Information to enhance your success at UNL | UNL Office of Research | Feb. 2010

2010 off to a great start

Prem Paul

The new year is off to a fantastic start with good news on the funding front, progress on several initiatives and plans for several excellent and important events this spring.

As the ARRA story in this newsletter details, UNL faculty members continue to successfully compete for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding, earning more than $26.7 million in ARRA funding as of Dec. 31, the close of the second quarter. My thanks to all our faculty and staff campuswide who have worked long and hard to make the most of this extraordinary opportunity.

UNL's two largest ARRA grants so far are particularly noteworthy because they will enable construction of new research facilities. We received an $8 million grant from NIH's National Center for Research Resources to add a laboratory wing to the Ken Morrison Life Sciences Research Center, home to the Nebraska Center for Virology. We also received a $6.9 million grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology to partially fund construction of the Nanoscience Metrology Facility, to be built adjacent to the new Physical Sciences Building. These grants are especially important in helping us provide the state-of-the-art research facilities needed for world-class research.

We are promoting the benefits of UNL's ARRA funding on our ARRA Web site, which we've revamped to feature stories about some of our faculty's ARRA-funded research. We're also sharing this information with the national ScienceWorksforUS Web site and with news media and federal agencies.

On the international front, we are continuing to strengthen our research ties. This month, I'm leading a delegation of faculty to India and Sri Lanka to explore international collaborations related to plant sciences, agriculture, transportation and water. We will participate in a joint workshop on intelligent transportation systems between the Indian Institute of Technology Madras and UNL. Our Nebraska Transportation Center organized this workshop, which is funded by the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum. We will visit the International Water Management Institute to learn about their water research and education programs, and meet with officials at Microsoft India and the Indian Council for Agricultural Research. We'll also visit the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics to discuss plant genetics collaborations and water research.

Spring semester is always busy and this year seems especially so. I'd like to highlight a few major events and projects that I hope you will take part in:

I urge all of you to participate in the service assessment that the Office of Research and Economic Development will conduct this semester. This is your chance to let us know how we are doing and what we can do to improve our service to you and our campus. We take this very seriously. Our first service assessment led to a number of new services and changes. Learn more about our plans in this newsletter and please share your ideas.
April 6-8 is the UNL Research Fair, our annual campuswide celebration of research and creativity. It's a great chance to hear from federal agency representatives. We are finalizing plans and speakers so you'll hear more about this in the coming months. Mark your calendars and please plan to attend as many sessions and events as possible. Check the Research Fair Web site for the latest details.
We are organizing the second annual Future of Water for Food international conference May 2-5. This is an important component of emerging plans for the university's Global Water for Food Institute. We are expanding the conference this year and will again host water experts from around the world. We'll keep you posted as plans are firmed up in the coming months.
The ADVANCE-Nebraska program is hosting several events throughout this semester that will help advance this initiative's overarching goal of creating an environment on our campus where all science, technology, engineering and mathematics faculty thrive. You can read the details elsewhere in this newsletter.

Finally and most importantly, I want to thank you for contributing to UNL's continued success in research, scholarship and creative activities. Our success is directly tied to your vision, hard work and commitment. Thank you!

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