Research at COE

1. Research at COE Perspectives, Opportunities, and Resources

2. $21.4M FY 2008 FY2008 $23.30 148 $19.2M FY2007 $19.50 FY 2007 107 FY2006 $17.70 FY2005 $15.00 Research Measures External Expenditures(millions) No. and Value of Awards Expenditures: Actual dollars spent in a given year. Awards: Authorizations to spend. Total Research: Includes internal and external awards/expenditures.

3. Interior $0.16M (2) DOT $0.08M (2) NIH $0.23M (1) DEd $0.23M (2) DOE $0.04M (2) Federal $11.19M (46) NASA $1.77M (2) State $5.06M (39) NSF $5.93M (31) DOD $2.75M (4) Indust. $2.55M (46) Assoc. $2.29M (10) Other $0.03M (1) Local $0.07M (2) Univ. $0.20M (4) Sources of Funding FY07/08 Total Value of Awards = $21.4 M (148 Awards) Federal Funding = $11.19M (46 Awards)

4. Research funding, one important measure of research success, has grown 115 percent since 2000. In FY 2008, external funding for research hit a record $105.7 million. While we are proud of our accomplishments, we remain focused on the future and on strengthening UNL's research and its impact on our state, nation, and the world. — Prem Paul

5. Research Highlights—FY07/08 $4,329,877 Infrastructure for the Enhancement of Systems Biology R&D at UNL, NSF-EPSCoR, Joseph Turner, 08/01/2007-07/31/2008 $2,999,963 SPIRIT^2 Silicon Prairie Initiative for Robotics in Information Technology Curriculum Development and Refinement, NSF, Bing Chen (Lead), 01/01/2008-12/31/2009 $1,999,637 Bridgesfor Service Life Beyond 100 Years: Innovative Systems, NAS-TRB, Atorod Azizinamini (Lead), Maher Tadros, 12/21/2007-12/20/2011 $1,798,289 Michael Meagher, Details Confidential $1,000,000 NIRT:Nanomanufacturing and Analysis of Active Hierarchical Nanofilamentary Nanostructures, NSF, Yuris Dzenis (Lead), Ruqiang Feng, Joseph Turner, 09/15/2007-08/31/2011 $893,418 Development of Tools for Rating Bridges and Application to State Bridges, Nebraska Department of Roads, Atorod Azizinamini, 10/31/2006-05/29/2009, Supplement $545,000 Midwest States Pooled Safety Program Fund Year 18, Nebraska Department of Roads, John Reid (Lead), Ronald Faller, John Rohde, Dean Sicking, 08/15/2007-12/31/2009 $445,000 Folded Plate Technology:Research, Design, and Monitoring, Nebraska Department of Roads, Atorod Azizinamini (Lead), 09/27/2007-09/30/2010 $414,963 CC Implementation of VA Medical Center at Omaha, OPPD, Mingsheng Liu (Lead), 07/27/2007-06/30/2009

6. Awards to Assistant Professors $849,933 Track Stability Assessment, DoT, Shane Farritor (lead), Joseph Turner, Hamid Sharif-Kashani, Carl Nelson, 09/17/204-12/31/2010 $699,607 Hormones in Waste From CAFOs, Shannon Bartelt-Hunt, williamKranz, Terry Mader, Charles Shapiro, David Shelton, Daniel Snow, Tian Zhang, 01/01/2007-12/31/2009` $477,744 CAREER:AdvancedMultiscale Model, Young Rak-Kim, 05/15/2007-05/14/2012 $299,626 Adaptive Configurable Battery, NSF, MahmoudAlahmad, Song Ci (Lead), Hamid Sharif-Kashani, 05/01/2008-04/30/2011 $299,410 Bi-functional Pentacene Monolayer for Organic Field-Effect Transistors, DOD-DEPSCoR, Li Tan (Lead) $169,605 SMI AFDD Lab Testing, Sensus Machines, Harong Li, 10/1/2007-4/30/2009, supplement

7. Internal Research freedom Transmit the new-found knowledge (classes/open forum) Impact society in your chosen field Why Do Research? • External • Peer recognition • Academic and financial rewards • Only true access to resources • Tenure

8. Research $ /year Quality publications/tenure cycle Ph.D. students graduated (perhaps Masters) Typical Measures of Success

9. Funding opportunities are available at the federal, state, and private levels Opportunities can exist or can be created Each funding agency has its own mission statement, procedures, and level of funding You need to select research topics that excite the funding agency—not you Understand your “customers” and their needs/priorities Extensive research and direct interaction Funding Opportunities

