I.                     University Affiliation:  The Kenan Institute was chartered and approval granted by the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina General Administration on July 31, 1992 and Institute operations began on August 16, 1992.  The Kenan Institute is administratively a part of the Chancellor’s Unit of NC State University and is located on NC State University’s Centennial Campus in Raleigh, North Carolina.

II.                   Mission: The mission of the Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology & Science is to develop partnerships supporting programs in the areas of basic research, K-12 education, technology commercialization and public policy.  These partnerships are forged with individuals and organizations dedicated to the advancement of science, engineering and technology as a force in improving the economic and social well-being of the State of North Carolina, the nation and the world.

III.                  Project Assessment Process: For most projects, the Kenan Institute is simply the connecting link between NC State, the Kenan Charitable Trust, and the project administration. The Kenan Institute does not manage or administer these projects. For example, the Collaborative Funding Assistance Program is managed & administered by the NC Biotechnology Center, not by the Kenan Institute.

Annually, the Institute requests the principal investigators of the projects it supports to provide a Project Status Report (pdf) that summarizes their project’s significant accomplishments to date. Specifically, the report requests both in-kind and cash contributions the project attains from University, Corporate, Foundation, or Government partners and the percentage of that support that can be attributable as having been leveraged by Kenan Institute funding. The Kenan Institute subsequently uses this information to annually inform the Board of Directors of the Kenan Fund for Engineering, Technology, and Science as well as the Board of Trustees of the Kenan Institute regarding the progress and leverage attained by the projects the Institute supports. Project administrators may conduct additional assessment of their projects’ processes, but do not report these to the Kenan Institute. 

The few projects that are managed directly by the Kenan Institute have only been in existence for a short time. Their assessment plans, which are being developed or have recently begun, do include both project status and process assessment. The directly-managed projects are the Kenan Fellows Program for Curriculum and Leadership Development, the Institute for Emerging Issues, and the North Carolina Space Initiative.

IV.               Self Assessment Process: The Kenan Institute will engage in a review of its progress by inviting the consideration of individuals representative of its four strategic areas of focus including Basic Research, Technology Commercialization, K-12 Education, and Science and Technology Policy. These reviewers will consist of individuals from within the University community as well as from external partners. These individuals will be asked to review and assess the process, impact and efficacy of Institute support for programs in these four strategic areas. They will be provided with an overview of the Institute’s mission, organizational structure, history of past and current programs, budgets, leverage attained, and prospects for future programmatic growth of new Institute programs.

The reviewers will initially be invited to spend a day at the Kenan Institute with Institute staff where the information mentioned above will be shared with them. The reviewers will then be invited to meet individually with Institute staff and Principal Investigators of past and current Institute programs to gather information relevant to the review. Upon completing their analysis, the reviewers will be invited to comment on the Institute’s past performance and provide suggestions for improvement.

This self-assessment is included under Initiatives to Improve Performance in the Kenan Institute’s Compact Plan. It is anticipated that the reviewers will engage in this review in either Spring 2003 or Fall 2004.

V.                 Examples of Kenan Project Assessments:

A.     Kenan Fellows Program for Curriculum and Leadership Development – September 2002.

Program Description

The Kenan Fellows Program for Curriculum and Leadership Development seeks to enhance teacher professionalism and leadership by encouraging teachers to develop novel curricular resources in collaboration with the private sector, public schools, and institutions of higher learning.  The program was established in 2000 as a result of a community effort to address teacher retention and recruitment in the area of science, mathematics and technology instruction, as well as the need for relevant and meaningful curriculum in these areas.

Program objectives include:

·        Develop teacher leaders in the classrooms across North Carolina;

·        Advance the art of teaching by fostering a focus on teaching based in inquiry, problem solving and real life application;

·        Enrich teachers’ content knowledge in mathematics, science and technology through strategic partnerships with businesses and higher education; and,

·        Develop innovative and relevant curricular tools and resources in partnership with the NC Department of Public Instruction to be disseminated to teachers and students across North Carolina.

Outstanding classroom teachers selected as Kenan Fellows engage in a two-year fellowship in partnership with scientists and university faculty.  Fellows participate in two summer internships as well as special seminars and events throughout the school year to foster their professional growth.  They also earn six graduate credits from NC State University through their participation as a Fellow and receive support to pursue National Board Certification and participate in national and state conferences.  Currently two classes of Fellows have been selected and are participating either in their first (2002 Fellows) or second (2001 Fellows) program year.

 

Assessment Plan

Data are being collected using the following instruments/procedures:

·        Workshop Evaluations from the 2001 and 2002 summer internship sessions provide data on whether Fellows find sessions challenging and useful for application to the classroom.

·        Impact Surveys completed via the World Wide Web by both classes of Fellows, to gauge Fellows’ perceptions of program impact related to key goals, including teaching/ leadership ability, comfort levels in developing and maintaining partnerships with the community, and relationships with University Mentors.

·        University Mentor Surveys, completed via the World Wide Web by University Mentors, who serve as collaborators with Fellows’ to develop their teaching/leadership skills and innovative curriculum projects.

