University
Research Council
November
17, 2011
Meeting
Summary
Export Controls
Allen DiPalma, Director of the Office
of Research and the University’s Export Control Officer, discussed export
controls. Exports are defined as the transfer
of controlled technology, information, equipment, software or services to a
foreign person in the U.S. or abroad.
Export control laws are devised to: restrict exports of goods and
technology that could contribute to the military potential of adversaries;
prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, biological,
chemical); prevent terrorism; and ensure compliance with U.S. trade agreements
and trade sanctions against other nations.
The federal agencies associated with
export control laws are:
·
State Department: International Traffic in Arms Regulations
(ITAR) pertain to inherently military technologies;
·
Commerce Department: Export Administration Regulations (EAR) pertain
to “dual use” technologies (civilian or military use);
·
Treasury Department, Office of Foreign
Assets Control (OFAC): OFAC Prohibits
certain transactions with countries subject to boycotts, trade sanctions and
embargoes.
Multidisciplinary Grant Project
Matthias Grabmair, a graduate student
researcher in the Intelligent Systems Program reported on the status of a
multidisciplinary grant, which is entitled Automating Comparative Analysis of
Public Health Statutory Frameworks. He
is working with Kevin Ashley, Professor in the School of Law; Patricia Sweeney,
Assistant Professor in the Graduate School Public Health; and Rebecca Hwa, Associate Professor in the Department of Computer
Science. They are comparing how states’
laws governing agents in the public health system either facilitate or
frustrate each system’s ability to plan for and respond to public health
emergencies. The principal investigators
wish to determine:
·
Whether a computer program, trained on
manually coded examples, can automatically encode statutes for purposes of
comparisons in this public health domain;
·
What one can learn from a comparison of
the laws of different states with respect to health system emergency
preparedness and response;
·
Whether one can generate social network
diagrams with coded statutes and use the social networks to compare statutory
frameworks.
The principal investigators have
focused initially upon Pennsylvania.
They will later attempt to replicate their results with a study of
statutory law in California.
Research Administrator Training
Many universities, the University of
Pittsburgh included, cannot recruit enough talented individuals to support the
staffing requirements of upper level research administration. Universities traditionally use on-the-job
training to develop the necessary talent.
However, individuals usually are prepared for work in a single
office. They do not acquire the broad
knowledge of the research enterprise that a higher level administrator must
possess. Johns Hopkins University
developed a training program that counters this trend. The University of Pittsburgh proposes to use
it as a model for a similar program.
Star Metrics
The University will participate in Star
Metrics, a multi-agency venture led by the National Institutes of Health, the
National Science Foundation and the White House Office of Science and
Technology Policy. There are two phases
to the program. The first phase will use university administrative records to
calculate the employment impact of federal science spending through the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and agencies' existing budgets. The
second phase will measure the impact of science investment in four key areas: economic
growth, workforce outcomes, scientific knowledge, and social outcomes.
Open Access
The University of Pittsburgh is
developing a program entitled Open Access@PITT. Open Access is a family of copyright
licensing policies under which copyright owners make their works available
publicly, without access being limited to subscribers or purchasers of the
material, and typically in online databases. Disseminating information or publishing under
Open Access principles means that access to the results of research is provided
freely, immediately, and digitally, as is the right to use and re-use those
results as needed. Open Access is
compatible with the features and services of scholarly literature and communication, including copyright, peer review, revenue
(even profit), print, preservation, prestige, quality, career-advancement,
indexing, and more.
Multidisciplinary Projects
The Provost’s Office will explore three
multidisciplinary topics: quantum information science, synthetic biology, and engineered
materials. Teams will meet regularly to
work on the projects. Each team will
prepare a white paper as a plan for future research.
Miscellaneous
Council members also discussed several
other issues:
·
Academic analytics, a provider of
academic business intelligence data.
·
The University’s Module on research
integrity