Newsletter

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• CLEAN Initiative

• Energy Fellowship

• External Advisory Committee

• GPAC Retreat

• Profiles

• Hooked on Photonics

• Larry Dalton

• NSF Site Visit

• IT Update

• Calendar

NSF Site Visit

by Jeanne Small

Graduate student and postdoctoral presentations declared the highlight of the 2008 NSF Site Visit

Once a year, the National Science Foundation (NSF) convenes a team of reviewers to evaluate CMDITR before approving another year of funding for the Center. Last year, the Site Visit was held June 3-4, 2008 at the University of Washington in Seattle. The first day was devoted to presentations, posters, and question/answer sessions that helped the Site Visit Team (SVT) understand the full scale and operations of CMDITR. According to the SVT’s report,

“of particular importance and value was the lunch with the graduate students of the center – this was a highlight for the SVT.…The graduate students’ and post-docs’ familiarity with capabilities and goals of the larger project, how to work with them on the next phase of project, and where their efforts fit into that scheme, was impressive. (In fact, their posters made the case better than the Director’s and Thrust Leaders’ presentations!)”

The annual Site Visit is a serious evaluation of CMDITR’s strengths and weaknesses, from management to research to education and diversity. As such, it’s very different from our Annual Retreat and IAP Expo—which is supposed to be congenial, fun and educational for all. In contrast, Site Visit participants are carefully selected to represent the full spectrum of CMDITR activities. Presentations are “high stakes”—developed to inform our reviewers so that they can evaluate CMDITR’s intellectual merit and broader impacts for further funding.

At the end of the first day, CMDITR leaders are given a homework assignment by the SVT, and are expected to report back on the second day. Usually, the assignment requests clarification of information presented during the day, and additional data that help the SVT understand CMDITR’s operations and future directions. The homework assignment has CMDITR leaders working late into the night to summarize data and thoughtfully respond to SVT questions and critiques.

The second day, enervated from the long night’s work, and the previous day’s activities, CMDITR leaders wait for hours as the SVT writes and submits its report. Normally calm Management Team members can be seen pacing the corridors, and emails are checked compulsively for the final report. Once the report is received a collective sigh can be heard, then the excitement begins again as the Management Team starts to digest the information that the SVT reported. The Center has 10 days to file a response with NSF. The report – and the response to it – serves as valuable guidance to the Center as it plans its activities for the coming year.

We are pleased to say that with the strengths of CMDITR’s Year 6 efforts identified by the SVT, the NSF approved CMDITR’s funding for Year 7 (August 1, 2008-July 31, 2009).

We extend special thanks to GPAC, led by Natalie Doss, and the graduate students and postdocs who participated in the Site Visit.

Thank You
We thank our NSF Program Officers Verne Hess, Dragana Brzakovic, Connie Della-Piana, and our Site Visit review team:
Vicki Colvin, Chair, Rice University
Shekhar Garde, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
David Janes, Purdue University
Rachel Segalman, University of California Berkeley
Roger van Zee, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Pierre Wiltzius, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Technology Team Update

New improvements are underway for the STC’s website!

New STC Events Calendar
Find out about upcoming STC events at all campuses at:
http://www.stc-mditr.org/events/
Log in to add your own STC-related events to the calendar.

Leadership Lunch Discussion Forum and Seminar Recordings
We have something special for this second season of the Leadership Lunch series: a web discussion board, which gives you the opportunity to pose questions for the speaker prior to the event! Audio recordings of some talks are also available on the website:
http://www.stc-mditr.org/education/leadershiplunch/

Podcasts and RSS Feeds Now Available for STC-Sponsored Events
F.O.O.D. Seminar Series
REU Seminar Series
Nanophotonics for Breakfast Seminar Series
Chemistry of Organic Electronic Materials

Online Course Material
Taught by Prof. Jean-Luc Brédas, Georgia Tech, Fall 2008
All available on the STC Members Only website at:
http://convex.stc.arizona.edu/MembersOnly/Podcast/

New & Improved Member Directory
The new directory makes it easier for you to find your Center colleagues. You can now upload a photo and a research statement to your profile, and to search others’ profiles for keywords.

CMDITR’s Technology Team
Suzy Hunter, Team Lead
smhunter@u.washington.edu

Ly Pham, Web Specialist
lnspham@u.washington.edu

University of Arizona’s Computer Graphics Facility
itgroup@chem.arizona.edu

Calendar

Annual Retreat and IAP Expo

CMDITR Annual Retreat and IAP Expo to be held in Tucson, AZ, February 17-20, 2009
The University of Arizona will be hosting the CMDITR Annual Retreat and Industrial Affiliates Program Expo in February 2009, with over one hundred students, staff and faculty expected to attend. Log in to the STC website for more details.