Legislature(2017 - 2018)CAPITOL 106
02/23/2018 08:00 AM Senate EDUCATION
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| Audio | Topic |
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| Presentation: the Power of University Alaska Research | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
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+ teleconferenced
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ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
JOINT MEETING
HOUSE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
SENATE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
February 23, 2018
8:01 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
HOUSE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
Representative Harriet Drummond, Chair
Representative Justin Parish, Vice Chair
Representative Jennifer Johnston
Representative Chuck Kopp
Representative David Talerico
SENATE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
Senator Gary Stevens, Chair
Senator Cathy Giessel
Senator Shelley Hughes
MEMBERS ABSENT
HOUSE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
Representative Ivy Spohnholz
Representative Lora Reinbold (alternate)
Representative Geran Tarr (alternate)
SENATE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
Senator John Coghill
Senator Tom Begich
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION: THE POWER OF UNIVERSITY ALASKA RESEARCH
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
LARRY HINZMAN, Ph.D., Vice Chancellor for Research
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented Power of University Research.
PETER WEBLEY, Ph.D., Research Associate Professor
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented Power of University Research.
GEORGE ROE, Researcher
Alaska Center for Energy and Power
Institute of Northern Engineering
University Alaska Fairbanks
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented Power of University Research.
ACTION NARRATIVE
8:01:01 AM
CHAIR GARY STEVENS called the joint meeting of the House and
Senate Education Standing Committees to order at 8:01 a.m.
Present at the call to order were Senators Giessel, Hughes, and
Stevens and Representatives Drummond, Johnston, and Talerico.
Representative Kopp and Parish joined shortly thereafter.
^Presentation: The Power of University Alaska Research
PRESENTATION: THE POWER OF UNIVERSITY OF Alaska RESEARCH
8:01:54 AM
CHAIR STEVENS announced the presentation the Power of University
of Alaska Research.
LARRY HINZMAN, Ph.D., Vice Chancellor for Research, University
of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, said he had three main
points:
1. Research is important to Alaska industry. Research is
an industry for the state of Alaska and highly
relevant. They take on practical issues and resolve
important problems for the state.
2. Research and innovation are important to drive the
economy and diversification of the economy.
3. Investment in education will drive Alaska's economy.
8:03:51 AM
DR. HINZMAN said he is advocating for the Board of Regents $341
million budget request. That includes $3.7 million to grow
world-class research, distributed across the three campuses.
They are conducting thousands of research projects. Since FY
[fiscal year] 10, research revenue generated by the University
of Alaska (UA) has exceeded $1 billion dollars to the state.
That is direct money coming into the state. That is a lot of
good jobs, but it is a drop in the bucket compared to the
residual impact, the other benefits that come from research.
DR. HINZMAN reviewed information showing that research is an
important Alaskan industry:
• In 2017, UA had over $148 million in external research
expenditures
• The $24 million in state research funding was
multiplied by 6
• $90 million in direct wages and salaries; about 1250
direct jobs
• Another $27 million indirect income, 350 jobs from
multiplier effects of direct employment
• $70 million in purchases, contracted services, travel,
student aid and equipment
DR. HINZMAN said they count expenditures, not income, as a
comparison point to other universities across the nation.
He pointed out the multiplier by 6 for state research, and that
the base funds of $24 million are needed to create and maintain
research.
He presented a chart that showed the UA research return on
investment was 6.2 in FY 17, 6.2 dollars returned for every
dollar invested. The return does vary from year to year for each
institute.
DR. HINZMAN made the following points to show that research and
quality education are completely integrated.
• Research opportunities attract outstanding faculty.
• Research is integral to a curriculum that reflects the
most up-to-date knowledge.
• Undergraduate and graduate student involvement in
research.
• Quality research institutions attract out-of-state
students and retain outstanding resident students.
Builds a pipeline of outstanding students who become
employees of Alaska businesses and institutions.
He said that the faculty who get the highest reviews from
students are the faculty strongly engaged in research because
they offer the latest technology, are the most advanced in the
sciences.
DR. HINZMAN made the following points to show how central
research is to education. He noted that the University of Alaska
produces more publications and citations on the Arctic than any
other institution in the world.
• Both graduate and undergraduate students are a key
part of our research activities.
• 40% of Fairbanks campus undergraduates participate in
research. 164 of 964 total UAF graduate students are
graduate research assistants.
• UAF Publications with student authors are more than
40% of the total
8:10:15 AM
DR. HINZMAN said one of the greatest values in engaging students
in research is teaching them to think, teaching them to be
creative, and teaching them to make things work. One student
told him that a day in the field is like watching 24 episodes of
MacGyver.
He explained that Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Activity
(URSA) was started in 2012 and is dedicated to giving students
research opportunities. He gave examples of students who did
research in chemistry and biology. URSA also awards grants to
arts students. These opportunities bring students to Alaska and
keep them in Alaska.
He said that BLaST, Biomedical Learning and Student Training,
also began a few years to get more students in biomedical
fields. BLaST provides mentored research experiences to
students. Just two days ago they were reviewed by the National
Institutes of Health and the reviews were glowing.
DR. HINZMAN said graduate students are essential to research.
They play a big role. They bring ideas and enthusiasm. Their
training in the latest techniques is good for the state. They
come out with a strength and confidence and understanding that
benefits local industries.
He described two examples of graduate student research, Thilo
Klenz, Ph.D. student in Oceanography, thesis: comparing
lagrangian drifter statistics in a numerical model to
observations; and Stanley Edwin, Ph.D. student in Atmospheric
Sciences, thesis: air quality in Interior Alaska villages.
He shared a map of Alaska showing locations of graduate research
on economic geology, many of them related to mining, and
geothermal springs and coal, oil, and gas. Some of the research
was done before the mines or geothermal springs were developed,
which helps with the development of those resources. When done
afterwards, they help characterize what processes drove that
development to help development in other regions.
8:17:24 AM
PETER WEBLEY, Ph.D., Research Associate Professor, University of
Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, said he is an ambassador of
the Office of Intellectual Property and Commercialization at
UAF. His presentation focus is on the $1.6 million for
Contribute to Alaska's Economic Development in the FY19 Board of
Regents budget request. He noted that Dr. Hinzman had said that
research revenue generated by the University of Alaska has
exceeded $1 billion dollars to the state since FY10. He added
that the commercial potential from university-developed research
is astronomically larger than that from the ability to get
licensing fees, the ability to transfer technology out of the
university environment, to grow new companies and bring new
companies to work with Alaskans, and build the economy.
He said that as an ambassador of the Office of Intellectual
Property, he connects with the tech transfer office at the
university. The idea is to take research projects and move them
into the commercial market. These could be working with startup
companies directly from academics, students and staff, at the
university or working with an existing company to commercialize
that work.
DR. WEBLEY said that the aim of the office is to cultivate a
culture of innovation at the university, to take research ideas
and move them forward. The aim of that is to diversify the
economy, to take funded-research projects and develop a
capability to bring additional funding into the state and employ
people in the state of Alaska.
He shared that he is a transplant who came to Alaska in 2005 as
a postdoctoral research scientist. He thought he would stay for
two years and then return to the United Kingdom, but Alaska grew
on him and he is forming a company. Research brings people here
and research keeps people here.
He said the office is starting a Lean Launch Workshop. This is
about a new approach on how to take an idea and form a company.
In two or three days someone can form a company. In addition to
university staff and advisors, someone from Stanford who helped
design the process is coming to teach that in Fairbanks. This
will foster new collaborations that can lead to new companies.
He said they have also started the Innovation Initiative, which
is more internal to the university. It's a place to come and
talk about innovation and new ideas. They have had 30-40 people
show up to learn about how they can become entrepreneurs. Next
week he will be presenting on his story and his company.
DR. WEBLEY said they are looking at developing a new course
based on Stanford's Lean Launch.
CHAIR STEVENS asked him to explain the Stanford connection.
DR. WEBLEY replied that a professor at Stanford developed the
Lean Launch process. He is coming up to teach that to university
faculty. Dr. Webley will be one of the co-teachers of the course
with another ambassador of the Office of Intellectual Property.
SENATOR HUGHES asked if there is something similar going on in
Anchorage because she would love to promote it.
DR. WEBLEY answered people in Anchorage are coming to Fairbanks
for the workshop. They will look at growing this capability, but
it is being housed at Fairbanks.
SENATOR HUGHES said that it is worth the drive.
DR. WEBLEY said they had an application process for the March
workshop. They had more applicants than space.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON said there are similar events going on
in Anchorage and throughout the state. The blue ocean event just
took place in Anchorage and this is the week of the Innovation
Summit in Juneau.
8:24:29 AM
DR. WEBLEY said this is the Year of Innovation and different
events are going on throughout that state, such as OTIS (Ocean
Technology Innovation Sprint) in Anchorage.
He said the ambassadors are researchers who have gone through
the entrepreneurial process. Ambassadors can give advice to
students, faculty, and staff interested in entrepreneurship. The
Center for Innovation, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship
(Center ICE), an incubator, has just been set up. Companies
working with the university to commercialize university research
or new startup companies that have come out of the university
will be housed at Center ICE. People with different backgrounds
can foster new ideas by being in the same space.
He showed a graph, Alaska's "Innovation Pipeline," showing the
many innovation events and projects in the state.
He explained the history of his company, V-ADAPT, Inc. He is a
volcano researcher by training. They had been developing tools
to detect and track volcanic ash for about 15 years with a
federally funded research program. After support ended, they saw
an opportunity to commercialize the technology they had
developed. The aviation sector had an interest as aircraft and
volcanic ash do not mix. They developed this company from the
developed intellectual property from the university with a
three-step process: 1. Do an invention disclosure. This is the
invention. This is who funded the work. These are the people who
worked on it. 2. That becomes declared intellectual property
with a list of inventors. They had about 30 inventors working on
this project. 3. From that, the university had the ability to
license the technology. The company licensed that technology and
worked with the market to bring revenue in. Funds come back to
the university and the inventors through the licensing system.
8:30:25 AM
DR. WEBLEY described two projects of ACEP, Alaska Center for
Energy and Power. One is the Grid Bridging System where ACEP
serves as a liaison to work with utilities across the state. Mr.
Roe will present more on this, but it is an example of the
university helping existing companies within the state to
evaluate their energy needs. The second example is PuMA, Pump
Monitoring Apparatus, targeted at householders to look at trends
in fuel use to evaluate when energy use is higher than expected.
The aim is savings for house owners by bringing in new
technologies to smaller communities.
DR. WEBLEY said that is only a small overview of some of the
commercial capabilities going on at the university. He is one
example of how academic research can turn into a company based
in Alaska.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON said that she is so excited about this
because the state has never gotten to the point of first
competition and then cooperation. She asked about the $14.7
million in fixed costs on slide 2. She asked if that above the
administrative cost of the research grants, what does the
university charge for research grants.
DR. HINZMAN asked if she was referring to the rate of overhead
to conduct the research.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON answered yes.
DR. HINZMAN said that it depends on the source of the funding.
If they are conducting research for the state of Alaska, the
rate is 18 percent. If they are conducting research for the
National Science Foundation the rate is something like 49.8
percent. It varies depending on what the source allows. The rate
of overhead is determined every three years through an agreement
with the Office of Naval Research.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON asked if the discussion about the rate
of overhead includes the fixed costs or is that separate.
DR. HINZMAN said the fixed costs are part of the negotiations
with the Office of Naval Research. The fixed costs include fuel
costs, maintenance, upkeep, janitorial, electrical. All the
costs associated with running a university have to be quantified
and negotiated with the Office of Naval Research.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON asked if the $14.7 million is just what
the state pays for fixed costs.
DR. HINZMAN said the research program does not pay for all of
the university. The overhead can only be applied to the fixed
costs associated with executing the research itself. The
university provides many other services that they do need and
welcome state support for.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON asked for verification that the
university produces the most publications on the Arctic in the
world.
DR. HINZMAN answered yes.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON asked if that is true no matter what
size the university, is it per capita.
DR. HINZMAN said the university has the largest number of
publications in any single year. They did a five-year analysis
since the numbers became available. For the last decade the
University of Alaska has been the lead in publications on Arctic
research.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON asked if that includes ones the
university has partnered with or is it sole.
DR. HINZMAN said they do collaborate with other institutions
around the world. If a University of Alaska researcher was
included on the author list, that is included in the publication
numbers.
SENATOR HUGHES referred to the $1.6 million for Contribute to
Alaska's Economic Development on slide 15 of the FY19 Board of
Regents budget request. She prefaced the question by stating
this is a big question and he may not want to pin down a number.
She asked, in order to have a vision of the potential of
commercialization of research for the Alaska economy, if they
were to go all in to support this idea, what amount would be
needed.
DR. WEBLEY answered that he cannot answer because he is not an
economist but research faculty. He can get the information to
her from the director of the Office of Intellectual Property. He
looks at it for the personal connections and personal growth it
would give to the state. It's an area of the Alaskan economy
that is untapped. His was the first company developed out of
university intellectual property in 2013. Five other
entrepreneurs want to do that this year. Once these companies
form they can work with larger Alaskan companies and large
companies outside of the state. It another way to bring people
into the state who will stay and grow the economy and become the
next generation of Alaskans.
SENATOR HUGHES said she is drawn by the potential of
diversification for the economy and they all know how important
that is to the future of the state.
DR. HINZMAN said it is difficult to quantify what the
consequences, the upper limits, are. He gave the example of UAF
Professor [Kelly] Drew who has done research on hibernation and
who is working with drugs that induce hibernation. If the
metabolism of people who have had heart attacks or been injured
on the battlefield can be slowed down, the impact of damage to
the body can be reduced. The possible consequences are huge.
They do not know what the returns on that could be. They have
had interest by NASA and the European space agency. This is a
business that developed from Artic science. The sky is the limit
of what could come from something like that.
REPRESENTATIVE KOPP commented that historically, there was an
internal tug of war with the university system. It seems that
the university has a more unified approach, which is good for
the state nationally and for aggressively advocating for funding
and for projects. It seems that there will be more students
attracted to projects. The slide presentation highlighted UAF
research and publications, but he knows that the UAA has the
INNOVATE Award and brought the National Science Foundation Board
to Alaska for the first time two years ago. He asked if Dr.
Hinzman is looking at a different set of targets and metrics for
each research focus at each campus. He asked how he is making it
so that there is synergy vs. not synergy.
DR. HINZMAN said he agreed with Representative Kopp 100 percent.
Increasing research capability across the state raises all boats
and helps all to become stronger. They've had collaboration for
many years throughout the university system statewide,
particularly in medical sciences and fisheries. Since they
started the Strategic Pathways, they have invested in trying to
quantify those metrics. A committee is working on characterizing
metrics that would allow comparison of activities across
campuses. It is designed to see where resources are needed,
where the best return on investment is, where the best potential
for growth is.
8:44:35 AM
CHAIR DRUMMOND asked Dr. Hinzman to describe the agreements with
the Office of Naval Research.
DR. HINZMAN replied that overhead rates that institutions are
allowed to charge are a negotiated fee. The University of Alaska
has negotiated with the Office of Naval Research for at least as
long as he has been around, 30 or 40 years. The rates are
calculated upon what the cost of doing business is. It's a very
detailed process to provide the evidence to quantify the cost of
all aspects of research. It's the standard process that every
university with federal projects must go through. He does not
know why the oversight entity for UA is the Office of Naval
Research.
REPRESENTATIVE PARISH said the presentation focused on Grow
World-class Research for $3.7 million and Contribute to Alaska's
Economic Development for $1.6 million over the FY18 base
operating budget, but there's another $19 million in the Board
of Regents budget request. He asked whether he can speak to the
impact if the legislature just gave the 5.3 million increment.
He asked whether he could still get the full benefit from the
$5.3 million increment or would underfunding the other
components interfere his mission.
DR. HINZMAN said the amounts on the chart, Investment by
Strategic Objective, on slide 15 are different components of the
budget for different justifications. Growing world-class
research, for example, has many components. One is ADAC, Arctic
Domain Awareness Center, out of UAA. The primary sponsor is the
Department of Homeland Security. The primary customer is the
Coast Guard. The purpose of ADAC is to enable the Coast Guard to
be more functional in the Arctic. One project is how to unload a
cruise ship rapidly in the Arctic. Unfortunately, ADAC does not
have any base funding. They only have Department of Homeland
Security funding. Research programs like this come and go. There
needs to be some type of base funding to keep that entity whole.
If that $3.7 million were not provided, then some of those
programs will be lost. For the $2.1 million in the regents'
budget request for the UAF Engineering Building Operating Costs,
much of their research work is being done in the engineering
building, which is a new building that is not fully functioning
yet. They need support to maintain the research program in that
building. They need utilities support because utility costs go
up. The budget is very integrated. The resources brought in
through research do benefit the other components of the campus,
but it goes both ways. The university is an integrated whole.
They need all the components to maintain their status as a fully
functioning university.
8:51:35 AM
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON said it would be interesting for the
committee to have the size of Department of Defense grants
coming into the university. Earlier she had heard a comment that
the Office of Naval Research may not be the administrator of UA
grants in the future.
DR. HINZMAN said he's not involved in the negotiations of the
overhead rates. The Department of Defense (DOD) has identified
the Arctic as an area of heightened strategic importance. There
is an incredible amount of activities going on in the Artic. The
Department of Defense has invited them to a workshop in May in
New Hampshire to identify what capabilities they need to develop
to respond better in the Arctic. The Air Force has invited them
to a similar meeting in Seattle in May.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON said there is a partnership with Hawaii.
DR. HINZMAN said in many respects, yes, particularly with
development and application of drones.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON said she's sure everyone would be
interested if there were a slide on it.
REPRESENTATIVE TALERICO asked Mr. Roe to go over the Grid
Bridging System.
8:54:24 AM
GEORGE ROE, Researcher, Alaska Center for Energy and Power,
Institute of Northern Engineering, University Alaska Fairbanks,
Fairbanks, Alaska, said he was a 36-year veteran of the Boeing
Company. He came to Alaska because of the potential for working
on resilient energy systems that are aligned with what modern
aerospace is doing. Someone flying on a 787 is flying on an
electrical grid that has all the functionality of the
communities of Alaska and made by the same organizations. They
have opportunities for helping not just themselves, but others
as they make systems that are reliable and resilient.
He said they have brought in over $5 million in the last two
years from the Office of Naval Research which has been used in
combination with other organizations. In aerospace there is no
such thing as a stand-alone element. A system is needed. That is
the same for the state of Alaska. They need to work together
because they are up against some challenging things and they
need to learn from each other, not compete.
MR. ROE said the Grid Bridging System is a direct request from
the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative to help them integrate
renewable energy more effectively and reduce diesel consumption.
There are huge opportunities for replicating and scaling this
with the 58 communities of the Alaska Village Electric
Cooperative. He is particularly interested in the Rail Belt
energy system because the state has nested, intertied, stand-
alone systems that are completely representative of the
continental grid in the Lower 48. They can be a test bed for
evaluating, determining, and developing the systems that the
nation needs, so that when events happen, they can stand up
responses quickly and minimize the compromise that results. He
believes Alaska can be a living laboratory, as Senator [Lisa]
Murkowski refers to the state, of the nation's needs. If they
can make energy more affordable, if they build this innovation
culture, they need to look at the communities in the state to
build local capacity to make sure students and local communities
have what it takes to establish businesses, grow them, etc.
There is so much they can do together.
8:58:19 AM
DR. HINZMAN concluded by emphasizing that research helps drive
the economy and increases the diversification of economic
activities. It provides a talented and capable workforce. And as
their [UA] president says, a great state needs a great
university.
8:58:48 AM
There being no further business to come before the committees,
Chair Drummond adjourned the joint meeting of the House and
Senate Education Standing Committees at 8:58 a.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| 23Feb2018_SEDC_Presentation_UnivAK_Power_Of_Research.pdf |
SEDC 2/23/2018 8:00:00 AM |
23Feb2018 Presentation - UnivAK - Power of Research |
| SEDC_23Feb2018_Presentation_Power_of_Research_PresenterBios.pdf |
SEDC 2/23/2018 8:00:00 AM |
23Feb2018 Presentation - UnivAK - Power of Research |