Research Council Meeting

Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Members Present: Carrie Figdor, Fatima Toor, Seth King, Mihaela Bojin, Ariel Aloe, Matt Suiter, Laura Dean, Joshua Carrizales, Rebecca Taugher-Hebl, Shelton Stromquist, Queena Lin, Paul Dilley, David Drake, Scott Shaw, Yasar Onel

Members Absent: Natalie Denburg, Anthony Panos, Abigail Townsend

Others in Attendance: Marty Scholtz, Bob Kirby, Mike Weaver

Call to Order

• The meeting was called to order at 9:04 am.
• Minutes approved from 9/26/23 unanimously without edits.

Item 1: Updates from OVPR (Scholtz)

• VP Scholtz thanked the Council members for their attendance at the Research Security meeting on October 5, 2023.
  • UI slides were sent out via email to attendees.
  • Additional questions can be directed to Mike Andrews.
  • Updates will be provided as federal guidelines are rolled out.
• Book Matters events
  • Previous event was October 26th at the Stanley Art Museum.
  • Topic was community engaged work.
  • There will be approximately three per semester.

Item 2: Subcommittee OneDrive Documents (Toor)

• Toor would like everyone to be able to contribute to each subcommittee regardless of whether they are members.
• Toor provided notes on the benchmarking support based on her conversations.

Item 3: Subcommittee Breakouts

• Collegiate Research Support Benchmarking Committee
  • Committee members- Bob Kirby, Mihaela Bojin, Carrie Figdor, David Drake, Ariel Aloe, Seth King.
  • Toor added notes to the summary document.
  • Collegiate Associate Deans for Research are a good starting point to find college-based resources.
  • Subcommittee will compile an inventory of resources.
  • Check on what OVPR already has in regards to benchmarking of college-based resources.
• Outreach to Campus Investigators Committee
  • Committee members- Matt Suiter, Scott Shaw, Fatima Toor, Anthony Panos, Laura Dean, Queena Lin, Paul Dilley, Shelton Stromquist
  • Plan to design a survey for outreach.

Item 4: Upcoming Meetings (Weaver)

• Agenda Items
• Guest Presenters

Meeting adjourned at 10:33 AM

Research Council Meeting

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Members Present: Yasar Onel, Constance Berman, Laura Dean, Natalie Denburg, Queena Lin, David Drake, Joshua Carrizales, Ariel Aloe, Matt Suiter, Mihaela Bojin, Scott Shaw, Rebecca Taugher-Hebl, Carrie Figdor

Members Absent: Fatima Toor, Anthony Panos, Seth King

Others in Attendance: Marty Scholtz, Bob Kirby, Lauren Galliart, and Michael Weaver

Call to Order

• The meeting was called to order at 3:32 PM.
• Ariel Aloe (Vice Chair) welcomed the council and led introductions.
• Mike Weaver reviewed the Operations Manual charge.

Item 1:  Updates from OVPR (Scholtz)

• Research security meeting with the associate deans on October 5^th, 2023.
  •  International research engagement and research security.
    •  Will discuss issues affecting working with international students and colleagues.
    • Federal mandates require a program to be in place to educate the community on issues of international research security.
    • Mike Andrews will lead.
  • FBI agent will be attending to present.
  • Leadership from international studies will also be there.
  • At the Pappajohn Business Building, council members have until Friday to turn in Qualtrics responses.
• High potential for a government shutdown, not a lot of guidance from federal partners yet.
  • Program officers and staff would not be available during a shutdown.
  • NIH deadline on October 6^th. UI will still submit proposals on time. If you need to talk to someone, you have until Friday assuming a shutdown occurs.
  • Webpage will be updated if changes are needed. Business as usual, staying up to date on things until things change.

Item 2:  Publication Waiver Subcommittee (Weaver)

• Members David Drake, Mihaela Bojin, Paul Dilley, and Rebecca Taugher-Hebl trained this past spring on duties.
•  No additional training needed at this time.
• Current members will remain on subcommittee.

