Council on Research Meeting Minutes
April 27, 2011
Life Sciences Research Building, Conference Room 1143
9:30 am – 11:30 am
Members present: Berhane Araia, Michael Amrozowicz, Brian Barksdale, Robert Brainard,
James Castracane, Vishnu Chaturvedi, Kirsten Davison, James Dias, Elizabeth Gaffney, Daniel
Goodwin, Oleksandr Kazakow, Jane Kadish, Daniel Keyser, Hamilton Lankford, David Lewis,
Robert Nakamura, and Elaine Lasda-Bergman.
Members absent: Danny Goodwin
Richard Cunningham arrived after the meeting due to a class conflict
Also attending: Robert Webster, Antigone McKenna
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by Council on Research Chair, James Castracane, at 9:35 am.
Approval of March 16, 2011 Meeting Minutes
The minutes were unanimously approved.
Vice President for Research Report – Robert Webster, Associate Vice President for Research,
reporting for James A. Dias
Announcement - Kirsten Davison has accepted an appointment at Harvard University’s
School of Medicine.
The UAlbany 11th Annual Research Colloquium will be held on Thursday, April 28, 2011
in D’Ambra Auditorium, Life Science Research Building at 1:00 pm . Dr. David
Woodland, President and Director of the Trudeau Institute in Saranac, NY, will speak on
“Developing Trends in Biomedical Research”. The keynote address will be followed by
a reception in honor of UAlbany federal award investigators. Dr. Woodland will also be
presenting a seminar on his research, “Regulation of T Cell Immunity to Respiratory
Virus Infection” from 3:30 -4:30 pm.
The Vice President for Research accepted the Deans’ recommendation for FRAP B
funding. The surplus of $7,818 will be re-deployed to fund other research infrastructure
projects.
Conference/Journal Support Award - Elizabeth Gaffney, Chair
Elizabeth Gaffney reported that there were three applicants for the conference support award.
The committee’s recommendation is as follows:
Conference 1 – fund at $1,500 rather than the requested $2,500;
Conference 2 – fund at $1,500 depending on clarification of door receipts.
Conference 3 – do not fund, but could possibly re-apply in the third round
The committee’s recommendation was unanimously accepted. Due to low response and fund
availability, per discussion at the March meeting, a call for the third round of applications will be
announced shortly by the Office of the Vice President for Research. ACTION ITEM
Page 2 – COR April 27, 2011 Meeting Minutes
Benevolent Award Review, David Lewis, Chair
David Lewis reported that there were 14 applicants for the spring round of competition for the
Benevolent Award. The committee’s recommendation is to fund six applicants at $500 each; one
at $348 and one at $280 which is $128 in excess of the allocated amount. The committee
requested that Vice President for Research secure the extra $128. ACTION ITEM
If funding is not available to cover the excess, the committee recommends reducing the six $500
awards by $21.33 each.
The committee’s recommendation was unanimously accepted.
Old Business
Proposed Changes to the Policy on Distribution of Indirect Cost Return
New Business
UB20/20
David Lewis questioned if COR should make a statement regarding the exclusion of
UAlbany from the Governor’s summit on UB20/20. Given the fact that the Governor is
making a decision this week as to who will be included in the summit; the general
consensus is that the best course of action for the membership would be to send letters to
individual legislators and to the Governor per Provost Phillips e-mail to all faculty and
staff.
Robert Webster noted that the Center for Economic Growth has also scheduled a meeting
on 4/27/2011 with academic, business and community leaders to discuss the topic.
2011-12 Council on Research Membership
James Castracane announced that the 2011-12 Council on Research membership has been
formulated. It was suggested to invite new members to the final meeting of the year as a
way of introducing them to COR activities. ACTION ITEM
Adjourn – Meeting adjourned at 10:05 am
Submitted by Janice E. Bogan
