Three New UIDP Projects Launch
Just in time for the Project Summit, we’ve added three new UIDP Projects to our portfolio!
The UIDP is a project-oriented organization, where members identify strategic and tactical issues impacting university-industry (U-I) relations and opportunities to develop new approaches to collaboration. UIDP Projects are suggested by member representatives and seek to lower the barriers to companies and universities working together. At any given time, the UIDP has a set of active, diverse projects underway.
Careers in Industry
While many graduate students are usually well informed and equipped for an academic career, they often lack awareness and understanding of what to expect from a career in industry. The Careers in Industry project is focused on developing resources to assist university students in exploring and considering career opportunities in industry.
Led by Jay Jennings (Sanofi), Geanie Umberger (Purdue) and Ryan Anderson (UNL), and project-managed by Andrew Cockerill, the project working group is going to be reviewing what guidance and training is currently available to PhD students who are considering the industry track, identifying best practices, and developing materials to address the issues and guide doctoral students and faculty advisors, as appropriate. The planned first deliverable will be a Quick Guide.
What the working group will be doing in Tucson:
Meeting with PhD students to identify better ways to inform them about the opportunities to work in industry. Reviewing and revising the survey that is under development.
Effective U-I Engagement Practices
At some point, every UIDP member organization undergoes internal reorganization and attempts to make their U-I engagement practices more efficient and effective. The Effective U-I Engagement Practices project team is led by Paul Reeder (OSU) and Dennis Fortner (Northrop Grumman), and project-managed by Kristina Thorsell. The team working on this Project will focus on identifying the top characteristics, features, and practices that make companies and universities easy to work with, as well as identifying tangible ways companies and universities can address the “pain points” that challenge their U-I partners.
What the working group will be doing in Tucson:
Identifying the top three to five characteristics that companies look for when partnering with universities and the top three to five characteristics that universities look for when partnering with companies.
Federal Programs
The Federal Programs Project is focused on identifying federal funding opportunities that target university-industry (U-I) collaboration and creating resources to bring UIDP members together to pursue these opportunities.
Some organizations have internal personnel who are responsible for tracking federal funding opportunities. However, not all UIDP member organizations have internal resources devoted to this activity and those who do not appreciate when UIDP aggregates information about funding opportunities and provides it to member organizations. Providing this service is a member benefit that UIDP intends to provide in a robust way.
Carlos Romero (UNM) will be the University lead on this Project and we will announce the Industry lead and Project Manager very soon.
What the working group will be doing in Tucson:
Determining the most effective way for UIDP to inform members about upcoming federal funding opportunities that relate to U-I collaboration.
For a complete list of current UIDP Projects and their descriptions visit uidp.org/projects. There are three ways to get involved in a UIDP project:
- Join the working group
- Receive updates on the project’s major milestones
- Volunteer to review the final publication.
Email Kristina with information on how you would like to be involved.