Item 3: Topics for 2023-24 Council Year (Aloe, Weaver)

Research Support in Colleges

• What type of support is needed and what they can expect from collegiate and institutional research offices?
  • What level of support is offered at each college? What colleges provide admin support for grant recipients and how does this differ across colleges.
  • ADRs discuss collegiate support and best practices frequently. ADR group is very collaborative and good at facilitating these convos around campus.
  • Pre award support seems to vary the most at the college-level.
  • What is the policy about continuing support after someone retires?
• We will call for volunteers to look at the websites and do some institutional benchmarking.

Research Space/Facilities

• What are the responsibilities of FM when it comes to research space?
  • Space is limited on campus and there are several groups working together on these issues.
  • First step may be to bring in Design and Construction and Facilities Management teams to understand how their process works.

Outreach to Leading Researchers

• Get perspectives from UI researchers. What’s working/not working.
• Small groups of research council members could participate in some informal outreach to researchers in their respective colleges.
  • Could include speaking with early-career, mid-career, and tenured faculty.
  • Start thinking about who people might want to talk to and general questions to lead discussions.

Presentations from OVPR Units

• OVPR unit presentations
  • Associate Vice Presidents for Research – their current projects.
  • Leslie and Kristy P3 work, conversations for the public good. General communication training.

Meeting adjourned at 4:35 PM

Research Council Meeting

Monday, May 15, 2023

Members Present: Joshua Carrizales, Kailey Cash, Rebecca Taugher-Hebl, Queena Lin, Fatima Toor, Mihaela Bojin, Yasar Onel, Anthony Panos, Ariel Aloe, Sai Kumar Ramadugu, Jason Rantanen

Members Absent: Natalie Denburg, Anny Curtius, Jenna Yang, Paul Dilley, David Drake, Constance Berman

Others in Attendance: Michael Weaver, Jennifer Lassner, Aliasger Salem, Jennifer Nahrgang, Kristy Nabhan-Warren, Mike Andrews, Josh Weiner, Marty Scholtz

Call to Order

• Meeting was called to order at 3:32 PM
• Minutes from the April 17^th meeting were accepted with no edits

Item 1: Revisions to Operations Manual Chapter 27.2 Principles Governing Access to Research Information (Scholtz)

• Vice President Scholtz reviewed the history of 27.2
• The University of Iowa needs to update the chapter’s outdated terminology to meet funding agency demands on dissemination of research information
• Updates will allow for UI to take on restricted research grants and contracts
• Focus of the revisions is on maintaining protections for students working toward their degrees, early career faculty, and research staff.
• Research Council suggestions have been incorporated into the policy revisions

Item 2: Research Security Program (Andrews)

• Mike Andrews discussed developing research program requirements as they pertain to foreign influence. Requirements are still being rolled out by it will apply to all federally funded research
• Requirements are centered around foreign travel, cyber security, export control, and research security training

• The Global Research Engagement Advisory Team (GREAT) has been working on these issues since November of 2021
  • Members are broadly representative of the University
  • The committee is focused on working to help develop Research Security policy and training programs
  • Travel policy is already in effect
  • Policies will likely be under the operations manual within Chapter 27.2

Item 3: Roundtable & Summer Meetings

• Fatima requested that we plan meetings for July and August

Meeting adjourned at 4:56pm

Research Council Meeting

Monday, April 17, 2023

Members Present: Paul Dilley, David Drake, Joshua Carrizales, Kailey Cash, Rebecca Taugher-Hebl, Queena Lin, Constance Berman, Fatima Toor, Mihaela Bojin, Yasar Onel, Anthony Panos, Ariel Aloe 

Members Absent: Natalie Denburg, Sai Kumar Ramadugu, Anny Curtius, Jason Rantanen, Jenna Yang

Others in Attendance: J. Martin Scholtz, Michael Weaver, Jennifer Lassner, Aliasger Salem, Marie Kerbeshian, Nai-Ching Chi, Sara Scheib, Jennifer Nahrgang

Call to Order

• Meeting was called to order at 3:32 PM
• Minutes from the March 23, 2023 meeting were accepted with no edits
• Sara Scheib was introduced as an ad hoc attendee representing UI Libraries