·        Kenan Fellows journal excerpts, used to address various questions of interest to the program.

·        Data on National Board Certification, attendance/presentation at conferences, and grants obtained by Fellows provide information on how the program has enhanced Fellows’ leadership skills.

Additional data that may be collected this year following completion of a preliminary assessment report include data on student achievement in science/mathematics, data on the process of curriculum dissemination by 2001 Fellows, and qualitative changes in students’ attitudes towards science/mathematics/technology.  Jan Donley, Educational Evaluation Consultant is conducting the assessment for the Kenan Fellows program.

B.     North Carolina Biotechnology Center-Kenan Institute Collaborative Funding Assistance Program:

Program Review conducted in Summer-Fall 1999

Program  Description

The William R. Kenan, Jr. Institute for Engineering, Technology, & Science and North Carolina Biotechnology Center Collaborative Funding Assistance Program is an example of the positive impact of collaborative partnerships.  In 1994, under the vision and leadership of its first director Dr. Harold Hopfenberg, the Institute developed the Collaborative Funding Assistance Program with the goal of creating partnerships, which would lead to scientific discoveries and commercial opportunities for the program’s participants.

 

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center (NCBC), a private, non-profit corporation established and funded by the North Carolina General Assembly, has a mission to promote long-term economic development throughout the state by supporting biotechnology research, business, education and policy-making. The NCBC was identified as a logical partner, whose core mission complemented that of the Institute. The Collaborative Funding Assistance Program is administered by the NCBC. NCBC program managers and specialists coordinate the intake, review, and selection of program proposals as well as the disbursement of both NCBC and Kenan Institute funds.

 

Through the Collaborative Funding Assistance Program, the Kenan Institute and the NCBC have worked closely to promote long-term cooperation between North Carolina universities and North Carolina companies for the benefit of the citizens and the economy of North Carolina. Specifically, the Institute and the NCBC have created a pool of resources to encourage North Carolina biotechnology or bioscience companies to develop mutually rewarding research partnerships with scholars from any public or private North Carolina university.

 

The Collaborative Funding Assistance Program supports research efforts within the State’s universities, drawing upon leveraged funding from a partner company in North Carolina and other states, the Kenan Institute, the NCBC, and a North Carolina university, public or private. Since its launch in 1995, the program has received 32 proposals and administered a total of 27 awards, each providing up to $30,000 per year for a maximum of three years. An award is intended to support a graduate student fellow or post-doctoral fellow, in the principal investigator’s laboratory, to conduct research regarding the proposed project. The balance of the funding is allocated to a complementary research opportunity fund to be used at the discretion of the principal investigator at the university for expenses in support of the research project. For each award, the Collaborative Funding Assistance Program provides $20,000 in cash and the company partner provides at least $10,000 in cash. The university partner is expected to provide in-kind contributions of at least $10,000.

 

Since 1995, program funding has increased from the initial $100,000 commitments of the Institute and the NCBC.  For fiscal year 1999-2000, the NCBC doubled its annual contribution to the program from $200,000 to $400,000 that will be leveraged against the Institute’s contribution of $130,000. This one-time budget increase for the Collaborative Funding Assistance Program from the NCBC results from an appropriation of an additional $2 million from the State to the NCBC. The NCBC’s Executive Committee chose to allocate an additional $200,000 of these funds to the Collaborative Funding Assistance Program because of the high value the Center places on fostering collaborations between industry and universities.

 

The perceived value and success of the program was a factor in the Institute’s choice of the Collaborative Funding Assistance Program for review, with the goal of gaining information helpful to the continuous improvement of all Institute supported programs. This report reviews the progress of Collaborative Funding Assistance Program projects that had completed their funding cycle as of July 1999.

 

Purpose of Review and Methodology

 

This review serves two functions: (1) To learn how the Collaborative Funding Assistance Program has impacted its participants and (2) To develop an effective review protocol that can be consistently adapted and applied to a variety of ongoing Institute programs.

 

In developing the protocol for this review, Institute staff met with NCBC staff to define criteria for evaluating the progress of program-sponsored projects. Given the diversity of program stakeholders and the need to create a manageable review protocol that would cover a wide spectrum of programs, specific measures were developed including:

 

a.      project development stage

b.      intellectual property protected

c.      commercial viability demonstrated

d.      additional/leveraged funding generated

e.      publications generated

 

Institute staff reviewed each project proposal and conducted personal interviews with each project’s company representative and university principal investigator. Feedback from each interview was recorded according to the defined criteria. Findings were then compiled and summarized in brief. A report was presented to the Kenan Institute’s Board of Trustees at the Fall 1999 Board of Trustees meeting.

Summary of Review

Nine projects had completed their funding cycle through the Collaborative Funding Assistance Program. These projects served as the objects of our review. Each project’s unique focus promised valuable research and commercial opportunity for its participants. While each project reported different measures of success, as a whole the Collaborative Funding Assistance Program was perceived by the participants to have value in providing seed funding that generated significant research results and additional program support.

