University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Sixteen proposals from across the university have been selected to receive funding in the initial phase of the 3 E Fund.

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By DAVID J. HILL

Published: March 8, 2012

Sixteen proposals from across the university have been awarded funding through the “3 E Fund,” a competitive new program designed to spur collaborative initiatives that will advance the university’s international stature and student experience.

President Satish K. Tripathi created the fund this past fall to invest in transformational initiatives that will increase research strength across the disciplines, enhance the educational experience of UB students, and expand the institution’s impact. The “3 Es”—excellence, engagement and efficiency—serve as the guiding principles of Tripathi’s vision for UB.

Supported by new revenue generated from SUNY’s rational tuition program, the 3 E Fund will advance UB’s efforts to elevate its status among Association of American Universities (AAU) institutions, benefitting the university and its students in a variety of ways.

The fund will help UB achieve the goals that Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher and university leadership agreed to pursue through the NYSUNY 2020 program. Those goals include adding 300 new faculty members in strategic areas, improving academic support facilities and relocating the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

Proposals were solicited in October. The resulting 101 submissions were reviewed by a nine-member panel of six faculty members, including three former senior administrators, and three professional staff members.

Final decisions were made based on the committee’s rankings and through consultation among former Interim Provost Harvey G. Stenger, Interim Provost Bruce D. McCombe and Tripathi.

Combined, the initiatives are projected to result in the hiring of 33 faculty members and 21 support staff in a variety of multidisciplinary programs. The 16 initiatives to receive inaugural funding will spend a total of approximately $24 million over the next three years. On average, the central 3 E Fund will provide $2.5 million per year over this period.

“These investments will increase sponsored research expenditures by nearly $15 million by 2015, will create multiple new graduate degree programs and will help to position UB as a national leader in each of these areas,” says McCombe.

Proposals selected to receive funding in the first round of the five-year program include:

• an energy diversification initiative that will help UB lead the reinvigoration of the energy economy in Western New York
• creation of a comprehensive Center for Excellence in Writing that will provide writing support for students and assist faculty who teach writing
• creation of a new graduate degree program in materials science and engineering (MSE)
• a new initiative called “Finish in 4” to help incoming UB students graduate in four years
• a pilot program in University Libraries to support the purchase of electronic versions of textbooks used in classes with high enrollment

The MSE program is one example of the collaborative nature at the heart of many of the 3 E Fund’s initiatives. It will result in new hires not only in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, but within the College of Arts and Sciences as well.

The 3 E Fund also will help UB advance in the AAU rankings by achieving three objectives:

• hiring exceptional faculty
• providing an environment and the appropriate infrastructure to support faculty so that they can be successful in their work
• attracting the best students through strategic enrollment planning and the “Finish in 4” program, while providing them with the tools to achieve their goals.

“We are pleased with the results of a process that generated proposals from every major academic and administrative unit. The richness and variety of thought contained in these proposals allowed university leadership to consider many conceivable responses to different institutional challenges and decide upon the most important investments of limited funds to ensure the greatest possible impact,” McCombe says.

“President Tripathi and I appreciate the campus community’s creative engagement of the inaugural 3 E Fund program and the quality of proposals that we received. We are refining the 3 E process and will share information regarding the second phase of the program in the coming weeks,” he adds.

The 16 3 E Fund proposals receiving first-round funding are:

• “Strategic Planning for Enrollment and Financial Aid”
• “Support for a Distance Education Symposium”
• “User Facility for Natural Hazards Research”
• “The Interface Between Oral Health and Complex Disease”
• “Materials Science and Engineering Program”
• “Infrastructure for Research Strengths”
• “New Department of Health Services, Policy and Practice”
• “Genomics and Bioinformatics”
• “Finish in Four Initiative”
• “E-Textbooks Initiative”
• “UB Energy Diversification Initiative”
• “Diversity Recruitment Conference”
• “Center for Excellence in Writing”
• “A New Department of Biomedical Informatics”
• “Strengthening the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership”
• “Techne Institute for Arts and Emerging Technologies”