10. Army Research Office (ARO)Serve as the Army’s premier extramural basic research agency in the engineering, physical, information and life sciences; developing and exploiting innovative advances to insure the Nation’s technological superiority Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR)Manages and leads the Air Force’s basic research program, supporting its goals of control and maximum utilization of air, space and cyberspace Office of Naval Research (ONR)Foster, plan, facilitate, and transition scientific research in recognition of its paramount importance to enable future naval power and the preservation of national security Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)Maintain the technological superiority of the U.S. military and prevent technological surprise from harming our national security by sponsoring revolutionary, high-payoff research bridging the gap between fundamental discoveries and their military use Lead the unified national effort to secure America; prevent and deter terrorist attacks and protect against and respond to threats and hazards to the Nation; secure the national borders while welcoming lawful immigrants, visitors, and trade Serve the United States by ensuring a fast, safe, efficient, accessible and convenient transportation system that meets our vital national interest and enhances the quality of life of the American people, today and into the future To pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research To promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense. Initiates and supports: To create fundamental knowledge about living systems and apply that knowledge to reduce human illness and disability; each of NIH’s 27 semi-autonomous institutes has its own mission Discovering the solutions to power and secure America’s future Theme 1: Energy Security Theme 2: Nuclear Security Theme 3: Scientific Discovery and Innovation Theme 4: Environmental Responsibility Theme 5: Management Excellence • Basic scientific research and research fundamental to the engineering process • Programs to strengthen scientific and engineering research potential • Science and engineering education programs at all levels Typical Funding Sources

11. New administration and a new agenda Infrastructure Workforce Green energy Country is positively in a recession and probably in a depression Congress has delayed the approval of the 2009 budget until March 2009 (at the earliest) Funding agency budgets are frozen at 2008 levels Budgets for Defense, Homeland Security, and Military Construction/Veterans Affairs were funded What is in Store for 2009 and Beyond?

14. National Science Foundation (NSF) Independent agency supporting basic research and education Requested budget is $6.85B, a 13% increase over last year Provide grants—not contracts Engineering Directorate request is for $759M NSF provides 40% of the total federal support in engineering Engineering expects to make 2,235 competitive awards and 1,590 research grants Average award size is estimated to be $118,000 per year for an average of 3 years

15. An “Excellent” review does not guarantee funding • Other factors could include geography, institution, gender

16. One “Fair” kills the proposal • Resubmit if “Recommended” or one “Excellent”

17. 1 out of 5 proposals funded Avg. of 3-5 proposals submitted before an award Collaborations are the wave of the future

18. Develop an ongoing relationship with the program manager(s) Ask early—ask often Critical to Success at NSF

19. CAREER Award NSF’s most prestigious award for young faculty Size and duration commensurate with award’s prestige—$400,000 minimum for 5 years Goal is to provide stable support at a sufficient level and duration for outstanding new teacher-scholars in the context of the mission of their organization Of 800 proposals reviewed by the Engineering Directorate last year, 132 awards were made Success rate rose to 18% last year from 16% the previous year

20. CAREER Award Eligibility Doctorate in a field supported by NSF Untenured Hold title of Assistant Professor Have not previously received a CAREER or PECASE award Have not had more than two CAREER proposals reviewed

21. Department of Defense (DOD) Largest supporter of R&D in the federal government Accounts for more than half of the total federal R&D portfolio of $147.4B Responsible for 11% of all federal support of basic and applied research Key sponsor for several science and engineering disciplines 31% of all federal computer sciences research 31% of all federal engineering research 29% of all federal oceanography research 14% of all federal mathematics research Impact is even greater in several engineering subdisciplines Electrical engineering Mechanical engineering Materials

22. DOD—Priorities and Approaches Mission driven—not just pure science A five-ten year lead time—61, 62, 63 research Need to meet with managers as often as possible (mostly permanent) Attend all of the meetings for annual contractors; build a working relationship with other researchers Reasonably stable funding—but funds get redirected—Iraq war Build relationship with labs (Air Force Wright Lab, Army Research Lab, Naval Research Lab, TARDECs) ASEE-sponsored summer programs for young faculty; CAREER-type award for new faculty Special large programs—MURI, DURIP, Centers of Excellence DEPSCoR—lots of scope (only 1 project in 05, 03 and 3 in 02)

23. Department of Energy (DOE) DOE would receive the largest percentage increased among R&D funding agencies— an increase of 21% to $4.3 billion Goal is to double its budget between 2006 and 2016 Office of Science is the largest federal sponsor of physical sciences and one of three federal agencies (+ NSF and NIT) that would receive substantial increases Funding for every Science program would increase substantially with a 72% increase for fusion research, 24% for basic energy sciences, and 17% for high-energy physics The total DOE R&D portfolio would increase 8.9% to $10.5 billion Investments in renewables, such as biomass and nuclear energy, would show strong gains In fossil fuels, coal would show a strong gain of 26% to $624 million, including a 25% increase to $149 million for carbon sequestration research and a doubling of funding for the FutureGen project to $156 million Proposes to eliminate funding for gas and oil technology R&D Cancel $50 million in mandatory funding for deepwater oil and gas exploration

24. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) After a year of consolidating many program lines and reshuffling others, the FY 2009 budget request continues this restructuring of the DHS portfolio DHS R&D grew too quickly and is now in retrenchment and reorganization DHS spends its R&D in roughly equal thirds to intramural laboratories, industrial firms, and FFRDCs (national laboratories, mostly DOE labs); only a small portion has gone to universities After heavily investing in life sciences and engineering research, the portfolio is diversifying with increasing investments in physical sciences

25. Department of Transportation (DOT) Transportation funding is unusual Minimum funding levels are guaranteed by transportation authorization bills DOT programs are operating under a transportation authorization bill signed into law in August 2005 that dramatically increases highway R&D funding 2006-2009 Nearly all the funds from the authorization bill go to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for state and local road projects

26. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) United States Exploration Policy Complete assembly of Space Station using the Space Shuttle by 2010 Retire the Space Shuttle by 2010 Return astronauts to the Moon by the end of the next decade Eventually send human explorers to Mars and beyond No significant funding authorized to meet these objectives; therefore, other NASA resources are being redirected to strongly focus on them Space Exploration objectives Develop the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) Complete the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle NASA continues to focus on cutting-edge fundamental aeronautical research in key areas Foundational and multidisciplinary research to enable air-breathing access to space and entry into planetary atmospheres Stewardship of NASA’s aeronautics research and test facilities Development of technologies that will enable the transition to the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen)

27. National Institutes of Health (NIH) Second largest support of R&D in federal government after DOD Largest federal supporter of basic research, applied research, and R&D at colleges and universities Has a disproportionate impact on support for the biomedical life sciences and related fields The NIH would receive exactly the same budget in 2009 as 2008 ($28.7B) Projected decline in the number of RPGs down to 36,516 The average RPG of $408,100 would be 9% smaller than in 2004 NIH expects to fund fewer than 1 in 5 applications Success rate will fall to 18% in 2009 (number of applications far outpace the number of grants) A new program to encourage new investigators, launched last year, would expand to $71M in 2009 Provides up to 5 years of support for scientists just beginning their careers

28. NIH—Biology/Engineering Interfaces Engineers (mechanical, chemical, biochemical, electrical, engineering mechanics, computational) should take the initiative to work with biological and medical scientists Bring to bear all the scientific and engineering knowledge on the medical field of “detecting/treating” diseases Some possible areas (regular/ IDeA funding) 3D Image analysis of cancer tissues Growth mechanics of biological materials Mechanical property measurement and degradation of tissue/bones Interface coating of ceramics for bio-compatibility Motion mechanics in sports Dynamics of motion in biological microchannels

29. Research Scientist Knowledge Teacher Professionalism Service Lobbyist Funds Clergy Counsel Orator Motivator ???????? Journalist Papers Family Friends Magician with Many Hats- The Faculty My Role: Serve Faculty and Work with VC Research & the Dean.

30. How the Office of Research Can Help Be able to clearly articulate your area of research in one page Know which agencies support your area of research Become familiar with the goals and priorities of those agencies and understand what funds are available at those agencies Develop relationships with program managers • Review and edit a one-page “tear sheet” describing your research • Help you determine which agencies would most likely fund your research • Provide you with information on the goals, priorities, and current/future funding levels at the agencies you have targeted • Assist in making contacts with program managers andvisiting agencies

31. How the Office of Research Can Help Target specific agencies Review open solicitations Determine if unsolicited proposals are reviewed Identify potential academic and industry collaborators • Research information on specific agencies, e.g., goals, priorities, funding levels • Research open solicitations and pull information on those which match your research area • If unsolicited proposals are accepted, research what is required • Suggest and arrange meetings with potential collaborators

32. How COE the Office of Research Can Help Contact the CoE office when you have decided to submit a proposal Determine the level of support you need • We will review the solicitation and prepare a plan for meeting all of the requirements • Support will be tailored to the needs of each faculty member; COE Proposal Coordinators are familiar with all steps of the proposal development process from requirements definition to submission