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

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 Ph.D. 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.

OVPR The mission of the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) 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 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. http://www.uab.edu/shp/lakeshore/ Center for Exercise Medicine. http://www.uab.edu/exercise Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research and Education Richard Allman M.D. http://www.coere.cme.uab.edu/ Center for the Study of Community Health http://www.soph.uab.edu/csch/ Civitan International Research Center Craig Powell, M.D., Ph.D http://www.circ.uab.edu/ Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging Cynthia Brown, MD http://www.uab.edu/medicine/aging Comprehensive Diabetes Center http://www.uab.edu/medicine/diabetes/ Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center Mona N. Fouad, M.D., MPH http://www.uab.edu/medicine/mhrc/ UAB Nutrition Obesity Research Center James O. Hill, PhD http://www.norc.uab.edu/