Twenty-three academic initiatives have been selected to receive Academic Excellence Fund awards totaling $1.5 million. The initiatives, representing all three campuses and a broad array of academic disciplines, were chosen from among 120 proposals.
Projects funded this year leaned toward those that promote interdisciplinary collaborative research, particularly among different schools, or establish new centers or academic programs that hold promise for becoming self-sustaining, said Michael Pazzani, vice president for research and graduate and professional education. Multidisciplinary initiatives that require people to “cross the river” were funded to encourage faculty to reach out to other units.
The number of initiatives funded is fewer than in previous years, said Pazzani, whose office took over the program this year from the Office of Academic Affairs. He said that this year’s budget shortfall resulted in a 50 percent funding cut to the academic excellence fund program, which is in its fourth year.
“I would have liked to fund two or three times as many projects,” Pazzani said. “There were no poor proposals.”
The largest award of $250,000 helps establish the Rutgers Energy Institute, which integrates scientific, engineering, economic, and policy resources to work on alternative energy strategies, from biofuels and solar energy to fuel cells, as well as public policy issues. Other grants include $34,000 to the Graduate School of Education to create a professional practice doctorate in education, $50,000 to build a laser that will become a key component of an ultrafast microscope system in development at Rutgers–Newark Life Sciences Center, and a $70,000 grant to help the School of Business–Camden transition from a two-year to four-year program.
The administrative transfer of the Academic Excellence Fund, which provides support for initiatives not covered by the university's annual budget, to the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs had been envisioned when Pazzani was hired in October 2005. Pazzani said his office reviews all proposals in consultation with the Newark and Camden provosts and Philip Furmanski, executive vice president for academic affairs.
ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE FUND AWARDS 2006–2007
NEW BRUNSWICK AWARDS
Expanding
Pharmacological Screening Capabilities of the Global Institute for Bioexploration
(GIBEX)
(Ilya Raskin, Gerben Zylstra, Jim White Biotech Center)
This proposal seeks funding for further development of
Screens-to-Nature (STN) screening technology for the most important tropical
diseases and its transfer to the developing countries, which are members of GIBEX.
$65,000
Rutgers Center for Innovation Studies
(Clinton J. Andrews, Carl E.
Pray, David Finegold – Bloustein
School)
This is a proposal to create a multischool,
multidisciplinary center to advance the study of innovation.
$50,000
High Resolution
Visualization Platform for Cell-Nanomaterical Interactions:
Center for Science
and Engineering in Nanomedicine
(Prabhas V. Moghe, Charles M. Roth, Kathryn E. Uhrich –
Biomedical Engineering; Chemical and Biochemical Engineering)
This project will acquire imaging equipment to enable study
of cellular bionanotechnology, which would strengthen the emergence of a new
interdecanal Center on Science and Engineering in Nanomedicine and enhance the
competitiveness of federally funded research at Rutgers
in the areas of nanobioengineering and nanomedicine.
$40,000
The Pervasive Dynamic
Cyber-Physical Ecosystem
(Dimitris Metaxas, Scott Glenn, Manish Parashar, Oscar
Shoefield – Biomedical Engineering and Computer Sciences)
The project will support collaboration on the collection
and analysis of oceanagraphic data to make predictions on environmental and security
matters and advise appropriate action.
$140,000