Council on Research Meeting Minutes
Monday, November 19, 2018
2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Arts and Sciences, AS -122 Conference Room
Members present: Dias, James (Ex Officio VPR); Kumar, Satyendra (Ex Officio VPR Designee);
Rosenswig, Robert (Chair); Aykanian, Amanda; Drislane, Lisset; Freedman, Jeff; Jahanbani, Nakissa;
Minder, Justin; Morano, Carmen; Piotrowska, Monika; Trolian, Teniell; Wang, Jun
Members absent: Ernst, Jesse; Jiang, Shiguo; McAndrew, Lisa; Moeyaert, Mariola; Slade, Leonard;
Poehlmann, Nancy
Additional attendees: Philip, Thecla; Greene, Rose; Gullick, Margaret; McGinnis, Sandra; Polvere, Lauren
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by Council on Research (CoR) Chair, Robert Rosenswig at 2:05 p.m.
Approval of Meeting Minutes
The October 22, 2018 CoR meeting minutes were reviewed and unanimously approved.
New Business
Members approved Chair Rosenswig’s request to change the agenda order to begin with new business.
Presentation on the transition
of the Center for Human Services Research (CHSR) to the Vice President for
Research – Rose Greene, CHSR Principal Investigator, with Vice President for Research James Dias
VPR Dias announced the transition of CHSR from SSW to a University-wide center reporting to the VPR. He
noted that CHSR was working with the School of Public Health representing UAlbany as the only evaluator
for the NYS Medicaid reform program. Dr. Dias emphasized that a lot of the CHSR funds come from federal
flow through, and that he would like more funds to instead come directly from grants i.e. NIH. The VPR
then introduced CHSR Director Rose Greene. CHSR Director Greene discussed the work of CHSR including
how they are involved in research processes, from seeking funding to producing results and data
collections, and partner with internal and external agencies i.e. Albany City School District. VPR Dias
responded to a question regarding the rationale for reporting to the VPR. He stated that the Center is an
exemplar of inter-disciplinary research and that the evaluation component offers the opportunity, for
instance, to shine a light regarding key strengths, implement research stewardship of “sensitive” data sets,
provide societal impact, and increase organized research by students and their mentors. Director Greene
invited CHSR staff to describe current research projects as follows: Margaret Gullick - assisted housing/
reducing Medicaid expenditures; Lauren Polvere - Healthy Families NY; Sandra McGinnis - opioid
addictions.
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Associate VP Kumar had three items for review:
o
The UAlbany Global Institute for Health and Human Rights (GIHHR) has been abolished
, as the two
faculty formerly running the Institute have left the University.
o
The Blavatnik Foundation offers a number of awards
. Nominations are by institutional invitation
only. Regional Awards for Young Scientists - Two UAlbany nominees were put forward from Life
Sciences. For post-docs, there is no limit on the number of nominations. The Blavatnik Foundation
offers two research awards. One of these is for young scientists holding a postdoctoral
appointment. Information and invitations to nominate candidates for this award were distributed
across the campus about two weeks ago. The deadline to submit nominations to the Division for
Research is November 30. The second award is for junior faculty. UAlbany nominated two assistant
professors from Chemistry and Physics for this award in October.
o
Oakridge Association Universities (
ORAU
) provides funding for research partnerships, travel and
seed research projects. UAlbany is a member of ORAU and can nominate two junior faculty for the
Junior Faculty Enhancement Awards, also known as the POWE Award. Awardees receive $5,000
from ORAU that must be matched by UAlbany. The deadline for nominations is January 9, 2019.
Old Business
Review current subcommittees composition
a. Review subcommittee activities & duties
CoR Chair Rosenswig asked that subcommittee chairs confirm memberships were complete and
meetings schedules were in place.
b. The following Fall 2018 Internal Award applications had been recommended for review:
Award
# Applications recommended for review
FRAP-A
13
Benevolent
13
Conference
5
Journal
2
Meeting Wrap Up
CoR Chair opened the floor for any other business items CoR members would like to address before the
meeting adjourned.
CoR Staff Support Lopez provided a short presentation on the Foundant portal log on and online
evaluation process for Research Internal Awards.
Meeting adjourned at 3:35 p.m.
Submitted by Elisa Lopez, CoR Staff Support
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