Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 46.59
Liaison Bambi Ingram
Submission Date July 29, 2016
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of Alabama at Birmingham
AC-10: Support for Research

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 4.00 Bambi Ingram
Sustainability
Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have an ongoing program to encourage students in multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct research in sustainability? :
Yes

A brief description of the student research program, including the incentives provided and any positive outcomes during the previous three years:

Energy Efficiency and Sustainability Club (EESC) is the organizing body of UAB's current Solar Decathlon competition initiative and acts as a clearinghouse for students who wish to conduct research supporting the Solar Decathlon competition and other sustainability programs. The EESC provides incentives through opportunities for course credit, travel, and internships. The club and competition are supported by several MS and PhD level students within Mechanical Engineering performing research to support the home's design and eventual installation in the UAB Microgrid Demonstration Site. The Site will serve as permanent research infrastructure with rotating resident researchers.

The Centers described in the Faculty credit below are heavily supported by student researchers, through the NSF's Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, departmental research/teaching assistantships, grant-specific personnel assignments, or through formal training grants like the NIH's T-32 and T-35 programs.


Does the institution have a program to encourage faculty from multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct research in sustainability topics?:
Yes

A brief description of the faculty research program, including the incentives provided and any positive outcomes during the previous three years:

OVPRED

The mission of the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development (OVPRED) at UAB is (1) to provide effective leadership for all administrative research units serving the research enterprise at UAB; (2) nurture excellent research, scholarship and creative activity by faculty, staff and students; (3) work with University and school administrations and city and state leaders to establish new programs and research directions that promote and enhance the University's contribution to new knowledge and the growth of the economies of the city and state.

UWIRC - UAB’s University-Wide Interdisciplinary Research Centers (UWIRC) Program

Beginning in 1995, the University-wide Interdisciplinary Research Center (UWIRC) program was proposed by Drs. Allman, Hunter, LoBuglio, and Craig and Sharon Ramey to help promote interdisciplinary research, education, and service. It was implemented with initial funding in 1997 for ten “full” centers and 7 “pilot” centers. Since its inception, this program has played a major role in promoting interdisciplinary, cross-institutional collaboration at UAB. The essential tenets of the original proposal include:

-Membership includes substantive involvement of faculty from multiple schools
-Provides resources for support of University's research infrastructure
-Provides an intellectual environment which enhances faculty and student recruitment, development and retention
-Has a financial base of support for Center/Core activities
-Provides leadership/coordination for the integration of research and service (translational research)
-Provides management and planning to facilitate acquisition of external research support
-Is involved in community outreach/partnerships
-Serves as a resource for the state and region
-Provides an interdisciplinary matrix for training
-Has internal and external review processes in place to assure quality and productivity

There are currently twenty-four active Centers, and at least one-third of these centers sponsor research in the areas of social and economic sustainability, particularly in health research. These Centers include --

Center for AIDS Research
http://www.uab.edu/medicine/cfar

Center for Disability Health and Rehabilitation Science
James Rimmer, Ph.D.
David Brown, Ph.D.
http://www.uab.edu/shp/lakeshore/

Center for Exercise Medicine
Marcas M. Bamman, Ph.D.
http://www.uab.edu/exercise

Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research and Education
Kenneth G. Saag, M.D.
http://www.coere.cme.uab.edu/

Center for the Study of Community Health
Max Michael, III, M.D.
http://www.soph.uab.edu/csch/

Civitan International Research Center
David Sweatt, Ph.D.
http://www.circ.uab.edu/

Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging
Cynthia Brown, MD
http://www.uab.edu/medicine/aging

Comprehensive Diabetes Center
Anath Shalev, M.D.
http://www.uab.edu/medicine/diabetes/

Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center
Mona N. Fouad, M.D.
http://www.uab.edu/medicine/mhrc/

UAB Nutrition Obesity Research Center
David B. Allison, Ph.D.
http://www.norc.uab.edu/


Has the institution published written policies and procedures that give positive recognition to interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary research during faculty promotion and/or tenure decisions?:
No

A brief description of the institution’s support for interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary research, including any positive outcomes during the previous three years:
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Does the institution have ongoing library support for sustainability research and learning?:
No

A brief description of the institution’s library support for sustainability research, including any positive outcomes during the previous three years:
---

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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