University of South Carolina to narrow focus of research projects

To some officials at USC, the state’s self-proclaimed flagship university has gone adrift over the years, becoming a rudderless vessel with no real direction.

By:
Jeff Stensland
The State

But some key administrators are identifying a few core research areas they say USC should specialize in. Those areas, they say, have the potential to thrust South Carolina’s largest public university onto the national stage.

Two of those focus areas are biomedicine and nanotechnology, broad fields with almost limitless potential to help USC gain the prominence it seeks and bring economic development to the state.

USC might request special funding for endowed chairs in those areas through a special state program designed for South Carolina’s three research universities.

Harris Pastides, USC’s interim vice president of research, says the school can’t wait any longer to focus its efforts if it wants to move forward.

"The world is moving too quickly, and the competition is too fierce to be looking backward," said Pastides, one of those charged with setting USC’s agenda.

A focus on a few areas of research is one of four building blocks USC needs to meet its goal of becoming a top research university. The other ingredients are money to make it happen, people to execute the plan, and buy-in and support from the community.

Pastides, also the dean of USC’s School of Public Health, is guarded about USC’s future so-called "pillars of excellence."

While he won’t identify all the areas that USC might focus on, Pastides and others aren’t the least bit shy about saying biomedicine and nanotechnology will be an integral part of USC’s endeavors.

Why?

Partly because they represent opportunities to build on existing expertise and elevate USC’s stature. More practically, a wealth of federal money is available for scientific research in those areas.

"We weight where our strengths are, then (give) a weight to where the funding is," Pastides said.

NANOTECHNOLOGY – THINKING SMALL

Provost Jerry Odom is a firm believer in the future of nanotechnology at USC, even if the school’s burgeoning program has a long way to go before it starts making scientific breakthroughs.

Odom keeps a folder on his desk filled with magazine articles about how nanotechnology will change the world very soon, maybe even more than the microchip has.

"It will be incredibly big, and we need to push forward in that area," he said. "It’s in medicine, engineering, biology, physics. .’.’. We need to be part of it."

Nanotechnology looks at ways molecules can be manipulated to make things more efficient. The science could have far-reaching implications for computers, drugs and countless other consumer goods.

"It’s in the infancy stage, but if we don’t continue to keep building very quickly, we’ll get left behind," Odom said.

Dozens of research universities across the country already are working in the nanotechnology field. USC has yet to win many competitive research grants in the field, which total close to half a billion dollars a year on the federal level.

The school did receive more than $2 million in federal grants to explore catalysis, or increasing the speed of chemical reactions. The state Legislature also set aside $3 million in seed money for USC’s NanoCenter.

Created in 2001, the NanoCenter brings together about 40 professors from a range of academic disciplines. The group’s main focus is finding ways to alter the structure of chemicals to create new compounds that can make materials – from plastics and metals to glass – more versatile.

If USC can find an area of specialization within nanotechnology, it could mean prestige and a windfall in money from patents as technologies are licensed to companies for practical application.

BIOMEDICINE

If nanotechnology is in its infancy at USC, biomedical research is just hitting puberty.

Biomedicine incorporates a variety of research fields dedicated to finding ways to treat and prevent diseases.

Given the slew of health problems endemic among S.C. citizens, biomedicine is a natural fit for the state’s universities.

Pastides says USC likely will zero in on several sub-categories under the biomedical umbrella: public health, clinical research, biomedical engineering, behavioral and neuroscience, and bioterrorism research.

For example, the School of Public Health, which will get a new building on USC’s campus, is tackling ways to keep South Carolinians healthier. Meanwhile, bioterrorism researchers will try to come up with ways to keep residents safe.

Biomedical research is attractive because there’s lots of federal money available for it, money USC is proving it can win.

Five years ago, the federal government set a goal to double the budget of the National Institutes of Health. With a budget of $23 billion in fiscal year 2002, it’s on target to meet or surpass the goal.

USC has brought in multimillion-dollar grants for health sciences in recent months, including the school’s record-breaking $11 million NIH grant to study colon cancer and a $5.2 million HIV education grant.

"We’re starting to be more expansive in how we approach these things," USC president Andrew Sorensen said. "We went toe to toe with the Stanfords and (Johns) Hopkins, and we won."

USC boasts five established health-related schools, giving it an edge over other schools in South Carolina and the nation, officials say.

Earlier this year, USC trustees approved a consolidation of the schools of medicine, public health and social work, as well as the colleges of nursing and pharmacy.

Pastides and Sorensen say if all goes well, USC’s biomedical program could be on the same level with UNC-Chapel Hill and the University of Virginia within a decade.

"Something like Johns Hopkins is too remote to be a peer in five to 10 years, but there are programs that are in sight," Pastides said.

WHAT’S NEXT

USC officials plan to present a final list of primary research areas the university should focus on in the next couple of months.

Already, they’re bolstering USC’s nanotechnology and biomedical programs, recruiting new faculty in both areas.

"We’re bringing in faculty with a real difference of emphasis on research," Odom said.

A team of top USC administrators is courting a well-known National Academy of Sciences nanotechnology researcher. While he can’t reveal who that is, Odom says bringing the researcher to USC would be a major coup that would greatly advance work at the NanoCenter.

Sorensen and others also are trying to hash out how USC can work with Clemson and the Medical University of South Carolina on biomedical projects.

Pastides said MUSC, in particular, will be a key partner in the future.

"This is about making both universities more prominent by acting as if we were part of a single entity or institution," he said.

USC likely will submit collaborative proposals in biomedicine, nanotechnology or both to the new Centers of Excellence Review Board in December.

That new state board controls $30 million in yearly lottery proceeds set aside for research projects at USC, Clemson and MUSC.

"If you combined our strengths, the three research institutions in this state would easily be in the top 20 in the country," MUSC provost John Raymond said.

‘SOME PEOPLE FEEL THREATENED’

For now, Pastides says any formal statement about focusing USC’s resources on biomedicine and nanotechnology has yet to happen. "I fully understand the need to air this out with faculty."

That’s partly because Pastides doesn’t want to alienate others in the university who are working on other projects.

Peter Graham, a professor in USC’s Department of Sport and Entertainment Management and chairman of the Faculty Senate Welfare Committee, said that’s a wise move.

"Some people feel threatened by the new direction, and Dr. Sorensen has been spelling it out more strongly and vividly than in the past," he said.

Even so, Graham said faculty members are coming around to the idea that change is inevitable at USC.

"Most people understand the direction the university is taking, even if some feel it’s off by a few degrees," he said.