 |
 |
||||
 |
|||||
|
Default | NEWS
9/3/2008 Rice surges ahead, attracts $100 million in external funding Rice has more than doubled the funds flowing into the university’s research, education and outreach initiatives since 2000. Vice Provost for Research Jim Coleman said, “This not only represents a substantial increase in Rice’s academic resources but also a symbolic milestone on the path to raising our research and scholarship profile -- the No. 1 goal of the Vision for the Second Century.” The university will celebrate its accomplishment with a reception Oct. 10 for the researchers and staff who contributed to the successful year and, through their work, to Rice’s reputation as a premier research institution.
While researchers and their staffs do the bulk of the work on grant proposals, Nisbett’s office is responsible for dotting i’s and crossing t’s and for negotiating major issues in contract terms with sponsors. “We processed just a little over 800 proposals last year, and that’s a big job for the size of office we have,” said Nisbett, who came to Rice four years ago. Her staff looks at every proposal, not to judge the science but to make sure the budgets add up, the forms are signed and all the guidelines are followed. “The scientists do the science, and the faculty develop the novel educational programs, but we’re here to help them get all the details of submitting a proposal right,” she said. The five leading grants for 2008 alone brought nearly $17 million, topped by a $7.2 million grant from Houston Endowment Inc. to establish entrepreneurship programs at the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management. “That Rice was able to win so much funding is a testament to the school,” said Panya Yarber, director of the Jones School’s new Rice Education Entrepreneurship Program (REEP), funded by the grant. “They only give money to institutions that earn their trust.” REEP, which welcomed its first class of eight this semester, combines a rigorous business program with an intensive education leadership curriculum for those who plan to work in K-12 education, offering both an MBA and principal certification. Nearly $3 million came from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to the departments of Mathematics, Statistics and Computational & Applied Mathematics via the Vertical Integration of Research and Education in the Mathematical Sciences, or VIGRE, program, through which students at every level -- from undergraduate to postdoctoral -- work together with faculty on problems of common interest. “This is going to change the culture of mathematics science, education and research at Rice for the foreseeable future, and for the better,” said Steven Cox, principal investigator and professor of computational and applied mathematics. “Historically, math is not a team sport, but that has left a lot of mathematicians to get through key steps on their own when it would have been so much easier if they’d had some help,” he said. “So this is a real shot in the arm.” Grants for nanotechnology materials for aerospace applications, biological and environmental studies, and Rice’s ambitious Connexions program rounded out the top five. Fifteen grants were for $1 million or more. Competition for funding keeps fire in the belly, said Pedro Alvarez, the George R. Brown Professor and chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering, whose department landed an NSF grant for more than $2.3 million for a biological and environmental nanotechnology study. “The fact that Rice is achieving this funding milestone mostly through competitive effort is very important, because it ensures rigor and relevance,” he said. “The rigor goes to the fact that we are competitive with the best researchers out there, and winning means we’re doing it on intellectual merit. It’s very healthy for all of us.” “External funding is not the only indicator of a university’s research contributions and distinction, but it is a very significant one,” said Provost Eugene Levy of Rice’s competitive surge. “It provides an important measure of the creative initiative of the faculty and of the intellectual impact and societal benefits of the research. These are also crucial factors in shaping the highest-quality educational environment for Rice students.” Team effort keeps Rice’s star rising among American research institutions, Coleman said. “In order to break the $100 million mark, it took the effort of people across the university -- from the faculty, postdocs, students and technical staff who write proposals; to the dedicated staff in their departments, schools and institutes who support proposal development and help manage grants; to staff in the Office of Sponsored Research, who get the proposals out the door and negotiate the grants and contracts; to the staff of the Office of Technology Transfer, who often have to help negotiate difficult intellectual property terms; to the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations, who build relationships with private sponsors that lead to major funding; to the staff in Rice’s Office of Research and Cost Accounting, who handle the money and manage it well; and to the staff in other areas across Rice whose efforts support research and education activities, such as Facilities, Information Technology and Public Affairs.” He wants to be sure those staffers know how valued their contributions are. “An important aspect of being a major university in today’s climate is to competitively acquire external resources that enable faculty to employ the people and equipment they need to conduct the kind of research and scholarship activities Rice is recognized for -- research that changes the world.” With federal research budgets under pressure and competition for grants growing, Rice is unlikely to see large annual growth in these resources every year and, because of the volatile nature of how new awards are made, may not break $100 million next year, Coleman said. “But,” he added, “the trend is extraordinarily positive.” |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
