6

Town Hall III, Day 1: Research Activity, Recruitment, and Administrative Bandwidth

The third town hall took place in Chicago, Illinois, on June 28–29, 2023. It highlighted existing administrative structures that can facilitate and sustain research and explored how the Department of Defense (DOD) and other agencies can support trainees and faculty across the research ecosystem.

TRANSITIONING FROM LOW TO HIGH RESEARCH ACTIVITY

The first panel, moderated by workshop committee member Thomas Tubon, Ph.D. (BioMADE), focused on how two institutions have transitioned to take on more research activity. The speakers were Rosemarie Wesson, Ph.D. (City College of New York [CCNY]), and Gillian Wilson, Ph.D. (University of California, Merced [UC Merced]).

City College of New York

Dr. Wesson began by explaining that the City College of New York, founded in 1847, is the initial institution of what is now the City University of New York (CUNY). CCNY has eight schools and divisions, each involved in research in some way, and educates more than 15,000 undergraduate and graduate students who come from families that speak more than 80 languages. It is one of CUNY’s 25 campuses across New York’s five boroughs.

CCNY is an R2 institution with 450 student researchers across disciplines, including undergraduates, graduates, and postdocs. Dr. Wesson noted that bolstering organizational charts that have limited staff support, like CCNY’s, would strengthen research capacity. CCNY has one director of research development, one research manager, and one director of research compliance, and they are hiring an assistant director of proposal development. The grants and sponsored programs research office has 15 full-time equivalent staff. Awards and expenditures have grown from about $55 mil-

lion in 2017 to $72 million in 2022. The relatively slow growth, she noted, is somewhat by design. Most comes from federal sources, but also city, state, private, and CUNY sources.

With limited resources, Dr. Wesson said strategies to grow research are to identify and communicate research strengths and emerging opportunities; encourage internal and external collaboration; focus on junior faculty; reach out to prospective faculty; use Pivot, an electronic funding software; pursue targeted announcements of limited submission/Minority-Serving Institution (MSI) opportunities; and share research accomplishments. She described each strategy briefly.

After numerous meetings, CCNY strengths have been identified in which a critical mass of researchers are engaged and opportunities are emerging, which is termed QC-ALERT (quantum research, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, life sciences, energy and the environment, robotics, and transportation). Collaboration across disciplines has been encouraged through internal seed funding. For example, a Climate Solidarity team encompassing science, engineering, architecture, and sociology received a seed award. Focusing on faculty includes discussing research areas of interest with prospective faculty so they know about CUNY collaborative opportunities. A boot camp for junior faculty has been established to strengthen grant-writing skills. Since starting the camp, faculty have received eight National Science Foundation (NSF) and two Department of Energy awards. PIVOT has been introduced to all faculty with training so that they can search for funding that fits their expertise. Limited submission awards are targeted to relevant faculty. They receive help to build a proposal and barriers are removed as much as possible so that they can focus on the research. Finally, an electronic magazine spotlights faculty and their research successes.

Dr. Wesson offered several recommendations for increased Historically Black College and University (HBCU)/MSI research activity. She reiterated the value of meaningful collaborations, as well as core equipment funding that includes funding for support personnel, fellowships/stipends for increasing Ph.D. capacity, seed funding for partnerships, funding for research development and administration, and support so that research-active distinguished faculty can provide mentoring to junior faculty. She stressed that one size does not fit all. Community and the strengths of faculty members must be considered at different institutions, she concluded.

University of California, Merced

Dr. Wilson oversees research, innovation, and economic development, which she said is slightly unusual but not unique to combine these three areas at an institution. The University of California, Merced, was established in 2005 to “address chronically low levels of educational attainment in the region” in the rural, traditionally underserved Central Valley of the state. It is a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander–Serving Institution (AANAPISI), with almost the entire student population from California and 67 percent first-generation students. Within 11 years, it became an R2 institution and is considered an emerging research institution.

