February 20 and 24, 2014 Faculty Seed Grants, 2014 Steve Roussos Interim Executive Director UC Merced Blum Center BLUM CENTER FOR DEVELOPING ECONOMIES

1) 1) Overview of the Blum Center 2) 2) How to get a Seed Grant 3) 3) Discussion Presentation Objectives

UCB UCLA UCM UCSD UCD UC Regent Richard Blum & UCOP Address needs of developing economies Multi-campus with diverse aims Identify and facilitate UC research for scalable and sustainable solutions Broker and leverage community partnerships Overview

UCB Blum launched in 2006 with $15 million gift from Richard Blum UCM Blum established thru competitive UCOP proposal:$400,000 over 2-years On visit to UCM, Mr. Blum awarded extra $100,000 for graduate student research Since 2010, Blum Centers have generated over $20 million in extramural support Growing rates of poverty and income inequality worldwide have created diverse and strong funding streams for poverty-related research across fields and disciplines of study The Opportunity

Initiated Fall 2013 with 2-year grant Co-led by Engineering and SSHA Focus on regional impact with global analogs UC Merced Blum Center Strategies 1.Facilitate research and research-to-practice 2.Student education and field experiences 3.Community partnerships and infrastructure

Mission Approach Transforming poverty into prosperity Global California: The world at home, and at home in the world Vision We catalyze improvement in quality of life for the least prosperous people of the San Joaquin Valley, as well as for analogous regions around the globe, through research, innovation in deployable technology, transformational educational experiences, and community partnerships.

Three Themes: Overlap & Synergy 1.Analytics of Prosperity Data, measurement and analysis Ethics 2.Sustainable Development Natural resources and ecosystem Socio-economic systems 3.Community Inspired Innovation Community voice Collaborative and participatory research

Three Themes: Overlap & Synergy 1.Analytics of Prosperity Data, measurement and analysis Ethics 2.Sustainable Development Natural resources and ecosystem Socio-economic systems 3.Community Inspired Innovation Community voice Collaborative and participatory research

Purpose of Inaugural Seed Grants 1.Build relationships with faculty 2.Fund early-stage research with high likelihood of impact and subsequent investments 3.Increase awareness, visibility and support on and off campus

Seed Grant Process 1.Become Blum Center affiliate (online form) 2.Ensure PI status 3.Complete online application with narrative and budget 4.Brief on-campus presentations for finalists

What ideas count? 1.Connection to Blum purpose (vision, mission, themes) 2.High-relevance, high-impact scholarship for your discipline 3.Ideas across the research continuum From early conceptual to highly applied

How to win? 1.Demonstrate relevance to Blum purpose (vision, mission, themes) 2.Demonstrate importance of early-stage or preliminary work to later goals/products 3.Demonstrate significance and/or innovation for your discipline and field 4.Demonstrate social significance and/or potential for impact on public good 5.Demonstrate high potential for subsequent investments (larger and near-term)

Brief Online Demo 1.The affiliate form 2.The application form

Burning Questions? Why? What? How?