A.J. Stewart Smith
Photo: Denise Applewhite
In a move intended to improve its competitiveness for research
funding, Princeton University has appointed longtime faculty member
A.J. Stewart Smith as its first dean for research, and is restructuring
its efforts to seek support from corporations and foundations.
Smith has served since July 2005 as chair of the University Research
Board. In his new role as dean, he will oversee the Office of Corporate
and Foundation Relations (CFR), which currently reports to the director
of development and will retain a dotted-line relationship to the
development office. The Office of Research and Project Administration
(ORPA) also will now report to Smith instead of the provost, to improve
coordination with CFR and to enhance support for faculty applying for
government-sponsored research grants. Finally, research units that
currently report to the provost, including the Princeton Plasma Physics
Laboratory, will now report to Smith. The changes were approved Nov. 18
by the University's Board of Trustees. All are effective immediately
except for the CFR change, which will be implemented in concert with
the development office over the next several months.
"In the years ahead, Princeton's researchers will likely confront a
challenging environment as they seek to raise funds," said Provost
Christopher Eisgruber. "The costs of top-quality research continue to
rise. At the same time, some government agencies have been forced to
reduce the support they provide for basic research.
"The dean for research will help the University's faculty and research
staff to compete effectively for funding and to form new partnerships
and collaborations," he said. "The position's new title will make it
easier for both internal and external audiences to recognize the dean
as the University's key spokesperson on issues of research policy."
Smith's rank as chair of the University Research Board was already
equivalent to that of dean. "So in some ways we are living up to, and
clarifying, aspirations that have long been stated," said Eisgruber.
Smith will continue to oversee the University Research Board, which
consists of six faculty members, providing administrative oversight of
organized research activities throughout the University, dealing with
questions of policy in the acceptance and administration of research
grants and contracts, and supervising the application of established
policy in this area. The Office of Research and Project Administration
is the administrative arm of the board.
The Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations works with University
faculty members and administrators and with corporations and
foundations to identify sources of support and facilitate funding for
the University's academic initiatives, research programs and
institutional priorities.
"By adding to the strength of the new team under the dean for research,
Princeton will enhance the ability of faculty in all its divisions to
enter into successful partnerships with foundations and corporations,
and to obtain government funding," Eisgruber said. "The dean for
research will work with CFR and ORPA to ensure that they are responsive
to the needs of the faculty."
Having research units such as the Plasma Physics Lab reporting directly
to the dean of research will "facilitate the senior research officer's
ability to seed collaborations among such units, and it will also
enable him to support their research functions more actively,"
Eisgruber said.
During this restructuring, Smith said he will be consulting with
faculty and staff members on how to implement new practices and
strengthen University support for corporate and foundation fund raising.
"After a year of learning the ropes," he said, "I'm firmly convinced we
need a new approach to supporting research, and am honored to be part
of the team that will bring it about. We have a great opportunity to
increase Princeton's competitiveness, but have to get it right! I
strongly believe in a bottom-up approach, and will be widely seeking
ideas and advice over the next few months."
Eisgruber added, "Since his appointment a little more than a year ago,
Stew Smith has performed his role vigorously and effectively. I am
confident that the University will benefit from the additional
visibility that will attend the change in his title. I very much look
forward to working with him to make Princeton an even more hospitable
environment for world-class research."
Smith is a leading researcher in high-energy particle physics and a
nationally-known figure in science policy. After earning bachelor's and
master's degrees from the University of British Columbia, he came to
Princeton as a graduate student and received his Ph.D. in physics in
1966. He joined the faculty in 1967 and served as chair of the physics
department from 1990 to 1998 and associate chair from 1979 to 1982.
Since 1992, he has been the Class of 1909 Professor of Physics.
Over the years, Smith has carried out a succession of major experiments
in particle physics at U.S. national laboratories. Since 1995, he has
served as scientific team leader of an international collaboration of
600 scientists from 10 countries involved in a project based at the
Stanford Linear Accelerator. A fellow of the American Physical Society,
he has been a member of the experiments committee for the Large Hadron
Collider at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) in
Geneva, Switzerland, and has served on boards for many other groups,
including the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Academy of
Sciences, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the National
Research Council of Canada.