Dr. Wilson concurred with the 2022 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine consensus study report Defense Research Capacity at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Other Minority Institutions: Transitioning from Good Intentions to Measurable Outcomes, noting that it summed up well what MSIs can contribute to DOD and how their capabilities can be more fully utilized. She noted the report highlights the variety across institutions (NASEM, 2022), but also shared characteristics, including having a disproportionately large impact to develop a diverse graduate student pool and workforce, prioritizing a culture of serving students, receiving less funding and endowments, and promoting service to communities. Half of the UC Merced campus has been built since 2018, and it is a “start-up on an incredible trajectory,” she said. Many early-career faculty must be brought up to speed, but, she said, this provides tremendous opportunity for development. It has been successful in obtaining Defense University Research Instrumentation Program, or DURIP, and Multidisciplinary University Research Initiatives, or MURI, funding. Research funding has tripled since 2020. “I would argue that by partnering with an institution with a profile like ours, the nation reaps a double return,” Wilson said, citing the benefit of greater diversity in the workforce and the impact of the research itself.

“We are driving hard to get to R1 without losing our HSI identity,” Dr. Wilson said. The state has invested in the institution in such areas as climate action, agriculture, health innovations, and natural resources. Dr. Wilson noted the advantages of being part of the UC System, which includes three national labs. Discussions have been held about becoming involved in restricted research, which is not currently carried out on UC campuses.

To form true partnerships, she suggested inviting minority institutions’ vice presidents of research (MI VPRs) to serve on relevant committees and

working groups, placing Defense Research Capacity Liaison Officers in MI VPR offices, faculty cluster hires, and support for infrastructure. With a very lean staff, she called attention to the NSF GRANTED (Growing Research Access for Nationally Transformative Equity and Diversity) program as a model to support capacity at emerging research institutions. (See Chapter 3 for a presentation on GRANTED.)

Discussion

Dr. Tubon commented that DOD has many programs, but they are sometimes hard to understand and access. Dr. Wilson noted that in working with DOD, personal relationships matter to learn about opportunities and how to access them. Two solutions she suggested were for DOD personnel to spend time with early-career faculty or serve as on-campus liaisons. Dr. Wesson agreed and stressed the value of early connections. “What we find is when an announcement comes out, it is already too late,” she said. Dr. Tubon underscored that some programs have a short response time that requires a rapid pivot. Dr. Wesson said when a solicitation is announced, especially for larger opportunities, there is not enough time to begin a collaboration or start a proposal. It is important to anticipate and plan for upcoming opportunities. She also urged better ways to communicate with funding agencies about an institution’s strengths to ask if anything relevant is planned that would need those strengths. “Sometime, if you don’t ask, you don’t know,” she commented. Dr. Wilson said it is important to “get upstream” of funding opportunities. It is also important to get faculty in the decision-making process, not just as responders. Dr. Tubon agreed that better two-way communication could build MI capacity.

Responding to a question from workshop committee member Abraham Wolcott, Ph.D. (San José State University), Dr. Wesson said CUNY has moved from primarily an undergraduate to a doctoral R2 institution, and the leadership must show New York State and New York City policymakers that CCNY is research-active through a long-term effort. Dr. Wilson commented, “We are in the education and research business. It is to the nation’s benefit to have diverse institutions who are doing incredible work with both missions.” Committee chair Oscar Barton, Jr., Ph.D., P.E. (Morgan State University), noted the American College of Education has information and resources on transitioning through the Carnegie Classification system.¹

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¹ For more information, see https://carnegieclassifications.acenet.edu/?_ga=2.227430045.1284099891.1694460596-385182587.1694460596.

RECRUITING RESEARCH-CENTERED FACULTY AT NON-R1 INSTITUTIONS

Faculty working at non-R1 schools are conducting cutting-edge research, noted Chad Womack, Ph.D. (United Negro College Fund). He moderated a panel in which Joanna Brooks, Ph.D. (San Diego State University [SDSU]), Catherine Armwood-Gordon, Ph.D. (Tennessee State University [TSU]), and Ivan Mosley, Ph.D. (Tennessee State University), described how faculty and trainees are recruited to come to their institutions.

