Appendix A

Charge Letter

Appendix B

Committee Members

ResearchStrategicPlanningCommitteeMembers(Asof5/5/16)

Co‐Chairs

SudeepSarkar,Ph.D.AssociateVicePresidentforResearch&InnovationProfessor,ComputerScience&Engineering

EdmundF.(Ed")Funai,M.D.COO&VicePresidentforAdministrationUSFHealthUSFHealthVicePresidentforStrategicDevelopment,USFSystem

Members

BillBaker,Ph.D.DirectorCDDICollegeofArtsandSciences

RichardBermanDirectorPatelCollegeofGlobalSustainability

Thomas("Tom")Bernard,Ph.D.ProfessorandChairEnvironmental&OccupationalHealthCollegeofPublicHealth

PaulaBickford,Ph.D.ProfessorNeurosurgeryMorsaniCollegeofMedicine

RobertBishop,Ph.D.,P.E.DeanandProfessorCollegeofEngineering

CesarBorlongan,Ph.D.DistinguishedProfessor&DirectorUSFCenterofExcellenceforAgingandBrainRepairMorsaniCollegeofMedicine

DonP.Chambers,Ph.D.AssociateProfessorPhysicalOceanographyCollegeofMarineScience

TiffanyChenneville,Ph.D.AssociateProfessorPsychology;JointAppointment,PediatricsUSFSt.Petersburg

TheresaChisolm,Ph.D.ViceProvostforStrategicPlanning,Performance&Accountability;ProfessorCommunicationSciences&DisordersCollegeofBehavioral&CommunitySciences

WilliamCummings,Ph.D.ProfessorandChairHumanities&CulturalStudiesCollegeofArtsandSciences

JayDean,Ph.D.ProfessorMolecularPharmacology&PhysiologyMorsaniCollegeofMedicine

RajivDubey,Ph.D.ProfessorandChairMechanicalEngineeringCollegeofEngineering

V.MarkDurand,Ph.D.InterimRegionalViceChancellorAcademicAffairsUSFSt.Petersburg

DavidEddins,Ph.D.ProfessorCommunicationSciences&DisordersCollegeofBehavioral&CommunitySciences

MichaelFountain,MBA,Ph.D.John&BeverleyGrantEndowedChairinEntrepreneurship;andDirectorCenterforEntrepreneurshipMumaCollegeofBusiness

Robert("Bob")Frisina,Jr.,Ph.D.Professor&BMEDirectorBMEProgram,Chemical&BiomedicalEngineeringCollegeofEngineering

RichardGitlin,Sc.D.DistinguishedUniversityProfessor,StateofFlorida21stCenturyWorldClassScholarElectricalEngineeringCollegeofEngineering

StuartHart,M.D.ChiefMedicalOfficerofInnovationUSFHealthCAMLSMorsaniCollegeofMedicine

MichaelHighsmith,Ph.D.AssociateProfessorSchoolofPhysicalTherapy&RehabilitationSciencesMorsaniCollegeofMedicine

UmeshJinwal,Ph.D.AssistantProfessorPharmaceuticalSciencesCollegeofPharmacy

GladisKersaint,Ph.D.AssociateDeanforAcademicAffairs&ResearchCollegeofEducation

ErinKimmerle,Ph.D.AssociateProfessorAnthropologyCollegeofArtsandSciences

MarkKindy,Ph.D.Professor&AssociateDeanforResearch&InnovationPharmaceuticalSciencesCollegeofPharmacy

KevinKip,Ph.D.DistinguishedProfessorEpidemiology&BiostatisticsCollegeofNursing

RandyLarsen,Ph.D.AssociateDeanOfficeofResearch&ScholarshipCollegeofArtsandSciences

BarbaraLewis,MLISAssistantDirectorforDigitalLearningInitiativesUSFTampaLibrary

Stephen("Steve")Liggett,M.D.AssociateVicePresidentUSFHealthPersonalizedMedicineMorsaniCollegeofMedicine

Pei‐SungLin,Ph.D.ProgramDirectorITSTrafficOperations&SafetyProgramCUTRCollegeofEngineering

