Evaluation and Assessment Program for the Industry University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) Program

该提案的智力价值在于对产学研合作研究中心（IUCRC）项目提供严格和有组织的监测和评估，以便更好地向IUCRC社区提供知识和最佳实践，从而提高该项目实现其目标的有效性和成功潜力。IUCRC项目的主要目标包括：通过发展产业界、学术界和政府之间的长期合作关系，为国家的研究事业做出贡献；利用国家科学基金会与工业界的资金，支持研究生进行与工业相关的竞争前研究；通过产业和大学之间的合作，扩大我国具有竞争力的劳动力的创新能力；鼓励国家的研究企业通过与世界各地的学术和工业领袖积极接触来保持竞争力。这笔赠款将支持一个项目，该项目将寻求为IUCRC项目奖励的接受者以及参与IUCRC活动的更广泛的工业界提供对IUCRC项目有效性的关键、及时和持续的评估。在推动IUCRC资助的中心提高效率的催化剂方面获得的洞察力和知识将对IUCRC社区和NSF的信息至关重要。这些知识将能够创造和维持一个充满活力和强大的项目，同时也为NSF提供关键的见解，以更好地支持一个庞大、丰富和高度异构的中心生态系统群体。通过提议的评估和评估活动获得的见解和知识将有助于确保IUCRC项目的愿景和使命得到很好的支持和进一步加强。该项目的广泛影响将是加强IUCRC项目及其通过有效的产学研合作提供创新以满足社会需求的能力。有效而有力的项目评估和监测将有助于加快强大中心的可持续性，从而实现国家科学基金会为世界自然保护委员会中心制定的目标。这一评估项目对于确保公共资金有效地用于维持最高水平的IUCRC中心网络至关重要，同时作为一种变革性的工具，通过大学合作将竞争前的研究和开发活动转化为工业用途。从长远来看，这将确保世界自然保护委员会的项目继续保持活力，有效发展，并产生可持续的长期商业和社会影响。

The intellectual merit of this proposal is to provide rigorous and structured monitoring and evaluation of the Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (IUCRC) program to better inform the IUCRC Community with knowledge and best practices that will enhance the effectiveness and success potential for the program in achieving its goals. Key goals of the IUCRC program include the following: Contributing to the nation's research enterprise by developing long-term partnerships among industry, academe, and government; Leveraging NSF funds with industry to support graduate students performing industrially relevant pre-competitive research; Expanding the innovation capacity of our nation's competitive workforce through partnerships between industries and universities; and Encouraging the nation's research enterprise to remain competitive through active engagement with academic and industrial leaders throughout the world. This grant will support a program that will seek to provide critical, timely and ongoing assessment of the effectiveness of the IUCRC program to the recipients of IUCRC Program awards as well as the broader industrial community engaged in the IUCRC activities. The insight and knowledge gained on the catalysts that drive enhanced effectiveness of funded IUCRC centers will be critical in informing the IUCRC community and the NSF. This knowledge will enable the creation and sustenance of a vibrant and robust program, while also providing critical insights to NSF to better support a vast, rich and highly heterogeneous group of center ecosystems. The insights and knowledge gained through the proposed evaluation and assessment activities will help ensure that the vision and mission of the IUCRC program is well supported and further enhanced. The broader impact of this project will be the enhancement of the IUCRC Program and its ability to deliver innovations to address societal needs through effective Industry-University Collaborations. Effective and robust program assessment and monitoring will help accelerate the sustainability of strong centers that can achieve NSF's published goals for the IUCRC centers. This assessment program will be critical in ensuring that public funds are effectively spent on maintaining the highest caliber IUCRC center network, while serving as a transformative vehicle for the translation of pre-competitive research and development activities into industrial use through university collaborations. This will in the long term ensure that the IUCRC program continues to remain robust, grow effectively and have a sustainable long term commercial and societal impact.