San Diego State University

Dr. Brooks described San Diego State University’s Building on Inclusive Excellence in Research (BIE), which is a recruiting program that intersects with the goal of becoming an R1 institution.² As background, SDSU is part of the California State University system and has about 31,000 undergraduate and 4,700 graduate students; it is an HSI and an AANAPISI. Under the SDSU president, research has become an important part of the institution’s self-conception with the goal to become an HSI R1 public university.³ She underscored the asset-based approach articulated in the strategic plan, including building on SDSU’s historic mission and values; geographic location; connection with Latinx, Indigenous, AANAPISI, and other BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) communities; and strengths in education, public health, and ecology/biology/biotech. She noted recognizing these assets influences how SDSU hires new faculty.

The challenge is to recruit “where excellence and access converge,” Dr. Brooks said. It is important to recruit faculty whose research can capitalize on SDSU’s assets while extending specific benefits to the diverse student body. Constraints based on California’s Proposition 209 have pushed SDSU to explore how to institutionalize these commitments in hiring criteria, including criteria around research.⁴ This exploration led to the creation of the BIE program in 2016 and its campuswide expansion in 2019 (see Figure 6-1). She noted that the model was developed by the Center for the Advancement of Multicultural Perspectives on Science, or CAMPOS, at the University of California, Davis.

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² For more information on BIE, see https://sacd.sdsu.edu/cie/bie.

³ To view the SDSU strategic plan, see https://www.sdsu.edu/strategic-plan.

⁴ For more information, see https://lao.ca.gov/ballot/1996/prop209_11_1996.html.

The BIE program at SDSU began in 2016–2017 when the provost and senate set aside four additional lines for candidates in regular searches who met the criteria. This incentivized search committees to “try on” the criteria as they reviewed their pool of candidates. It was extended to all searches as a baseline expectation in 2019–2020. It was amplified in 2020–2021 with a cluster hire that particularized the BIE criteria to African American communities in an array of fields with critical research needs (e.g., public health, social work, and education). As an outcome of the program, underrepresented faculty went from 13 percent of the 2016 cohort to 48 to 52 percent in 2021–2022.

Dr. Brooks stressed that hiring with the BIE criteria in mind has led to research aligned with SDSU’s assets and excellence goals. “It’s a matter of finding the right process and the right alignment so the faculty we are bringing in are building on our assets as they continue their research endeavors,” she said.

Tennessee State University

Dr. Armwood-Gordon spoke about recruitment in the engineering programs at Tennessee State University. There are 43 faculty members and 110 students in the graduate program, with a goal to increase the number of graduate students to support faculty research. One obstacle is limited faculty start-up funds. As chair of the civil and architectural engineering department, she worked to make faculty feel supported through a mentorship program, leveraging new faculty into proposals, equipment, and as much course release time or other support as possible. Before TSU became an R2, faculty taught four classes per semester, which has been reduced to three; internally, she looks for ways to lighten the load further for new faculty.

Dr. Armwood-Gordon also looks to leverage the ability to collaborate with industry and national labs. A new engineering building with adjustable space is being planned, which has also helped with recruiting. She noted she is trying to develop more cohesive policies across the college of engineering.

Dr. Mosley added his perspective from TSU’s Department of Applied and Industrial Technologies, which has the Aviation Management and Mechatronics programs. The focus is on partnerships with industry and a hands-on approach in the curriculum. Related to recruitment, the skill set is changing rapidly, with an emphasis on working in teams.

