Nevada's Systemic Improvement Plan

93-53227毕晓普内华达州的系统改进计划内华达州大学和社区学院系统(UCCSN)提出了系统改进(SI)活动，使大学研究机构能够在具有国家竞争力的研究资助计划中取得成功。这些活动和计划围绕着几个仍然阻碍研究的主题：空间和设施；设备；组织结构；人员(教职员工、学生、工作人员)；以及知名度。内华达州的SI计划在组织上是多层次的。SI活动将在州一级、群组一级和个别教员一级进行，现在也是如此。在全州范围内，活动旨在为UCCSN的研究结构和组织提供永久性改进。DRI、UNLV和UNR这三个研究机构设立并填补了主管研究的副总裁的职位。VPR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委员会正在进行重组，从治理转向外联。通过成立名为内华达工业、科学、工程和技术公司的非营利性公私合作伙伴关系，州政府、企业和大学之间的沟通正在得到促进和加强。在研究集群层面，SI活动将资助重要研究设施的设备，并允许为集群项目雇用新的教师、博士后和研究生。围绕几个研究主题武装了三个研究集群：桥梁工程、化学物理和植物对二氧化碳和气温上升的反应(植物生物学)。之所以选择这些集群，是因为它们代表了相对少量的SI将为其提供非常大好处的三个组。两个重要的研究设施目前即将完工：桥梁工程实验室和大流域环境研究实验室。在这两种情况下，本提案中所要求的设备基本上将完成实验室。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-树冠气体交换实验。桥梁工程实验室将成为全国十到二十个最好的大型结构实验室之一。在个别教员的层面上，SI活动将针对三个领域：部门/方案审查、改进提案制定和加强个人研究。这些活动将由内华达州EPSCoR计划的新任主任协调和/或进行。审查进程将针对确定和准备几乎准备好参加EPSCoR的新的研究小组。提案开发增强活动将提高所有教职员工撰写成功研究提案的能力。由于与世隔绝和缺乏资深教员的指导，许多具有创造力和良好研究想法的教员没有学习撰写成功的研究提案所必需的技能。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项系统范围的个人研究增强方案。这项计划将是一项由新任EPSCoR主任运营的竞争性小额赠款计划，旨在为需要成熟的创造性新想法提供资金，然后才能为全国竞争性赠款计划做好准备。人力资源开发是内华达州SI计划的重要组成部分。我们纳入了一个人力资源发展组：“科学和工程领域的妇女：更多的参与和更高的生产力。”该专题组的目的是提高女科学家和女工程师获得具有国家竞争力的资助的能力，并鼓励高中和本科生妇女选择科学和工程职业。通过制定一个在各个层面都有活动的系统改进计划，确保所有以研究为导向的教职员工最大限度地参与和受益。选择了加强某些研究活动的有重点的计划，以最大限度地利用EPSCoR资源，并确保这三个研究分组在国家中的突出地位。

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.