New center aims to advance research
The Center for Excellence in Research encourages faculty members and students to work together.
Elly Wong
Issue date: 1/23/07 Section: News
The University Research Community, in conjunction with the Academic Senate, announced a new initiative on Jan. 17 to advance research excellence across the university's many different fields.
The new Center for Excellence in Research, first publicized to faculty in late December, is based on the Center for Excellence in Teaching that started in 1996 to improve effective teaching methods.
From financial grants to scholarly workshops, the CET includes a wide array of programs to network faculty members for the purpose of enhancing the craft of teaching. In the same manner, the CER is designed to create training resources for faculty to engage specifically in new and effective ways of research.
Maja Mataric', the president of Academic Senate, the organization that governs the entire faculty, and professor of computer science and neuroscience, came up with the idea last year when she served as vice president of the Senate.
Mataric said she discovered there was a need for mentoring and support for faculty in the area of research, which the CET was not particularly made to do.
As a result, the new center is specifically intended to foster a culture of research excellence for the university community.
"Research is different," Mataric' said. "It's from identifying a truly interesting and deep research problem, to obtaining funding for it, to mentoring students in how to do research, to understanding how to guide a research project… and I could go on."
Because the program focuses on faculty members learning from their experienced colleagues, a selection committee will choose a small group of faculty fellows in March to become important leaders for CER through an application process.
The fellows will be selected based on what they have accomplished, their proposals and their desire to work with other faculty in sharing their knowledge and ideas for how to conduct research.
"The beauty of it is that this will all continue to be the brainchild of the faculty," Mataric' said.
The new Center for Excellence in Research, first publicized to faculty in late December, is based on the Center for Excellence in Teaching that started in 1996 to improve effective teaching methods.
From financial grants to scholarly workshops, the CET includes a wide array of programs to network faculty members for the purpose of enhancing the craft of teaching. In the same manner, the CER is designed to create training resources for faculty to engage specifically in new and effective ways of research.
Maja Mataric', the president of Academic Senate, the organization that governs the entire faculty, and professor of computer science and neuroscience, came up with the idea last year when she served as vice president of the Senate.
Mataric said she discovered there was a need for mentoring and support for faculty in the area of research, which the CET was not particularly made to do.
As a result, the new center is specifically intended to foster a culture of research excellence for the university community.
"Research is different," Mataric' said. "It's from identifying a truly interesting and deep research problem, to obtaining funding for it, to mentoring students in how to do research, to understanding how to guide a research project… and I could go on."
Because the program focuses on faculty members learning from their experienced colleagues, a selection committee will choose a small group of faculty fellows in March to become important leaders for CER through an application process.
The fellows will be selected based on what they have accomplished, their proposals and their desire to work with other faculty in sharing their knowledge and ideas for how to conduct research.
"The beauty of it is that this will all continue to be the brainchild of the faculty," Mataric' said.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Stephen
posted 1/26/07 @ 2:20 AM PST
Well written. I think that this journalist has a future working on the international scene.
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posted 10/24/07 @ 7:16 AM PST
good read. Well done.
University Technology Transfer
posted 5/06/08 @ 9:26 AM PST
I am very glad to hear about this, Universities need a better level of communication and collaboration, this would enhance the progress and the output quality. (Continued…)
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