A Year of Historic Events
This has been a historic year to remember in many respects for Clemson. In January, our football team won the NCAA Division I Football Championship, a truly remarkable accomplishment. A couple of weeks ago, the total 
eclipse over Clemson was another historic event; more than 50,000 people shared the eclipse on campus with us. It was more than an eclipse, it was a day to celebrate science and art – our art students had their own impressive displays of work. I applaud Amber Porter. Just last year Amber received her PhD in astronomy from Clemson. She was charged with organizing events for the eclipse while still a student. She reached out to the community with trips to schools, media interviews and as many opportunities as possible to present Clemson’s plans. Thanks to Dr. Porter, Mark Leising and Jim Melvin in the College of Science, for their many efforts to present Clemson, and Clemson Research, as champions.
From a research point of view, FY 17 was a record-breaking year for Clemson in several research metrics. Here are a few of them:
- New proposal submissions reached $561M, the highest in the past five fiscal years and a 45% increase compared to FY13 ($386 M),
- Large proposal submissions (more than $1M) totaled 116, the highest in the past five fiscal years and a 75% increase compared to FY13 (66 submissions),
- New research awards totaled $109M, the highest in the past five fiscal years and a 37% increase compared to FY13 ($78M),
- Research expenditures were $89M, the highest in the past five fiscal years and a 12% increase as compared to FY13 ($75M),
- Junior faculty received 7 new CAREER awards, the highest in the past five fiscal years and a 75% increase compared to FY13 (4 awards).
Congratulations to you all. This is a testament to the quality and hard work of our faculty, students, and staff, showing their caliber and character as members of a Carnegie R1 University.
In order to build on this momentum, to continue strengthening our research enterprise, and to become a perennial Carnegie R1 institution, I am pleased to announce the formation of the new Office of Research Development in the Division of Research. Dr. Sez Atamturktur, an engineer and a leader among our faculty, will serve as the director of this office and the Assistant Vice President for Research Development. You can read more about this new office and Sez’s role here.
Sez has proven time and again that she knows how to build collaborative networks and bring complex, comprehensive grants to Clemson that establish us as a place of excellence. She will build the resources necessary to make us competitive, and she will mentor faculty to build long-term success over the course of their careers.
During the past year, I have been working with the Faculty Senate to form the VP of Research Advisory Board. This board will provide me direct faculty input to enhance the quality of scholarly endeavors and growth of our research programs. Colleges were asked to determine their nominees and forward their names to me by September 15. I look forward to working with this group in the new academic year.
This is very exciting and promising progress for Clemson research, scholarship and impact, which should make us very proud and encourage us to accomplish much more. Thanks for all you do to support this endeavor.
Go Tigers !
Tanju
