Texas A&M Institute for Neuroscience Business Meeting 9/1/2011.

Texas A&M Institute for Neuroscience

Business Meeting9/1/2011

Agenda

• Elections• Policies• Program Status

– Graduate Program– Finances– Last 4 & next 4 years

• Welcome new Chair• COPD Meeting• Areas of Concentration

Election Results

• Chair: Jane Welsh• vice-Chair: Farida Sohrabji (elected by EC)• Grad. Program Chair: Mike Smotherman• Grad. Program Committee: Gladys Ko and Thierry Lints• Membership Committee: Paul Hardin and Tim Cudd• Graduate Recruiting: Mary Meagher and Mark Harlow• Seminar Chair: Paul Wellman• Seminar Committee: Hubert Amrein and Reddy Samba• Undergrad. Chair: Louise Abbott• Undergrad. Committee: Yoonsuck Choe and Michelle Hook• Finance Committee: Jim Grau and Rene Garcia

Election Results

• Chair: Jane Welsh• Grad. Program Chair: Mike Smotherman• Grad. Program Committee: Gladys Ko and Thierry Lints• Membership Committee: Paul Hardin and Tim Cudd• Graduate Recruiting: Mary Meagher and Mark Harlow• Seminar Chair: Paul Wellman• Seminar Committee: Hubert Amrein and Reddy Samba• Undergrad. Chair: Louise Abbott• Undergrad. Committee: Yoonsuck Choe and Michelle Hook• Finance Committee: Jim Grau and Rene Garcia

Election Results

• Chair: Jane Welsh

• Grad. Program Chair: Mike Smotherman• Grad. Program Committee: Gladys Ko and Thierry Lints• Membership Committee: Paul Hardin and Tim Cudd• Graduate Recruiting: Mary Meagher and Mark Harlow

• Seminar Chair: Paul Wellman• Seminar Committee: Hubert Amrein and Reddy Samba

• Undergrad. Chair: Louise Abbott• Undergrad. Committee: Yoonsuck Choe and Michelle Hook• Finance Committee: Jim Grau and Rene Garcia

Executive Committee

• Chair: Jane Welsh• vice-Chair: Farida Sohrabji (representing TAMHSC)• Graduate Program: Mike Smotherman (TAMU) and Farida

Sohrabji (TAMHSC)• Membership: Ursula Winzer-Serhan• Graduate Recruiting: Gregg Wells• Seminar: Paul Wellman• Undergraduate Program: Louise Abbott• Finance: Mark Zoran• SFN Chapter President: Caurnel Morgan

Policies

• The Vice Chair of the Faculty of Neuroscience will be elected annually by the Executive Committee (at the first meeting after September 1) from its membership. The Vice Chair will serve as chief officer of the Faculty of Neuroscience in the absence of the Chair or when designated by the Chair. To assure effective representation and oversight at both TAMU and TAMHSC, the Vice Chair should normally be selected from the system component not represented by the Chair.

Program Status

• Senior hires– Psychology: Steve Maren (from U. Michigan)– VIBS: Joe Kornegay (from UNC)– Biology: interviewed Satchin Panda (Salk Institute)

• Space: Housed on the third floor of the ILSB– Plus space for a dog facility (Kornegay)– Funded by the Chancellor

Graduate Program

• 19 NRSC graduate students– Including 7 transfer students– 6 who entered in F10– 6 who entered in F11– one additional student (John Dickson) will start 1/12

• GRE: 584 (v), 717 (q), 1301 (total)• GPA: 3.6• Diversity: 11 White-NH, 5 Asian, 3 Hispanic, 1 Black-NH• Male/Female: 11/8• TAMU/TAMHSC: 15/4• Departments: 8 PSYC, 4 NExT, 3 BIOL, 1 VIBS, 2 NFSC, 2 ??

Graduate Recruiting

• 126 Minors• Developing a certificate program

Undergraduate Program

• Working to advertise program to enhance applications and diversity

Finances

06-07 07-08 08-09 09-10 10-11 11-12Agri. & Life Sci.     $4,000 $4,000   Architecture   $1,000 $1,000 $660   Ed. Psyc.     3000 $3,300   Engineering       $1,320   HSC $10,000 $10,000 $10,000 $30,428 $34,574 $34,574Lib. Arts $5,000 $5,000 $12,000 $9,240   Science $10,000 $10,000 $10,000 $10,000   Vet. Med.   $5,000 $5,000 $5,000   VPR $15,000 $20,000 $15,000 $15,000 $38,200 $38,220LSTF Grant            IUMRI Fund       $63,513 $177,761 $219,732Net Deposits $40,000 $51,000 $60,000 $142,461 $250,535 $292,526

Additional Sources: 5 Heep Fellowships (@$30,000/yr. plus tuition, fees, & health)9-10 Maximum

TAMHSC graduate funding: Years 1 & 2 (plus tuition, fees [yr 1] & health)

Estimated Expenditures (F12)

Est. expend. %Grad. stipends $231,836 57.8% NRSC & Heep

Clerical/advising $47,605 11.9%Grad. travel $40,200 10.0%

Admin. suppl. $35,000 8.7%Colloquia $28,000 7.0%

Grad. recruit. $6,000 1.5%Symposium $6,000 1.5%

IT/office equip. $5,000 1.2%Office supplies $1,500 0.4%

Net: $401,141

Grant Funding

College  Ag. and Life Sci. $1,687,563 2.9%Education $1,022,800 1.8%Engineering $462,372 0.8%Liberal Arts $8,663,402 14.9%Science $12,836,635 22.1%Vet. Med. $7,706,396 13.3%Medicine (HSC) $25,658,740 44.2%

  $58,037,908

Up from $50,000,000 in 2009/2010

Last 4 Years• 2007

– Undergraduate minor established in 2007

• 2008 – Spring-Memorandum of Understanding between TAMU and HSC– Fall-External review of the graduate program

• 2009– Spring: Selected as one 8 interdisciplinary programs for funding (IUMRI)– Late Spring: Graduate program approved by the Coordinating Board– Fall: First transfer students enter the Neuroscience program

• 2010– Late Winter: IUMRI funded, with three senior positions in Neuroscience– Spring: Heep Fellowships provided to Neuroscience for graduate recruiting– Summer: Began recruiting for senior positions– Fall-First graduate class in Neuroscience– Late Fall-Hired administrative staff

• 2011– Spring: Recruited Maren and Kornegay for senior positions– Spring: Secured resources needed to complete ILSB space for senior hires

Next 4 years (by 2015) Marker for Success and Achievement

(from VPR Implementation Plan, March 2010)

1. Neuroscience currently accounts for approximately 14% of the NIH funds awarded to Texas A&M University and the Health Science Center. Our goal over the next five years is to increase this to 18%. This will require increasing net support by 28%, from $50 million to $64 million.

2. Scholarship among current neuroscientists is strong, with an average of 2.5 articles per year. In five years, we aim to move this average to three articles per year, with an increased emphasis on reaching the top-tier journals (e.g., Nature, Science, Neuron, Journal of Neuroscience).

3. Our graduate program should have nearly 25 students within five years (perhaps more, if funding allows) and approximately 80-160 undergraduate minors. Within five years, we will offer a new undergraduate major in Neuroscience.

4. Top-tier research programs maintain a high proportion of postdoctoral trainees. Over the next five years, we hope to increase the number of post docs by 36%, from 22 to 30.

5. College- and department-level support will be demonstrated through both their continued financial support of the program and through increased hiring in the area of Neuroscience. Fueled by an agreement with the VPR to provide increased support for start-up costs, we envision continued hiring at the assistant professor level. This, coupled with our efforts to reach out to additional faculty in areas such as bioengineering and biostatistics, should bolster our faculty by 20% by 2015.

THANKS!

• Mary Meagher• Sylvia Bernal• EC: Mike, Fardia, Ursula, Gregg, Jane, Louise• Mark Zoran and Bill Griffith• Jen B., Barry S., Danna Z.• Caurnel Morgan, Rachel Hull• Candi LaSarge, Sarah Woller, Robyn Balden

More Thanks (TAMIN White Paper)

Welcome Jane Welsh

• Plans for upcoming year• COPD Meeting and Administrative Issues• Areas of Concentration

TAMU Vice President for ResearchSenior Associate Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies (TAMU)

HSC Vice President for Research and Graduate StudiesTAMU/HSC Council of Participating Deans

Advisory Board:Department Heads

Chair: TAMIN Executive Committee: TAMIN

Faculty: TAMIN

Assistant Vice President

Administrative Coordinator: TAMIN

Other Office Staff: TAMIN

•Finance Committee•Graduate Program Committee•Membership Committee•Recruiting Committee•Seminar Committee•Undergraduate Curriculum Committee

TAMIN Administrative Structure: Oversight

TAMIN Administrative Structure: EC & Committees

Graduate Program (IDP)Dir. (TAMU): Mike SmothermanDir. (TAMHSC): Farida SohrabjiAdvisor: Sylvia Bernal

Graduate RecruitingChair: Gregg Wells

Undergraduate Program Dir.: Louise AbbottAdvisor: Sylvia Bernal

Seminar CommitteeChair: Paul Wellman

Finance CommitteeChair: Mark Zoran

Membership CommitteeChair: Ursula Winzer-Serhan

TAMIN Chair: Jane Welsh (Director)co-Chair: Farida Sohrabji (TAMHSC)Admin. Asst.: Sylvia Bernal

Areas of Concentration

• Aging — cognitive deficits with aging, Alzheimer’s• Biological Rhythms and Sleep Disorders — fatigue, biological clocks• Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience — neuropsyc., emotion, human imaging, aesthetics• Computational Neuroscience — computational neuroanatomy, neural networks• Drugs and Addiction — neuropharmacology, nicotine, alcohol, opiates, stimulants• Injury and Repair — spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, rehabilitation, regeneration• Learning, Development and Genetic Disorders — ADHD, autism, learning disabilities• Neurogenetics — gene arrays, gene targeting, transgenic approaches, gene therapy• Neuroendocrine Function and Sexual Behavior — reproductive behavior, sex differences• Neuroimmunology and Degenerative Processes — M.S., cell death, neurotoxicology• Social Neuroscience — animal communication, language, motivation• Structural and Cellular Neuroscience — cell signaling, electrophysiology• Translational Neuroscience — experimental and natural models of clinical disorders