Phillip("Phil")Marty,Ph.D.AssociateVicePresidentUSFHealthOfficeofResearchInterimChair,Dept.ofPathology&CellBiologyProfessor,PublicHealth&MedicineMorsaniCollegeofMedicine

ValerieMcDevitt,J.D.,MST,CLPAssociateVicePresidentTechnologyTransfer&BusinessPartnershipsUSFResearch&Innovation

MarkMcLaughlin,Ph.D.ProfessorChemistry&InterdisciplinaryOncologyCollegeofArtsandSciences

JamesR.Mihelcic,Ph.D.,BCEEMProfessor,StateofFlorida21stCenturyWorldClassScholarCivil&EnvironmentalEngineeringCollegeofEngineering

Wilbur("Wil")Milhous,Ph.D.AssociateDeanforResearchCollegeofPublicHealth

ShyamMohapatra,Ph.D.DistinguishedProfessor,InternalMedicine,PharmaceuticalScienceEndowedChair,andViceChairofResearch,InternalMedicineMorsaniCollegeofMedicine

DaveMorgan,Ph.D.CEO/DirectorByrdAlzheimerInstituteMorsaniCollegeofMedicine

MerryLynnMorris,MFAAssistantDirectorandFacultyDanceProgram,SchoolofTheatre&DanceCollegeofTheArts

CindyMunro,Ph.D.,RNAssociateDeanResearch&InnovationCollegeofNursing

TerryOsborn,Ph.D.RegionalViceChancellorUSFSarasota‐ManateeAcademic&StudentAffairs

BalajiPadmanabhan,Ph.D.Professor&ChairInformationSystems/DecisionSciencesMumaCollegeofBusiness

RichardPollenz,Ph.D.Professor&AssociateDeanOfficeforUndergraduateResearchCollegeofArtsandSciences

WilliamQuillen,PT,DPT,Ph.D.,FACSMDirectorSchoolofPhysicalTherapy&RehabilitationSciencesMorsaniCollegeofMedicine

JulianneSerovich,Ph.D.DeanandProfessorCollegeofBehavioral&CommunitySciences

SriSridharanManagingDirectorandCOOFloridaCenterforCybersecurityUSFResearch&Innovation

PeterStiling,Ph.D.SpecialFacultyAssistantintheOfficeoftheProvost;andDirector,USFinLondonProgramsProfessor,ChemistryCollegeofArtsandSciences

YichengTu,Ph.D.AssociateProfessorComputerScience&EngineeringCollegeofEngineering

JayWolfson,Dr.P.H.,J.D.AssociateVicePresident,HealthLawPolicyandSafetySr.AssociateDeanforHealthPolicy&PracticeMorsaniCollegeofMedicine

DanielYeh,Ph.D.,P.E.AssociateProfessorCivil&EnvironmentalEngineeringCollegeofEngineering

SarahYuan,M.D.,Ph.D.ProfessorandChairMolecularPharmacology&PhysiologyMorsaniCollegeofMedicine

JoseZayas‐Castro,Ph.D.ProfessorandExecutiveAssociateDeanCollegeofEngineering

Appendix C

Timeline

JAN

FEB

MAR

APR

MAY

12

RSPC

 Regular M

eetin

g

26

RSPC

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eetin

g

9

RSPC

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eetin

g

23RSPC

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g5

RSPC

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eetin

g

3

RSPC

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g

16

Stakeh

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r Mtg: IAD

I Faculty

21

Stakeh

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r Mtg: C

RAN M

embe

rs

25

Town Ha

ll: USF St. Pete 

Stakeh

olde

r Mtg: 

Commun

ity Leade

rs / AP

LU Sum

mit

23

Town Ha

ll: USF Health

 

10

Town Ha

ll: USF Tam

pa 

(@ College of A

rts & Scien

ces) 

2

Town Ha

ll: USF Sarasota‐Manatee

 

20

Stakeh

olde

r Mtg: U

SF Faculty Sen

ate

7

Stakeh

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r Mtg: U

SF AAA

S Fellows

24

Stakeh

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r Mtg: A

ssoc. D

eans ‐Re

s.

25

RSPC

 Leade

rship Planning

 Mtg.

