Three R&D focus areas are selected for enhancement based on their potential for contributions to economic development in the state and importance in the future vision of strengths at the University of Vermont. They are: Advanced Materials (electronic materials, sensors, porous solids and polymers along with an increased focus on biomaterials); Biotechnology (modern molecular biology and genetics to measurement technologies related to biological processes); Environmental Science and Engineering (groundwater modeling, field based studies and cross departmental and college collaborations). Programs designed to improve competitiveness in the focus areas both at the individual and institutional levels include: 1) seed funding of academic industrial collaborations through Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) program; 2) a teaching post-doctoral mentoring/professional development; 3) minigrants to defer cost of core "fee for service" instrumentation for early career faculty and small science and technology based businesses; 4) graduate student support for early career faculty and for encouragement of cross department/college projects; 5) research equipment acquisition for the multi-user research instrumentation; and 6) supplements to new faculty start-up funds for selected focus area faculty. In addition, three major initiatives will address both economic and human resource development across the state. These include: 1) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase-0 grants to provide seed funds for proof of concept or preliminary data collection; 2) awards for undergraduate research participation at undergraduate institutions; 3) high school outreach to both introduce a large number students to science and engineering careers and to involve a select group in summer research activities.
