Strategic Plan — Research and Graduate Education
Our Impact: Research and Graduate Education
GOAL: Support faculty and graduate students who will create science-based innovations and technologies for agriculture, food, and natural resources.
SUPPORTING OBJECTIVES WITH CORRESPONDING TACTICS:
- Advance areas of excellence within and across units by leveraging historical strengths, existing competencies, and geographical advantages to meet current and future societal needs.
- Provide financial support for and recognition of interdisciplinary research programs
- Develop resources to support the recruitment and retention of high quality, productive and diverse faculty and graduate students
- Increase communication between faculty and stakeholders to identify emerging research needs in agricultural and natural resource sciences
- Strengthen the scientific enterprise by increasing our research capacity, capability, productivity, and quality to positively impact Alabama, national, and global communities.
- Provide training programs and personnel support that enhance the ability of faculty to secure extramural funding
- Recognize and reward successes of faculty and graduate students
- Recognize high-quality publications, patent applications and technology transfer, and be deliberate in sharing research activities and results with targeted scientific community, and stakeholders
- Invest in training of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to be successful leaders in agriculture sciences and other careers
- Provide and identify faculty development opportunities, facilitate grant panel activities and editorial services, and actively target and recruit the nomination of faculty for national awards and other professional recognitions
- Foster and sustain a vibrant, collaborative and supportive research environment including the development of the facilities and infrastructure that advance scientific research.
- Promote a collaboratively-focused working environment that supports and values high quality, high impact and innovative interdisciplinary and multi-institution research.
- Provide seed funding for research and cost-share funding for equipment and facilities that encourages and emphasizes leveraging of funds
- Develop mechanism for securing funding and maintaining state-of-the-art research infrastructure and facilities
- Facilitate access to equipment, services, facilities, and training needed to conduct research