SUBJECT:  Committee on Research (COR) Open Meeting to Discuss the
                     RFP for CORE Research Proposals

On December 8, 2000, OGSR and COR announced the next round of competition for core research initiatives to be submitted in the 2002-03 Regents' Budget. If approved by the State Legislature after appearing in the Regents' Budget, then the Governor's Budget in January, 2002, these become permanent additions to UC's funding. The deadline for initial proposals will be January 29, 2001. For further information on this RFP, please see below the campus notice dated, December 8, 2000.

On January 11, 2001 at 11:00 a.m., the Committee on Research will hold an open meeting to facilitate proposals and assist those interested in submitting a proposal to the 2002-03 Regents' Budget request. The meeting will be held in Conference Room 111A, University Center (Chancellor's Complex).

UCSD will send up to five proposals. These proposals will be selected by OGSR and COR. At the system-wide level, the proposals will be reviewed by the Universitywide Committee on Research Policy (UCORP) and the University Committee on Planning and Budget (UCPB). Eventually the proposals will be submitted to Provost King for inclusion in the Regents' Budget of 2002-03.

The purpose of this meeting will be to provide information that might help principal investigators prepare their 2-3 page proposal, and to try to answer any questions raised by members of the UCSD faculty about the process or the strategies involved.

                                                Stefan Tanaka, Chair
                                                Committee on Research

SUBJECT:  2002-03 State Budget Research Initiatives

The Office of the President has once again invited the campus to submit up to five statements of major research initiatives for possible inclusion in the 2002-03 Regents' Budget request. This is the third year in which the Office of the President has worked with campus faculty and administrators to develop a set of funding requests to obtain State funding in support of high priority research over and above the State support we receive in connection with enrollment growth. This year we are advised that funding for initiatives may be for one-time funding (for periods of up to five years), a mix of one-time and permanent funding, or for permanent funding. Faculty are encouraged to develop statements that are responsive to these guidelines.

In the 2000-01 State Budget Act, $12 million dollars of permanent funding was awarded to UC to support graduate students in computer science, engineering, and related fields ($5 million), California-Mexico collaborative research ($5 million); and coastal environmental quality ($2 million).

In the 2001-02 Regents' Budget request to the State, $22 million dollars in permanent funding is being requested for the following high-priority initiatives: Graduate student support for research in engineering, computer science and related fields ($5 million); Environmental Science ($5 million), with $3 million to upgrade the state's system of environmental field stations, and $2 million to study energy and environmental quality; Integrated pest management of invasive species ($3 million); Public health needs ($6 million), including $2 million for child and adolescent health, $2 million for global health challenges, and $2 million for research on nondegenerative diseases; and California demographic change research ($3 million).

The research priorities submitted by San Diego last spring for the 2001-02 Budget were human development, immigration, nanostructured magnetism, biomedical engineering, genomic complexity, and observing and predicting natural disasters. These were considered by the Office of the President in conjunction with requests by the other campuses and resulted in the present request in the Regents' Budget.

The Office of the President is soliciting ideas for research initiatives that meet the following criteria: