Strategic Academic Focusing Initiative

Our faculty-focused development of a strategic academic vision

Strategic Academic Focusing must consider where future investments in academic programs and support infrastructure are best made.

As a first step in the process, we want to hear from faculty and campus units.

We need articulation of growth trajectory and evaluation metrics for faculty-identified academic programs. Your ideas or responses are not restricted to the 2009 Strategic Plan.

We ask that you address the five broad questions found in the September 26 memo. Briefly:

  1. Refinements to the 2009 Strategic Academic Vision
  2. Important research problems or questions in your field(s)
  3. Resources that are needed
  4. National programs that are most closely aligned
  5. Important campus metrics that are met
  • Oct 28 - Nov 15: First Round Open Submission Phase
    • We will invite broad comments and encourage collaboration and potential connection to other initiatives.
    • These initial submissions will be the basis for providing input to the "2020 Project" RFQ Process in 2014.
    • You can return and login to update/edit your proposal and/or comment on other submissions at anytime before Nov 15.
  • Nov 18 - Dec 2013: First Round Review
    • Initiatives will be reviewed in preparation for 2020 Project RFQ Process.
  • Dec 2013 - Apr 30, 2014: Open Improvement Phase
    • Continue to build upon ideas, taking advantage of input and expertise acquired through this forum.
    • Update Initiatives, work on more detailed refinements and collaboration opportunities.
  • Deadline May 2, 5:00 pm: Second Round Open Submission Phase
  • May 3 - Summer 2014: Review Phase
    • All initiatives will be reviewed internally and externally, and used to develop a new Strategic Academic Plan for the campus.

Proposals (57 total)

Pages

Community-Engaged Research

Submitted by Robin DeLugan (UC Merced) on May 2, 2014 - 10:53pm Last revised by Brad Bulger on September 29, 2020 - 6:02pm.
Proposal Status: 
Open
Principal Authors: 
Elliott Campbell – Engineering and the Blum Center for Developing Economies Robin DeLugan – Anthropology, Resource Center for Community Engaged Scholarship (ReCCES) and the Blum Center for Developing Economies Stergios Roussos – the Blum Center for Developing Economies, HSRI, ReCCES, and Public Health Alex Whalley – Economics and the Blum Center for Developing Economies
Academic research in the USA and internationally is being challenged to more quickly and cost-effectively produce innovations with greater and more immediate community benefits. Community-engaged research is an approach to scientific and scholarly work that aims to improve the process and products of research through greater academic-community collaboration. Community partnerships have been critical to establish and grow UC Merced (UCM) in the San Joaquin Valley.

Strategic Initiative on Multi-scale Biological Active Matter (SIMBA)

Submitted by Ajay Gopinathan (UC Merced) on May 2, 2014 - 10:19pm Last revised by Brad Bulger on September 29, 2020 - 6:02pm.
Proposal Status: 
Open
Principal Authors: 
Ajay Gopinathan (This initiative includes 18 other faculty from SNS and SOE)
We propose to pursue a fundamental understanding of the structure and dynamics of multi-scale biological assemblies using a interdisciplinary approach that cuts across scientific and engineering methodologies with the goal of enabling control of function in vivo and aiding in the development of novel bio-inspired materials and devices.

Materials Research Initiative

Submitted by Erik Menke (UC Merced) on May 2, 2014 - 5:07pm Last revised by Brad Bulger on September 29, 2020 - 6:02pm.
Proposal Status: 
Open
Principal Authors: 
Erik Menke
This is a proposal to create a collaborative, multidisciplinary program in materials research, with participants from Applied Math, Chemistry, Engineering, and Physics. This initiative is inspired by the Materials Genome Initiative for Global Competitiveness, and leverages our current campus strengths in materials discovery and design to create a high visibility program.

California Institute of Drone Engineering Research (CIDER) (revision)

Submitted by YangQuan Chen (UC Merced) on May 2, 2014 - 4:55pm Last revised by Brad Bulger on September 29, 2020 - 6:02pm.
Proposal Status: 
Open
Principal Authors: 
Stefano Carpin (EECS/ME), YangQuan Chen (ME/EECS/SNRI/CHASE), Qinghua Guo (ES/SNRI/SPARC), Chris Kello (CIS/CHASE), Joshua Viers (ES/CITRIS/SNRI)
90 percent of potential markets for UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles, or commonly known as drones) will be accounted for by public safety and precision agriculture including agriculture and environmental engineering. UAVs will inject $82 billion in economic activity and generate up to 100,000 new jobs between 2015 and 2025. (http://www.auvsi.org/econreport)

School of Innovation, Management, and Economics: Leading Innovation, Managing for Change

Submitted by Paul Maglio (UC Merced) on May 2, 2014 - 4:48pm Last revised by Brad Bulger on September 29, 2020 - 6:02pm.
Proposal Status: 
Open
Principal Authors: 
Paul Maglio (Management), Erik Rolland (Management), Rob Innes(Economics), Kurt Schnier (Economics), Alex Whalley (Economics), and Greg Wright (Economics)
Management and Economics are core academic components of every major research university. At UC Merced, undergraduate programs in these areas already serve more than 8% of students, as of Fall, 2013.

