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[Annual Reports Menu] [Report Table of Contents]
Annual Report
on
Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity
at the
University of Michigan
FY2001
Fawwaz T. Ulaby
Vice President for Research
Delivered to the
Regents of the University
January 17, 2002
Full-color PDF version of remarks (9 MB)
PDF version with B&W photos (3 MB)
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Report Table of Contents
- The Impact of UM Research on Society (Video Transcript)
- Summary of Research Expenditures and Awards
- Why Are We Successful?
- The ÒCostÓ of Success
Appendices of Tables and Charts
Table 1: Volume of Research Expenditures by Sponsor
Table 2: Total Research Expenditures by School, College and Other Units
Table 3: Research and Research-Related Community Service and Instructional Support Expenditures by School, College and Other Units
Table 4: Summary of Research Proposals by Sponsor Group
Table 5: Summary of Research Proposals by Unit
Table 6: Summary of Research Awards by Sponsor Group
Table 7: Summary of Research Awards by Unit
III. Why is the University's Research Program So Successful?
The University has a remarkable record of growth in research expenditures over many years, even while the number of faculty has not changed significantly. Why have we enjoyed this level of success? I believe there are four major contributors to our success:
- our interdisciplinary culture;
- our continued support for new and improved research infrastructure,
- our process for responding to new Federal research initiatives, and
- our efforts to nurture new areas of research expertise.
As the first two factors have been the subjects of previous reports by my office and others, I will address them only briefly. I will then address the second two factors in some detail.
A. The University's Interdisciplinary Culture
As I and my predecessors have said many times, Michigan has such a long tradition of promoting interdisciplinary research so that this is now part of our "culture." In addition, interest in collaborative, interdisciplinary research continues to rise Ñ both on campus and nationally. Funding agencies realize that many complex problems facing society in the environmental, biological, and social arenas clearly require a cross-disciplinary, team approach. Recent history teaches us that many of the major breakthroughs occur at the interface between traditional disciplines, and that interdisciplinary work often leads to new frontiers in knowledge and education. The Provost and the Vice President for Research, as well as the Deans, have been committed to nurturing an atmosphere on campus that encourages faculty to work collaboratively and across departmental, school, college and research unit boundaries, and I think this pays off when our faculty seek funding to support their work.
B. Infrastructure Support and Development
Second, we have supported the infrastructure for research at substantial levels, with the contributions coming from all levels of the University Ñ from the departments, the schools and colleges, and the central administration. For FY2001, the UM spent $98 million of its own funds Ñ 16.6% of our total research expenditures Ñ to assist in the creation of new facilities (such as the Life Sciences Institute, to name one prominent example), to upgrade existing laboratories across the campus, and to provide seed funds for faculty developing new areas of inquiry. In addition, the University has provided substantial support for the library system and our computing facilities to try to keep up with our faculty's needs and the new powerful technologies that enhance the effectiveness of these resources. Our internal spending in support of research has grown Ñ and must continue to grow Ñ if we wish to continue our impressive record of research growth.
C. Responsiveness to Federal Initiatives
In recent years, as the complexity and scope of major funding opportunities has increased, OVPR has responded by instituting more workshops to orient faculty and staff to proposal requirements and stimulate competitive proposals. This process, outlined in Figure 12, often begins with information gathering by DRDA Project Representatives who are familiar with sponsor agency offerings or, in some instances, with advanced intelligence from our Research Officer in Washington D.C. about new, major initiatives that have yet to receive wide public notice. Once aware of the opportunity, we identify potential faculty applicants, often through our network of Research Deans, as well as requirements for additional information or clarification from the sponsor. Frequently, we will pay a visit to the agency personnel in Washington responsible for a new initiative to make sure that the information we will be providing our faculty is up-to-date and accurate.
