07/22/10

Nominations and Other Opportunities for CUR Members

Members of CUR have been receiving notices of opportunities to share their experiences and views related to undergraduate research on various Advisory Boards, Commissions and other panels in Washington, DC for some time.  Washington Partners monitors and identifies such opportunities, and shares them with CUR leadership, who subsequently passes them on.  Knowing that such one-topic e-mails might get lost in inboxes, going forward, these notices will be supplemented with an aggregate listing in this communication each month.  Please know that some opportunities are particularly time sensitive, and will still be shared individually, but Washington Partners is hopeful an aggregate listing is helpful to CUR members interested in such opportunities. 

In addition, CUR is working with Washington Partners to establish a resource that can be relied upon when opportunities to testify before Congressional, federal or other panels in Washington, DC or elsewhere arise.  Robin Howard of CUR’s staff recently sent an email to members regarding this effort.  If you haven’t already looked at that effort on CUR’s website, please do so at http://cur.networkats.com/members_online/members/viewmember.asp.

07/22/10

Senate Committee to Act on Undergraduate Research Policy

As recently as last week, observers thought it unlikely that the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee would act before the Congressional recess on legislation that would reauthorize the America COMPETES Act.  In May, the House passed legislation (HR 5116) to reauthorize the 2007 law and has been waiting for the Senate to follow suit, and CUR recently joined other groups in writing to Senate lawmakers urging them to act on the bill.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is scheduled to mark up a number of bills on Thursday, July 22, including S 3605, the American COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010.  This bill, which was introduced by Committee Chairman John Rockefeller (D-WV), would maintain funding for programs at the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, but is a proposal that differs a bit from the House-approved legislation.  That bill included a National Nanotechnology Initiative and other programs absent from the Senate legislation.

Supporters of the many programs authorized by the America COMPETES Act have long lamented the disappointing lack of federal funding for them.  While this bill does not represent a commitment to funding, there are proposed changes to certain programs that would benefit undergraduate research.  Undergraduate research and courses of study are paid more attention at the NSF and other agencies in the proposed changes, as are primarily undergraduate institutions of higher education.  There is a new provision of the research experiences for undergraduate students (REU) program that directs the Director of NSF to require that every recipient of a research grant from the NSF proposing to include one or more students enrolled in certificate, associate, or baccalaureate degree programs in carrying out the research proposed under the grant shall request support, including stipend support, for those students as part of the research proposal itself versus in a supplement to the proposal (unless participation of the undergraduate student was not foreseeable at the time of the original proposal).  The House-passed bill includes a similar provision.

More broadly, both the House and Senate bills propose changes to programs that recognize the important contributions primarily undergraduate institutions, two-year institutions and undergraduates can and do play in the research enterprise, and there are proposals to diversify collaborative research applications that embrace this notion.

The Council on Undergraduate Research supports this legislation and is hopeful that House and Senate lawmakers will work together to enact the measure before year’s end.  In coming weeks, CUR and Washington Partners, LLC will continue to monitor Congressional action and weigh in with lawmakers on the proposed changes that will benefit undergraduate research.

07/20/10

Data sharing panel/discussion on July 27th

Sharing Research Data: Perspectives from the Campus Community
A panel and discussion on sharing research data will be held next Tuesday from 2:30-4pm in the Library Gallery (100 Hatcher Graduate Library).

Data have been in the spotlight recently, with government open data initiatives spurring interest in data sharing and interoperability. Funding programs such as DataNet aim to build the necessary infrastructure to allow research data to be shared seamlessly and preserved for the long term. At the May 5th meeting of the National Science Board, NSF officials announced that starting in October 2010 all proposals submitted to the NSF must include a data management plan, including provisions for the sharing of research data. In FY 2008-09 University of Michigan researchers received $64.8 million in NSF grants. How will these researchers deal with the new requirements, and how can the campus community best support them in sharing their data?

Please join the University of Michigan’s Art, Architecture, Science and Engineering Libraries and the Librarians’ Forum for an interdisciplinary discussion of data sharing and licensing options available to University of Michigan researchers. Representatives from a number of campus research communities will report on the current state of data sharing in their field. Presentations will be followed by discussion and Q&A.

This event is free and open to the public; no registration is required. Light refreshments will be served.

Speakers:

Dr. Philip Andrews is Professor in the departments of Biological Chemistry, Chemistry, and Bioinformatics at the University of Michigan Medical School.  He received his B.S. degree in Chemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry at Purdue University with Dr. Larry Butler. Recent work in Dr. Andrews’ laboratory has included the molecular architecture of organelles, analysis of phosphoproteins, methods for quantitative proteomics, approaches to improving interaction maps, and computational methods for analysis of proteomics data. Proteome informatics projects include development of new tools for de novo sequence analysis, spectral clustering (Bonanza), the Tranche data dissemination system, the proteomecomons.org data resource, an information management system for proteomics (PRIME), assessment of search results, and specialized tools for viewing and processing proteomics data (MSExpedite, Babel Fish).

