Executive Director - (currently Acting Executive Director Dr. Julie M. Stein)

The Executive Director provides leadership and management for the Industry-University Cooperative Research Program and its five matching grant research fields. The Executive Director leads the planning and development of the fields in biotechnology; communications and networking; digital media; information technology for life sciences; and electronics manufacturing and new materials. The Executive Director co-chairs the activities of the Steering Committee and manages the activities of the President's Board on Science and Innovation. The Executive Director also manages economic assessment, electronic research administration, communications, investment portfolio, and all other elements of program function and operations.

MICRO reports programmatically to the Executive Director and is governed by two bodies, the MICRO Executive Board and the MICRO Policy Board, which are composed of representatives of campuses and industry.

President's Board on Science and Innovation

The Board, which is comprised of leaders from business, finance and the University, has the following six central charges:

1. to provide long-range perspective on research, manpower, and training opportunities and needs in California;
2. to advise on how the University might best address those opportunities and needs in a manner that advances the mission of the University, maximizes resources available at the federal and state levels, and strengthens the state economy while addressing important societal needs;
3. for individual members to advise and assist within their fields of expertise, on request;
4. to advise the President on the development, performance, and impact of the California Institutes for Science and Innovation;
5. to advise the President on the development, performance, and impact of the Industry-University Cooperative Research Program;
6. to identify priority research fields for consideration in these two unique research initiatives or that may warrant development of entirely new systemwide initiatives within the university.

The University of California is the largest single recipient of federal basic research funding and is a national leader in technology transfer activity. As evidenced by these two initiatives and others, the Governor and State Legislature have invested increasing resources to strengthen the University’s role as an essential part of California’s economic development engine and source of solutions to pressing societal problems. The board meets three times a year.

Click here for a list of President's Board Members.

Steering Committee

The Steering Committee is the university governing body for the Industry-University Cooperative Research Program. It is composed of University representatives and has three main charges:

1. To provide academic oversight and guidance on planning recommendations and on matters related to University policies and procedures,
2. To help identify research fields for consideration as candidates for new systemwide Industry-University research programs, and
3. To serve as channels of communication to University researchers and administrators on the opportunities and goals of the IUCRP.

Members are drawn from the campuses and National Laboratories, Office of the President, and from appropriate Academic Senate committees (i.e., UCORP and UCPB). They provide needed expertise in fields of science and technology and timely communication and consultation with the University community. The Steering Committee is co-chaired by the Vice Provost for Research and the Industry-University Cooperative Research Program Executive Director. The Committee meets at least three times a year. Members serve for two-year renewable terms and are appointed by the President.

Click here for a list of Steering Committee members.

Field-Specific Executive Committees - role

There are five field-specific Executive Committees (i.e., for biotechnology; communications and networking; digital media; electronics manufacturing and new materials; and information technology for life sciences). Each committee is composed of one representative of each of the nine campuses (Academic Senate member), of each of the three affiliated National Laboratories, and of the Agriculture Experiment Station. Each of these thirteen representatives is a voting member.

The Executive Committees are responsible for promoting the IUCRP and for ensuring rigorous peer review and funding decisions on grants and awards. The Executive Committee makes final decisions on funding of grants and awards. The Committee participates in and provides a chair for each grant proposal review session or subcommittee.

The Executive Committee meets three or four times each year, on average, including proposal review sessions. Executive Committee members are appointed to serve renewable terms of up to two years, at the discretion of the Executive Committee Chairman and the Executive Director of the Industry-University Cooperative Research Program. An Executive Committee member is nominated by his or her Vice Chancellor for Research or Laboratory Deputy Director and is appointed by the Provost- Sr. Vice President for Academic Affairs, in consultation with the Executive Director and the Executive Committee Chair.

A member of the Academic Senate chairs the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee Chair represents the Committee in policy and fund allocation decisions that must be made between regularly scheduled Executive Committee meetings and that do not require consultation with the full Committee. The Chair consults with the Executive Director on filling vacant Executive Committee and Research Council positions, as well as with the appropriate local institution. The Executive Committee Chair serves a two to three-year term. The Executive Committee Chair is nominated by the Executive Director and the Executive Committee and appointed by the Provost - Sr. Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Click here for a list of Executive Committee members.

Field-Specific Research Councils - role

The Research Council is composed of the Executive Committee members and five additional representatives from each institution. One of each institution's Research Council members, other than the Executive Committee member, will be designated to represent the local institution when that Executive Committee member is unable to attend an Executive Committee meeting. Research Council members participate in two or three proposal review sessions each year and serve three year terms. The IUCRP Executive Director appoints Research Council members, in consultation with the Executive Committee Chair.

Four-Tier System for Ensuring Integrity, Fairness, and Quality:

1) Proposal Generation and Submission
Proposals are written by UC researchers who have consulted with companies and identified private sponsors willing to provide at least half the direct costs plus applicable overhead. The application requirements are modeled on the National Institutes of Health RO1 and NSF grant applications, with emphasis on detailed research plans, descriptive statements of significance and relevance, and detailed budgets with point-by-point justification. Proposals may only be submitted by individuals with principal investigator status at UC.

2) Peer Review and Funding Decisions
Proposals are subjected to stringent peer review by expert university scientists and engineers. The confidential peer review process is modeled on the NIH and NSF peer review panel systems. Panelists are convened in a one-day session and each proposal is discussed in detail and ranked by all eligible reviewers. Proposals are judged on the basis of scientific and technical merit, budget justification, and relevance to the matching grant program and the State of California, among other things. Any reviewer from the campus of the applicant or who otherwise may have a direct or indirect interest in the applicant, the research subject, the Private Sponsor, or a competitor of the private sponsor are excluded from discussion of that applicant's proposal. All funding decisions rest with the field-specific Executive Committee and comply with applicable IUCRP, University, and Federal policies.

3) Conflict of Interest Review
When a proposal is recommended for funding by the peer review panel, the campus/laboratory is required to provide a letter certifying that financial disclosures have been submitted by the Investigators and reviewed by the local Conflict of Interest Committee, and that either no positive findings were made or any positive findings were managed to the satisfaction of the campus or laboratory. Each and every researcher participating in a proposed research project must submit such a financial disclosure if he/she has independent responsibility for the planning, performance, and reporting of project research activities.

4) Research Agreements
When a proposal is recommended for funding by the peer review panel, the campus/laboratory is required to provide a letter certifying that a research agreement has been completed between the campus/laboratory and the Private Sponsor. The research agreement must include standard university provisions on payments, publication, warranties, due diligence, and may also include provisions on intellectual property.

Creating New Partnership Programs

The process of selecting and developing fields is guided by industry and university experts. Supported research partnership programs both advance the competitiveness of California businesses and enhance UC research and training. The programs provide funding for investigator-initiated research projects that have committed matching support (at least $1:$1) from private sponsors. Funds are allocated to individual research projects through a peer review system that ensures that only the highest quality research is funded. Each requires new investments by California businesses in UC research. Each emphasizes new educational and training opportunities for UC students. Each also emphasizes rigorous assessment of funded research and educational activities.

The central criteria for selecting any research field are:

1. UC has recognized scientific and engineering research leadership in the field.
2. R&D businesses in the field make significant and expanding contributions to the California economy.
3. These businesses are highly dependent upon innovations in basic research.
4. They also have unmet, serious needs for highly skilled personnel.
5. Accelerated, early stage research will lead to product and technology opportunities, and subsequently expanded R&D will open new markets to California products.

All fields established by the Industry-University Cooperative Research Program are designed to amplify and accelerate California's economic leadership in knowledge-based industries. They emphasize the following factors known to lead to success in the increasingly knowledge-driven global marketplace:

1. Excellence in fundamental, early stage research and graduate training.
2. Focus on problems that must be solved to advance to next generation technologies and products aiming to improve the lives of California residents.
3. Partnership with California's experienced entrepreneurs ($1:$1 matching is required, with no more than 20% provided in-kind).
4. Efficient technology transfer and rapid utilization of research breakthroughs.