FY 2013 – FY 2014 ACCOMPLISHMENTS K. KRISHNAMURTHY, VICE PROVOST FOR RESEARCH May 5, 2014 Job Description: Responsible for leading all aspects of the University’s research infrastructure and operations, including developing and implementing research policies; leading/directing the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), which includes the Office of Vice Provost for Research (OVPR), and research centers and the Office of the Technology Transfer and Economic Development that reside under the VPR; working with and representing the University’s research to organizations external to the University; and generally promoting and enhancing Missouri S&T’s research mission. Goals: Expand and elevate research performance and reputation to achieve the best-in-class (BIC) and strategy targets for research investors in Missouri S&T’s Strategic Plan, Rising to the Challenge 2013–2020. Significant Accomplishments: The following are my significant accomplishments listed by the thematic areas in OSP’s Strategic Plan, which was developed under my leadership this fiscal year, and Missouri S&T’s Strategic Plan. • Enhance External Reputation and Raise Visibility o Hosted numerous campus/lab tours to increase awareness of and promote research activities and engagement with potential sponsors and other stakeholders. o Facilitated establishment of two new consortia (Peaslee Steel Manufacturing Research Industrial Consortium and Small Modular Reactor Research and Education Consortium), July 2013. o Supported submission of a preliminary proposal in collaboration with four other universities to establish a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center, July 2013. o Dr. Jim Drallmeier and I are serving as co-lever leaders for Lever 2.1 and Lever 2.3, and we have worked together to complete the following actions this fiscal year. – Provided leadership and significantly contributed to the development of the process to determine the performance measures by all Academic Affairs’ units. – Developed the process to transparently allocate all faculty positions to impact Missouri S&T’s Strategic Plan and progress on unit performance measures. o Dr. Jim Drallmeier and I co-chaired the BIC Strategic Areas for Investment Committee and provided leadership to identify four BIC signature areas. Two BIC (Advanced Manufacturing and Advanced Materials for Sustainable Infrastructure) signature areas have been approved by Chancellor Schrader and Provost Wray, and the Committee’s recommendations for the third and fourth signature areas have been submitted. o Serving on the ASEE Engineering Research Council Board of Directors as a member (June 2012 – present) and Secretary/Treasurer (June 2013 – present). o Serving as a member of the EPSCoR Missouri Statewide Committee (July 2012 – present) and as the chair of the Academic Subcommittee (December 2013 – present). • Advance Campus Research Mission o Led successful negotiation of a $23M contract with Saudi Mining Polytechnic for a project led by Dr. Samuel Frimpong, July 2012. o Instrumental in the development of UM System-wide interdisciplinary and intercampus research program, January 2013 and March 2014. o Led the development of Missouri S&T’s policy and research agreement template when industrial sponsors require rights in data to the exclusion of the University and/or claim ownership rights to intellectual property developed by the University, April 2013. 1 o In FY13, enabled the following: – Net grant and contract expenditures, i.e., total externally sponsored program expenditures minus federal student financial aid, were $36.3M, a 5.02% year-overyear increase, which exceeded the target set at 2%. Missouri S&T was the only campus in the UM System that not only met, but exceeded its target. – Invention disclosures per $10M R&D expenditures (3-year rolling average) were 9.9, which is a 7.9% year-over-year increase. • Engage Academic Departments o Led research centers that had a ROI of 11.6 in FY13. • Meet Internal Customer (Faculty, Staff and Students) Needs o Significant engagement and interactions with faculty in an organizational structure without deans - responded to needs of faculty and department chairs in a timely fashion via e-mails and/or face-to-face meetings. o Directed OVPR that provides services in support of proposal submission and grant/contract administration. o Chaired numerous internal panel reviews on limited proposal submission opportunities. o Supported (grant writing workshops, editorial/grant writing support and internal panel reviews) early career faculty with their efforts to submit proposals to programs designated for early career faculty. Seven faculty received early career awards during FY13 and FY14: Dr. Lian Duan, AFOSR YIP; Dr. Hyoung Lee - DARPA Young Faculty; Drs. Sriram Chellappan, Yew San Hor, Yiyu Shi and Zhaozheng Yin, NSF CAREER; and Dr. Richard Dawes, DOE Early Career. o No findings related to Missouri S&T in FY12 and FY13 A-133 audit of UM System. o OVPR pre-award process was commended by internal auditors and cited for implementing best practices as part of an FY14 internal audit. Challenges: The following are some of my significant challenges. • Increasing research capacity – growth of our sponsored research and achieving BIC and strategy targets will critically depend on increasing the number of T/TT and NTT faculty members as noted in Missouri S&T’s Strategic Plan, including new faculty hires in the four BIC signature areas and providing them with the necessary resources. • Promoting a strong culture of research, and finding new or reallocating resources to invest in new initiatives and/or endeavors to position ourselves to successfully respond to funding opportunities in a highly competitive environment, which is exacerbated by declining or flat funding of federal agencies. • Keeping abreast and changing our policies and procedures to be in compliance with increasing reporting and compliance requirements associated with federally funded research while keeping the administrative burden to a minimum. Further, disseminating these changing requirements, and educating and training faculty and staff on all aspects of grant/contract management. Concluding Remarks: I have and will continue to give my time generously to address faculty needs, empower research center directors, and work with department chairs and other units on campus. In addition to my VPR duties, a significant part of my time and effort in FY13 went into developing Missouri S&T’s Strategic Plan as a member of the Guiding Coalition and Executive Committee, chairing the Research Investors Customer Task Force and working together with the Research-Based Graduate Students Customer Task Force chaired by Dr. Jim Drallmeier. In FY14, a significant part of my time and effort have gone into executing actions under Lever 2.1 and Lever 2.3 as a co-lever leader with Dr. Jim Drallmeier. 2