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Research Focus
The Unfair Advantage at RIT: Sponsored Research Services
An interview with RIT President Bill Destler and PAETEC ASG President Jack Baron
4/24/2008
Destler: We got feedback from companies. PAETEC being the first signer has been very important in helping us develop these kinds of agreements. But we have also talked with other companies to try to make sure we had in there what they thought they needed in terms of protection of their own intellectual property. We had what we thought we needed. For example, we're basically an open place. We eventually want to be able to report on the work we do. So we have agreements in there about how a company can request a delay in our publicly announcing the results of our work. But the delay cannot be infinite and will be negotiated...
One of the things that corporations have always had a hard time dealing with in academic institutions is the area of the longevity of projects. Traditionally, universities have thought of sponsored research project as being appropriately timed as the period of a PhD thesis--which is about three years. That's usually a much longer timeframe than a corporation that's in a competitive environment can allow, especially if they're working on ideas of some current interest.
Because we happen to have a very large number of advanced undergrads and applied master degree students who are looking for projects that are year's duration or less, we feel like we are ideally suited to work with companies on shorter duration projects...
CT: How involved does the sponsoring company get in the day to day or weekly management of the research?
Destler: The model we've adopted is that the student would be co-advised by a faculty member who would be the official academic advisor of the student on campus and a corporate staff member. This student would be really interfacing on at least a weekly basis with both the company and the faculty supervisors.
CT: Do you have more than one project going right now?
Destler: I'm not at liberty to announce names, but we have several that we've signed up.
CT: Will other universities adopt this?
Destler: I hope so.
CT: So you're not hanging out there by yourself?
Destler: I don't mind hanging out there by myself. I think it'll give us some competitive advantage. The country would be better served if we were able to make better use of the research and development assets in our universities and colleges to the benefit of our economy. The way that has to happen is through interaction with the private sector...
I had a meeting with a large number of faculty to discuss this program not too long before the actual announcement we had with PAETEC, and I asked the faculty to raise their hand if it was something they'd consider doing. Almost everybody raised their hands. One or two said, "I already have a big research project funded by the federal government. I don't need to get involved in this." That's understandable.
Baron: As you can tell, this is very innovative. RIT really has a history of innovation.
Destler: So does PAETEC, by the way.
Baron: We've had a great relationship with RIT for a long time. But it really came out of Bill Destler's mind. I think it's going to be embraced by other progressive universities around the country.
Dian Schaffhauser is a writer who covers technology and business. Send your higher education technology news to her at dian@dischaffhauser.com.
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