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New Mexico State University URC Minutes - December 6, 2004

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Present: Don Birx, Dana Christman, Barbara Coppola, James Cowie, Wynn Egginton, Sam Fernald, Inigo Garcia-Bryce, Steve Helmreich (CRL), James Herndon, Nirmala Khandan, Cathy Ortega-Klett (Wood), Jennifer Kreie, Linda Lacey, Ken Martin, Bernard McNamara, Martha Mitchell, Enrico Pontelli, Rudi Schoenmackers, Pam Schultz, Rhonda Skaggs, Elizabeth Titus, Karl Wood

Absent: Lisa Dalton, Everett Egginton, Mike Fisher, Michael Hites, Stephen Horan, Marc Pruyn

1. Minutes - Minutes for November 5, 2004 were approved.

2. Federal Initiatives

Wynn Egginton told URC that the Federal Initiatives would be reviewed by the Council of Research Centers (CORC) prior to being given to President Martin. CORC will be determining which initiatives to include in the first book that will contain the major disciplinary initiatives and which initiatives will be included in the second. An analysis will be conducted on the history of funding which will assist with the selection process.

3. Guest Speaker – President Michael Martin

President Martin spoke to URC noting the URC as an increasingly important group that will become a driving force in setting research policy and in looking at ways to create incentives to advance the university as a whole. President Martin told members that creating a stronger, growing, responsive research program at NMSU is critical while the window of opportunity is available. President Martin envisions NMSU as an institution that can create national and international profiles through defining cross-cutting initiatives. These initiatives will be sufficiently broad that multiple colleges, departments, and scientists can participate from across campus. The identification of key areas of strength should provide the opportunity for significant external funding, which will ultimately address some of the needs of the people of this state.

4. LANL / NMSU MOU Workshop

Don Birx mentioned the workshop taking place December 7th and 8th as being the first mechanism to future collaboration with Los Alamos National Labs. LANL has provided NMSU with a list of research areas that faculty members and students might partner in with the hope of developing a number of long-term collaborations.

5. Subcommittee Reports

• URC Award Committee - Nirmala Khandan reported that the URC Award for Exceptional Achievements in Creative Scholarly Activity “request for nomination packets” should be announced campus-wide in early February.
• Incentive Committee – The Incentive Committee plans to meet after the December general meeting to elect a chair and set their next meeting date in January.

The meeting adjourned at 4:43 p.m.

Minutes by Frances Schumacher