4 of 13  

3. BUILD RESEARCH WITH A SPECIAL FOCUS ON INTERDISCIPLINARY, TRANSLATIONAL, AND APPLIED RESEARCH AND THE STUDY OF CONTEMPORARY ISSUES.

The continued development of the research that makes Stony Brook one of the world’s leading universities will focus on interdisciplinary programs and on research that promotes technological development and meets social needs. The University’s close relationships with Brookhaven National Laboratory and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory will be important resources.

The extraordinary advance of disciplinary science, technology, and scholarship has created opportunities for research and educational programs that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries. Increasingly, the most important scientific, pragmatic, and scholarly problems can be addressed only by combining the insight and expertise of several disciplines. Stony Brook will foster interdisciplinary development by creating several University-wide centers and promoting additional collaboration. Research funding will increase as these initiatives position Stony Brook to compete for interdisciplinary team-based grants.

Stony Brook’s large-scale interdisciplinary centers will address institutional priorities and opportunities. The initiatives in computational science and integrative environmental research begun in 2006 are examples. Additional centers will be formed during the next five years. Other interdisciplinary activities will emerge from faculty creativity stimulated by opportunities for interaction and administrative arrangements that promote interdisciplinary work.

Stony Brook will extend current strengths in basic research and further develop applied research programs that contribute to the solution of technological, environmental, medical, and social problems. A major new program in computational neuroscience will capitalize on computation-based understanding of neural circuits in the normal and damaged brain. This approach will facilitate development of innovative treatments for neurological disorders, including the use of brain stimulation and neural stem cells. The first facilities planned for the Research and Development Park embody major opportunities for research in the next wave of the Information Revolution—wireless technology—and in alternative energy.

In the humanities, arts, and social sciences, the multicultural global society and economy of the 21st century provide unprecedented opportunities for interdisciplinary research and scholarship. Their faculty will also play a key role in interdisciplinary projects in the applied sciences that include analysis of the social and cultural implications of new technologies.

ACTIONS:

1. Stony Brook will increase research expenditures by 8 percent a year.
2. Stony Brook will create several large, long-lived interdisciplinary centers in areas that address questions of the highest intellectual and social importance.
3. Stony Brook will expand interdisciplinary research and scholarship projects and programs by creating opportunities and administrative structures that encourage and support collaboration among faculty from different disciplines.
4. Stony Brook will further develop applied research in engineering, environmental/sustainability sciences, translational medicine, and nanomedicine to the high standards set by existing campus research programs.
5. Stony Brook will engage scientists, engineers, social scientists, artists, and humanists in interdisciplinary centers and activities.