Biological Engineering and Small-scale Technologies (BEST)

Submitted by Kara McCloskey (UC Merced) on May 2, 2014 - 4:24pm Last revised by Brad Bulger on September 29, 2020 - 6:02pm.
Proposal Status: 
Open
Principal Authors: 
Kara McCloskey, Changqing Li, Jennifer Lu, Victor Munoz, Wei-Chun Chin
The BEST graduate program is a highly interdisciplinary program, perhaps the most interdisciplinary group on campus, comprised of 26 faculty members whose research and home units are in Biological Engineering (BIOE), Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), Physics (PHYS), Mechanical Engineering (ME), Biological Sciences , and Chemistry (CHEM). Moreover, BEST is currently the primary graduate program for faculty in MSE and BIOE and secondary graduate program for many of our interdisciplinary faculty in the STEM sciences.

Computational and Data Science

Submitted by Arnold Kim (UC Merced) on May 2, 2014 - 4:06pm Last revised by Brad Bulger on September 29, 2020 - 6:02pm.
Proposal Status: 
Open
Principal Authors: 

Arnold Kim and Michael Spivey

We propose a campus research theme in Computational and Data Science. This research field has emerged as an important companion to theoretical and experimental research in natural sciences, engineering, and social sciences. Due to recent advances in high-throughput measurement technologies in nearly every active research area, as well as increased computational hardware capabilities, we now have unprecedented opportunities and access to terabyte, petabyte, and even exabyte datasets.

Applied Philosophy

Submitted by JEFFREY YOSHIMI (UC Merced) on May 2, 2014 - 3:44pm Last revised by Brad Bulger on September 29, 2020 - 6:02pm.
Proposal Status: 
Open
Principal Authors: 

Carolyn Jennings, Peter Vanderschraaf, Jeff Yoshimi

Applied Philosophy is an approach to philosophy that incorporates mathematical modeling, laboratory experiments and computer simulations just as much as conceptual analysis and reasoning. We are submitting this proposal primarily to indicate how the various research areas we emphasize exist as parts of the strategic focusing initiatives of other academic units. The specific research areas we emphasize are: (1) Politics, Philosophy, and Economics, (2) Philosophy and Cognitive Science, (3) Gender and Race Studies, (4) Applied Ethics.

Molecular Cell Biology Strategic Academic Vision - Round 2

Submitted by Jennifer Manilay (UC Merced) on May 2, 2014 - 3:20pm Last revised by Brad Bulger on September 29, 2020 - 6:02pm.
Proposal Status: 
Open
Principal Authors: 

Jennifer O. Manilay, Ph.D. (Chair), and the 16 faculty members in the Molecular and Cell Biology Unit, with the support of faculty members in QSB, HSRI, BEST, LES and ES.

The Molecular and Cell Biology (MCB) Unit is currently comprised of 16 faculty members whose research is focused in 1) Biochemistry, Physiology and Molecular Biology, 2) Cell and Developmental Biology, 3) Microbiology and Immunology, and 4) Neurobiology. We currently serve 1084 undergraduate students in the Biological Sciences (BIO) major and 45 masters and doctoral students in the Quantitative and Systems Biology (QSB) Graduate Group.

Chemistry and Chemical Biology Strategic Focusing Round 2 Proposal

Submitted by Michael Colvin (UC Merced) on November 15, 2013 - 11:10pm Last revised by Brad Bulger on September 29, 2020 - 6:02pm.
Proposal Status: 
Open
Principal Authors: 

Michael E. Colvin

Anne M. Kelley

 

Chemistry is the study of the composition and transformations of matter and is a "central science" linking fundamental discoveries to practical developments. Chemistry is inherently multidisciplinary and provides critical capabilities to other fields, as shown by chemistry being linked to five of the nine campus themes in round 1. The Chemistry and Chemical Biology (CCB) unit and graduate group exemplify this central role through many collaborative projects. CCB has been successful in creating an undergraduate program that has grown to near 250 students and a growing graduate program.

Pages