Strengthening Sponsored Research Infrastructure and Faculty Development at Swarthmore College

描述(由申请者提供)：斯沃斯莫尔有一个受赞助的研究项目，对于一所小型文理学院来说，可以被认为是强大的。该项目旨在将学院的实践提升到我们的R1合作伙伴的水平。这将使Swarthmore能够更有效地与R1级机构合作，无论是作为分包商还是主要受赠人。这种能力建设反过来将扩大我们国家的本科生研究人员队伍--这是一条重要的管道，因为斯沃斯莫尔在继续获得自然科学、工程学或社会科学博士学位的人均产量方面在全国排名第四。此外，这里提出的赞助研究改进旨在可在同行机构复制；斯沃斯莫尔将分享有关从中小型赞助研究项目发展的最佳实践(以及应避免的陷阱)的信息。该项目是及时的：2011年12月，斯沃斯莫尔完成了最新的战略计划，重点是教职员工和学生的研究、高影响力的学习体验、基于社区的学习和研究，以及创建更多样化、更具包容性的校园文化。在接下来的几年里，随着我们从5门课程增加到4门课程，我们预计将招聘大约25-30名新教师，同时期望教师花更多的时间让学生参与他们自己的研究，并指导学生的研究。此外，在过去的十年里，斯沃斯莫尔开创了一些项目，以促进代表不足的少数族裔(URM)参与STEM研究；现在，随着未来十年计划增加招生人数，学院寻求加倍努力。我们还看到了在某些领域(例如，我们新兴的神经科学课程；经济系教员领导的行为健康研究)赞助研究增长的额外潜力，并将在这些领域建立明确的赞助研究联系。合格的学生对研究机会的需求超过了学院提供这些机会的能力：不仅是实验室研究，而且包括国际和当地社区项目的社会科学研究，以及斯沃斯莫尔的教职员工(和学生)正在从事日益复杂和具有挑战性的行为和社会科学研究。该项目旨在确保Swarthmore在所有这些领域的增长得到一个积极主动的赞助研究办公室的支持，该办公室得到了有效的颁奖前/获奖后管理和合规战略和工具的加强，并得到了校园文化中明确的制度政策的支持，该政策承认使卓越研究成为可能的基础设施需求。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Swarthmore has a sponsored research program that can be considered robust for a small liberal arts college. This project is designed to bring the College's practices up to the level of our R1 partners. This will enable Swarthmore to collaborate more effectively with R1-level institutions, either as a subcontractor or prime grantee. This capacity-building will, in turn, expand our nation's pool of undergraduate researchers - an important pipeline, as Swarthmore is fourth in the country in per capita production of students who go on to achieve a PhD in the natural sciences, engineering, or the social sciences. Furthermore, the sponsored research enhancement proposed here is designed to be replicable at peer institutions; Swarthmore will share information about best practices for (and pitfalls to avoid) in growing from a small- to medium-sized sponsored research program. The project is timely: In December 2011, Swarthmore completed its latest strategic plan, which foregrounds faculty and student research, high-impact learning experiences, community-based learning and research, and creating a more diverse, inclusive campus culture. In the coming years, we expect to hire approximately 25-30 new faculty, as we move from a 5- to 4-course load, with the concurrent expectation that faculty spend increased time on involving students in their own research and mentorship of students' research. Also, over the past decade Swarthmore has pioneered some programs to promote underrepresented minority (URM) participation in STEM research; now, with student enrollment increases planned for the coming decade, the College seeks to redouble those efforts. We also see additional as-yet-untapped potential for sponsored research growth in certain fields (e.g., our emerging neuroscience curriculum; behavioral health research led by faculty in the Economics Department) and will develop explicit sponsored research connections in those areas. Qualified student demand for research opportunities is outstripping the College's ability to provide them: not only laboratory research, but social science research that includes international and local community projects, and Swarthmore faculty (and students) are engaging in increasingly complex and challenging behavioral and social science research. This project seeks to ensure Swarthmore's growth in all these areas is supported by a proactive Sponsored Research Office strengthened by efficient pre-/post-award administration and compliance strategies and tools and backed by clear institutional policies in a campus culture that recognizes the infrastructural needs that make research excellence possible.