Discussion

Dr. Womack asked how talent is recruited from graduate to postdoc to faculty levels, and how to recruit and retain freshly minted Ph.D.s. Dr. Brooks said SDSU draws from resources from the National Center for Faculty Diversity and Development.⁵ It centers faculty development on the default assumption that the new person is a woman of color and looks for ways to make the environment more welcoming. For example, a survey showed SDSU women faculty of color were experiencing compromised health outcomes from stress, and supports have been provided. The area’s high housing prices are the top reason for non-retention of faculty, she added. Dr. Armwood-Gordon echoed that housing costs have a negative impact on recruiting young faculty and postdocs at TSU. They do receive many applications for each vacancy, mostly from international candidates, and one goal is to increase the number of U.S. faculty. Mentorship and a supportive, non-siloed environment are beneficial to younger faculty. She acknowledged that even with these efforts, some are recruited to larger institutions based on their TSU accomplishments.

To ensure the blend of research, experience, and ability to identify needed student interventions, Dr. Mosley responded that faculty need hands-on experience. They can be assisted in searching for grants if they do not have this background, and new faculty are encouraged to turn their dissertations into publications. In terms of tenure policies, Dr. Armwood-Gordon noted both university and college policies. The university has recently made stipends available for particularly effective research. Dr. Brooks said SDSU’s approach to reappointment, tenure, and promotion has shifted to provide more clarity and transparency to become more of a development process than a punitive one.

In response to a question from Dr. Barton, Dr. Brooks discussed SDSU’s BIE criteria in greater detail. She reiterated that the initial criteria came from UC Davis, and the challenge is to implement them. Part of the process is a peer-review step to ensure that the candidates being put forward as finalists do meet the criteria. That led to some friction at first, she said, because faculty outside a department would be providing input. Over time, they refined the process, including guidance for international candidates and the extra layer of peer review.

Dr. Wolcott asked Dr. Armwood-Gordon if a federal agency like DOD or NSF could create a program for recruitment, what she would like it to

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⁵ For information, see https://www.facultydiversity.org.

look like. She noted hard funds to include resources for equipment. She also suggested the value of a package that supports graduate students—either funding for individual students or more proactively by building a graduate program that prospective faculty can see will be available to them. Among some recent faculty who left, an issue was their ability to recruit graduate students for their research, particularly Ph.D. students.

ADAPTING ADMINISTRATIVE BANDWIDTH FOR INCREASED RESEARCH ACTIVITY

An important ingredient to expand the “bandwidth” for research is to build the supporting infrastructure and to overcome administrative hurdles, noted Dr. Wolcott. He facilitated a panel on this topic composed of Almesha Campbell, Ph.D. (Jackson State University [JSU]), Laura Collins, Ph.D. (North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University [N.C. A&T]), and Elmer Guy, Ph.D. (Navajo Technical University [NTU]).

Jackson State University

Dr. Campbell noted that Jackson State University’s Division of Research has been reduced because of lower state support and other financial strains. For example, there were three assistant vice presidents when she joined the division 14 years ago, and she is now the only one. When Vice President for Research Joseph Whittaker came 5 years ago, he evaluated each person to understand how each could contribute to a robust research enterprise. Extensive cross-training occurred. Compliance was determined to be a major issue, and it was decided to take the burden from researchers as much as possible, which meant ensuring the division has the necessary training and resources to be more efficient. Platforms have been instituted to make the process more seamless for faculty. When a faculty member submits a proposal, compliance needs are automatically triggered, for example, related to human subjects research. She underscored the strong relationship between her office and faculty. Her office responds to every communication with urgency, and if a request cannot be supported, explains why. As a result, she said, the faculty feels more comfortable with her office’s processes.

Dr. Campbell expressed thanks to the federal agencies for programs for MSIs and HBCUs to help build capacity, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Pathways to Excellence and Innovation (PIE) to improve

development of capability statements, pricing, and contracts. All staff participated in this training.⁶

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University

Dr. Collins said North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University has increased its research portfolio by the number of full proposals submitted and awards received. For administration, the workload is often commensurate if an award is small or large, but researchers are going after and receiving larger award amounts. Sharing an organizational chart of N.C. A&T’s Division of Research and Administration, she noted a number of vacant positions and recently filled positions that have required training. She is the only staff member assigned to tech transfer.

