View From Research and Innovation June 2023

What is research excellence?

As part of the university’s 150 Forward strategic plan, the Division of Research & Innovation (DRI) is working with campus stakeholders to bring meaning and clarity to the term.

Following town halls, we’ve developed draft goals focused on:

• attaining a lasting reputation for researchers with deep expertise and high research outputs.
• aligning our research with society’s needs, focusing specifically on economic development to advance Arkansas.
• ensuring that our research administration works seamlessly across campus to support faculty recruitment and retention, maximizing graduate and undergraduate education involvement in research, and adopting best practices.

These are big goals, but much work is already underway. We’re identifying the metrics to measure progress and preparing our academic units to develop strategies and tactics to meet our goals later this summer. After that, our 150 Forward strategic plan will near completion, continuing our march toward research excellence.

In the meantime, our Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) is reengineering our workflows for greater efficiency and accuracy. Retraining and reorienting our staff to new processes positions us to provide greater service and prepares us to grow with our research volume and complexity.

The DRI and campus researchers are also hosting more than 100 students engaged in the National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program. Our researchers have opened their labs and work to REU students to excite them about the future of science and allow them to explore what it means to “do research.”

While school may be out for summer, our research enterprise is always in session.

Margaret Sova McCabe

Interim Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation