph.D. students per T/TT faculty.
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, FACULTY SENATE, AND VICE PRESIDENT LOUIS MAYER
The Office of the Vice Provost for Research has continued to evolve over Year 2 to strengthen Stevens’ research impact. A faculty support center was established to provide pre-award support. The Award Capture Team (ACT) was established to focus on the successful capture of high-value research grants. Two different ignition grant programs were established in order to promote and facilitate multi-PI, multi-million dollar research proposals.Planning for the FY15 budget in Year 2 has resulted in a provision for the return of F&A recovery to academic units and principal investigators based on their success in securing research funding in prior years and to incentivize future research activity.
Year 3: Continue to evaluate and improve the infrastructure and initiatives launched in Year 2 to catalyze multi-faculty, multi-disciplinary, large-scale grants and to increase the success rate of these proposals.
Goal R2
Stevens will design and construct an Innovation & Design Laboratory.
OWNERS: PROVOST GEORGE KORFIATIS AND VICE PRESIDENT ROBERT MAFFIA
A Year 2 priority, planning continues on the Innovation & Design Laboratory (IDL). Known on campus as “the FabLab,” this facility is part of the Academic Gateway Complex, planned to open in Fall 2017. It will contain modern fabrication equipment such as 3-D printing and laser cutting and studio-style design space connected to the existing fabrication facility in the Carnegie Building.
Year 3: Continue to develop the IDL concept.
Goal R3
The externally supported annual research expenditures per tenured and tenure-track (T/TT) STEM faculty will increase to $550,000 by 2022 from a baseline of $340,000 in 2011. Our externally funded annual research expenditures for non-STEM faculty (T/TT) will increase from $100,000 per T/TT in 2011 to $150,000 in 2022.
OWNER: PROVOST GEORGE KORFIATIS
For this Year 2 priority, the externally supported annual research expenditures per tenured and tenure-track (T/TT) faculty was $197,259 this year, down by approximately 10 percent from $216,534 last year. Focus in Year 2 (FY14) has been on increasing the number and dollar value of new proposals submitted, which have increased by 7 percent and 28 percent, respectively. The total amount of research proposals submitted, as measured by proposal dollar value, was $172 million in FY14 compared to $134 million in FY13. Research activity is on an upward trend.
Year 3: Assess the effectiveness of new initiatives and programs, in order to provide increased support to principal investigators with the goal of improving the success rate of proposals submitted.
Goal R4
Stevens will have an annual ratio of graduating Ph.D. students to T/TT faculty of at least 0.6. This represents a growth from the 2012 baseline of 0.4.
OWNER: PROVOST GEORGE KORFIATIS
The ratio declined from 2013-14 from 0.34 to 0.31 in 2013-14 in part due to the number of new, junior faculty joining Stevens. As a rule, new faculty require 4-5 years to become productive in graduating Ph.D. students. In Year 2, a review and planned overhaul of the Ph.D. program was initiated with the goal of providing better doctoral student support to research faculty, reducing time to graduation for Ph.D. candidates, and increasing the number of graduating Ph.D. students per T/TT faculty.
Year 3: Complete overhaul of Ph.D. program; further develop programs to reduce time to graduation and increasing the number of graduating Ph.D. students per T/TT faculty. Assess effectiveness of these efforts.
Goal R5
Stevens will have at least 6 designated national research centers from the current baseline of 3 in 2012.
OWNER: PROVOST GEORGE KORFIATIS
For this Year 2 priority, infrastructure was developed, including an Award Capture Team (ACT), to focus on the successful capture of high-value research grants. Additionally, two different ignition grant programs were established to promote and facilitate multi-PI, multi-million dollar research proposals.
Year 3: Several Center-level proposals are being developed and submitted in Year 3.
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
Limited progress has been made on this goal.
Year 3: Data will collected to evaluate the current service positions of Stevens T/TT faculty and methods for increasing participation with external organizations in this capacity.
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
Innovation and entrepreneurial activities were added into the Faculty Activity Report; a faculty committee was formed to explore the incorporation of I&E criteria into P&T policies/processes; and in Year 2 a new IP Policy was developed (and adopted in Year 3) to provide greater incentives to faculty to create new IP.
Year 3: Continue and enhance the support and programs to incentivize faculty to engage in innovation and entrepreneurship activities.
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
The Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship continued progress on this goal in Year 2 through a series of initiatives including the creation of an I&E mentorship program for all students and faculty wishing to engage in entrepreneurial activities; the launch of the Thomas H. Scholl Lecture Series for visiting entrepreneurs; the establishment of a faculty committee on research and entrepreneurship; the development of an I&E Orientation workshop for new faculty; and the introduction of a senior year innovation course spanning two semesters aimed at introducing engineering students to entrepreneurship. In addition, three Stevens leaders became members of the National Academy of Inventors.
Year 3: Continue to develop programs that enrich the Stevens innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem.