Legislature(2019 - 2020)BUTROVICH 205
02/21/2019 09:00 AM Senate EDUCATION
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| SB53 | |
| Presentation: the Power of University Research | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
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= bill was previously heard/scheduled
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| *+ | SB 53 | TELECONFERENCED | |
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ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
February 21, 2019
8:59 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Gary Stevens, Chair
Senator Shelley Hughes, Vice Chair
Senator Chris Birch
Senator Mia Costello
Senator Tom Begich
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
SENATE BILL NO. 53
"An Act relating to the duties of the Board of Regents of the
University of Alaska."
- HEARD & HELD
PRESENTATION: THE POWER OF UNIVERSITY RESEARCH
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: SB 53
SHORT TITLE: UNIV. REPORTING REQS FOR ACCREDITATION
SPONSOR(s): SENATOR(s) STEVENS
02/11/19 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
02/11/19 (S) EDC, FIN
02/21/19 (S) EDC AT 9:00 AM BUTROVICH 205
WITNESS REGISTER
TIM LAMKIN, Staff
Senator Gary Stevens
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Introduced SB 53 for the bill sponsor.
MILES BAKER
Associate Vice President of Government Relations
University of Alaska
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified on University of Alaska's
accreditation reporting requirements.
LARRY HINZMAN, Ph.D., Vice Chancellor of Research
University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF)
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented the Power of University Research.
MARK BILLINGSLEY, Director
Intellectual Property and Contracts
University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF)
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented the Power of University Research.
ACTION NARRATIVE
8:59:48 AM
CHAIR GARY STEVENS called the Senate Education Standing
Committee meeting to order at 8:59 a.m. Present at the call to
order were Senators Costello, Birch, and Chair Stevens. Senators
Begich and Hughes joined shortly thereafter.
SB 53-UNIV. REPORTING REQS FOR ACCREDITATION
9:00:04 AM
CHAIR STEVENS announced the consideration of SB 53. He stated
his intention to introduce the bill, hear public testimony, and
hold the bill.
9:00:48 AM
TIM LAMKIN, Staff, Senator Gary Stevens, Alaska State
Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, said SB 53 is a result of the loss
of accreditation by the University of Alaska Anchorage School of
Education. There are currently other reporting requirements in
place. The most recent, AS 14.41.190, requires the Board of
Regents to submit a report to the legislature by the 30th
legislative day biannually on their efforts "to attract, train,
and retain qualified public school teachers." He noted that the
report was due Friday, but the Senate Secretary's office had not
received that yet, to his knowledge. He said he did not prepare
a sectional for the bill because it would simply say that the
bill would require a biannual report on the various
accreditations across the UA system. He pointed out that the
committee packets have a summary of current accreditations.
There is zero fiscal note.
9:02:51 AM
MILES BAKER, Associate Vice President of Government Relations,
University of Alaska, Juneau, Alaska, said AS 14.41.190 has two
reporting requirements for the University of Alaska. The first
is a long report submitted every year as part of its budget
submission to the legislature regarding things such as the
condition of university property, receipts and expenditures, and
unobligated university receipts. The second is commonly referred
to as the SB 241 report, Alaska's University for Alaska's
[Schools] Report. He said he believed Chairman Stevens was part
of passing that law in 2008. That report is completed
biennially. This report updates the legislature on teacher
preparation, retention, and recruitment programs. He said it was
submitted this year. He offered to provide a copy for the
committee.
CHAIR STEVENS said the education committees would probably meet
jointly to discuss that report.
MR. BAKER said this legislation would require a third reporting
requirement. As part of its biannual report, the university
would update the legislature on the status of regional,
national, and programmatic accreditations at the university no
later than the 30th day of the legislative session. The existing
board policy requires each of the major campuses to regularly
assess all institutional programs to evaluate quality and
effectiveness. These program reviews are designed to meet the
standards of applicable accrediting bodies. Annually, each
university must provide a report to the Regents' Academic and
Student Affairs Committee on the status of program reviews,
including an extensive discussion of academic accreditation. UA
already has an internal process to compile, track, and report
this information annually to the board, so that information can
be provided to the legislature in a biannual report. He pointed
out that the packets have information on the status of ongoing
accreditation at all the universities
MR. BAKER said this committee has its regularly scheduled
meeting today. One agenda item is a discussion of program
accreditation and a review of the status document. The regents
want to be aware of any accreditations that are challenged or
having difficulty. There will be an interest in clarifying
current regent policy regarding accreditation. The situation
with UAA regarding initial licensure was that while reports were
being provided to the board subcommittee in the fall, they were
not detailed enough for the Board of Regents to have the full
story of the potential situation with the accreditation. The
board will want to update that policy.
9:08:33 AM
CHAIR STEVENS said the impetus for this bill was the loss of
accreditation at the Anchorage campus. "And that's a very big
thing, as we all know. Universities don't usually lose
accreditation. This is the only one I've seen in my experience,"
he said.
CHAIR STEVENS continued, "It's a very, very important thing and
it's particularly important because of the students. Because
we're putting them in jeopardy, asking them to pay tuition and
go through all the work of getting their classes done, yet when
they leave the University of Alaska, they are going to have
trouble, particularly if they transfer out of state."
CHAIR STEVENS said, "The only reason for this bill is because of
that loss of accreditation. Something went terribly wrong in
this process." He said he chaired an accreditation committee
before he retired from the university so he knows it is a long,
involved process, but all the questions and concerns should be
answered at the end of the process.
CHAIR STEVENS said, "Again, something went terribly wrong. The
president of the university, who I have the greatest respect
for--I'm so glad he's there during these tough financial times--
yet he did not know of the jeopardy the university faced because
of that accreditation study. The Board of Regents did not know.
Mr. Baker, it is a terrible situation. We're not going to run
the university. We don't want to do that, but we want to know
what's going on. We want to know why the university, the Board
of Regents, the president, the entire administration, were not
monitoring that process or not responding to it. If they had
known about it, I assume there would have been some
intervention."
CHAIR STEVENS continued,
I'm a little annoyed as a citizen, as a senator, that
that this occurred. And it can't happen again. All
we're asking in this bill is for the university to
monitor the situation, to let us know, and you should
already be doing that. And I keep hearing people say,
'Hey, we're doing that. Why would you have this bill
because we're doing it.' But you're not doing it. It
fell apart. Somebody was asleep at the switch. It's a
terrible black eye on the university and we simply
cannot have this happen in future. I mean, are there
other areas that are in jeopardy in the university for
loss of accreditations. I'm sorry. I'm just not happy
with this at all. I think it's a terrible situation to
be in. I'm ashamed. I know you are. I know the
university president is ashamed that this happened.
All we're saying, for heaven's sake, is monitor this
and let us know what is going on.
9:12:10 AM
SENATOR HUGHES said she shared his frustration. The fiscal note
states that the internal processes already exist and the reports
are happening annually to the board, but Mr. Baker said the
Board of Regents will be revisiting that policy. She assumed the
board would be considering whether to increase the frequency of
checking in on that type of thing. She would hope that any red
flags would be reported to the Board of Regents immediately. The
legislature would not hear as soon as the board, but that
information would be included in the report to them. The idea of
the bill is that having some oversight establishes
accountability. She asked whether the legislature would receive
the report every two years.
CHAIR STEVENS answered twice a year.
SENATOR HUGHES said that would help.
9:13:52 AM
SENATOR BEGICH said when the committee first talked about
accreditation, he put a conflict of interest on the record, but
after checking with ethics, he found he does not have a conflict
of interest with this bill.
CHAIR STEVENS said that is an issue these days with changes in
law. He has no conflict. He last worked for the university 20
years ago and retired as a tenured professor and has not
received any renumeration from the university for 20 years.
MR. BAKER said as currently drafted the bill would require the
report at the start of each legislature, so every two years. He
clarified that the university does not review every academic
program every year. Most of the institutions are doing five-year
reviews, but the status of those program reviews and how they
relate to accreditation are reported to the Board of Regents
every fall. UA has an internal process for compiling and
reporting that information to the Board of Regents, but regents
would share Senator Stevens' concern that the reports have not
been adequate to keep the regents informed. UA will be working
on that internally.
9:15:51 AM
CHAIR STEVENS opened public testimony and after ascertaining
there was none, closed public testimony.
SENATOR HUGHES asked if the intention is to change the report to
twice a year.
SENATOR STEVENS said he thought twice a year would be best.
SENATOR HUGHES agreed.
SENATOR BEGICH asked if his intent was to change the reporting
from biennial to biannual and to get an update on a regular
basis. He agreed that twice a year would be better.
9:16:57 AM
CHAIR STEVENS answered that that is the intention. He held SB 53
in committee.
9:17:12 AM
At ease
^Presentation: The Power of University Research
Presentation: The Power of University Research
9:17:18 AM
Chair Stevens announced the Power of University Research
presentation
9:19:42 AM
LARRY HINZMAN, Ph.D., Vice Chancellor for Research, University
of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), Fairbanks, and Mark Billingsley,
Director, Intellectual Property and Contracts, University of
Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), Fairbanks, Alaska, introduced
themselves.
DR. HINZMAN said that the University of Alaska (UA) has an
unexcelled reputation for Arctic research. They do more Arctic
publications, more research, than any other institution in the
world. In the last eight years UA has generated over $1 billion
in research benefits to the state of Alaska. They take on a lot
of pragmatic research that pays off in economic diversity for
the state.
DR. HINZMAN displayed a slide showing return on investment. Last
year, for every dollar received from the state, UA generated
$6.3 from external resources. People think that removing one
dollar from the state, will leave $5 to do other research work,
but that is not the way it works. University personnel cannot
write proposals using federal money. It is necessary to have the
one dollar to generate the $6. If the university loses that one
dollar, they lose the $6. The money does not come to the
university; they must go after the funds. The one dollar in
state support is critical to maintain this strong research
program the university has built over the years.
DR. HINZMAN reviewed the benefits of research:
• In 2018, UA brought in $141 million in external
research expenditures
• $23 million in state research funding multiplied by 6
• $90 million direct wages and salaries; 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 most of the $70 million in the last bullet
point is spent in Alaska.
DR. HINZMAN said apart from the economics, there are also the
pragmatic effects and value to the state:
• Research opportunities attract outstanding faculty
• Research integral to curriculum that reflects up-to-
date knowledge
• Undergraduate and graduate student involved in
research
• Quality of UA research institutions attracts out-of-
state students and retains Alaskan students
• Builds a pipeline of outstanding students who become
employees of Alaska businesses
DR. HINZMAN said students are also drawn to the university
because of research. Eighty percent of those students stay in
the state. It is an important attraction for some wonderful
people. Most graduate students and 40 percent of undergraduate
students are involved in research.
DR. HINZMAN said instruction, mentoring, research, and outreach
are all wrapped together. It benefits the state, the nation, and
students, all of which has lasting value to the state.
DR. HINZMAN reviewed BLaST: Biomedical Learning and Student
Training, a $23 million project funded by the National
Institutes of Health (NIH). The purpose is to bring rural and
Alaska Native students into health professions. It received one
of the highest rankings from the NIH and was just renewed for
another five years. NIH is using it as a model for other
programs.
DR. HINZMAN said UA research makes communities healthier. They
have done a lot of work with respect to wildlife populations.
They have also done a lot of work regarding mental health,
suicide prevention, and opioid addiction. Alaska is unique in
solutions that must be applied. A lot of techniques developed in
the lower 48 for suicide prevention are counterproductive. UA
solutions are numerically effective. UA will continue
researching suicide prevention and opioid addiction.
9:26:09 AM
DR. HINZMAN said UA has been working on the One Health
initiative for five years. The concept is that the health of the
people depends on the health of the environment, which is
dependent on the health of the animals. Urban and rural society
are tied to nature. The health of the environment does affect
the health of the people. Things such as a rabies, zoonotic
diseases, brucellosis and other environmental factors such as
mercury toxicity have an impact on Alaska's population. It is
all wrapped together. The university has taken a national and
international lead on this.
DR. HINZMAN reviewed the work of the Pollock Conservation
Cooperative Research Center. The seafood industry is investing
in UA research to improve the quality of their product, make the
work they do safer, and get a higher return on investment. He
noted that the foregoing three programs bring in about $300,000
a year for research.
DR. HINZMAN said the Wilson Alaska Technical Center (WATC) at
the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) just became a
Department of Defense (DoD) University Affiliated Research
Center. Seventeen of these centers are under the Navy, Army, or
the Air Force, but the Wilson Center is the only one strictly
under DoD, so they can take on any project under DoD. Since 2008
the center has focused on monitoring above-ground nuclear
detonations. Being a University Affiliated Research Center
(UARC) opens doors for a lot of other DoD research. Everyone
working in the Wilson Center has national security clearance. He
noted that some of their students have gotten jobs with high-
level national security defense agencies. This facility is
having a real impact on the state and nation.
DR. HINZMAN noted that State Seismologist Michael West gave a
presentation on the Alaska Earthquake Center a few weeks ago. He
said the Center is trying to expand the network of monitoring
stations in the central and northern part of the state primarily
for an early warning system. Even a warning of a few seconds can
be used to shut down the pipeline, trains, and natural gas
facilities. They can achieve this. It is the system in Japan,
and it ought to be in Alaska to make the state safer. They are
pushing to get more funding for the USArray. The Earthquake
Center is working with United States Geological Survey and the
National Science Foundation to continue funding those stations
for the next five years.
DR. HINZMAN said that UA has been doing research for the
military with the U.S. Navy ICEX ice camp. For the past 20
years, the Navy has been using the University of Washington to
provide information about the safety and security of their ice
camps. Last year a disaster occurred when the ice broke up. A
lot of equipment was lost and people had to be evacuated during
the emergency. Now the Navy has come back to UA, which has the
world's expertise in ice forecasting. He said he hopes this
continues for a long time. UA is doing a lot not only with ice
forecasting but ice concentrations for navigation and other
processes, such as weather predictions.
SENATOR BIRCH said this is great news and great work. He noted
that Alaska's senior U.S. senator mentioned that construction of
an ice breaker might be in the works. He asked if UA is engaged
in those efforts.
DR. HINZMAN replied absolutely. UA has advocated for a new
icebreaker for at least 30 years and participated in many
workshops to design the characteristics of a new icebreaker. A
new icebreaker would be a Coast Guard asset, but they want
scientific capabilities to be part of it also. It is critically
important for so many aspects of Alaska. He mentioned the need
to use a Russian icebreaker when Nome had a fuel crisis a few
years ago. There is increasing activity in the Arctic with very
few rescue capabilities.
SENATOR HUGHES said UA's research on unmanned aircraft was part
of the effort to bring fuel to Nome; a drone guided the
icebreaker to port.
DR. HINZMAN said that ACUASI, Alaska Center for Unmanned
Aircraft Systems Integration, has over 200 drones. They can do
remarkable work with wildlife population surveys and mapping out
ice leads. Most unmanned aerial vehicles cannot fly out of the
line of sight of the operator. ACUASI is one of the few places
with permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to do
this. He called that a tremendous coup for the center.
9:35:26 AM
SENATOR HUGHES said ACUASI was also the first in the nation with
permission to fly in the approach area of an airport, in this
case the Deadhorse Airport.
DR. HINZMAN said ACUASI is a leader for the nation.
DR. HINZMAN reviewed the Arctic Domain Awareness Center, housed
at the University of Alaska Anchorage. The only customer for the
center is the Coast Guard. It is funded by the Department of
Homeland Security to make Coast Guard operations safer and more
effective and efficient. Every project must be something the
Coast Guard values, needs, and wants to be part of its
operations. It is renewed annually. He showed an image from the
work of using underwater drones to map oil spill plumes.
DR. HINZMAN said the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) is an asset
for the nation. Most days of the year, the facility receives at
least 60 percent of NASA's data. ASF is trying to put up more
satellite dishes at Oliktok Point on the North Slope, which
would increase the polar orbiting satellites they could observe.
The facility has done a wide range of research projects. ASF
wants to put up an army of CubeSats to detect ships going
through the Arctic Ocean that are not broadcasting transmitting
signals. Then they could detect those ships and track and
monitor all vessel traffic throughout the world. It could be
used for tracking drug smugglers or other nefarious vessels.
CHAIR STEVENS said the CubeSats, the small satellites, are a
major technological innovation. He understands that the Kodiak
rocket launch facility can launch up to 50 at a time.
DR. HINZMAN responded that UA has the only university-owned
rocket launch facility in the world. It is becoming more
important to DoD and other agencies because they have a large
area where the launch vehicle can land and be recovered. The
White Sands facility can only recover launch vehicles over 100
miles. ASF can recover them over 600 miles, so DoD is utilizing
the facility more.
DR. HINZMAN said UA is doing work across the state with economic
geology. They are helping to enhance recovery of gold, zinc,
coal, silver, and more. They are trying to increase the
resources used for geothermal and looking at rare earth
minerals. They are trying to enhance the resource capabilities
of the state. The mining industry values the work they do, and
the university is being responsive to their needs.
DR. HINZMAN said UA is using dense polymer in a flooding
experiment to enhance the recovery of heavy oil. The work is
funded by the National Energy Technology Laboratory in
partnership with Hilcorp and BP.
DR. HINZMAN introduced Mark Billingsley, who is a mechanical
engineer and the only licensed, practicing patent attorney in
the state.
9:41:30 AM
MR. BILLINGSLEY, Director, Intellectual Property and Contracts,
University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), Fairbanks, Alaska said the
core work of the office is identifying intellectual property
that is a result of university research, protecting it, getting
it licensed, and getting it out into the public for the public's
benefit. He said turning research into reality benefits Alaska
in a number of ways. The plan is to bring in problems from the
community, solve them, and give the solution to the community.
MR. BILLINGSLEY noted a Senate resolution last year declared
2019 the year of innovation. He reviewed some examples of
research in the process of being commercialized. One is a
project to use mushrooms for microremediation of diesel spills.
If there is a diesel spill in a village in Alaska, techniques
used down south are not feasible. The Kodiak Marine Science
Fisheries Center has been working with the Pollock Conservation
Research Center to find uses for fish waste from pollock
processing. One potential use is making dog food. Another
project is to find a remote, noninvasive wireless way of
measuring blood oxygenation in lab mice. This is essential in
research regarding strokes and heart attacks.
MR. BILLINGSLEY reviewed a graphic showing Alaska's innovation
pipeline. The university cannot do basic and applied research
in a vacuum. They are working with people across the state to
build an ecosystem. It must grow if they want to be competitive
with the lower 48. Their core work is protecting intellectual
property and licensing it, but they are trying to work with
partners across the state. They have a number of complementary
programs. The federal government has shown interest in building
economic and energy resiliency in Alaska.
MR. BILLINGSLEY reviewed how UA feeds Alaska's innovation
pipeline.
1. Direct licenses to existing companies for UA-developed
IP (Intellectual Property)
2. Forming spin-off companies to commercialize UA-
developed IP
3. Working with industry to develop new ideas and
products
4. Supporting student innovation to build an
entrepreneurial workforce for tomorrow
CHAIR STEVENS said that in order to continue innovation, he
assumes there must be some sharing of the rewards.
MR. BILLINGSLEY answered yes, that is set up by Board of Regents
policy. The first $10,000 and 50 percent thereafter that come to
the university is returned to the inventors. All universities
have their own policies, but it is usually in that range. A lot
of academics just want to see their work get out into the real
world. Hopefully some will make money, and others will want to
pursue commercialization of their research.
MR. BILLINGSLEY said V-ADAPT, Inc., was the university's first
big startup in 2013. Eighteen researchers developed 32
technologies. V-ADAPT is a suite of technologies to track
volcano ash clouds. The market applicability is commercial air
traffic, among other things. It was a product of many years of
research with funding from the Air Force. This summer the
university will offer its first class of Hacking for Defense. It
started at Stanford, and a dozen schools around the country are
offering this course. The military procures problems and gives
them to schools so that students can work on real-world
problems. The university wants to procure problems from within
the state because of the large military presence in Alaska and
to take advantage of Arctic research.
9:53:03 AM
SENATOR BIRCH said he was intrigued by V-ADAPT, as everyone in
Alaska who flies should be as well. He asked how it works.
DR. HINZMAN said it is based on both seismic models of the
volcano and weather models to simulate the plume movements. The
chemical characteristics of the plume are just as important as
its position. Various components went together to make this
happen. It is a complex, physical problem.
9:54:32 AM
SENATOR COSTELLO asked if there is any way to involve middle and
high school students in the model of solving real-world problems
that the military is starting to do. She opined that age is not
a barrier to ideas and innovation.
MR. BILLINGSLEY said innovation education absolutely starts
early. It's a mindset. The Hacking for Defense ("Hacking") is a
well-established program that is openminded. Since the program
is in the early stages of being spread across the country,
Hacking is welcoming new things because it needs to permeate and
be successful. Some of that involves getting the support of
state legislatures. He said he would take the idea to the
faculty member leading this effort.
SENATOR COSTELLO mentioned that a small country that has
afterschool, intergenerational clubs is the best in the world as
far as innovation and new ideas. She said she is interested in
ways to bring generations together in Alaska. She described
young people as natural innovators, pointing to the ideas
generated by elementary school Lego Leagues. She asked how
involved and costly the process is to patent an idea.
MR. BILLINGSLEY said he cannot give legal advice except to a
client, but he does talk to people who come in from the
community. Patent search firms shouldn't charge more than $1,750
to get 80-85 percent of the answer with a high level of
confidence. The last 15 percent is dealing with the patent
examiner on the grey areas in the law and the reasons they may
reject the claims.
SENATOR COSTELLO mentioned that she is the government cochair of
the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region (PNWER) Foundation, which
has an innovation working group. One of the goals is to have a
national lab of the Arctic named in Alaska. She said it's a
natural fit because the university already has these
relationships. She asked if the university would be interested
in pursuing that.
10:00:37 AM
DR. HINZMAN answered that UA has been working on many fronts in
that regard. They hosted a National Lab Day last May and has
been collaborating closely with national labs across the nation.
For a while the university tried hard to establish a national
lab in Alaska, but other national labs were resistant to that.
But a lot can be accomplished through collaboration with the
other national labs. The university is also doing things such as
trying to create Arctic Centers of Excellence. The Arctic Domain
Awareness Center, which is funded by the Department of Homeland
Security, is one of those centers of excellence. Work is
underway to expand that to an Arctic Maritime Center of
Excellence. UA is also working with the DoD to create a Center
of Excellence for Arctic Research.
SENATOR COSTELLO said another goal this group has is to
declassify DoD information when it's appropriate and make it
available to the general public for entrepreneurs and
innovators. She asked if he had heard of that.
DR. HINZMAN answered that UA has had great success getting
access to classified imagery of sea ice with incredibly high
resolution. It doesn't necessarily have a military application,
but it us useful to do the dynamics of lead propagation. They
have been more successful on the marine side than the
terrestrial side, but they are still pushing for that.
SENATOR HUGHES said Dr. Helena Wisniewski, who is with the
University of Alaska Anchorage, established the Alaska chapter
of the National Academy of Inventors. She asked if he had
thought of starting a chapter in Fairbanks to inspire faculty
and students. Since 2019 is the year of innovation, they should
get the word out about the exciting things happening at the
universities. She also asked if he was doing anything about
public awareness.
MR. BILLINGSLEY replied that UAF has limited staff but is doing
what it can. They look at this as a grassroots effort and urge
legislators to encourage their constituents. UAF has a good
relationship with Dr. Helena Wizinksi and Dr. Kamberov, who is
leading that effort now.
DR. HINZMAN said he agrees with everything Senator Costello said
about intergenerational engagement. Students can capture this,
but they must be exposed.
10:10:35 AM
MR. BILLINGSLEY presented information on the grid bridging
system, which addresses issues using multiple sources of power.
Alaska Village Electric Cooperative (AVEC) has been working with
the Alaska Center on Energy and Power to create a
hardware/software set that can be used as off-the-shelf
technology. AVEC came to the university about this consistent
problem. A field demonstration is being launched this fall in
St. Mary's. It is an example of procuring challenges in Alaska
by going to communities and companies and asking what their
problems are and how the university can help.
SENATOR BEGICH said his office has been working with small
communities to develop long-term battery storage. The big nut to
crack has been how to take a small utility and retrofit it to
take in different levels and types of energy. He asked for
information about the system be provided to his office.
SENATOR COSTELLO asked if he could share the list of community
problems with the committee.
MR. BILLINGSLEY replied that he would and that the Alaska
Community Challenge could also be found online.
MR. BILLINGSLEY said the innovation pipeline needs to be
supported from early stage research to commercialization. They
have partnered with Wells Fargo and the 49th State Angel Fund in
Anchorage to deploy prototype funding. It just rolled out
yesterday and applications are due April 14.
MR. BILLINGSLEY said NemaMetrix is an example of licensing
technology in the lower 48. C. elegans is a common model
organism used to test drugs. There is a whole industry on c.
elegans nematodes. University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers, a
graduate student and an undergraduate, came up with a cheap way
to sort c. elegans. They were able to license it to a company in
Oregon.
SENATOR BIRCH asked how it works.
MR. BILLINGSLEY answered that it is a process that uses a type
of filter that catches or does not catch the organism based on
size.
10:15:42 AM
MR. BILLINGSLEY recounted the story of Coupi. A researcher
worked for DoD in Fairbanks and then worked for the university.
He needed a tool to model how items interact at the granular
level. He modeled tire traction on the Mars Rover before it went
to Mars. He built a piece of software simulating interaction at
the granular level by working on multiple research projects. He
retired and licensed the technology from the university. It
returns some revenue to the university and created a high-tech
company in Alaska. It is located at the UAF Center for
Innovation, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship.
CHAIR STEVENS asked where the money generated from research
goes.
MR. BILLINGSLEY answered that Board of Regents policy determines
what percentage goes to the inventor. An internal memo addresses
distribution after the first $10,000 and 50 percent thereafter.
A large percentage goes to the researcher's department in order
to encourage the department to continue thinking innovatively
and entrepreneurially. Some of the money goes to the office of
the Vice Chancellor for Research.
10:18:03 AM
SENATOR BEGICH said earlier in the presentation he mentioned
that suicide techniques from the lower 48 are not very effective
in Alaska. He is on the Suicide Prevention Council and would
like to see that research. He also noted that the peak of the
economic crisis in 2014 led to substantial cuts. He wondered how
their capacity for innovation has been affected.
DR. HINZMAN responded that the suicide research is very recent
work. Stacy Rasmus, Director of the Center for Alaska Native
Health Research, found that approaching a community asking why
the suicide rate is high is counterproductive. The approach now
is to tell the community it is a strong and ask how it can be
made stronger. This has been surprisingly effective. The
project, called the American Indian-Alaska Native Clinical and
Translational Health Research, is in partnership with Montana
State University. He offered to put Senator Begich in contact
with Ms. Rasmus.
DR. HINZMAN said the cuts have had an effect. In the last five
years, the university has lost 1,200 people. He showed a slide
on UA research return on investment. He noted it is hard to
track research activity from the funds coming in because grants
are for various periods of time. It is easier to report how much
is spent each year on research activity. The amount spent in one
year depends on the success of previous years. He noted that
losing 1,200 people has an impact.
SENATOR BEGICH said the graph shows peaks in Fiscal Years 17 and
18. He asked if that number would go down in the next few years,
if there is the capacity to keep those numbers up, or if it is
the legislature's responsibility to make sure he has the
capacity to keep those numbers up.
DR. HINZMAN said the university has been scrambling to keep
those numbers up. The research institutes have cars in the
parking lots at three in the morning because people are working.
Losing a lot of faculty and staff is tough. They have invested a
lot of their resources in training people how to write good
proposals so they will be successful. They have put a lot of
effort into external reviews. That training pays off over the
years. Their success rates have gone up. In the short term there
are payoffs for that training, but there are long-term
repercussions from working people at this intense rate.
CHAIR STEVENS expressed appreciation and admiration for what the
presenters are doing.
10:23:58 AM
There being no further business to come before the committee,
Chair Stevens adjourned the Senate Education Standing Committee
at 10:23 a.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SB053_UnivAK_AccreditReporting_BillText_VersionA.pdf |
SEDC 2/21/2019 9:00:00 AM |
SB 53 |
| SB053_UA_Accred_Reporting_SponsorStatement_20Feb2019.pdf |
SEDC 2/21/2019 9:00:00 AM SFIN 3/13/2019 9:00:00 AM |
SB 53 |
| SB053_UnivAK_AccreditReporting_FiscalNote01_UnivAK_16Feb2019.pdf |
SEDC 2/21/2019 9:00:00 AM |
SB 53 |
| SB053_UnivAK_AccreditReporting_Research_CAEP_RevocationLetter_11JAN2019.pdf |
SEDC 2/21/2019 9:00:00 AM SFIN 3/13/2019 9:00:00 AM |
SB 53 |
| SB053_UnivAK_AccreditReporting_Research_CAEP Report_Dec2018.pdf |
SEDC 2/21/2019 9:00:00 AM SFIN 3/13/2019 9:00:00 AM |
SB 53 |
| SB053_UnivAK_AccreditReporting_Research_BOR Policy_April2014.pdf |
SEDC 2/21/2019 9:00:00 AM |
SB 53 |
| SB053_UnivAK_AccreditReporting_Research_Existing UA Accred Summary_21Feb2019.pdf |
SEDC 2/21/2019 9:00:00 AM SFIN 3/13/2019 9:00:00 AM |
SB 53 |
| SEDC_Presentation_Power Of Research_ 21FEB2019.pdf |
SEDC 2/21/2019 9:00:00 AM |
SEDC Presentation - Univ AK - Power of Research - Feb 21, 2019 |