While MSIs have a strong reputation of “punching above their weight,” Dr. Collins noted they often receive less funding from foundations and other sources than other institutions. She echoed the value of the NIH PIE grants, as well as training from the National Organization of Research Development Professionals, or NORDP, and NSF’s GRANTED program. Additional funding provides access to more resources, including consulting services, research administration systems, and assistance to faculty to identify opportunities that align with their strengths and interests. Research librarians can provide valuable input. She stressed that faculty and administrators form a team. It is important to engage with junior faculty in particular, such as helping them develop stronger proposals, understand how to use feedback for future submissions, build internal and external relationships, participate in review panels, and build on successes. Administrators at all levels should instruct and advocate for institutional research strengths and priorities with legislators, agencies, and others.

She noted prospective partners often contact them, but it is important to confirm fit and alignment and not just “chase shiny things.” As others have brought up, Dr. Collins warned against so-called partners who parachute in at the last minute seeking a letter of support compared with those who want to grow an intentional relationship.

Dr. Collins also underscored important elements in conversations with faculty: the importance of negotiations for projects with facilities and administration (F&A) costs as full as possible, the impact of cost-sharing

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⁶ For more information, see oamp.od.nih.gov/nih-small-business-program-office/nih-path-to-excellence-innovation-initiative.

arrangements, and an understanding of how research funds are spent on campus.

Navajo Technical University

Dr. Guy explained that NTU began as workforce development project offering certificate programs tied to jobs available in or near the Navajo Nation and has grown since 1979. (See also Dr. Guy’s presentation in Chapter 5.) Research is a key component to this growth and to economic development, he said. New science, technology, engineering, and mathematics degrees were created, first at the associate’s level. Administrators and key staff developed a vision through strategic planning; work groups; and engagement with students, the community, and other stakeholders, he explained. Several special projects were begun with the supercomputing community. DOD and the state of New Mexico provided support to bring broadband to the campus. The excitement of this project, known as Internet for the Hogan, inspired other programs, including NASA grants and baccalaureate degrees in information technology, advanced manufacturing, and culinary arts. Faculty credentials have been strengthened, with a policy to seek funding for faculty to earn advanced degrees. New faculty were hired who had advanced degrees and new labs were created. The journey has taken decades, but NTU now generates millions of dollars in research funding, and currently has 81 active grants and multiple university partners across the United States. It all starts with a vision and people willing to work together for the greater purpose, Dr. Guy stressed.

Discussion

Dr. Wolcott followed up with the presenters. Although the panel was entitled “administrative bandwidth,” Dr. Wolcott commented that it took Internet bandwidth at NTU to build the research program. Dr. Guy agreed that high-speed broadband enhanced the capabilities of the institution and attracted students, especially in an area where some people do not have running water or electricity.

Regarding overlapping skill sets at JSU, Dr. Campbell said it is necessary to be innovative. For example, a recent DOD award included funding for a contract specialist. An NSF Engine Award was used to build tech transfer capabilities. She said partnerships must be strategic and intentional. She warned against burning out faculty and looking out for them in their tenure

and promotion processes. Her office tries to be champions for faculty. Concurring with Dr. Collins, she said that JSU faculty are encouraged to request full F&A, and a range of incentives is provided when they submit proposals.

Dr. Collins said in considering partnerships, it is important that there is a champion on campus and that it aligns with priorities. Regarding cost sharing, Dr. Campbell noted that projects that require university matching funds can be huge burdens, especially for MSIs without large foundations. Another participant noted that arts and humanities projects are important to contribute to national security, but many funding agencies in these areas require cost sharing that is difficult to meet. Dr. Guy said his institution advocates for waiving cost sharing where possible.

Dr. Barton concluded that the discussion shows the necessity not only of financial but also human capital. Looking across the institutions discussed during the day, CCNY and UC Merced recognized the business aspects involved. TSU and SDSU identified important issues related to recruitment and retention, with criteria for faculty hiring. Guidance to researchers is essential, as shown in the last panel.

REFERENCE

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