USF Research Strategic Planning 

Committee:

Timeline

8

Stakeh

olde

r Mtg: U

SF Research Co

uncil

11

Stakeh

olde

r Mtg: U

SF DUPs

OCT

27

RSPC

 INAU

GURA

L MEETING

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DEC

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2016

2015

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Joint M

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, TPW

Draft  Re

port  to BO

T

2311

Draft R

eport to Sr. V

P Mtg.

Appendix D

Meeting Schedule

Research  Strategic  Planning  Committee  

MEETING SCHEDULE* 

*Revised April 19, 2016

Note: All Meeting Times are from 2:00 – 3:30 PM. 

2015 Oct. 27    Marshall Student Center 2709 Nov. 10   Marshall Student Center 2708  (Located just across the hall from 2709) Nov. 24   Marshall Student Center 2709      Dec. 8    Marshall Student Center 2709     

2016 Jan. 12    Oak View Room (USF CONNECT) Jan. 26    Marshall Student Center 2709      Feb. 9    Marshall Student Center 2709      Feb. 23    Marshall Student Center 2709      ** **Mar. 8 & Mar. 22 Meetings suspended while Town Halls and Stakeholder Meetings  

occur   (See Timeline for details) 

April 5    Oak View Room (USF CONNECT) April 19   Canceled – Due to Joint Meeting on April 22 April 22   Joint Meeting of the Research Strategic Planning Committee (RSPC),  

Research Advisory Council (RAC), and Transition Plan Workgroup (TPW) Location: MDN 1022 

May 3    Oak View Room (USF CONNECT) 

Locations and Directions: 

USF Marshall Student Center, Tampa Campus Please click here for GPS coordinates, step‐by‐step directions, and parking. 

Oak View Room, USF CONNECT 3720 Spectrum Blvd., Tampa, FL 33612 (The USF Research Building, in the USF Research Park) Please click here for GPS coordinates, step‐by‐step directions, and map. Please see the attached Parking Information.  (Note: There is no charge for parking in the Green Visitor’s Lot, identified on the attached map) 

Appendix E

Town Hall Flyer

ALL MEETINGS OPEN TO ALL USF SYSTEM FACULTY

MCOM Lecture Hall 1097

USF Tampa, hosted by College of Arts and Sciences

Appendix F

Meeting Proceedings Including Meeting Agendas, Meeting Summaries, Meeting Presentations, and Transcriptions of Notes from Meetings, Town Halls, and Stakeholder Sessions

(Full copies are available on file in USF Research & Innovation)

Appendix G

Bibliography of Resources Considered by the Committee Full copies available in USF Research & Innovation.

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Baxter, K., Horn, E., Gal-Edd, N., Zonno, K., O’Leary, J., Terry, P. F., & Terry, S. F. (2013, February 6). An end to the myth: there is no drug development pipeline. Science Translational Medicine, 5(171). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3003505

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. (2016). Grand Challenges. Retrieved from http://gcgh.grandchallenges.org/

Board on Life Sciences, Division on Earth and Life Studies, National Research Council of The National Academies. (2014a). Convergence: Facilitating Transdisciplinary Integration of Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Engineering, and Beyond. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

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Bowman, K. (2015). Convergence: Building on the 2014 National Academies' Report. Retrieved from http://www.aplu.org/members/councils/research/cor-meetings/cor-2015/Convergence-Bowman.pdf

Choi, B.C., & Pak, A.W. (2006, December). Multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity in health research, services, education and policy: 1. Definitions, objectives, and evidence of effectiveness. Clin Invest Med, 29(6), 351-64. PMID: 17330451

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Franceschi, C., Lithgow, G. J., Morimoto, R. I., Pessin, J. E., Rando, T. A., Richardson, A., Schadt, E. E., Wyss-Coray, T., & Sierra, F. (2014, November 6). Geroscience: Linking aging to chronic disease, Cell, 159(4), 709-13. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2014.10.039.

