Chair: Gary Thompson
Members: Gary Felton, Fred Gildow, Paul Heinemann, Mary Kennett, Bob Roberts, Ann Tickamyer
Objective 1
Maintain a robust portfolio of fundamental science to generate new knowledge
Strategies
- Encourage and invest in faculty co-hiring opportunities with other colleges and institutes
- Expand the research portfolio beyond traditional funding sources
- Become more interactive with the Penn State institutes to encourage the alignment with CAS priorities
Actions/Measures of Success
- Be proactive and responsive to co-hire opportunities (nimble) and identify co-hire partners outside of the college
- Increase faculty participation in research sponsored by non-federal funding sources such as foundations
- Facilitate visits and workshops by program directors from federal funding agencies
- Participate in university-wide "Big Data" initiatives through the Cyberscience Initiative
Objective 2
Translate knowledge into real world applications through innovation and technology development
Strategies
- Promote commercialization of the research portfolio through IP development
- Establish long-term relationships with major industry partners that will provide mutual benefits and achieve compatible goals
- Develop innovative research programs and products that have significant societal impacts
Actions/Measures of Success
- Provide opportunities for faculty to learn about the commercialization process and explore new approaches to support IP development
- Establish a self-sustaining IP development and industry sponsored research officer within the college
- Recognize research commercialization as a valued component of faculty scholarship
- Actively engage industry by aligning faculty research expertise with industry interests to support research activities
- Increase the number of technology disclosures and subsequent patents that are licensed
Objective 3
Develop research programs that result in scalable, local-to-global impacts
Strategies
- Approach agricultural and environmental challenges as complex integrated systems that require scalable solutions
- Develop a robust portfolio of sustained, purposeful international research activities
- Maintain a global perspective through international research collaborations and graduate programs
Actions/Measures of Success
- Improve efficiencies in institutional processes to encourage and facilitate international collaborations
- Increase participation in INTAD as a dual degree graduate program that is resourced for success
- Increase the number of international students and researchers
- Establish a new Global Faculty Fellows program to support the development of international research
Objective 4
Strengthen institutional capacity to address complex societal issues
Strategies
- Invest in advanced infrastructure and enabling technologies
- Facilitate team-based research activities that focus on strategic granting opportunities
- Invest strategically in research faculty and staff
- Provide professional development and leadership training opportunities for faculty
- Coordinate efforts to establish new endowed professorships and chaired positions
- Invest in sabbatical leaves to enable faculty to re-energize their research activities
Actions/Measures of Success
- Create a task force to examine the current state of college research facilities and develop a plan to prioritize strategic investments for the future
- Develop faculty succession planning and strategic hiring processes
Objective 5
Train the next generation of scientists and educators to be competitive and successful in the new economy
Strategies
- Provide professional development opportunities for graduate students and postdoctoral associates
- Develop recruiting strategies that attract the highest caliber students to our programs
- Improve facilities required for graduate student training
- Ensure ethics training to promote research and scientific integrity
- Encourage participation in research commercialization activities
Actions/Measures of Success
- Increase industry, interdisciplinary and international graduate student experiences
- Review current college graduate program structures with the goals of attracting high quality applicants and improving student participation and retention
- Provide interactive workshops to inform graduate students and postdoctoral associates about topics such as industry careers, fellowship applications, grant writing, and research commercialization
- Proactively invest in graduate recruitment activities, and coordinate these efforts among the interdisciplinary and departmental programs