Greg Grossmeier is Copyright Specialist at the University of Michigan Library, where his time revolves around giving presentations and answering copyright and publishing questions for faculty, staff, and students. He is also tasked with maintenance of the copyright website and with promoting Open Access publishing at the University. He consults with the Open.Michigan initiative on legal and policy matters around Open Educational Resources and is a Creative Commons Fellow, providing expertise on topics such as Open Educational Resources and the Free/Libre Open Source Software community.  Greg holds an MSI in Information Policy from the University of Michigan School of Information and a BA in Anthropology from the University of Minnesota.

Alex Kanous is Operations Manager of the Data Sharing & Intellectual Capital (DSIC) Knowledge Center, part of the National Cancer Institute’s caBIG initiative located at the University of Michigan. There he participates in a collaborative effort to encourage and facilitate data sharing to advance scientific discovery, consistent with applicable legal, regulatory, ethical and contractual requirements. Mr. Kanous has an MSI with a concentration in Information Policy from the University of Michigan School of Information and a JD with a focus on Intellectual Property from the Michigan State University College of Law.

Event Contact: Jacob Glenn [email protected]
Date: Jul 27th, 2010
Time: 2:30pm – 4:00pm
Location: Hatcher Graduate Library, Gallery in Room 100
http://www.lib.umich.edu/gallery/events/sharing-research-data

07/15/10

UM-Flint Dean named to U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Committee

From the desk of Mel Serow, University Relations:

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has announced the appointment of Barbara L. Kornblau, JD, OTR, dean of the University of Michigan-Flint School of Health Professions and Studies to a committee to review and update the criteria used to define medically under served areas and health professional shortage areas.

Read the rest of the article here.

Congratulations on this tremendous accomplishment, Dean Kornblau!

06/23/10

Faculty Awards

Congratulations to:
 
Jonathan Jarosz, Interim Director, University Outreach, who recently received a grant from the Six Rivers Regional Land conservancy for the following project: South Branch Flint River social Monitoring Study – $20,000
 
Brian Blume, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior/Human Resources, School of Management, who recently received a grant from Indiana University for the following project:
Career Attainment and Satisfaction of High Potentional Graduates: A Longitudinal Study of Business Honors Students – $19, 884

06/2/10

Meeting of Minds THANK YOU’s

Last month, the University of Michigan-Flint hosted the 18th annual Meeting of Minds Undergraduate Research Conference, an effort jointly sponsored by the Flint and Dearborn campuses of the University of Michigan and Oakland University. Over 300 people – including student presenters, faculty, volunteers, and guests gathered on campus throughout the day to celebrate the research and creative efforts made by our students. We had an amazing day!

The Office of Research would like to extend our special thanks to the following individuals and departments for helping us make the event a tremendous success:

Departments
Gina Rose, Carol Wedel, Jessica Rawlings, and the Event Building Services staff
Stacy Lee and the Registrar’s staff
Chalmers Sanders, Kathy Howe, and the Public Safety staff
Melissa Storch and the Mediated Classroom Services staff
University Catering Services
Doron Pratt and the Bridges to Success staff
The Genesee Early College
Brian DiBlassio and the UM-Flint Jazz Ensemble

Event speakers
Dr. Ruth Person
Dr. Vahid Lotfi
Dr. Terry Van Allen
Carmin Burrell, doctoral student

Volunteers
Kenneth Litwin
Sandy Alberto
Heather Dawson
Quamrul Mazumder
Olanrewaju Aluko
Ryan Thomas
Amalie Helms
Roy Barnes
Bonnie Heckard
Sheril Howse
Peggy Roddy
Dana Dyson
Julie Broadbent
Tom Wrobel
Jennifer Hogan
Lola Carter
Sue Koehler
Marilyn Harvey
Megan Lloyd
Renea Rishmawi
Susanna Tippett
Gedaerah Morgan
Mary Bickes
John Collins
Andrea Yinger
Jeanette Routhier
Herb Bursch
Lona Wood
JiSoo Lee
Michael Lengyel
Darryl Howard-Coolin

We are looking forward to another spectacular Meeting of Minds event next year, when Oakland University will be the host.

Thanks for supporting MOM and undergraduate research at UM-Flint!

05/25/10

Flint project chosen to test first nationwide rating system for sustainable landscapes

From a University of Michigan-Flint press release:

The University of Michigan-Flint’s Urban Alternatives House has been selected as one of the first landscapes to participate in a new program testing the nation’s first rating system for green landscape design, construction and maintenance. The selection was made by the Sustainable Sites Initiative™ (SITES™).

SITES selected the Urban Alternatives House based on its extensive environmentally friendly elements. These sustainable practices include: removing invasive trees from the site, developing a landscape that includes space for food production, native plantings, rain gardens and managing rainwater on site.

The Urban Alternatives House will join more than 150 other pilot projects from 34 states as well as from Canada, Iceland and Spain as part of an international pilot project program to evaluate the new SITES rating system for sustainable landscapes, with and without buildings. Sustainable landscapes can clean water, reduce pollution and restore habitats, while providing significant economic and social benefits to land owners and municipalities.

Read the rest here.