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Sanberg, P. R. (2014, June 10). More than money: The exponential impact of academic technology transfer. Technology & Innovation, 16(1), 75-84. Retrieved from http://www.ingentaconnect.com/search/article?option1=title&value1=more+than+money&pageSize=10&index=5

McMurtrie, B. (2016, March 13). The promise and peril of cluster hiring. The Chronicle of

Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/The-PromisePeril-of/235679

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http://www.neh.gov/grants/odh/digital-humanities-start-grants National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). (n.d.). Strategic Plan: Fiscal Year 2013 –

Fiscal Year 2017. Retrieved from http://www.neh.gov/about/legal/strategic-plan National Institutes of Health (NIH). (2014). NIH BEST: Broadening Experiences in

Scientific Training. Retrieved from http://www.nihbest.org/about-best/

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National Institutes of Health (NIH) Strategic Plan Working Group. (2015). NIH-Wide Strategic Plan Fiscal Years 2016-2020. Retrieved from https://www.nih.gov/sites/default/files/about-nih/strategic-plan-fy2016-2020-508.pdf

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Stanford University. (n.d.). BIO-X. Retrieved from https://biox.stanford.edu/

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Strategic Plan. Retrieved from http://www.flbog.edu/about/taskforce/_doc/strategic_planning_online_ed/2015_11_05%20FINAL_StrategicPlan.pdf

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University Work Plans. Retrieved from http://www.flbog.edu/about/_doc/budget/workplan_2015/2015_SYSTEM_WORK_PLAN_FINAL.pdf

Stavros, M. & Hinrichs, G. (2009). The Thin Book of SOAR; Building Strengths-Based

Strategy, 1st ed. Bend, OR: Thin Book Publishing Co. Stockfisch, J. R. (2016). Big tech dreams get a boost with local incubators. The Tampa

Tribune. Retrieved from http://www.tbo.com/news/business/big-tech-dreams-get-a-boost-with-local-incubators-20160423/

Tampa Bay WaVE, Inc. (2015). Tampa Bay WaVE. Retrieved from

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University of Arizona Board of Regents. (2016). Office for Research & Discovery: Strategic Planning Sessions. Retrieved from http://research.arizona.edu/strategic-planning-sessions

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University of Rochester. (2016). Research Strategic Plan 2013. Retrieved from https://www.rochester.edu/research/strategic-plan/

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USF Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation. (2015). USF CAMLS. Retrieved from http://www.camls-us.org/

USF Center for Assistive, Rehabilitation, & Robotics Technologies. (2012). USF CARRT. Retrieved from http://carrt.eng.usf.edu/

USF Center for Drug Discovery and Innovation. (2015). USF CDDI. Retrieved from

http://www.usf.edu/research-innovation/cddi/ USF Center for Entrepreneurship. (2016). USF Center for Entrepreneurship. Retrieved

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CEORAM. Retrieved from http://health.usf.edu/publichealth/ceoram/index.htm USF Center for Urban Transportation Research. (2016). USF CUTR. Retrieved from

http://www.cutr.usf.edu/ USF Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers & Babies. (2016). Lawton and Rhea Chiles Center

for Healthy Mothers and Babies. Retrieved from http://health.usf.edu/publichealth/chiles/index.htm

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Information Systems. Retrieved from http://wami.eng.usf.edu/research/RFmicrosystems.htm

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Appendix H

Convergence Abstract

Convergence: Facilitating Transdisciplinary Integration of Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Engineering, and Beyond

BOARD ON LIFE SCIENCESMAY 2014

It has been said that the 21st century will become the “century of biology,” enabled by the impressive progress made in understanding the molecular basis of life. Fifty years after Watson and Crick determined the structure of DNA, the ability to sequence, computationally compare, and interact with the complexity of the human genome at relatively low cost has spawned revolutions ranging from genomics to bioinformatics. A critical dimension of this new century will be the further integration of life sciences with other disciplines, and vice versa.

Convergence is an approach to problem solving that cuts across disciplinary boundaries. It inte-grates knowledge, tools, and ways of thinking from life and health sciences, physical, mathematical, and computational sciences,1 engineering disciplines, and beyond to form a comprehensive synthetic framework for tackling scientific and societal challenges that exist at the interfaces of multiple

fields. In this report, convergence also refers to the formation of the web of partnerships needed to support convergent scientific investigations and translate the resultant advances into new products and innovations.

Convergence can represent a culture shift for academic organizations that are traditionally organized around discipline-based departments. Consequently, the challenges inherent in creating the necessary administrative, research, teaching, partner-ship, and funding structures can be significant. Based on a workshop in September 2013 that brought together many members of the community inter-ested in fostering convergence, this report identifies common challenges and explores lessons learned from efforts to date.

