Dr. Subrato Chandra, Program Director of the Florida Solar Energy Center's Building Research Division, along with the UCF Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems secured further funding this year for the Building America Industrialized Housing Partnership. With 2005 funding reaching $1.4 million, the organization partners with factory and home builders to enhance energy efficiency, durability, indoor air quality and comfort in new homes across the nation.

Chandra offers his advice to others who want to secure and manage a major research program by saying, "It begins with understanding the needs of the funding agency in the program area of interest. You need to develop a great rapport with program managers." Ultimately, he says, "It is extremely important to develop industry partnerships that use our results."

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As a top researcher at the University of Central Florida, professor Peter Delfyett knows that securing and managing research programs is not straightforward. Delfyett is fully submerged in the process, securing close to $1.6 million in funding for his projects from the Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation and others in industry. Delfyett's research involves the use of semiconductor lasers in optical networking/communications, signal processing, and novel measurement and characterization instrumentation. He feels that these technologies "are transferred to the local industry to help build and strengthen the economic vitality of the central Florida region."

He recommends that prospective researchers "meet with the program managers at their respective funding agents. A well-planned presentation of your research goals is critical in securing a major research program. Target the presentation on how your research will impact the program and how your efforts can successfully achieve both your ultimate objectives."

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Peter Hancock, named the Provost's Distinguished Research Professor in Psychology, supervises one of the world's leading labs in the area of Human Factors research. Funded by more than $1.3 million, his research projects center on combining people and technology under circumstances of momentous stress. The results of his research are crucial to those who have to perform in hostile conditions, such as the military, law enforcement and emergency response. The lab, MIT² (Minds in Technology and Machines in Thought), is a group of affiliate labs from around the country.

Although he is now the recipient of many distinguished awards, Hancock tells graduate students that it wasn't always that way. "Get a mentor," he says. "There's no substitute for experience. Then, it was persistence. I failed many, many times, and it works out that I am good at failure?I know how to deal with rejection."

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Pappachan Kolattukudy performs many roles as a leading faculty researcher at UCF. As Dean of the Burnett College of Biomedical Sciences and Director of the Biomolecular Science Center, he manages more than $1.4 million in research funds. The college is involved in several distinct research areas, many funded by the National Institute of Health, from cardiovascular disease to infectious diseases like tuberculosis. In his tuberculosis research, Dr. Kolattukudy and his team are seeking novel drug treatments to fight TB by stopping its ability to evade the body's natural defense mechanisms. His research is especially important as TB is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, with two to three million deaths every year.

Supervision over many distinct research projects has given him experience in the area of securing and managing major programs. He urges future researchers "to work hard and use your creativity." Both Dr. Kolattukudy and the other researchers at the college are helping to make UCF a major center for biomolecular science research.

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Mary Little, Associate Professor of Child, Family and Community Sciences in the College of Education, is passionate about helping teachers develop professionally. For the past four years, she has been the principal investigator of Project CENTRAL (the "Effective Instructional Practices project"), a statewide project with more than $1.1 million in funding from the Florida Department of Education. The project is focused on creating and providing professional development materials and resources to all those involved in Florida education, from teachers to administrators. More specifically, the immediate audience of the project is special and regular education teachers of students with disabilities.

"I have been blessed with excellent grant opportunities," says Dr. Little. "My advice is to follow your passion for research and scholarship, as this defines your line of research and continues to motivate you throughout the process. I am extremely grateful to the grant support personnel, both in the College of Education and at the University of Central Florida."

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Sandra Robinson, Dean of the College of Education, talks about managing research programs by saying, "Write about what you know. Let reflection and inquiry be your guide and passion be the catalyst for your research, and it will be evident to funders that yours is a program worthy of support." The advice she offers is a testament to her own research successes, having secured more than $9.6 million in funding for the college.

Along with Robinson's obligations as Dean she is also the principal investigator for Florida's Literacy and Reading Excellence Center (FLaRE), which is an initiative to create and deliver professional development resources in literacy to Florida's teachers. It also provides a forum to link school districts, higher education institutions, community organizations and other stakeholders.

Robinson adds that a team effort is also an important factor in success. "Surround yourself with good people and mentor their efforts," she says.

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In addition to his responsibilities as Assistant Vice President for Research, Mubarak Shah has served as a project director since 1987 for the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program, funded by the National Science Foundation, and also as Director of the UCF Computer Vision Lab.

With more than $1.1 million in funding, the Computer Vision Lab researches the automatic analysis of video and images to glean useful information, from detecting the properties of moving objects to tracking objects frame by frame to determine their activities and behaviors. The lab's researchers are involved in a wide range of research studies, from video understanding to tracking.

Shah stresses the importance of partnerships in securing research funding. "Establish partnership with industry to jointly go after government funding," he says. "Industry wants you to help them secure funding from the government, so partnership is important."

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