California Institutes for Science & Innovation (CISI) Summit Meeting

In the words of Jud King, UCOP Provost, the purpose of the CISI program is to

• Support future economic prosperity
• Train the workforce
• Spur innovation
• Attract private investment to the state
  

  Budget
  The institutes (4) should be viewed as a single entity as the budget is a single entity. CISI is at the top of UC's priority list in terms of the budget. But based on a recent UCLA projection, the next few years are expected to show slower growth (based on declining state revenue from capital gains and stock options, which currently account for about 20% of the budget but are expected to decline to 15% or even 10%). So more budget cutting is likely. The UC-proposed budget (based on admissions being up 10%) will undergo the "May revision" the week of May 14-18. The institutes are encouraged to work together to get funding for all four.

  Under the most optimistic scenario, UCOP can start funding all institute construction projects by Year 3. But for all to stay on track, UCOP will likely need more like $160M for that year (rather than $108M) and, again based on the UCLA forecast, that's not likely to be a good budget year.

  Operating Budget
  A $10M/year/institute operating budget has been proposed for "administration and research" (technical staff, matching funds to support other grant efforts, etc.), but the governor believes 5% of the $100M/institute is sufficient. The program needs to develop a proposal for operating support. Steve Ross, UCSD, was credited for having done an initial projection, which will be circulated to UCOP and other institute directors once it's cleared with UCI. It runs about $10.5M over OMP funding and includes the director's operation, support and administrative staff, research funding, seed/matching funds to launch new projects, replacement of equipment, and maintenance. UC Berkeley, based on their Electronics Research Lab (which they consider a similar type of operation), came up with a $10M estimate. NOTE: Steve's budget does NOT include other activities deemed necessary in today's meeting, such as outreach to K-12, curriculum development, and technology (Web) staff.

  How to Communicate with Legislators: Presentation by former State Senator Patrick Johnston (now UCB Professor in Residence)
  Have a theme. Identify a few key messages. Paint a picture: Where we are vs. where we want to be - how do we get there and what is the tangible end result? Avoid Internet rhetoric. Share the passion: Inspire them to make California a better place. Find out which legislators and staff members are experts in relevant areas. Have good examples ready for educated "techie" staff.

  Ways the Institutes Can Collaborate: A Directors' Roundtable

  • Infrastructure - networking issues (merge CENIC and NTON), linking related facilities (e.g., clean rooms) via telecommunications so as to make best of breed of technologies available to all at a minimum expense. Deploy Access Grid or other videoteleconferencing capability at all sites to enhance communication.
  • Convene directors' group regularly - the decision was made at end of the summit for them to "meet" once/month to discuss collaboration more concretely.
  • Manage IP jointly.
  • Develop telescience applications for K-12 to interest kids in science.
  • Team on proposals in response to new, especially big initiatives (there are likely to be many in the nanotechnology area soon).
  • Share infrastructure to run experiments, e.g., run CITRIS experiment on Calit²'s wireless infrastructure.
  • Host workshops of mutual interest to share information and help agencies define strategic plans. (One topic of early interest is sensors.)
  • Hold joint seminars.
  • Develop a story about how the institutes fit together into a program that makes sense.