UCR Research and Economic Development Newsletter: November 09, 2014
Michael Pazzani
Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development
Back Issues of Newsletter: http://research.ucr.edu/vcr/newsletters.aspx
Grant Opportunity Search: http://pivot.cos.com
·
Talk: Some Pragmatic Strategies for Obtaining DoD
Research Funding: Friday, Nov 14 10am
·
Director of Corporate Relations
·
American Asthma Foundation
·
NIH and USAID Recent Presentations Available Online
·
ExCITE Incubator Grand
Opening: Nov 12
Some Pragmatic Strategies for Obtaining DoD Research Funding
Suveen Mathaudhu, Ph.D.
November
14, 2014
10:00am
– 11:00am
Orbach Science Library 240
Suveen Mathaudhu, a BCOE faculty
member, will be holding a seminar entitled, "Knowing
is Half the Battle: Some Pragmatic Strategies for Obtaining DoD Research Funding” on Friday, November 14th at 10:00 in the
Orbach Science Library 240.
Abstract: Defense funding has historically played a large role in support of domestic basic scientific research. This presentation will cover some pragmatic considerations when applying for defense funding, including selection of appropriate research topics, targeting specific defense funding agencies, understanding defense funding cycles, funding mechanisms (e.g. single investigator, MURI, DURIP, SBIR/STTR, YIP), communications with the agencies, and other issues unique to “mission” supporting agencies.
Suveen Mathaudhu: From 2006-2010, Dr. Mathaudhu was a Staff Scientist at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and from 2010-2014, he served as a Program Manager in the Engineering Sciences Directorate at the U.S. Army Research Office. Dr. Mathaudhu managed a portfolio of basic science research projects from academia/industry concerning the synthesis and processing of materials. Duties included writing of broad area announcement (BAA), call for proposals, and evaluation and selection of proposals for a variety of agencies within the DoD, DoE and NSF. Other responsibilities also included workshop and symposia organization in support of identifying areas of scientific opportunity.
Director of Corporate Relations
I’m pleased to announce that Emily
Abbott is joining Research and Economic Development effective Novv 24 as Director of Corporate Relations. Emily’s
role will be to increase corporate research collaborations (either contract or
gifts) and will work closely with Schools, Departments, faculty and the Office
of Development.
Emily Abbott raised $47,000,000 and established over 300 diverse collaborations during more than 20 years in the non-profit and higher education sectors. Most recently she spent almost 10 years at the California Institute of Technology as a Senior Corporate Relations Officer. During this time Emily facilitated complex agreements leading to Caltech’s first multi-million dollar chemical company collaboration as well as coordinated Caltech’s largest-ever pharmaceutical company alliance. She provided leadership in the corporate relations field as a member of the Board of Directors and Benchmarking Committee co-chair for the Network of Academic Corporate Relations Officers (NACRO). Emily was the lead author of NACRO’s first white paper, “Five Essential Elements of a Successful Twenty-First Century University Corporate Relations Program, (http://www.nacroonline.org/assets/docs/nacro%20white%20paper%205%20elements.pdf) ” and she has spoken at three national NACRO conferences as well as at the University-Industry Interaction Conference in 2013 in Amsterdam. In addition, Emily is a member of the Board of Managers for Fast Forward, a National Multiple Sclerosis Society initiative designed to accelerate the development of treatments for MS by investing in early-stage start-ups. Originally from Northern California, Emily came to Los Angeles to attend Occidental College, where she earned her BA in Political Science. Emily lives in Altadena with her husband Zachary and their dog, Mica. She eagerly awaits the next season of Downtown Abbey.
American Asthma Foundation:
2015 AAF Scholar Awards for early- to mid-career scientists from all fields
The American Asthma Foundation (AAF) supports highly
innovative research from all fields relevant to asthma. We wish to draw
outstanding investigators from other fields into the study of asthma, and most
of our investigators are studying asthma for the first time. All grants will be
to investigators who are within 10 years of their first independent faculty
appointment. Recipients will be designated AAF Scholars.
AWARD AMOUNT: Up to
$450,000 ($150,000 per year for up to 3 years.) Funds for institutional
overhead are not provided.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: February
4, 2015
START DATE: July 1,
2015
ELIGIBILITY:
•
Scientists
in the United States from any relevant field are eligible.
•
Initial
independent faculty appointment should be on or after February 1, 2005.
•
Applicants
should have an independent research program, with national-level, independent
funding.
ORGANIZATION: The
American Asthma Foundation is the largest private funder of asthma-related
research, having awarded over $100 million to scientists since 2000.
MISSION: The AAF's
mission is to improve treatments for, prevent, and find a cure for asthma by developing
important new pathways of investigation in basic research regarding asthma.
REVIEW CRITERIA: Innovation,
research proposal, relevance to asthma, investigator
NOTE: The application
is short (maximum 7 pages). Preliminary data are not required.
FURTHER INFORMATION AT: http://americanasthmafoundation.org/
NIH and USAID Recent Presentations Available Online
Recently, Funding offiocials from NIH and USAID visited UCR. Their presentations available online:
“The
Future of Biomedical Research: A view from NIH” by Sally J. Rockey, PhD, Deputy Director for Extramural Research at the
National Institutes of Health. http://research.ucr.edu/webdocs/vcr/misc/Sally%20Rockey%20-%20News%20from%20NIH%20v2.pdf
Dr. Rockey’s presentation includes a broad overview
of NIH, a discussion of various funding mechanisms, hints on getting funded and
an overview of new NIH initiatives.
