The goal of the Research Culture initiative is to create a culture of research where faculty and students are competent and confident in their ability to produce outstanding and relevant research. The term research is broadly applied here and includes scholarship in the creative arts and humanities as well as the sciences and health care disciplines.

We look to three areas to assess our success:

• Quality of the research
• Visibility of the research
• Funded grants.

The core values that guide this initiative are integrity, authenticity and effectiveness. The Center for Research Design and Analysis, Center for Student Research, Associate Deans for Research, and Office of Research and Sponsored Programs collaborate to achieve this mission. The Center for Student Research and the Associate Deans for Research are collaborating with the Graduate School to begin to shift to student research that is driven by the faculty program of research.

The committee is co-chaired by Carolyn Kapinus, PhD, and Donna Scott Tilley, PhD. Stakeholder feedback has been collected from Associate Deans for Research, the Research Advisory Council, ORSP staff, CSR staff and CRDA staff.  This year, we will begin listening sessions with faculty and students. 

To facilitate a “Culture of Research” at TWU, several new resources for faculty and students are now in place:

• The Center for Student Research promotes an enhanced educational experience for students by providing opportunities for meaningful interaction between faculty and students through support, education, and programming in research and creative activities. Since its inception, the CSR has funded 73 student/faculty research projects and provided funding to send 27 students to conferences to present their research results.
• The Hanover Grants Academy's goal is to increase the confidence and competence of a cohort of faculty in the process of writing a proposal for external funding. Cohort members work closely with Hanover staff and CRDA consultants in each phase of the grant writing process with the end result of a proposal that is submission-ready. Since its first cohort in 2018, 14 faculty have participated in the Hanover Grants Academy.   
• In TreMonti Consulting has been retained by TWU to provide advice and assistance to TWU faculty and students regarding intellectual asset management issues. They advise clients regarding software tools, organization structure, methodologies, IP management processes, spin-offs, joint ventures, licensing structure and practice, sale of intellectual property, and other issues relating to the management of technology transfer. Since first working with TWU faculty in 2018, TWU has gone from no patent applications to two completed patent applications and four applications in process.
• TWU hosted its first I-Corps competition in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin. The National Science Foundation (NSF) I-Corps program prepares scientists and engineers to extend their focus beyond the university laboratory and accelerates the economic and societal benefits of NSF-funded, basic-research projects that are ready to move toward commercialization. Through I-Corps, NSF grantees learn to identify valuable product opportunities that can emerge from academic research and gain skills in entrepreneurship through training in customer discovery and guidance from established entrepreneurs. After attending the first regional I-Corps training in Dallas, the team of Ngozi Mbue, PhD, progressed through to an awarded grant to attend a Fall National I-Corps cohort. 
• TWU students now participate in the Texas Space Grant Consortium Design Challenge competition. The TSGC Design Challenge is a unique academic experience offering undergraduate students an opportunity to propose, design and fabricate a solution toward solving research objectives of importance to NASA and its mission. Sponsored by NASA and administered by the Texas Space Grant Consortium since 2002, Design Challenge topics are submitted by researchers working with NASA or its contractor community on current projects of interest within NASA's Vision for Space Exploration. Students form and work as a team to meet their design objective over the course of one or two semesters while interacting with their faculty advisor and NASA workplace mentor. Research groups submitting Design Challenge topics provide a mentor to work with each team. Under the leadership of Rhett Rigby, PhD, the first TWU team of students to participate in the competition won first place in the overall competition.  The third team currently is preparing for the fall 2019 competition.

For additional information, contact initiative champions Donna Scott Tilley or Carolyn Kapinus.

---

Written by the Strategic Plan Design Team