Rama announced that Jeff Michelman will be replacing Valerie Spitler on the Committee.

Dawn Boatman distributed a brochure highlighting the Division. She spoke about the role and activities of the Division of Sponsored Research and Training (DSRT). DSRT is the central coordinating unit for grants and contracts for the University. They identify and administer grants and provide "cradle to grave" oversight for the grant money. Sponsored research staff will match available grants to the research interests of the faculty member, help with all forms and assume some administrative burdens associated with grant. They will help a faculty member develop a budget, organize the timeline for the project, learn how to pay themselves, make copies of materials and distribute, review a proposal by email and make "tweaking" suggestions.

Dawn described a funding opportunity notification system called "Research Research" to which faculty and staff can subscribe. She anticipates that the new Internet 3 connection (LambdaRail) will enhance faculty members ability to do research and to work collaboratively with other researchers. This semester DSRT is holding a series of special topic sessions to bring faculty together from different departments to encourage on campus cross unit collaboration on research projects.

Sponsored Research works with the local and regional companies and with the Jacksonville community to research topics of importance to the area. This provides rich opportunities to involve UNF students in research projects.

Sponsored Research also acts to monitor campus research to be sure that human or animal subjects or bio-hazardous materials are handled following appropriate guidelines. They also monitor intellectual property issues and work with a patent attorney to secure property rights due the University.

The help that Sponsored Research provides is paid for by funds from the grants they administer following set guidelines. They work closely with the Office of Faculty Enhancement.

Rama thanked Dawn for her time and announced that the next meeting would be Tuesday February 1 st at 12:15 in the Faculty Association meeting room.

Meeting adjourned at 1:10 p.m.

Submitted
Verna Urbanski
Secretary to the Committee