“Innovations for Global Food Security: Advancing Legume Productivity and USAID’s Feed the Future Program” by J. Vern Long, PhD, a Senior International Agriculture Research Advisor with the US Agency for International Development, Bureau for Food Security: http://research.ucr.edu/webdocs/vcr/misc/USAID-UCRiverside%20Nov%202014.pdf
USAID has funded approximately 20 innovation labs at various US universities that then make smaller grants to other universities. There will be opportunities for Integrated Pest Management from the Virginia Tech center this year. Pages 23 and 24 of the presentation discuss more general funding opportunities.
International
Agricultural Research Collaboration
•
Upcoming RFPs from Sustainable Intensification (Kansas-State) and IPM
Innovation Labs (Virginia Tech) (http://www.oired.vt.edu/ipmcrsp/
) (faculty)
•
NSF’s PEER program (PEER Science and PEER Health): – http://www.nationalacademies.org/peer
• Research
and Innovation Fellowships: – http://www.usaid.gov/RIFellowships
•
LINKAGES program with CGIAR (faculty)
• US
Global Food Security Fellows Program (for American graduate students) and
Summer Institute
– http://www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/food/borlaugfellows/
(Deadline) ~ March every year
ExCITE Incubator Grand Opening: Nov 12
(from http://ucrtoday.ucr.edu/25711)
A
business incubator in downtown Riverside created by officials from the
University of California, Riverside, City of Riverside and Riverside County and
business leaders will be the site of a grand opening event at 5:30 p.m. Nov.
12. Four companies, three started by UC Riverside professors and one by an
alumnus, have been approved for the Riverside ExCITE Incubator, located at 3499 10th Street.
One of the companies has moved in and others plan to move in in the near
future.
There is
space for up to six companies and several others have expressed interest in
moving in. The space is available to any start-up companies in the community,
not just those connected to UC Riverside.
“It has been hard to create new companies based on technology
developed at the university out of the university,” said Michael
Pazzani, the vice chancellor for research and economic development
at UC Riverside and one of the directors of the incubator. “This will make it
easier. It will also encourage faculty to start new companies and commercialize
the technology they develop.”
Pazzani, along with Riverside MayorRusty Bailey and John Tavaglione, who represents Riverside on the
county of Board of Supervisors, will speak at the grand opening event. There
also will be tours and refreshments. The event is open to the public.
The
incubator is designed to facilitate the successful incubation and acceleration
of start-up companies engaged in entrepreneurial research and development of
advanced technologies.
The
incubator aims to increase the number of successful start-up businesses in the
region by providing a location for business synthesis, mentorship and
management; access to financial resources and information; access to marketing
and professional services; and technology transfer from domestic and foreign
universities, organizations and governments.
Below are
details about the four companies that are already located at the incubator:
- FrackOptima, founded by Guanshui “Alex” Xu,
a UC Riverside professor of mechanical engineering who is also president
of the company, provides software and consulting services to the oil and
gas industry in the area of hydraulic fracturing. The company works with
companies such as Shell and ConocoPhillips to design safer and more
economical multiple stage hydraulic fracturing treatments
along horizontal wells.
- Fundamental
Brain Games and Services, LLC , or Fundamental,
is a technology start-up that develops and distributes the latest in
evidence-based research knowledge in the area of brain fitness and
training through game applications on smart devices and customized
services that support brain fitness. Its products will dovetail with the UC
Riverside Brain Game Center to
bring the latest cognitive scientific research to the public as quickly
and as effectively as possible. The company and Brain Game Center are led
by Aaron
Seitz, a professor of psychology, and Victor Zordan, an
associate professor of computer science and engineering.
- SmartDocFinder is a big data-driven
service to select healthcare providers in a personalized manner. SmartDocFinder employs unique data aggregation,
machine learning, personality profiling and text analytics techniques to
extract and combine the right knowledge from a wide range of data sources,
ranging from health outcome metrics to provider reviews, to provide
personalized provider recommendations. The company is co-founded by Vagelis Hristidis, an associate professor
of computer science and engineering and Matthew
Wiley, a computer science and engineering Ph.D. candidate.
- Walo (pronounced way – low) is a
technology startup that developed a free mobile app for iPhone and Android
to navigate crowds and find wait times. Founded by David Langley, who
attended California Baptist University in Riverside, and Patrick Edgett, a UC Riverside graduate, walo
is built on a proprietary algorithm to display wait times for amusement
parks, restaurants, hospital emergency rooms, California Department of
Motor Vehicle locations, and US/Mexico border crossings. Walo utilizes crowd sourcing and data partnerships to
collect millions of wait times every month. The app can be downloaded for
free at www.waloapp.com.
Prothonotary Warbler
A prothonotary warbler was in Fairmount Park in Riverside for about 10 days in October. This species is rarely seen west of the Rockies and this bird is one of only three that have been reported this year.
Michael Pazzani
Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development
Professor, Computer Science & Engineering
University of California, Riverside
200 University Office Building
Riverside, CA 92521
Assistant: Linda Bejenaru
Email: VCREDadmin@ucr.edu