Item 1: Research Policies (Scholtz & Lassner)

• Vice President Scholtz discussed the policies provided to Research Council including the draft Research Data Policy and the draft Security in Research Policy.
• These were created in response to new policy mandates from the federal government. OVPR continues to receive guidance and will need to put these policies in place soon.
• Mike Andrews, Director of the Research Integrity Office, will attend the May Research Council meeting to discuss these mandates.
• Andrews leads a group of campus representatives working on crafting related policies.
• Research Data Policy group has been around since 2017.
• DSP has had a policy on its website for some time, which is referenced for data use agreements.
• Onel discussed international groups and whether their data can be shared if other nations aren’t willing to sign on.
• Toor discussed controls on work on semiconductors. Questions around what changes will look like practically; lots of communication and education, updates to travel regulations, etc.
• Third document (27.2) covers “secret research”
• Revisions to the policy address archaic language that doesn’t track with current activities or definitions.
• Chapter 27.2 continues to be revised. Another version of the document should be available by the end of the week. OVPR will share and it can be discussed at the May meeting.

Item 3: UIRF: Helping to Amplify the Impact of Research at UI (Kerbeshian)

• Takeaway points:
  • Call early, call often.
  • UIRF respects investigator priorities.
  • Think broadly about intellectual property.
  • Look at available educational information.

Item 4: Research Website (Weaver)

• Michael Weaver showed the updated Research Council Website (https://research.uiowa.edu/ui-research-council)

Meeting adjourned at 4:56

Research Council Meeting

Thursday, March 23, 2023

Members Present: Ariel Aloe, Mihaela Bojin, Fatima Toor, Joshua Carrizales, Anthony Panos, Yasar Onel, David Drake, Jason Rantanen, Kailey Cash, Paul Dilley, Queena Lin, Rebecca Taugher-Hebl, Sai Kumar Ramadugu

Members Absent: Anny Curtius, Amanda Haes, Natalie Denberg, Constance Berman, Jenna Yang

Others in Attendance: Jen Lassner, Marty Scholtz, Aaron Kline, Mike Weaver, Lauren Galliart, Bob Kirby, Jennifer Nahrgang, Lewis Stevens, Nai-Ching Chi, Kristy Nabhan-Warren, Ali Salem

Call to Order

• The meeting was called to order at 3:33 PM
• Fatima Toor (Chair) welcomed the council and called for approval of February 2023 minutes. She also introduced new observers, Allison Chi (nursing), Lewis Stevens (pharmacy), and Jennifer Nahrgang (Tippie), to the Research Council
• Toor requested minutes going forward be made into bulleted lists

Item 1: Guest Speaker, RDO Works (Aaron Kline)

• Kline presented an overview of the Research Development Office. Topics covered include: What is the RDO?, Collaboration & Interdisciplinary Research, Networking Surveys, Grant Writing, NSF CAREER Club, Research Development Network, New Faculty Meetings, Research Services Fair, RDO Resource Library, Pivot, External Grant Review of Proposals, Broader Impacts/ Research Impacts Seminar, Jumpstarting Tomorrow, Seeding Excellence, AHI, Limited Submissions, RDO Monthly Newsletter, and Presentation Recordings

Item 2: Previous Meeting Topics (Toor)

• New observers- Chi, Stevens, Nahrgang
• Research Council Presence

Item 3: Council Subcommittees (Weaver)

• Survey responses
  • Blank names
• Publication waiver volunteers- Dilley, Bojin, Taugher-Hebl, Drake
• Website volunteers- Aloe, Toor, Carrizales
• Mike will follow up with the volunteer that wasn’t identified

Item 4: Website Design (Carrizales)

• Main questions - How do we want to engage? What do we need out of the website? How to we highlight the Research Council charge?
• Add council member pictures to website
• List upcoming meetings on the page
• Discussion on where the site should live. Nesting it within the OVPR page?
• Add a carousel of photos to the main page of the Research Council members at work
• Create a form where people can send questions to a VPR representative