Figure 12
Flowchart of Coordinated Response to Federal Initiatives
OVPR Workshops are organized with assistance from DRDA as well as Schools and Colleges and serve several purposes. First, while agency solicitations include basic information on project requirements, we can often provide more refined advice based on what the sponsor is "really" looking for in successful proposals. Second, workshops are often used to identify potential team members, an increasingly important element in interdisciplinary proposals that may require forging new relationships between scholars in widely dispersed areas of study. Lastly, the workshop prepares participants for the mechanics of proposal preparation, especially when there are unusual requirements. For example, if an agency has set a limit on the number of proposals it will accept from an individual institution, we will hold an "internal competition" to determine which proposals will go forward. In other cases, unusually high levels of cost sharing from academic units and OVPR or new facilities approval from the Provost may be needed so that our proposals are competitive. To prepare the faculty for all of these possibilities, we will hold a series workshops, as more information becomes available.
An illustration of this process can be seen in the UM's successful competition for awards related to the multi-agency Federal Information Technology Initiative. This program designated new Federal resources for innovative, interdisciplinary projects to advance several academic areas related to information technology. Preliminary meetings were held early in the initiative's life between our Washington Research Officer and OVPR staff with legislative staffers developing the initiative and later with sponsoring agency officials to clarify high priority interests and additional criteria that might be applied in project selection. Early in the process, preliminary meetings were conducted with a wide-ranging group of faculty to seed ideas. Follow-up workshops were conducted as more information became available and as research proposal writing teams were formed. OVPR provided proposal preparation assistance and coordinated cost sharing and other resource requests with participating academic and administrative units.
The results for our faculty (Figure 13) were impressive, with UM being in the group of institutions with the highest number of successful proposals and one of the highest award levels. Faculty reported that the advance knowledge and continuing support had an impact on their competitiveness. We believe that this approach, used creatively and selectively, will continue to have a positive impact on our success in winning awards.
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Figure 13
Note: UM research expenditures from Federal sources is 2.1% of total U.S. university research expenditures from Federal sources |
D. Nurturing New Research Areas
OVPR also plays a role in major research initiatives where UM, rather than an external sponsor, is the primary source of funds. Though there are many research projects seeded by academic units, individually or in collaboration with one another, when an area is unusual in its interdisciplinarity, cross unit complexity, or specialized resource needs, OVPR is more likely to play an organizing role. The substantive research areas in such instances are identified through a variety of means, sometimes "bubbling up" from the faculty as novel but potentially significant innovations and at other times identified by Research Deans or OVPR staff when potential funding opportunities are matched against institutional capacity. We are most likely to invest significantly in research areas where UM has the capacity to be a leader and yet it has not adequately focused its efforts and resources to realize its potential. As might be expected, this is often because of the inter-unit teamwork and coordination required that no one particular unit has either been able to advance or was even aware of the need to initiate.
An example of such an initiative is the one in Spatial Analysis and Geographic Information Systems. An area of growing interest in many disciplines spurred on by increasingly sophisticated technological advances, it boasted a small, active group of faculty proponents from many units who had been seeking assistance for a number of years. In discussion with OVPR, it became apparent that without some increase in resources, education, and facilitation, UM would not be able to achieve its full potential in this critical area that was, in addition to being a focus of research, of growing importance as a research tool in many disciplines.
Through a series of discussions with faculty and Research Deans a proposal was forged that laid out an ambitious plan to stimulate growth in Spatial Analysis and GIS, not only by upgrading the infrastructure available for training and proposal development, but also by supporting specific pilot projects that might seed sponsor funded proposals as well. With the participation of the Provost and several Deans, a fund of $1.26 million was established and awarded competitively over a two-year period (Figure 14). OVPR hired an expert Research Scientist to support these efforts and lend technical as well as administrative support to the initiative.
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Figure 14
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To date, the results have been impressive, and we are seeing continuing ramifications. There has been a Certificate Program established through Rackham to provide an interdisciplinary training program for graduate students across the campus. Several projects have already resulted in successful sponsor awards totaling $3.1 million and there are nearly $2 million in proposals awaiting action by sponsors. While not all internal initiatives are of this scope and funding, they have all had comparable results, establishing the credibility necessary to win competitive awards from external sponsors and building the intellectual and technological infrastructure increasingly necessary to remain in the forefront of scholarship and research.
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