Basic and Applied Research

One of the differences between Research Universities (RO1) and Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUI) and Masters Comprehensive Universities (MCU) is the type of research undertaken.  The non-RO1 schools tend to lean toward the more "applied" research.  Some states have codified the distinction.  In Pennsylvania they have the state owned system of higher education built on the old Normal Schools, and the state related research universities.  In Texas you have the Texas State system, separate from the A&M and UT systems.  In California the University of California system has a state mandate to be the home of "basis" research.  The California State University system on the other hand has a state mandate to undertake "applied" research only.  Anecdotes indicate that the UC system fights against allowing the CSU becoming too research active or research friendly lest we compete, but those rumors are not the point of this post.  (I am not convinced they are true.)

In my opinion, in order to get funding there must be some application to your research.  If the application is far enough removed from the actual experiments you get to call it "Basic" and pundits will complain about all the money spent on your work for which the public gets "nothing".  If the application is quite close to the experiments you might have difficulty finding funding as some agencies will tell you that industry should be studying such direct applications of the science.  This is when you should look for funding agencies that are extremely focused, or seek some type of industry grant or contract support.  

For PUI and CMU campuses, working with trainee scientists and other issues I have covered (whined about) in previous posts  makes the progress of the project slow, making the timeliness to progress slow which can scare off research driven industry.  I suggest a tactic where the PUI faculty member establishes a partner relationship with the small to medium size local industry where the real world puzzle is fodder for student research.  Support could be in the form of student scholarships to work on the project and some access to materials and instruments.  The initial projects must be general and not time critical.  Since many small local companies are not engaged research, anything that helps the bottom line of the company will be a plus.  Your local water company or metal finishing plant may have a puzzle that you can contribute a solution to.

I can hear some of you expressing concern about the purity of academia.  I need to point out on the purity front that my collaborating with local industry feels a lot less like whoring than getting on my knees to beg for donations.  Because collaborative research involves research and teaching, I am actually using my time doing what I was hired to do, instead of going hat in hand to local industry to beg.  The yield is better too, in that the industry folks may actually get something for their "donation" to support the department.  I should also point out that this relationship binds the industry to the local university intellectually and financially.  When the legislature or system office questions why they should support our programs, I will line up my industry partners to testify how we are doing exactly what the state suggested local campuses would do to help the economics of the region.

For the student and future graduate, they get practical training they can use to get a skilled position.  This may not be as important for the graduate school bound (although it does not hurt), but it is very important for the majority of majors who will not go to graduate school.  They also get to network with "real world" scientists and find out how that environment works. 

It is hard for those of us at PUIs and MCUs to compete in basic research, but applied research can have benefits for our students, our programs, and us.  Rather than kill ourselves trying to be "transformative" perhaps we should try to be supportive.  PUI and MCU campuses should lead rather than follow on creating rules that encourage contracts with industry and government agencies.

T.S. Hall