CONVERGENCE TO DATE

The goal of merging expertise is not new, and there are myriad examples in which researchers from multiple disciplines have worked together to solve problems. This “interdisciplinary” approach has been a common feature of industrial research labo-ratories since the 1920s. An array of reports from the National Research Council (NRC) has examined

NEW BIOFUELS, 3-D PRINTING OF HUMAN TISSUES, and more precise drug delivery systems are just a few examples of innovations that combine insights and approaches from the life and health sciences with those from the physical, mathematical, and computational sciences and engineering. This report focuses on the need for “convergence”—an approach to problem solving that integrates the knowledge, tools, and ways of thinking from multiple scientific disciplines, including economic, social, and behavioral sciences. “Convergent” research could lead to many more breakthroughs that improve lives and strengthen the economy, but cultural and institutional barriers hamper its development. This report examines lessons learned from an analysis of approaches for fostering convergence in different types of research institutions. The report calls for sustained national coordination to build the infrastructure needed to solve problems that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries.

1 Throughout the report, the term “physical sciences” is commonly used as shorthand to include fields such as physics, chemistry, materials science, and the mathematical and computa-tional sciences.

Stakeholders across the research enterprise will need to think strategically about the policies that support such efforts and how to implement and sustain them. For example, how can students be trained to work on challenges that cross disciplinary boundaries? How can recruitment take place across department and college lines? How can faculty members engaged in convergent research be properly evaluated if promotion and tenure is obtained through a primary departmental affiliation?

Fortunately, the toolkit to foster conver-gence can be informed by the base of existing literature on establishing interdisciplinary cultures, supporting team-based science, and revising science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and training. It can also be informed by examples drawn from industry, which has a tradition of integrating expertise to tackle complex challenges.

STRATEGIES FOR FACILITATING CONVERGENCE

If the United States wishes to capture the momentum generated by convergence and foster its further development, the committee recom-mends a set of actions that involved parties could take to achieve desired outcomes (see Table 1). The report identifies strategies and practices used by institutions to facilitate convergence endeavors (see Box 2), such as designing educational modules,

opportunities enabled by science that occur at the intersections of disciplines.

The key message of convergence, however, is that merging ideas, approaches, and tech-nologies from widely diverse fields of knowl-edge at a high level of integration is one crucial strategy for solving complex problems and addressing complex intellectual questions underlying emerging disciplines and new technologies (see Box 1). For example, the combination of genetics, chemistry, optics, and bioinformatics produced genomics. Of necessity, convergence requires an open and inclusive culture, and for practitioners to become conversant across disciplines and common set of concepts and metrics and understanding of goals.

Several U.S. academic institutions already have set up programs to support convergent research. Convergence is also embedded in innovative govern-ment programs. The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), which was authorized under the 2007 America COMPETES Act and established in 2009 has had several successful research efforts during its short history. One such project bridges the fields of synthetic biology, microbiology, and chemistry to develop electrofuels, a potentially more efficient type of renewable fuel produced by microbes from electricity and feedstocks such as carbon dioxide and hydrogen.

BARRIERS TO IMPLEMENTING CONVERGENCE

Many institutions are interested in how they can better facilitate convergent research. Even with the presence of institutional models for convergent research, cultural and institutional roadblocks can slow the creation of self-sustaining ecosystems of convergence. Institutions often have little guidance on how to establish effective programs, what challenges they might encounter, and what strate-gies other organizations have used to solve the problems that arise.

Box 1. Why convergence? Applying 3d printing to biomedical uses

Applying 3D printing to the creation of functional, living tissue requires integrating knowledge from life sciences on how to sustain the viability of cells throughout the printing process, from material science on biocompat-ible scaffolding to support the cells, and from electrical and mechanical engineering to design and construct the device. Academic, industrial, clinical, and regulatory partnerships are required to transition printed tissues from the laboratory to health system use. Addressing this research frontier by bringing together multiple fields has led to progress that no single discipline could have achieved alone.