 

Most of the projects reviewed were in the basic research stage at the end of their funding cycle with some showing proof of research concept. Only one project had advanced to the point of clinical trials. However, many of the projects achieved a level of success regarding their preliminary research objectives and had met early project milestones that set the stage for continued research.

 

Some of the projects identified specific commercially viable product applications for technologies developed through program-sponsored research. For example, the Novo Nordisk textile project, the Trimeris Epstein Barr Virus project, and the Aeolus superoxide dismutase project identified product applications ranging from a new textile colorization process to development of new drugs. In instances where project research did not lead to identifiable product applications, research often served to complement a company’s overall research portfolio such that further refinements could lead to commercially viable products. For example, gene technology research conducted in the Embrex-NC State project continues to be refined and may have commercial relevance once greater efficiencies are achieved.

 

A critical element of success for many of the projects was the role of the Collaborative Funding Assistance Program in generating initial and follow-on support for the research project. Novo Nordisk representatives claim that without the support of the Collaborative Funding Assistance Program, the Novo Nordisk textile project would not have been accomplished. The program’s matching support was considered critical by project participants in convincing Novo Nordisk headquarters to continue to support the research. Despite Novo Nordisk’s concerns regarding the cost efficiency of the textile dyeing process developed, the project has entered into its third year of funding supported solely by a $93,000 investment by Novo Nordisk.

 

Collaborative Funding Assistance Program funding was also critical in obtaining continued support for Aeolus Pharmaceutical’s superoxide dismutase project. Aeolus has invested an additional $130,000 into the project for continued research and anticipates the project will result in a drug that will serve as a next-generation drug in their product portfolio. Moreover, Aeolus credits the Collaborative Funding Assistance Program with having helped the company leverage an additional $6.5 million of support over the past four years for some of their complementary research projects.

 

The Collaborative Funding Assistance Program has not only helped program participants to build support from within their organizations but has helped partners build support from external sources as well. In the case of Trimeris’s antiviral technology project, Trimeris credits the Collaborative Funding Assistance Program with helping them secure funding from a Canadian venture capital firm. Specifically, Trimeris was able to secure $17 million in venture capital funding and estimates that roughly 10% or approximately $1.7 million of that funding can be leveraged directly against funding provided through the Collaborative Funding Assistance Program. In the case of Novalon Pharmaceutical’s cancer cell death research, Novalon estimates the Collaborative Funding Assistance Program as directly leveraging an additional $170,000 which represents roughly 2% of Novalon’s overall funding from $8 million in venture capital funding and $500,000 in research grants.

 

The value of the Collaborative Funding Assistance Program to program participants was not limited solely to commercially viable product applications and funding generated. Program-sponsored research enabled the diversification of research interests and enhanced the experience base of industry and university participants alike. Research results have been shared through publications generated as a result of the program. Five scholarly works based on project research have been published and more scholarly publications are forthcoming.

Recommendations

The Collaborative Funding Assistance Program has been received with enthusiasm by program participants and has generated value for those involved. That value is evident by the level of additional support the program has been able to leverage for its participants and by the promise of commercially viable technologies and research results.

 

In light of the fact that participants can apply for continued funding by submitting follow-up Collaborative Funding Assistance Program proposals, the current level of funding seems appropriate for one to two year long projects. It is important to keep in mind that biotechnology research involves a longer lead-time where results of scientific and commercial value are realized in the long run. Thus, immediate commercial potential may not be realizable and the progress of each project needs to be tracked long after the program has completed funding the project.

 

In continuing to support its collaborative relationships, the Institute will consider utilizing the following policies and procedures, which can be adapted and applied to all Institute programs:

 

1.   A “Partnership Compact Checklist” may be used internally each time an award is considered. This document will aid Institute staff in drafting a Partnership Compact or letter of commitment which clearly defines the terms of support including contingencies for continued support, as well as project expectations, and aspirations of both the award recipients and the Institute. (See Appendix C)

                                     

2.      Funding recipients will be required to submit a “Project Status Report” one to two times a year. A project status report will be used to inform the Institute on the progress of each project.

 

3.      As a complement to the project status report, the Institute will request current and past funding recipients to complete an “Additional Funding/Leverage Questionnaire, (pdf, page 4)” to measure any additional support leveraged as a result of Institute support. This survey will enable the Institute to track the long-term activities and success of various Institute-sponsored projects, even after Institute funding support has been terminated.

 

4.      Finally, the Institute may conduct detailed progress reviews of certain select projects by utilizing and adapting the protocol developed through the review of the Collaborative Funding Assistance Program. Such a review would be used to further refine the Institute’s methodology for program support with the goal of continuous program improvement.

Sample documents have been prepared to aid in the implementation of these policies and procedures and may be adapted to fit the unique needs of different Institute-supported projects.

A well developed evaluative methodology that builds commitment, increases channels for communication, and ensures consistency in administration of support will serve the Institute well in helping to identify, encourage, and promote the successful development of longstanding partnerships which promise significant long term returns.