Nevada's Systemic Improvement Plan

93-53227主教内华达的系统改进计划内华达大学和社区学院系统（UCCSN）提出系统改进（SI）活动，这将使大学研究机构在全国竞争性研究资助计划中取得成功。这些活动和计划围绕着几个主题，这些主题仍然是研究的障碍：空间和设施；设备;组织结构;人员（教师、学生、员工）；和可见性。内华达州的SI计划在组织方面是多层次的。科学探究活动将在州一级、集群一级和教师个人一级进行。在全州一级，活动的目的是永久改进UCCSN的研究结构和组织。DRI， UNLV和UNR这三个研究机构已经设立并填补了研究副总裁（VPR）的职位。VPRs正在共同努力，以促进和鼓励研究活动的方式重组大学系统基础设施。国家EPSCoR委员会正在进行改组，从管理转向外联。内华达工业、科学、工程和技术有限公司（Nevada Industry, Science, Engineering and Technology, Inc）是一家非盈利的公私合作伙伴关系，促进和加强了州政府、企业和大学之间的沟通。在研究集群层面，科学探究活动将为重要的研究设施提供设备，并允许为集群项目雇用新的教师、博士后和研究生。三个研究集群围绕几个研究主题：桥梁工程、化学物理和植物对二氧化碳和温度上升的反应（植物生物学）。选择这些集群是因为它们代表了三个群体，相对少量的SI将提供非常大的好处。两个重要的研究设施目前接近完工：桥梁工程实验室和大盆地环境研究实验室（GBERL）。在这两种情况下，本建议所要求的设备将基本完成实验室。当GBERL建成后，它将成为世界上最好的植物生长设施之一，首次能够在精确控制的条件下进行完整的植物-冠层气体交换实验。桥梁工程实验室将成为全国最好的十到二十所大型结构实验室之一。在个别教师层面，科学探究活动将针对三个方面：部门/项目审查、提案发展加强和个人研究加强。这些活动将由内华达州EPSCoR项目的新主任协调和/或执行。审查过程的目标将是确定和筹备几乎准备好参加EPSCoR的新研究小组。提案开发增强活动将提高所有教师撰写成功研究提案的能力。由于孤立和缺乏资深教师的指导，许多有创造性和好的研究想法的教师没有学到写一份成功的研究计划所必需的技能。这项活动的一个预期好处是，一些教师应该能够跳过EPSCoR流程，直接在全国范围内具有竞争力。个人层面的第三项活动将是制定一个全系统的个人研究增强计划。该项目将是一个竞争性小额赠款项目，由新的EPSCoR主任负责管理，旨在为需要成熟的创造性新想法提供资金，然后为全国竞争性赠款项目做好准备。人力资源开发是内华达州SI计划的重要组成部分。我们还包括了一个人力资源开发集群：“科学和工程领域的妇女：更多的参与和更高的生产力”。该小组的目的是提高女科学家和工程师获得具有全国竞争力的赠款的能力，并鼓励高中和本科妇女选择科学和工程方面的职业。通过制定一个系统的改进计划，包括在各个层面上的活动，确保所有研究型教师的最大参与和利益。已经选定了加强某些研究活动的重点计划，以最大限度地利用EPSCoR的资源，并确保三个研究集群在全国具有突出地位。

93-53227 Bishop Nevada's Systemic Improvement Plan The University and Community College System of Nevada (UCCSN) proposes systemic improvement (SI) activities that will allow the university research institutions to be successful in nationally competitive research grant programs. These activities and plans focus around several themes that are remaining barriers to research: space and facilities; equipment; organizational structure; personnel (faculty, students, staff); and visibility. Nevada's SI plan is multi-level in terms of its organization. SI activities will be and are taking place at the state level, at the cluster level, and at the level of individual faculty. At the statewide level, activities have been designed to provide permanent improvements in the research structure and organization of the UCCSN. The three research institutions, DRI, UNLV and UNR, have created and filled positions for Vice President for Research (VPR). The VPRs are working together to reorganize the university system infrastructure in ways that foster and encourage research activities. The State EPSCoR Committee is being reorganized, moving from governance to outreach. Communication between state government, business and the university is being facilitated and enhanced by the formation of a not-for-profit public-private partnership called Nevada Industry, Science, Engineering and Technology, Inc. At the research cluster level, SI activities will fund equipment for important research facilities, and allow the hiring of new faculty, postdocs and graduate students for the cluster programs. Three research clusters have been armed around several research themes: bridge engineering, chemical physics and plant responses to rising CO2 and temperature (plant biology). These clusters have been chosen because they represent the three groups for which a relatively small amount of SI will provide a very large benefit. Two important research facilities are currently near completion: the Brid ge Engineering Laboratory and the Great Basin Environmental Research Laboratory (GBERL). In both cases, equipment requested in this proposal will essentially complete the laboratories. When the GBERL is complete, it will be one of the best plant growth facilities in the world, capable of doing, for the first time, full plant-canopy gas exchange experiments under precisely controlled conditions. The bridge engineering laboratory will be one of the ten or twenty best large scale structure labs in the country. At the level of individual faculty, SI activities will be aimed at three areas: departmental/ programmatic review, proposal development enhancement and individual research enhancement. These activities will be coordinated and/or conducted by the new Director of the Nevada EPSCoR program. The review process will be directed towards the identification and preparation of new research groups that are nearly ready for participation in EPSCoR. Proposal development enhancement activities will improve the ability of all faculty to write a successful research proposal. Because of isolation and a lack of mentoring by senior faculty, many faculty who are creative and have good research ideas have not learned the skills that are necessary to write a successful research proposal. An expected benefit of this activity is that some faculty should be able to leapfrog past the EPSCoR process, directly to being nationally competitive. The third activity at the individual level will be to develop a systemwide individual research enhancement program. This program will be a competitive small grant program operated by the new EPSCoR Director, aimed at providing funding for creative, new ideas that need maturing before being ready for nationally competitive grant programs. Human resource development is an important component to Nevada's SI plan. We have included a human resource development cluster: "Women in Science and Engineering: Greater Participation and Higher Productivity." The purpose of this cluster is to improve the ability of women scientists and engineers to acquire nationally competitive grants, and to encourage high school and undergraduate women to choose careers in science and engineering. By developing a systemic improvement plan that has activities at all levels, maximum participation and benefit for all research-oriented faculty is assured. Focused plans to enhance certain research activities have been chosen to maximize EPSCoR resources and to assure graduation of the three research clusters to national prominence.