Pilot and feasibility funds to support UIC institutes for interdisciplinary research

Dear colleagues,

Last spring, we invited proposals for planning awards to develop a small number of new university research institutes at UIC. We were overwhelmed by the many outstanding proposals submitted, representing 600 faculty and every college.

The Executive Cabinet and OVCR engaged leadership from the Faculty Senate Executive Committee and Faculty Senate Research Subcommittee to ensure proposals went through a rigorous review process.  Senate leaders developed a rubric for determining a fair and thorough assessment. The Executive Cabinet, OVCR, Faculty Senate Research Subcommittee and other strategic campus leaders, faculty and researchers who were not represented on any submitted proposal then reviewed and scored proposals, ultimately yielding a short list of finalists.

We are delighted to announce four proposals have been selected for further development. These teams may receive up to $2 million each over the next four years to expand interdisciplinary research efforts that could not be achieved by any one individual, department, college or discipline, and create collective research efforts that are greater than the sum of their parts.

Addiction and Mental Health: “Addictions in Context, Advancing Interventions,” led by faculty from Applied Health Sciences, CCTS, College of Engineering, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, College of Medicine, College of Pharmacy, Jane Addams College of Social Work and School of Public Health.

Energy and the Environment: “Advanced Materials for Green Energy Sustainability,” led by faculty from College of Engineering, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Institute for Environmental Science and Policy.

Functional Materials Sciences: “Functional and Regenerative Materials,” led by faculty from College of Dentistry, College of Engineering, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and College of Medicine.

Visual Sciences: “Translational Vision Science and Technology,” led by faculty from College of Dentistry, College of Engineering, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, College of Medicine and College of Pharmacy.

We also received many impressive proposals for research in the broad topics of data science and health informatics. While meritorious, some of these projects were overlapping or complementary in both topic areas and faculty. An Institute Planning Award will be supported on these topics, but further facilitated discussion to refine the scope of the project and the team of investigators is pending.

The creativity and breadth of scope in the pool of submitted proposals were energizing. We want to convey how much we appreciate all efforts toward building interdisciplinary teams among our campus colleagues to advance research at UIC. OVCR research leaders are already working to identify alternative approaches to secure external funding for some of the many terrific proposals that cannot be supported by the budget of this program.

Please visit the Institute Planning Awards website for more information.

Congratulations to those selected to move forward!

Sincerely,

Javier Reyes
Interim Chancellor

Karen Colley
Acting Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

Robert Barish
Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs

Joanna Groden
Vice Chancellor for Research

TJ Augustine
Vice Chancellor for Innovation

For more information, please contact:
Sarah O’Brien
rds@uic.edu