Meeting adjourned at 5:02 pm

Research Council Meeting

Friday, February 17, 2023

Members Present: Yasar Onel, Fatima Toor, Queena Lin, Jason Rantanen, Joshua Carrizales, Mihaela Bojin

Members Absent: Sai Kumar Ramadugu, Anny Curtius, Amanda Haes, Ariel Aloe, Paul Dilley, Jenna Yang, Rebecca Taugher, David Drake, Kailey Cash, Natalie Denburg, Anthony Panos, Connie Berman

Others in Attendance: Ali Salem, Marty Scholtz, Lauren Galliart, Kristy Nabhan-Warren, Kelly O’Berry

Call to Order

• Meeting was called to order at 3:31 P
• Minutes from the January 11^th, 2023 meeting were accepted with no edits. Toor motioned to accept the minutes, Carrizales seconded, approved unanimously by the council.

Item 1: HSO and IRB updates and policies (O’Berry)

• O’Berry presentation (slides attached)
• Toor expressed positive feedback in regards to the IRB. Rantanen asked about examples of requests. O’Berry said it was not possible, as they have confidential information and documents all vary. O’Berry stated PI training only for grad and undergrad training as of 2021. HSO speaking with faculty now to inform on new IRB processes and resources. Schultz declared his hope that faculty can be led to a local resource to make things more accessible. O’Berry said that IRB liaison program allows departments to select a person for training to become a liaison for this program and their department. Rantanen stated rare IRBs can be expensive, disincentives IRB research, seems geared more towards repeat users especially in medical field. IRB2 less efficient. Salem used the training course to negate new costs and found it very helpful. Training applicable IRB1 or 2. O’Berry asked for promotion of new users for new HawkeyeIRB users. HSO open to suggestions for improvements. Are the emails listed on the site active? Too much info on the website? Board members asked for a more user-friendly dashboard.

Audio crashed at 4:25pm

Item 2: Research Council Chair Updates (Toor, powerpoint slides attached)

• Newsletter articles- 172 views for the first disbursement.
• Website update- Josh is updating the site. He met with Modei and Leslie. He wants to focus on making the website accessible to users and people with disabilities, and to have a clear pipeline as to how to update the website. He needs specifics as to what we would like to add to the website. The website will be nested within the OVPR site. Josh will present further at the next meeting. He would like a subcommittee for publication restrictions or embargos and one for selecting website content.
• Since O’Berry stayed later than anticipated the remaining items on the agenda will be moved to the next meeting.

Meeting adjourned at 4:55 pm

Research Council Meeting

Wednesday, January 11, 2023

Members Present: : Fatima Toor, Queena Lin, Jason Rantanen, Joshua Carrizales, Natalie Denburg, Anthony Panos, Connie Berman, Mihaela Bojin, Rebecca Taugher, David Drake, Kailey Cash

Members Absent: Sai Kumar Ramadugu, Anny Curtius, Amanda Haes, Ariel Aloe, Paul Dilley, Jenna Yang, Yasar Onel

Others in Attendance: Ali Salem, Mike Weaver

Call to Order

• Meeting was called to order at 3:33 PM
• Minutes from the December 13^th, 2022 meeting were accepted with no edits. Rantanen motioned to accept the minutes, Panos seconded, approved unanimously by the council.

Item 1: Research Council Website/Newsletter Updates (Toor)

• Toor reviewed Section 3 of the Research Council Charge (“Advise in developing methods for informing University members about research opportunities and for stimulating, evaluating and rewarding good research”). Toor would like the council to take a more active role in this by better utilizing the Research Council website. Toor provided the recent example of adding postdocs to the VPR newsletter mailing list as the council identifying an opportunity and advising on a solution. Research Council could be effective in helping in the ongoing development of the OVPR communication plan. Toor intends to write an introduction article for the OVPR newsletter that would include information on the broader funding landscape, Research Council activities, and requesting that researchers engage with the council on any existing issues.
• The council discussed having guests from across the research enterprise come to future meetings to hear about what is going on. Several units were highlighted in the discussion and the council plans to invite unit directors and administrators from the Federal Relations Office, Human Subjects Office, Conflict of Interest Office, Research Development Office, Division of Sponsored Programs, University of Iowa Research Foundation, Research Integrity Office, and other compliance units.

