1 SoE Research Advisory Committee Recommendations Promotion and Sustainment of Research in the SoE M. Accorsi, Y. Bar-Shalom (Chair), H. Brody E. Jordan, A. Shvartsman

2 RAC Recommendations Rejuvenating the School of Engineering research strength and reputation should be the highest strategic priority. The top strategic objectives are recruiting, space, mentoring, and retaining dynamic, flexible, entrepreneurial, and research productive faculty members. In order to build our strength and reputation beyond the norm for our numbers, resources and hiring should be focused on a small number of centers or spikes of excellence. The thrust areas should be data driven --- based on quantitative assessment of strengths and opportunities.

3 RAC Recommendations In engineering we are at a serious disadvantage in recruiting high caliber equipment-heavy faculty due to inadequate start-up packages: the University should redress this situation Build on existing strengths (documented quantitatively) by hiring also in areas that do not require major investments but can provide scholarly recognition and can enhance the reputation of the SoE. Find best use of faculty to allow more expansion by assigning responsibility for service (administration, academic support, undergraduate recruiting) to faculty not heavily involved in research

4 RAC Recommendations   Retention of faculty after promotion/tenure: Incentives should be in place in the form of endowments for newly promoted Associate Professors who exhibited star quality (3-yr, one-time renewable)   Retention of full Professors: Develop more endowed positions to be used in house to those who contribute significantly to the SoE stature. The award of endowed positions should be screened by suitable peer review.  Recruiting high quality grad students: organize an annual mtg with our seniors in Fall; Encourage faculty to visit colleges to recruit grad students, starting with nearby schools.

5 RAC Recommendations  Space will become soon a major problem - a crisis is looming: Convince the central admin that an additional Engrg building is vital and urgent  New faculty mentoring – Formalize mentoring by assigning a successful senior faculty to each newly hired junior faculty and require mentor to also sign off on proposals, like Dept heads – Organize grantsmanship lectures by senior faculty experienced in the ``inner workings'' of NSF, DoD, DoE, etc. Have Dept Heads report annually on the mentoring.

6 RAC Recommendations  PTR policy regarding research –For tenure the following requirements should be stated explicitly: at least two nationally competitive grants, at least two supported PhD students. –The request for recommendations should ask for specific major contributions done by the candidate. Consistency across the Depts should be achieved by using an SoE template. –Institute midterm faculty review after completing 3 years in Associate Professor rank to guide them toward promotion to full Professor to contribute their maximum to the SoE standing

7 RAC Recommendations  Policies and practices to promote research and the status/reputation of the SoE –Institute recognition of productivity by significant OH return (certain %) to the most productive centers/researchers to support their activities and provide the means for further growth. –BECAT needs strong proactive support from SoE to continue its contributions to UConn –Multi-PI grants should identify $ shares at the time of the proposal (subject to subsequent revision); additional recognition for lead PIs in large grants

8 RAC Recommendations –Publicity  Dept websites should be updated uniformly and regularly  Research Showcases: poster frames to be put up by labs/depts in high visibility places –Teaching load  The simplest measure of research productivity is the number of graduate students on external research funds (PhD + 1/3 MS students); This (plus service) should be used to determine the teaching load

9 RAC Recommendations –Academic Year Buyout Policy: Since the best use of research $ is to support students, a $ buy-out formula (like tuition payments for RAs), which will decrease the number of PhD graduates of the most productive faculty, is counterproductive; The RAC recommends strongly and unanimously against it unless it is used in special circumstances like very large (multi-PI) grant management. –Equipment emergency repair support at the school level: Electronics shop should be strengthened to be available when needed.

10 RAC Recommendations –UConn should have a full subscription to IEEE Xplore and similar online sources  Development of dialogue among researchers –Set up working groups (WG) with a coordinator; each faculty should belong to one; WGs should meet to consider new proposals/ideas –Research Day / Emerging Research Mini- Symposiums –Financial support from SoE for promotion and interaction with other researchers

11 RAC Recommendations  Focus areas for SoE (where there exists strength in SoE and there are opportunities) –Nanotechnology –Energy and Sustainability –Infrastructure –Data Fusion, Data Mining and Nuclear Security –Biomedical engineering –Transportation Security –Secure and Dependable Cyber Systems –Environment and Water Resources –Others - to be identified by faculty - where there are opportunities and strength could be built up –Resources should be invested in high return areas where there is strong capability based on hard data (faculty with proven track record).