UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — On Oct. 14, Penn State Senior Vice President for Research Andrew Reed hosted a community conversation about the university’s research efforts. This was an opportunity for Penn State faculty, staff, and students to learn more about current efforts to strengthen the university’s research enterprise and read about the challenges and opportunities facing Penn State in today’s research environment. .
“We are one of the largest research companies in the world,” Reed said. “We are tackling some of the most important issues of the 21st century, and we are doing so at a very high level.”
Reid opened the hour-long conversation with an overview of the current state of research at Penn State, acknowledging that it is also a time of change. They then asked questions on a wide range of topics, from budgets to the broader impact of university research and student success. Michael Wade Smith, Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff, moderated questions from the audience, including pre-submitted questions and questions from in-person and virtual audience members.
Professor Reed announced that the university’s research spending last fiscal year 2023-24 reached $1.337 billion, an 8% increase over the previous year. Importantly, Reid noted that Penn State exceeded $1 billion in external grants and contract spending for the first time in the university’s history, an increase of nearly 11% over the previous year.
“The fact that we are able to perform at this level internally and nationally during a very difficult time really says something about our colleagues – our staff, students and faculty.” said Reed.
Mr. Reed reinforced President Neeli Bendapudi’s goal of being among the top 15 in the nation in research spending. Penn State ranks 28th in the nation in current spending. However, Reed said the university ranks 18th in federal funding, and given its expertise in national priority areas such as semiconductors, energy, national security and plant sciences, Penn State ranks among the top. He pointed out that he believes he is well placed to move up to the
“The competition for funding between top universities shows no signs of slowing down and is intensifying year by year,” Professor Reed said. “Penn State has the talent and expertise to overcome these challenges by investing wisely.
He said it will require thoughtful and continued investment in faculty recruitment and retention, equipment and facilities, and program support.
In response to numerous questions about the heavy workload and process barriers faced by faculty, Professor Reed said the university is investing $2 million to create 20 new research management staff positions in university offices. He said he invested US dollars. Over the past five years, the number of new federal regulations and regulatory changes has doubled, the amount of grants submitted and awarded has increased significantly, and the toll of mass resignations has increased, Reed explained. This means handling larger volumes and more complex work with fewer staff, a situation Mr Reid said was unsustainable. Mr Reid said he appreciated the often hard work of existing staff and hoped the additional positions would provide some relief. He promised to hire additional staff as the workload increases in the future.
It also aims to further reduce unnecessary administrative burden and increase operational efficiency so that faculty and staff can focus their efforts on the pursuit of breakthrough discoveries, innovations, and scholarship that address pressing social issues. We also provided the latest information on the Research Support Transformation Project.
With tools like myResearch Portal and myFunds Portal, faculty now have unprecedented visibility into their research spending. Further improvements to these tools will include the release of clinical trial financial data and improved dashboard visibility for faculty support staff later this month. Going forward, the team will continue to gather input from faculty and staff to understand what’s working and how to build and improve new tools and dashboards. When we make updates, we beta test those changes in a small group before rolling them out more broadly.
Acknowledging confusion about how research will be supported under the new budget model, Reid explained how research is protected and encouraged in ways never seen before. He added that the new model will use a transparent process to determine budget allocations for each department.
“We also have two dedicated research funds, a $28.5 million research grant fund and a budget from the Office of the Senior Vice President for Research, which represents indirect amounts that come into the university from external grants and contracts. It depends,” he said. Said. “When research generates additional income, that income is reinvested into the research enterprise.”
Mr. Reed also discussed the importance of involving graduate and undergraduate students in research.
“Undergraduates come to Penn State because of the reputation of our degrees, and that’s because of the fact that we are a research powerhouse,” he said, adding that research experiences can be life-changing for undergraduates. He pointed out that there is a gender.
He added that graduate students are the backbone of Penn State’s research efforts.
“We rank 15th in the country in the number of PhDs we graduate each year,” he said.
Mr. Reed reiterated his commitment to the arts and humanities, noting that the work of scholars in these fields has a profound impact on society.
“The work done in the humanities, theater and music fields can be life-changing,” he said. “Academics in these fields are on the national stage and making significant contributions to the national debate. You should think about it.”
Mr. Reed also mentioned the Commonwealth Campus and reminded the community that the university is invested in public impact and community-engaged research. He is committed to improving research commercialization efforts, including expanding the number of licensing and patent staff in the Office of Technology Transfer and providing funding to help principal investigators move their projects toward commercialization. He mentioned university initiatives.
“We’ve struggled in the past in research commercialization due to a lack of resources, and now we’re doubling down on that,” Reid said. “We are expanding the number of trained personnel to assist with the licensing and patenting process and are putting money into the GAP Fund to help move projects forward in the commercialization pipeline.”
Reed emphasized that this conversation is not the end and that he and others are eager to hear from everyone in Penn State’s research ecosystem. To provide feedback on the conversation, anonymous surveys are available to provide information about the discussion. A recording of the conversation is available here.
