UNIVERSITY RESEARCH COUNCIL
DR. GEORGE E. KLINZING, CHAIR
MINUTES -- DECEMBER 13, 2001

The meeting was called to order at 2:35 p.m.

MINUTES/ANNOUNCEMENTS

No changes were requested to the minutes of the November 1, 2001 meeting.

  • Vince Johns is looking into a University van traveling to Washington, D.C. on a regular basis.
  • The Small Grants Program brochures will be distributed this week via campus mail.
  • Jerry Rosenberg has developed a research compliance training module on conflict of interest. Council members were invited to comment on the draft module.

PATENT POLICY REVISION

Klinzing reported that the policy is still under revision. The most significant change to the policy will allow for a percentage of patent income (15%) to fund Office of Technology Management operations. This change will bring the University of Pittsburgh more in line with current practices at other institutions.

Rawski questioned if a flat rate of funding for OTM had been considered given the fluctuation of income and the potential for surplus. Discussion ensued regarding placing a ceiling on the amount of funding.

COPYRIGHT POLICY

Klinzing reported that a group will be working on an update of this policy. The revised policy will be distributed to Council for review.

FACULTY ASSISTANCE

Panah reported that this group will be preparing a questionnaire to survey participants in the previous years' federal agency briefings. This group will also be discussing ways of encouraging undergraduate research.

BRAINSTORMING

Tipper reported that this group is looking at ways of fostering interdisciplinary research. Klinzing invited Robertson to join this subcommittee.

COUNCIL BRIEFING

Elizabeth Baranger spoke to Council about the disparity in benefits received by post-doctoral fellows and research associates -- individuals who are classified as post-docs do not receive benefits while research associates do receive benefits. Baranger would like to propose a policy be established that limits the post-doc classification to individuals for whom the federal government will not provide benefits. Council members were asked to speak with their colleagues regarding this matter and provide Baranger with feedback at the next meeting.

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF RESEARCH -- MICHAEL CROUCH

A replacement grants officer has been hired. Searches are still underway for other positions.

Investigators have been active in pursuing training certification. Statistics indicate that almost 5000 individuals have completed Module 1 and approximately 3000 individuals have completed Module 2. Three servers are in place to accomodate traffic and minimize delays in certification.

The FY02 NIH funding budget is still not available. NSF and the mission agencies have received definitive budgets. There is some incremental effort in bioterrorism.

NEW BUSINESS

No new business was discussed.

 

The meeting adjourned at 3:27 p.m. The remainder of the scheduled meeting time was devoted to subcommittee meetings.

 

cc: Elizabeth Baranger, N. John Cooper, Gerald Holder