University of Memphis launches Memphis Research Ecosystem Leaders Program

A researcher working on a project. (Stock photo from University of Memphis)

The University of Memphis has launched a new yearlong initiative to connect research leaders at the university who have seen success in their individual labs to researchers with strategic focuses to create large-scale transformational research ecosystems.

According to an announcement, the university’s inaugural cohort of the Memphis Research Ecosystem Leaders (MREL) will include researchers from the School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Herff College of Engineering, College of Education, College of Arts & Sciences, Loewenberg College of Nursing and Fogelman College of Business & Economics as well as partnerships with Jackson State University, Rust College, and Lemoyne Owen College. 

The announcement said the MREL will create a pathway for faculty to develop the skills needed to lead large research, ecosystem-level, efforts by providing training in strategic doing, ecosystem mapping, entrepreneurial skillsets, project management, communications, equitable team development and related programs. These faculty will also work to cultivate funding from alternative sources, develop materials for executive and industry promotion and the process for procuring larger center-level grants from federal agencies.  

According to the news release, some of the most notable research successes at the University of Memphis have been led by “multi-disciplinary, decentralized centers that convene experts to address topics in collaborative, outcome-driven and responsive ways,” including the NSF Industry-University Center for Electric and Autonomous Trucking (CEAT), Public Health – Informatics, Data, Equity, Analytics Systems (PH-IDEAS) and Center for Regional Economic Enrichment (CREE) as well long-standing centers such as the NIH-launched mHealth Center for Discovery, Optimization, and Translation of Temporally-Precise Interventions (mDOT Center).  

Eighteen faculty members from the UofM will be joined by five faculty members from Jackson State University, Rust College and Lemoyne Owen College in the inaugural cohort. The cohort will engage in monthly sessions supported by individual grants and research development consultation and taught by teams at the University of Memphis and partner institutions from across the country. The program is based on similar programs at Carnegie R1 Institutions and programs such as the NSF Leap-to-Large faculty training, according to the announcement.

For more information on the initiative, visit www.memphis.edu.