Convergence-led advances in 3-D printing have allowed scientists to generate layers of different cell types to replicate the structure and function of human liver tissue. This cross-section of bioprinted human liver tissue shows hepatocytes (shown as blue nuclei), endothelial cells (red), and hepatic stellate cells (green). SOURCE: Courtesy of Organovo

Actors Actions Desired Outcomes

National vision-setting body

� Foster coordination on convergence

� Build public and professional awareness of convergence as a catalyst of new scientific and technical knowledge and applications

� Accelerated innovation and economic growth

� A national infrastructure that can solve emerging problems which transcend traditional boundaries

Funder of science and technology innovation

� Identify problems that would benefit from convergence approaches

� Address barriers to effective convergence, both within and across institutions

� Expanded mechanisms for funding convergent research

� Collaborative proposal review across funding organizations when needed

Academic leader � Address barriers to effective convergence partnerships, both within and across institutions

� Develop policies, practices, and guidelines to support and evaluate convergent and disciplinary research equally

� Utilize the expertise of economic, social, and behavioral sciences, as well as program management and strategic planning fields when planning an initiative

� Recruitment practices, cost-recovery models, and research support policies that facilitate convergence, including catalytic seed funding

� Promotion and tenure policies that recognize the importance of convergence and have unique evaluation criteria for those faculty

� Evidence-based practices for facilitating convergence effectively

� More convergence efforts, partnerships, synergies, and collaborations, particularly at small universities and institutions that serve traditionally underrepresented groups

Government laboratory

� Develop partnerships, synergies and collaborations with colleagues across institutions and from a wide range of fields

� Facilitate efficient transfer of technologies derived from convergence research

� Evidence-based practices for facilitating convergence effectively

� New products and services derived from convergent research

Industry, medical, or regulatory stakeholder

� Address barriers to effective convergence partnerships across institutions

� Facilitate efficient transfer of technologies derived from convergence research

� Expanded mechanisms for funding convergent research

� New products and services derived from convergent research

Table 1. Summary of Recommendations

Box 2. Strategies and practices used by institutions to facilitate convergence endeavors

• Organizing around a common theme, problem,or scientific challenge;

• Implementing management structures tailoredto the challenges to convergence in eachinstitution;

• Fostering opportunities to interact formally andinformally;

• Changing existing faculty structures and rewardsystems;

• Working with and across existing departments;

• Embedding support for convergence in thepromotion and tenure process;

• Designing facilities and workspaces forconvergent research;

• Designing education and training programs thatfoster convergence;

• Establishing partnership arrangements acrossinstitutions; and

• Exploring sources of funding within and beyondgovernment agencies.

Permission granted to reproduce this document in its entirety with no additions or alterations. Permission for images/figures must be obtained from their original source.

© 2014 The National Academy of Sciences

Committee on Key Challenge Areas for Convergence and Health: Joseph M. DeSimone (Chair), University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State University, Raleigh; Timothy Galitski, EMD Millipore Corporation and Institute for Systems Biology, Danvers, MA; James M. Gentile, Hope College, Holland, Michigan; Sharon C. Glotzer, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Susan J. Hockfield, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Julie Thompson Klein, Wayne State University, Detroit; Cato T. Laurencin, University of Connecticut, Farmington; Cherry A. Murray, Harvard University; Monica Olvera de la Cruz, Northwestern University; Nicholas A. Peppas, University of Texas, Austin; Lynne J. Regan, Yale University; J. David Roessner, SRI International, Redwood City, CA; Katherine Bowman (Study Director and Senior Program Officer), Carl G. Anderson (Program Associate), Laurence Yeung (Christine Mirzayan Fellow), Joseph Alper (Consulting Science Writer), National Research Council.

The National Academies appointed the above committee of experts to address the specific task requested by the Raymond and Beverley Sackler Science Fund of the National Academy of Sciences, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Kavli Foundation, Research Corporation for Science Advancement, the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, William R. Kenan, Jr. Institute for Engineering, Technology & Science of North Carolina State University, Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Connecticut Institute for Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Connecticut. The members volunteered their time for this activity; their report is peer-reviewed and the final product signed off by both the committee members and the National Academies. This report brief was prepared by the National Research Council based on the committee’s report.

For more information, contact the Board on Life Sciences at (202) 334-2638 or visit http://dels.nas.edu/bls. Copies of Convergence: Facilitating Transdisciplinary Integration of Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Engineering, and Beyond are available from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20001; (800) 624-6242; www.nap.edu.