Item 2: Research Council Membership Discussion (Toor)

• Toor presented data on representation across colleges and organizations from the last ten years of Research Council membership discussing which colleges are over and underrepresented. Discussion centered on how members represent the research enterprise, either representing their college or unit versus representing broader research interests. It would make the council more difficult to convene if it was expanded to have perpetual representation from all colleges. It was suggested that the council review the data and request membership in the future from colleges that have traditionally been underrepresented. The council could then ensure that representation rotates to all colleges and organizations while maintaining its smaller and more nimble size.

Item 3: Institutional Strengths and Emerging Areas of Opportunity Metrics (Weaver)

• Weaver requested that the council continue to review the document distributed last month and provide any feedback by the end of January. The council can have a full discussion on the document at the February meeting.

Item 4: Research Council Website/Newsletter updates (Toor)

• • The current Research Council website is on the old Drupal infrastructure. Low traffic to the site places us lower on the priority list for updating by the OVPR communications team. The website will be updated, but the council should focus on what they would like the website to say, and the content they would like to feature. Toor showed examples of other websites that she feels are more interactive and effective. The council would like volunteers to help with content development. Carrizales volunteered as he has previous experience with websites.
  • The Research Council will be included in the Research newsletter, potentially more often around upcoming events or deadlines, but content will drive the frequency.

Item 5: Planned meetings with ADRs of 10 UI Colleges, UIRF, and Libraries admin (Toor)

• Toor discussed her plan to meet with each Associate Dean for Research to discuss how the Research Council can better engage with and serve the colleges. Questions include, what are your pain points and what can the council do to help? What does the ADR consider their role to be and what do they see as the role of the council.

Meeting adjourned at 5:02 pm

Research Council Meeting

Tuesday, December 13, 2022

Members Present: Fatima Toor, Yasar Onel, Queena Lin, Jason Rantanen, Joshua Carrizales, Natalie Denburg, Anthony Panos, Connie Berman, Mihaela Bojin, Rebecca Taugher

Members Absent: Sai Kumar Ramadugu, Anny Curtius, David Drake, Amanda Haes, Ariel Aloe, Paul Dilley, Kailey Cash, Jenna Yang,

Others in Attendance: Ali Salem, Kristy Nabhan-Warren, Teresa Mangum, Mike Weaver, Lauren Galliart

Call to Order

• • Meeting was called to order at 3:41 PM
  • Minutes from the November 17, 2022 meeting were accepted with no edits

Item 1: Intro of New Council Member (Toor)

• Fatima Toor introduced Joshua Carrizales to the council, who has been approved by the Graduate and Professional Student Government to fill the open position on the council. He is from the department of biomedical engineering and is a second year PhD student. He wants to help bridge the gap between grad students, faculty, and staff.

Item 2: OVPR Updates (Salem, Nabhan-Warren)

• Ali Salem updated the council on ongoing discussions with the Associate Deans for Research regarding institutional areas of strength and emerging areas of opportunity. ADRs were given draft metrics from the Strategic Plan Action and Resource Committee assigned to this topic and asked to provide edits for how to better tailor them to their disciplines. ADRs were encouraged to work with others in their college on this process and will be asked to use the metrics to identify several strengths in their colleges over the next few weeks. Kristy Nabhan-Warren is ensuring that Arts and Humanities metrics are included and that nuances for this type of scholarship are considered.
• The Council discussed the process and expressed concern about a lack of transparency regarding who is involved in the process. No council members had been contacted by an Associate Dean and were essentially unaware of the project. The main concern is that the process is not receiving ground-up feedback from faculty and that the process is heavily influenced by the strategic vision from administration. The draft metrics will be shared with the Research Council for feedback following the meeting. This will be the primary topic of discussion at the January Research Council meeting.
• Salem suggested that it would be valuable for the Research Council to look at specific policy issues, i.e. research track faculty/staff classifications in colleges. Toor will work with Yasar Onel to put together a proposal regarding research track faculty.
• Mike Weaver summarized recent announcements regarding the Discovery and Innovation awards. The nomination period has been announced via campus-wide email. Nominations are due Tuesday, February 7^th of 2023. Any questions can be directed to Leslie Revaux.