04/27/10

2010 Faculty and Staff Award Recipients

From the desk of Dr. Vahid Lotfi, Acting Provost:

Good Morning:

I am delighted to announce the recipients of the 2010 faculty and staff awards. All recipients will be honored at the Fall Academic Affairs Convocation scheduled on Wednesday, September 1. The University of Michigan-Flint is indeed fortunate to have the excellent caliber of faculty and staff to serve our students. Please join with me in congratulating the following faculty and staff:

Teaching Excellence Award
Randy Repic

Distinguished Service Award
Teddy Robertson

Scholarly or Creative Achievement Award
Michael Farmer

Alvin D. Loving Junior Faculty Initiative
Jie Song

Lucinda Hinsdale Stone Junior Faculty Award
Li-hsuan Yang

Lois Rosen Junior Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award
Suleyman Uludag

Dorothea E. Wyatt Award
Michelle Rosynsky

The Olivia P. Maynard and Olof Karlstrom
Faculty Award for Civic Engagement
Jeff Kupperman

University of Michigan-Flint Nominee for the
Presidents Council Professor of the Year Award
Steven Althoen

I owe my gratitude to the Scholarships, Awards, and Special Events Committee who reviewed applications, support documentation, and made very difficult decisions for all of the awards other than the Lois Rosen Award and the Presidents Council Award. Thank you very much for the huge task that you completed. Committee members include: Chair Kazuko Hiramatsu, Hannah Furrow, Weiqi Li, Marianne McGrath, Edgar Torres, and Johnny Young. Thanks also goes to members of the Advisory Board of the Thompson Center for Learning and Teaching for the selection of the Lois Rosen Award recipients: Chair David Ametrano, Judith Ableser, Jacob Blumner, Bill Irwin, Dan Lake, Marilyn McFarland, Keith Moreland, and Jan Worth-Nelson.

These awards could not be possible without the many nominators and the time that they took to put forth their colleagues’ nominations and I thank the following for doing so: Lois Alexander, Ricardo Alfaro, Jami Anderson, Joe Bohland, John S. Ellis, Mary Jo Finney, Eric Freedman, Lauren Friesen, Susan Gano-Phillips, Guluma Gemeda, Lixing Han, John Helmuth, Richard Hill-Rowley, Martin Kaufman, Alicia Kent, Heather Laube, Vahid Lotfi, Kristen Matthias, Sheri Mayrberger, Sara McDonnell, Seyed Mehdian, Juan Mestas, Keith Moreland, Steve Myers, Michael Pardales, Chris Pearson, Kenneth Schilling, Mary Jo Sekelsky, Deborah Snow, Robert Stach, Charles Thomas, Maureen Tippen, Jessica Tischler, D. J. Trela, Shu-Yi Tu, Stephen Turner, Chris Waters, Bill Webb, Gary Weisserman, Monique Wilhelm, Kathleen Woehrle, Jan Worth-Nelson, Thomas Wrobel and Mona Younis.

I hope that you can join us at the Academic Affairs Convocation to congratulate and honor our award recipients. Thanks.

Vahid

Congratulations to all our winners and nominees!

04/23/10

RCAC Recepients – Winter, 2010

The Office of Research and the Research & Creative Activity Committee are pleased to announce the results of the winter 2010 Request for Proposals.  Twelve proposals were received, requesting more than $198,000 in funding.   In total, 6 awards, totally $74,371, were distributed to the following researchers:

  • Jessica Anderson, Ph.D., Chemistry/Biochemistry Department, Principal Investigator 
    Prevention of Cancer and Immune Disorders with Sufficient Vitamin D
  • Gabriella Hristova, Ph.D., Music Department, Principal Investigator 
    Recording of Bulgarian Choral Music for Submission to Music Publishers
  • Janet Haley, MFA, Theatre, Principal Investigator 
    Restoration of Spirit:  The Glenwood Cemetery Site-Specific Theatre Project
  • Heather Dawson, Ph.D.,  Biology, Principal Investigator 
    Spatial distribution, movement and habitat preference of large and metamorphosing
    Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon marinus), a Great Lakes exotic species
  • Sy Banerjee, Ph.D.,  School of Management, Principal Investigator 
    Erin Cavusgil, Ph.D., co-Investigator
    Nikki Taylor, MBA, co-Investigator
    Understanding the Mobile Internet Needs for the UM Flint Campus Community
  • Dauda Abubakar, Ph.D., Africana Studies/Political Science,  Principal Investigator 
    Identity Politics, Citizenship and Violence in Post-Colonial Africa:  Nigeria in Comparative Perspective

Congratulations to the recepients!

04/22/10

UM-Flint at NCUR

We’re happy to announce that senior UROP student, Nkemdilim Nwodo represented the University at the 24th annual National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR). This year’s NCUR was hosted by the University of Montana in Missoula, MT.

Nkemdilim presented her research project entitled “High School Dropout Rates in Michigan School Districts: The Influence of Poverty, Educational Attainment, and Location for the Years 2004-2007.” Dr. Dana Dyson from Political Science is her faculty advisor.

Congratulations on your efforts Nkemdilim!