Baucom Lays Out Priorities for UVa's R&D Growth

by James A. BaconR&D at the University of Virginia's has increased at roughly double the rate of Duke, the University of North Carolina, and other peer institutions over the past ten years, Provost Ian Baucom told the Board of Visitors this afternoon during its June meeting. Admittedly, UVa started from a lower base and its R&D expenditures are still only half those of its Research Triangle rivals, he said. "We should feel really good about the trend. But we're still behind." A university's research ranking is important for several reasons, Baucom told the visitors. Research discoveries on maladies from autism to Alzheimer's "literally change lives." Research enables students to develop personally so they can participate in the economy as innovators and knowledge creators. And research rankings can affect institutional prestige. "Our reputation and standing depend upon it."Research funding from external and internal sources amounts to about $650 million a year. Much of the research -- 63% -- occurs in traditional STEM (science, technology, engineering, and medicine) fields, where the big money is, but UVa's comparative advantage is in the social sciences, humanities, quantitative research and computational science. Rather than copying strategies that worked for other institutions, UVa needs to create its own vision, Baumon said.The new priorities in the embryonic ten-year plan, as the provost sees them, will include:

  • democracy
  • environment and sustainability
  • precision medicine and precision health
  • brain and neuroscience
  • digital technology and society

One of the challenges UVa will undertake is the mental health crisis, and he briefly described an initiative to tackle cancer and mental illness in rural Virginia. It is becoming increasingly evident that there is a strong connection between the rise of digital technology, youth emotional and cognitive development, and the surge in mental illness, he said.Another big question UVa will explore is the impact of digital technology and generative Artificial Intelligence on democracy.Baucom mentioned the idea of using big data to crunch through patient records (with all due protections for privacy) to obtain medical insights as opposed to conducting long, time-consuming clinical trials.The ten-year plan, he said, will identify the infrastructure UVa will need to fund in order to support those and other initiatives: buildings, labs, equipment, support for critical trials, administrative support, graduate students, and more.Baucom offered no estimate on how much it would cost to build this infrastructure, hire leading faculty in emerging disciplines, and support them with a cadre of research assistants. Under pressure to stick to a tight meeting schedule, board members asked no questions.

James Bacon

After a 25-year career in Virginia journalism, James A. Bacon founded Bacon’s Rebellion in 2002 a blog with the goal of “Reinventing Virginia for the 21st Century.” Its focus is on building more prosperous, livable and sustainable communities. In recent years he has concentrated more on the spread of “woke” ideology in K-12 schools, the criminal justice system, higher education, and medicine.

In 2021, he co-founded The Jefferson Council to preserve free speech, intellectual diversity, and the Jeffersonian legacy at his alma mater the University of Virginia. He previously served as the organization’s executive director, now serving as congributing editor.

Aside from blogging, Bacon writes books. His first was Boomergeddon: How Runaway Deficits Will Bankrupt the Country and Ruin Retirement for Aging Baby Boomers — And What You Can Do About It, followed by Maverick Miner: How E. Morgan Massey Became a Coal Industry Legend and a work of science fiction, Dust Mites: the Siege of Airlock Three.

A Virginian through-and-through, Bacon lives in Richmond with his wife Laura.

https://www.baconsrebellion.com/wp/
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