Item 3: Obermann Center Presentation (Mangum)

• See attached Power Point slides

Item 4: Research Council Website/Newsletter updates (Toor)

• • The current Research Council website is on the old Drupal infrastructure. Low traffic to the site places us lower on the priority list for updating by the OVPR communications team. The website will be updated, but the council should focus on what they would like the website to say, and the content they would like to feature. Toor showed examples of other websites that she feels are more interactive and effective. The council would like volunteers to help with content development. Carrizales volunteered as he has previous experience with websites.
  • The Research Council will be included in the Research newsletter, potentially more often around upcoming events or deadlines, but content will drive the frequency.

Item 5: Research Council Membership (Toor)

• Fatima will share the data representation at a later date.

Meeting adjourned at 5:08pm

Research Council Meeting

Thursday, November 17, 2022

Members Present: Fatima Toor, Mihaela Bojin, Kailey Cash, Yasar Onel, Paul Dilley, Jason Rantanen, Sai Kumar Ramadugu, David Drake, Anthony Panos, Natalie Denburg

Members Absent: Ariel Aloe, Anny-Dominique Curtius, Amanda Haes, Constance Berman, Jenna Yang, Rebecca Taugher, Queena Lin

Others in Attendance: Marty Scholtz, Jennifer Lassner, Mike Weaver, Lauren Galliart, Leslie Revaux, Aaron Kline

Call to Order

• • Meeting was called to order at 3:34 PM
  • Minutes from the October 24, 2022 meeting were accepted with no edits

Item 1: Survey Results (Toor)

• See Included Power Point slides

Item 2: Faculty Senate Feedback (Toor)

• Toor discussed the council charge in conjunction with her meeting with the Faculty Senate. Several colleges are not currently represented (Public Health, Nursing, Business, Pharmacy, Grad College). The council discussed increasing Research Council membership so that each college would be represented as well as what the process would be to incorporate this change into the charter. This could increase the council’s visibility on campus. Toor suggested sending a survey to council to gather feedback on the optimal size and makeup of the council. It was suggested that the council could work with shared governance and collegiate leadership to potentially recruit representatives from colleges lacking a formal representative to council meetings in the near-term while they explore officially expanding the council in its charter.
• The council discussed putting together a quarterly spotlight in the OVPR newsletter as well as refreshing the Research Council website.
• The council heard from OVPR on current efforts regarding strategic planning and will refrain from further discussions as the Strategic Plan Action and Resource Committee and Associate Deans for Research do their work.

Item 3: OVPR Updates

• P3 Updates (Scholtz)
  • Marty updated the committee on the P3 funding initiative. The FY24 call for preliminary proposals received 33 responses totaling $62 million in funding requests. The proposals will be reviewed and applicants will be notified by December 8th whether or not they have been selected to submit a full proposal. Full proposals will be due in March 2023.
  • The Faculty Senate will be conducting a periodic review of the Office of the Vice President for Research. Teresa Marshall will lead the review. Phase 1 is a self-study and Faculty Senate will formalize a committee to conduct the review in spring of 2023. It is expected that Research Council have an opportunity to be involved in the review process.
  • There is an ongoing need to bolster seed funding for early career researchers. P3 has provided some opportunities, but we need to reinvigorate these programs with permanent funds.
• Book Matters (Revaux) – This series will celebrate books by Iowa scholars across all disciplines (https://research.uiowa.edu/book-matters). Victor Ray will present a reading and reception in celebration of his new book, On Critical Race Theory, at Prairie Lights on Tuesday, November 29th from 7-8:30 PM.
  • Scholars in Conversation event will be held at the Stanley Museum in February.
  • Book Celebration at the Old Capitol Museum on March 31, 2023 will celebrate all UI Faculty scholarship who published books in the last year. OVPR doesn’t currently have a comprehensive list of books published by UI faculty and has reached out to Associate Deans to help identify faculty. Walton indicated that the libraries is setting up a system to capture these publications. Right now, the criteria include single authors, co-authors, and editors and co-editors of major textbooks. We are not including book chapters at this time.       
• RDO Updates (Kline)     
  •  The Research Services Fair was held at Hancher on October 20th. There were lots of presenters and attendees and many good connections were made.
  • DEI RFPs for supplements (grad student focused) and Team awards (team of researchers and team of undergraduates) are both live and applications are due mid spring.
  • Community engaged scholars RFP will go live in the next few weeks. $50,000 is available for working with partners around the state of Iowa. These applications will be due mid spring.
  • NSF CAREER Club will be starting again: https://research.uiowa.edu/nsf-career-club. Lots of resources are available to faculty who go through the program.
  • The federal NSF budget is on the verge of a large increase. UI needs to be ready to tap into new money, CAREER awards are a great opportunity to get your foot in the door for this funding. The money will go to bolster existing programs and to new and emerging areas of emphasis.

