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New Mexico State University URC Minutes - November 5, 2004

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Present: Don Birx, Dana Christman, Barbara Coppola, James Cowie, Wynn Egginton, Sam Fernald, Mike Fisher, Inigo Garcia-Bryce, Steve Helmreich (CRL), James Herndon, Shaun Cooper (Hites), Stephen Horan, Nirmala Khandan, Jennifer Kreie, Ken Martin, Bernard McNamara, Paul Andersen (Mitchell), Marc Pruyn, Rudi Schoenmackers, Pam Schultz, Elizabeth Titus, Karl Wood

Absent: Lisa Dalton, Everett Egginton, Linda Lacey, Enrico Pontelli, Rhonda Skaggs

1. Minutes - Minutes for September 2, 2004 were approved with corrections

2. Presentation on Water – Karl Wood

Karl Wood, Director for the Water Resource Research Institute (WRRI), gave a presentation on water and the work of the Institute. The Board of Regents established WRRI in 1963 with a mission to develop and disseminate knowledge that will assist the state and nation in solving water problems. Through the funding of research and demonstration projects, the Institute funds researchers throughout the state to work on New Mexico's pressing water problems. More information can be accessed through WRRI’s website at http://wrri.nmsu.edu/.

3. Research Cluster Proposal Distribution and Presentation to Administrative Council

Don Birx spoke to URC about the NMSU Research Proposal and its presentation to Administrative Council. Dr. Birx told members that the proposal had been reviewed by the President and Provost, and would also be presented to interested faculty in two sessions the following week. Dr. Birx asked URC members to gather ideas and responses from faculty, as faculty should be heavily involved in refinement of the proposal. It is hoped the proposal will be presented to the Faculty Senate in December.

4. LANL / NMSU MOU Workshop

The LANL / NMSU MOU workshop has been scheduled for December 7 – 8, 2004, at Corbett Center. The notification will be sent out pending confirmation of the agenda.

5. President Martin’s Memorandum to Campus - Subject: Our Budget

President Martin’s memo was discussed with a decision to invite the President to a URC meeting so that he could provide his thoughts on research and the budget reallocation process mentioned in his memo.

6. Federal Initiatives

Federal Initiatives will have a different format this year. The Initiatives will be arranged in two books, the first of which will contain one or two major interdisciplinary proposals related to each of the four Research Clusters. The Clusters will draw on some of the smaller individual projects. The second book will include all the individual proposals and will be organized by funding agency. The first book will reference the related smaller proposals in Book 2.

7. URC Research Fair

There were fewer posters at this year’s fair than last, however, AMP, which was held in conjunction with the fair, was well attended. Rudi Schoenmackers thanked volunteers for their assistance and suggested the fair be held again next year in conjunction with AMP.

8. Committees

A new committee, Faculty Incentives, will be added to URC’s Awards and Nominating Committees. Volunteers for the new committee include Inigo Garcia-Bryce, Dana Christman, Ken Martin, Marc Pruyn, and Rhonda Skaggs.

 

The meeting adjourned at 4:34 p.m.

Minutes by Frances Schumacher