Robert Bernhard, the vice president for research at the University of Notre Dame, gathered with senior research officers from prominent universities around the country for a roundtable discussion with journalists. The discussion focused on the sequester and its impact on universities’ ability to conduct research and retain faculty, as well as technology transfer and the growing role of universities in driving regional economic development.
Bernhard highlighted the Notre Dame Turbomachinery Facility announcement as an example of one way Notre Dame is collaborating with the region to boost its resources and economy. “The state of Indiana, the city of South Bend and a couple of other partners are involved. We are looking forward to building the programs that over the years have been federally funded into programs that the corporations will have access to. The facilities are pretty unique and are able to advance their technology.”
The roundtable constituted the All Things Research 2014, the fifth annual Association of American Universities-Science Coalition meeting July 9 (Wednesday) at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Senior research officers from Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Texas A&M University and Boston University also participated.
Established in 1994, the Science Coalition is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of more than 50 leading public and private American research universities, including Notre Dame. It is dedicated to sustaining the federal government’s investment in basic scientific research as a means to stimulate the economy, spur innovation and drive America’s global competitiveness.
Founded in 1900, AAU is a nonprofit association of 60 U.S. and two Canadian preeminent public and private research universities that focuses on national and institutional issues that are important to research-intensive universities, including funding for research, research and education policy, and graduate and undergraduate education.