Locate additional information, including related reports, at http://dels.nas.edu/bls Read, purchase, or download a free PDF of this report at http://www.nap.edu

hiring faculty in transdisciplinary clusters, and establishing new research institutes. The report also provides examples of relatively simple and low cost practices to consider as first steps in fostering convergence, such hosting social events to discuss convergent research.

Because institutions range widely in character-istics such as missions, sizes, and available budgets, no single template can be followed in establishing convergence efforts. However, essential cultural and structural elements in successful convergence ecosystems include:

¾ People: A commitment to supporting conver-gence from all levels of leadership is key, as is the involvement of students, faculty members and staff, department chairs, and deans.

¾ Organization: Inclusive governance systems, a goal-oriented vision, effective program manage-ment, stable support for core facilities, and flexible or catalytic funding sources are all critical to organizations seeking to build a sustainable convergence ecosystem.

¾ Culture: The culture needed to support convergence, as with other types of collaborative research, is one that is inclusive, supports mutual

respect across disciplines, encourages opportuni-ties to share knowledge, and fosters scientists’ ability to be conversant across disciplines

¾ Ecosystem: The overall ecosystem of conver-gence involves dynamic interactions with multiple partners within and across institutions, and thus requires strategies to address the technical and logistical partnership agreements required.

NATIONAL COORDINATION IS NEEDED

The scientific opportunities enabled by convergence will make fundamental contributions in our drive to provide creative solutions to the most difficult problems facing us as a society. To move beyond the patchwork of current efforts, national coordination on convergence is needed. A national focus would accomplish several goals. It would catalyze stake-holders to identify emerging topics at the frontiers of science where convergence will be critical to achieving new insights and would engage the vibrant community of institutional leaders and interested researchers, both younger and senior, who are already undertaking convergence. Community input on the investment priorities in research, education, and infrastructure will help maximize the benefits of convergence to society.

Appendix I

Preeminence Criteria

10 

SYSTEM SUMMARY

OF UNIVERSITY WORK PLANS 2015

STATE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM of FLORIDA Board of Governors

9/08/2015

Preeminence Research University (2015 Evaluation)

CRITERIA MEASURE SOURCE YEAR BENCHMARK UF FSUUSF

TAMPAUCF FIU FAU

AAverage GPA and SAT Score for incoming freshman in Fall semester

Boardof Governors Fall 2014

4.0 GPA1800 SAT

4.351919

4.01855

4.01770

3.91849

3.91675

3.81615

B National Public University Ranking See footnotes variousTop 50in 2 or more publications

10 5 3 1 1 0

CFreshman Retention Rate (Full-time, FTIC)

I.P.E.D.S. 2013-14 > 90% 96% 92% 89% 88% 84% 75%

D6-year Graduation Rate(Full-time, FTIC)

I.P.E.D.S. 2008-14 > 70% 88% 79% 67% 70% 54% 46%

E National Academy MembershipsTop American

Research Universities

2012 6 24 7 3 1 1 2

FTotal Annual Research Expenditures(Science & Engineering only)

NationalScience

Foundation2013-14 > $200 M $652 $231 $437 $143 $107 $22

GTotal Annual Research Expendituresin Diversified Non-Medical Sciences (Science & Engineering only)

NationalScience

Foundation2013-14 > $150 M $480 $226 $238 $132 $100 $16

H

National Ranking in Research Expenditures in at least 5 STEM disciplines as reported by NSF (includes public & private institutions)

NationalScience

Foundation2012-13

5 inTop 100

8 7 7 3 2 0

IPatents Awarded (over 3 year period)

USPatentOffice

2012-14 > 100 263 108 292 198 6 15

JDoctoral Degrees Awarded Annually(Does not include Professional degrees)

Boardof Governors 2013-14 > 400 796 410 330 266 159 106

K Number of Post-Doctoral AppointeesTop American

Research Universities

Fall 2011 > 200 625 218 304 65 51 10

L Endowment Size ($M) Boardof Governors 2013-14 >$500 M $1,520 $625 $417 $155 $177 $209

12 12 6 2 0 0NUMBER OF CRITERIA MET: