West Virginia Universitys Research Enterprise

1
West Virginia Universitys Research Enterprise

• WVU Faculty Senate
• March 9, 2009
• Curt M. Peterson, VP for Research
• and Economic Development and President
• WVU Research Corporation

2
WVU research origin and identity

• Flagship university of the state of West
  Virginia 1862 land grant university
• 21st century engaged university with
  preeminent programs in
• energy and the environment
• security and intelligence
• biomedical sciences and health

3
WVUs research classification/criteria

• Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of
  Teaching classifies WVU as
• Research University with high research activity
• Data Elements SE and non-SE RD
  expenditures SE research staff number of
• doctorates in humanities and social sciences,
  STEM disciplines, and other fields

4
Data sources for Carnegie Foundation
classification

• Doctoral conferrals by field
• Faculty counts
• RD expenditures
• Research staff (Graduate Student) data
• Postdocs in SE

5
Carnegie classification showing approximate
location of WVU
Aggregate Index
WVU approximately located in this boundary
Per-capita Index
6

7
Other comparator HEPC Peer Listing using
average RD expenditures

• WVU increased RD spending from 108M in FY
  04 to 133M in FY 07 increasing in rank from
  117 to 112
• WVU outpaced 17 of 20 HEPC peers in total RD
  spending at 24 between FY 04 to FY 07
• The average RD spending for WVUs HEPC peers
  was 271 M in FY 2007 compared to WVUs 133 M

8
HEPC Peer Listing using average RD expenditures

• RANK Institution 00 01
  02 03 04 05
  06 07 04-07 increase
  04-07 increase
• 17 U.FL. 313,692 347,892
  386,316 429,734 447,146 530,734 565,491
  592,835 145,689 33
• 111 VA
• Commonwealth 88,20 99,180
  109,619 126,451 132,839 146,105 149,256
  134,453 1,614 1
• WVU 66,130 71,311 84,985
  104,748 108,002 115,398 122,134 133,590
  25,588 24
• 123 U. VT. 63,391 75,597
  88,602 104,994 114,120 115,693 121,841
  113,195 -925 -1
  

9
Federally-funded RD expenditures at universities
by agency FY 07

• (millions of current dollars) M
  of Total
• Department of Defense 2,773 9
• Department of Energy 1,115 4
• Health and Human Services 17,065
  56
• NASA 1,041 3
• National Science Foundation 3,551 12
• Department of Agriculture 910 3
• Other 2,835 9
• All Agencies 30,441 96

10
WVU Federal funding agency proposals and
awards FY04 - FY08
11
FY 04 FY 08 Measures of Success

• Total sponsored funding remained flat at
  140M
• Congressionally directed funding - 53.4M in
  05 to 17.3M (expected) in 08
• Sponsored agreement expenditures - 124M to
  154M
• Sponsored organized research expenditures -
  75M to 88M

12
FY 04 FY 08 Measures of Success (cont.)

• Number of proposals submitted 771 to 819
• Awards received 306 to 409
• Full-time graduate students 3,017 to 3,083
• Total Doctoral students 1,123 to 1,394
• Academic full-time tenure track faculty stable
  at 870
• Non-tenure track faculty 59 to 79

13
Looking forward An aspirational goal to advance
the WVU research enterprise

• By 2020, WVU
• Will be classified by the Carnegie foundation as
  a research university with very high research
  activity either meeting or exceeding the average
  for the VH category and will be ranked 60th in
  total RD expenditures

14
To achieve the goal, WVU will meet or exceed
(based on FY 07 data elements)

• 280M in RD expenditures
• 1,200 full-time tenure-track faculty and
  full-time professional research faculty
• 200 postdoctoral fellows or staff equivalent
• 2,500 full-time doctoral students

15
How to achieve the aspirational goal1

• Establish a set of values made explicit through
  indicators
• Research quality, productivity and performance
• Student quality
• Establish a budget that rewards performance
  based on improvement measured by the indicators

16
Principles to follow in creating incentives for
research performance1

• The college/school is the unit of
  responsibility and reward and is thus responsible
  for creating incentives for departments and
  programs
• The measure of success is always improvement
• Improvement is measured against last years
  performance
• Improvement is measured against the best of the
  units type nationally

17
Principles in creating incentives for research
performance (cont.)1

• Never compare different units within the same
  institution
• Always measure improvement for both quality and
  productivity
• Rewards for improvement must transfer money to
  the improved unit
• Charity gifts to failing units defeat good
  incentive systems

18
Principles in creating incentives for research
performance (cont.)1

• Continued failure to improve must produce a
  change in unit leadership
• Measures of improvement must be explicit,
  visible, stable and externally validated
• 1 J. Lombardi. Competing for Quality The Public
  Flagship Research University, A Discussion Paper.
  The Reilly Center for Media Public Affairs,
  LSU, February 2003, 12 pages.

19
A business plan to achieve the aspirational goal

• A business plan to achieve the aspirational goal
  should be developed that provides an agreement or
  compact
• The University of Kentucky (UK) Top 20 Business
  Plan2 includes a composite score to measure
  progress in four domains with 9 measures of
  progress
• 2 www.uky.edu/top20

20
A business plan to achieve the aspirational goal
(cont.)

• Domains Measures of Progress
• Undergraduate education 1. ACT/SAT
• 2. Student/faculty ratio
• 3. Six-year graduation rate
• Graduate Education 4. Doctorates granted
• 5. Postdoctoral appointments
• Faculty recognition 6. Citations
• 7. Awards
• Research 8. Federal expenditures
• 
  9. Non-federal expenditures

21
Sources of funding to meet the 2020 goal

• University endowments, private fundraising,
  research expenditures and internal cost savings
• Tuition and state appropriations
• For success, state leaders must be convinced by
  WVU leaders that a nationally-recognized flagship
  university spearheading a knowledge-driven
  economy adds value to the health, prosperity and
  economic development of the state.

22
Contact information

• Curt M. Peterson, VP for Research
• and Economic Development and President,
• West Virginia University Research Corporation
• PO Box 6216 Morgantown, WV 26506-6216
• 304 293-3449 http//research.wvu.edu/