University Research Committee

Charge

The University Committee on Research shall periodically review and make recommendations concerning policies and issues relating to the conduct and support of faculty research. This shall include, but not be limited to, services provided to scholars by the administrative units of the University. The Committee shall also provide liaison to the following University committees: University Libraries Committee and Information Services Committee.

Meetings: Contact committee chair for the date/locations of the committee meetings.

Specific Charge for 2024 – 2025 Academic Year

As AI tools continue to advance, they have the potential to transform academic research by improving research productivity, facilitating literature reviews, identifying research gaps, analyzing data and helping with writing. Going beyond that, by incorporating new AI capabilities into research systems themselves, AI is empowering researchers to address problems that seemed intractable just a few years ago.

Leveraging the full promise of AI requires that USC equip faculty, staff and students engaged in research with the knowledge and skills needed to use AI effectively while avoiding its pitfalls. The Research committee will review current AI course offerings at the university and provide recommendations on how these courses can be expanded and specialized versions developed for the various disciplines to create a state-of-the-art training program for faculty, staff and students aimed at enhancing their research productivity, innovation and impact. The committee will provide an estimate of the costs of such a program, the key obstacles to implementation and how they can be addressed and a timeline for execution.

Specific Charge for 2025 – 2026 Academic Year

The administrative burden associated with research has increased rapidly in recent years. This is due to several factors including increased regulatory requirements, difficulty in the implementation of rules and regulations, as well as cumbersome and duplicative application and reporting processes, to name a few.

Leveraging USC’s involvement in research across schools and in an effort to enhance research productivity, the Research Committee will review USC’s administrative practices associated with research and provide recommendations on how best to simplify cumbersome procedures so that the time burden on principal investigators is reduced. The committee will discuss the key obstacles to the implementation of these recommendations and how they could be addressed. If advantageous, the committee can also serve as a resource for navigating the current research landscape.

Chair

Alexandra Graddy-Reddy
Sol Price School of Public Policy
graddyre@usc.edu

Committee Members

Morten Bay, mortench@usc.edu, Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism
Peter Cardon, cardon@marshall.usc.edu, Marshall School of Business
Yasemin Copur-Gencturk, copurgen@usc.edu, Rossier School of Education
Megan Fieser, fieser@usc.edu, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Nicholas Mancuso, Nicholas.Mancuso@med.usc.edu, Keck School of Medicine
Daniel O’Leary, oleary@usc.edu, Leventhal School of Accounting
Eunjoo Pacifici, epacific@usc.edu, Mann School of Pharmacy
Stacey Schepens Niemiec, schepens@chan.usc.edu, Chan Division/Occupational Therapy
Phebe Vayanos, phebe.vayanos@usc.edu, Viterbi School of Engineering
Holly Willis, hwillis@usc.edu, School of Cinematic Arts
Carol Wise, cwise@usc.edu, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Sylvain Barbot (Executive Board Liaison), bcn@isi.edu, Viterbi School of Engineering

Reports

2023-2024 – University Research Committee Final Report

2022-2023 – University Research Committee Final Report

2021-2022

2020-2021 – University Research Committee Final Report

2019-2020 – University Research Committee Final Report 2019-2020

2017-2018 – Office of Research Strategic Plan for Diversity and Inclusion 2018

2016-2017 – University Research Committee Summary Report

2015-2016 Final Report/Resolutions