Research highlights of Nebraska Engineering - This presentation

College of Engineering

Research on the MoveUniversity of Nebraska–Lincoln

Research at COE

Perspectives, Opportunities, and Resources



Research Measures

$13.2FY2005

$16.3FY2006

$18.20FY2007

$22.8FY2008

External Expenditures (millions) No. and Value of Awards

133FY 2007 $23.3M

191FY 2008 $27.5M

Expenditures: Actual dollars spent in a given year.

Awards: Authorizations to spend.

Research: Includes external awards/expenditures.

$21.9FY2009 183FY 2009 $28.9M

141FY 2006 $22.8M

130FY 2005 $15.7M



Sources of Funding FY08/09

Total Value of Awards = $28.9 M(183 Awards)

Federal Funding = $19.60M(69 Awards)

Univ.

$0.80M

(17)

Federal

$19.60M

(69)

Indust.

$5.44M

(56)

State

$2.57M

(26)

Assoc.

$0.24M

(7)

Local

$0.11M

(3)

Other

$0.17M

(5)

NSF$4.79M(37)

DOD

$9.04M

(11)

DOT

$2.47M

(4)

DHHS

$2.48M

(5) DEd

$0.29M

(3)

DOE

$0.20M

(8)

Ag

$0.02M

(1)



Total research funding at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln increased nearly

13 percent this year to a record of more than $122 million, according to the

UNL Office of Research.

“That growth bodes well for Nebraska as well as the university. It is a

testament to the quality of our faculty and the leadership of Vice Chancellor for

Research and Economic Development Prem Paul."

----- Chancellor Harvey Perlman

"Our research university is making tremendous progress. I'm very proud of our

faculty's innovative ideas and competitiveness, especially in a tough federal

budgetary climate."

----- Prem Paul



Research Highlights—FY08/09$4,138,000 Multi-Energy Processing, DOD-Office of Naval Research , Yongfeng Lu , 4/10/2009- 4/9/2011

$3,261,250 Army-UNL Center for Trauma Mechanic , DOD-Army Research Office, Namas Chandra,

10/1/2008-9/30/2009

$2,085,000 University Transportation Ctr FY10 , Dept of Transportation, Laurence Rilett , 7/1/2009 -

9/30/2011

$2,035,584 Trivalent Vaccine, Emergent Product Devel Gaithersburg Inc , Michael Meagher (Lead),

Stephen Swanson, 3/13/2009 -1/13/2012

$1,860,716 cGMP Recombin FIX & Oral Hemophilia, DHHS-NHLBI , William Velander (Lead), Kevin Van

Cott , 9/1/2008-8/31/2009

$658,000 US CMS Tier 2 Center , Univ of California-Los Angeles , David Swanson , 10/1/2008 -

12/31/2009

$590,000 Midwest States Pooled Fund Yr 19 , Ne Dept Roads , John Reid (Lead), Ronald Faller, Dean

Sicking , 9/29/2008-7/31/2011

$583,329 Multi-Laser-Beam Open-Atmos Surface, DOD-Office of Naval Research-MURI, Yongfeng Lu ,

3/15/2005 7/31/2009

$578,477 Fermentation Development , ViroPharma Inc , Michael Meagher (Lead), Stephen Swanson ,

12/10/2008 -4/1/2009



Awards to Assistant Professors

$503,000 Track Stability Assessment & Data, Dept of Transportation-FRA , Carl Nelson, Shane Farritor

(Lead), Joseph Turner , 9/17/2004-12/31/2010

$400,000 CAREER: Chiral Nanostructure Hybrid , NSF , Eva Schubert , 2/15/2009-1/31/2014

$387,463 Self-Organized Nanolayers, NSF , Li Tan (Lead), 9/1/2008-8/31/2011

$300,002 ARRA: Free-Standing Particle Fibers , NSF, Li Tan (Lead), 7/1/2009-6/30/2012

$300,000 Activity Analysis in Wi-SCaNs , NSF, Senem Velipasalar (Lead), Mustafa Gursoy, 9/1/2008 -

8/31/2011

$135,000 Aerodynamics , Genex Systems LLC , Junke Guo (Lead), 4/1/2009-3/31/2010

$115,790 Effect of Countdown Timers , Ne Dept Roads, Anuj Sharma (Lead), Elizabeth Jones ,

7/1/2009 6/30/2011

$105,000 Shallow Floor System , Charles Pankow Foundation, George Morcous, Maher Tadros

(Lead), 11/26/2008-6/30/2010

$100,232 AFOSR YIP: Just-Enough-Testing , DOD-Air Force Off of Sci Rsch , Myra Cohen , 3/1/2009-

11/30/2009



• 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



• Research $ /year

• Quality publications/tenure cycle

• Ph.D. students graduated (perhaps Masters)

Typical Measures of Success



• 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



Typical Funding Sources

To promote the progress of science; to advance the national health,

prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense. Initiates and

supports:

• 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

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

To pioneer the future in space exploration,

scientific discovery and aeronautics researchTo 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

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



• Administration and a new agenda

Infrastructure

Workforce

Green energy

• Country is in a recession.

What is in Store for 2009 and Beyond?







National Science Foundation (NSF)

• Independent agency supporting basic research and education

• Requested budget is $7.05B, a 8.6% increase over last year

• Provide grants—not contracts

• Engineering Directorate request is for $765M

• 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



• An “Excellent”

review does

not guarantee

funding

• Other factors

could include

geography,

institution,

gender



• One “Fair” kills

the proposal

• Resubmit if

“Recommended”

or one

“Excellent”



• 1 out of 5

proposals

funded

• Avg. of 3-5

proposals

submitted

before an

award

• Collaborations

are the wave

of the future



• Develop an ongoing relationship with the program

manager(s)

Ask early—ask often

Critical to Success at NSF



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



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



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



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)



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



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



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



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)



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



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



Knowledge TeacherResearch ScientistProfessionalism ServiceLobbyist FundsClergy CounselOrator MotivatorJournalist PapersFamily Friends

????????

Magician with

Many Hats-

The Faculty

My Role: Serve Faculty and

Work with VC Research & the Dean.



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 and

visiting agencies



How the Office of Research Can Help

• 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

• Target specific agencies

• Review open solicitations

• Determine if unsolicited

proposals are reviewed

• Identify potential academic

and industry collaborators



How COE the Office of Research Can Help

• 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

• Contact the CoE office

when you have decided to

submit a proposal

• Determine the level of

support you need

Documents

Research highlights of Nebraska Engineering - This presentation