Item 4: Future Engagement with ADRs

• • Toor will plan to join an Associate Deans for Research meeting in early 2023 to discuss how Research Council can best engage.

Meeting adjourned at 4:59

Research Council Meeting

Monday, October 24, 2022

Members Present: Fatima Toor, Yasar Onel, Ariel Aloe, Lin, Anny Curtius, Constance Berman, Paul Dilley, Kailey Cash, Rebecca Taugher, Jenna Yang, Bojin, Amanda Haes, Anthony Panos, Jason Rantanen

Members Absent: David Drake, Natalie Denburg, Grad Student (no replacement named), Sai Kumar Ramadugu

Others in Attendance: Marty Scholtz, Lauren Galliart, Mike Weaver, Kristy Nabhan-Warren, Bob Kirby, Jen Lassner, Ali Salem

Call to Order

• • Meeting was called to order at 3:34 PM
  • Minutes from the September 9, 2022 meeting were accepted with no edits

Item 1: Updates from OVPR (Scholtz)

• • Awards are up 55% this fiscal year (12% not including the large TRACERs project). New proposals are up significantly as well. While these are positive numbers for research at the University overall, it puts additional strain on the underlying research infrastructure, which is already struggling to hire new staff and lacks the resources needed in many offices. VP Scholtz would like to start a campus conversation on how to fund the enterprise to support these growing challenges. P3 program funding is not a good source as it is meant to be one time funding, not recurring. UICA can add dollars to the overall funding base, but it is difficult to get donations directly to institutional administration. The campus needs to think about this as a function of ongoing growth.
  • P3 Preliminary Proposals are due October 31^st. There will be $15 million available for selected proposals. Proposals should align with a part of the institutional strategic plan.

Item 2: Discussion of the survey responses (Toor)

• • Fatima Toor discussed the results of the Qualtrics survey on the perception members have of the Research Council in general. So far, around half of the council members have responded to the survey. The survey will remain open for those who have not had a chance to respond. Most responses are from new members and view campus visibility as the biggest limitation of the council. We could increase engagement with the on-campus research leaders, such as the Associate Deans for Research, the Graduate College, Departmental Executive Officers, etc., Infrequent meetings have also been noted as a limitation to the council’s effectiveness.
  • Issues the council has addressed in the past include harassment in research settings, human subjects research, and delays in proposal submission and protocol approval. Historically, there have been more targeted subcommittees with different areas of focus. Traditionally, there has been an emphasis on discussing and reviewing proposed policies, but it has been difficult to take things from discussion to actionable results.
  • Another issue discussed was the relatively small size of the council and lack of representation from each of the university’s colleges.  

Item 3: Summary of discussion with Prof Jian Cao, Chair of the Office for Research Advisory Council (ORAC), Northwestern (Toor)

• • Professor Cao recommended that the council decide on two or three tangible goals and deliver on those goals. This will help the council to stay focused throughout the year. The council will need to balance between being reactive to things brought to them and being proactive on issues they would like to take on.

