Announcing the Leadership Board for Applied Research and Public Service (AR&PS) and the Florida ExpertNet Web site

James A. Mau, Vice Chancellor Florida Board of Regents

Each of our universities has centers/institutes and outstanding faculty members with unique capabilities. Unfortunately, many people who need our knowledge and skills don’t know what we have to offer or how to contact us. It’s a common problem, not only in the public and private sectors but even within our own institutions.

Responding to the Needs of State and Local Governments and Florida Residents

This lack of knowledge is why we want to tell you about the Leadership Board for Applied Research and Public Service (the Board) and one of its initiatives, called Florida ExpertNet (ExpertNet), that will benefit your university, state and local governments, and the people of Florida. In 1998, the Legislature created the Board to

· focus and coordinate applied research and public service activities in the SUS,

· ensure that applied research and public service activities are responsive to the needs of state and local governments, and

· provide accurate, timely, useful, and relevant information, when needed.

Five university presidents, leaders from state agencies, and representatives of state and local governments sit on this Board chaired by the Chancellor of the SUS. So far, the Board has worked with the directors of sponsored research, directors of career centers, and state agencies to

· produce a draft-standardized contract that will make it easier for state and local governments to contract with our 10 universities and your centers/institutes.

· develop a program that will use the Department of Management Services'(DMS) Web site to connect students directly to internship opportunities in state and local governments. The InternsDIRECT program will emulate the JobsDIRECT model that gets millions of hits per year.

· coordinate leadership seminars between top state administrators and leaders from the public and private sectors.

· establish an information clearinghouse for AR&PS that manages ExpertNet and facilitates identifying and contacting centers/institutes and faculty members with specific applied research expertise.

Solving Problems with the Clearinghouse for AR&PS and ExpertNet

Too often, in order to find experts, potential contractors laboriously search university Web pages, make one or two telephone calls, or send out RFPs, hoping for the best.

The Clearinghouse for AR&PS (the Clearinghouse) will solve this problem by placing information concerning the more than 500 SUS centers/institutes and all of the principal investigators (PIs) funded in the recent past into one easily searchable site- ExpertNet.

The Board plans to market ExpertNet to key people in state and local government and eventually to for-profit and nonprofit firms. w believe that if we give potential clients an easy way to find our experts, they will contact our talented and experienced faculty members. These contacts could result in
* more contracts for your center/institute
* expanded opportunities for students to work on applied
research projects
* new networking possibilities with other SUS faculty members
* support for economic development efforts

Gathering the Necessary Information-We Need Your Cooperation

As a director, you have a central role in making ExpertNet a quality information site that attracts visitors. The Clearinghouse already has the information on centers/institutes that you submit annually to the Board of Regents and won’t ask you to send the information to us twice. The Clearinghouse would like to get supplemental information (staff, projects, publications) from each center/institute.

In the next few weeks, the Clearinghouse staff will send you an e-mail to guide you through simple steps to assure that our current information is accurate and up-to-date. For this small investment of your time, you can put the power of the Web and SUS’ marketing to work for you.

Highlighting Your AR&PS Projects and Programs

In addition to linking to your university’s sponsored research home page, ExpertNet will highlight a select number of AR&PS projects and programs from each university. Annually, each university will designate which AR&PS projects or programs it wants to appear on the ExpertNet home page.

We hope that you will take full advantage of this opportunity to expand your reach and that ExpertNet will help your university to enhance your already significant record of applied research.

If you have any questions, please contact Cheryl Lautzenheiser, UF Office of the Provost, (352) 392-2404, clautzenheiser@aa.ufl.edu