Item 4: Next steps and potential items for the council

• • Scholtz indicated that the strategic plan would be a good place for the council to engage given the number of groups currently working on it on campus. Specifically, OVPR needs help identifying strengths and emerging areas of distinction at UI.
  • Research Track Faculty and research scientist policies have been brought up by IIHR. They would like P&S research scientists to have more ability to conduct research related activities.
  • Conflict of Interest – contributions from Research Council are being considered in the Human Resources redraft of the policy. Lassner will share the current version at a future meeting.
  • Postdoc issues – postdocs would like to have a centralized office to handle postdoc affairs. Several groups around campus are working on this and it would be good to coordinate these efforts. There are no staff dedicated to handling postdoctoral affairs (tracking students, retention, career development). There was a suggestion to designate an HR representative to postdoc issues. Specifically, regarding what happens after a grant ends or continuity of health insurance.
  • Important to disseminate announcements and deadlines.
  • Engagement with Associate Deans for Research

Meeting adjourned at 4:56

Research Council Meeting

Friday, September 9, 2022

Members Present: Fatima Toor, Natalie Denburg, Mihaela Bojin, Paul Dilley, Anny-Dominique Curtius, Jason Rantanen, Ariel Aloe, Queena Lin, Kailey Cash, Rebecca Taugher-Hebl, Amanda Haes, David Drake, Jenna Yang, Anthony Panos, Yasar Onel

Members Absent: Madeline Wilson, Sai Kumar Ramadugu,

Others in Attendance: Marty Scholtz, Richard Hichwa, Jennifer Lassner, Aliasger Salem, Jan Waterhouse, Trevor Glanz, Bob Kirby, Michael Weaver

Call to Order

• The meeting was called to order at 9:01 AM
• Fatima Toor (Chair) introduced herself and outlined her vision for a more active and impactful Research Council

Item 1:  Review Research Council Charge

• Toor reviewed the charge and mission of the Research Council (https://rcouncil.research.uiowa.edu/)

Item 2:  University of Iowa Strategic Planning

• Vice President Scholtz provided an overview of the institutional strategic planning process, committee structures, and the background for how it was created. The Council discussed the plan’s implementation, specifically goal two, which focuses on Research and Discovery (https://strategicplan.uiowa.edu/innovative-research-and-creative-discovery). There is currently a need for working groups to provide input from across campus on [GLM1] how the plan’s tactics can be implemented and tracked. The plan is set out for five years, so it will be an ongoing effort. The Council discussed how teams will be built to work on the Objectives and Strategies. Part of these [GLM2] teams’ mission will be to build the process as well as supporting [GLM3] the plan’s strategies. This will be an ongoing discussion for the Research Council

Item 3: P&S Policy Changes

• Jan Waterhouse and Trevor Glanz from University Human Resources joined the meeting to discuss proposed changes to the Operations Manual for Professional and Scientific Staff. Revisions to the policy started several years ago with a committee inclusive of Human Resources and Shared Governance leadership. Waterhouse shared an overview of the draft changes. These changes have already been presented to both Staff Council and Faculty Senate. The final implementation will follow[GLM4]  review from the President’s Office. Waterhouse expects that the changes will be finalized by the end of the fall semester.

Item 4: Planning for future Research Council Meetings

• Toor would like for the Council to meet monthly at rotating times, preferably in person. Members indicated that, in their experience, one meeting per month may not be enough to accomplish aggressive goals. Toor would prefer to start at once per month and potentially charge subcommittees to meet more frequently between meetings. There was support for starting at once per month with the potential to meet more frequently as the year progresses.

Item 5: Other Items for Discussion from the Council

• Toor would like to explore increasing the size of the Research Council. This would allow for contributions from colleges that have not always had representation on the Council at all times.
• Rantanen noted that there has been ongoing work by the council on various compliance issues including restricted research and foreign influence.
• Weaver will reach out to the council to start scheduling future meetings.

Meeting adjourned at 10:07 AM