Research Staff Profile -- Karen Hayes

Improving Industry/University Relations

One goal of the Research Area is to expand the campus's ability and success in securing sponsored research from the industrial sector. As the Industry Liaison in Research Liaison and Development (RL&D), Karen Hayes works with faculty and staff throughout campus to develop best practices for partnering with industry.

Like other world-class research institutions, UMass Amherst has a diverse portfolio of sponsors that support its work. The downsizing or elimination of large corporate research and development units has yielded an innovation gap that's causing companies to reconsider their relationships with research universities. “As a campus, we have what corporations want and need: talent and technology. They get it by hiring our students, sponsoring our research, and licensing our technology,” says Karen. “Sponsored activity from the industrial sector doubled in FY05 and held steady in FY06, which means we're headed in the right direction. My job is to help the campus keep that trend positive by enabling relationships and processes that support and facilitate industry/university research collaboration.”

Karen first came to campus in 1990 as part of the industry relations group in the Computer Science department. One of her first assignments was to help the department coordinate a research conference for their industrial partners. It was an experience that would help define the direction her career would take over the next 16 years. “Working on that first research conference helped me see the value of industry/university (I/U) collaboration,” says Karen. “It was clear there was real benefit to all parties. But it was also clear that there was work to be done to bridge the different cultures in order for collaborations to grow and thrive.”

In the mid-nineties, Karen went to work for what was to be one of the predecessor organizations to the current RL&D department. “This new organization focused on developing institutional models for partnering with industry,” says Karen. “The model—with one foot in Advancement and one in Research—was motivated by strategic research partnerships but also looked at things like vendor relations, recruiting and philanthropy. The tools we developed for I/U relationships during that period were innovative—some succeeded and some didn't. Through that experience, we learned a lot about developing an enabling I/U infrastructure.”

One thing that did stick is the idea of nurturing strategic research partnerships with select companies, an area in which the campus is enjoying success. An example is the campus's recent alliance with Rochester, NY-based Eastman Kodak Company. “Kodak has a new External Alliance program where they choose a few academic institutions in which they will invest in research and development,” notes Karen. “The campus is pleased to be on Kodak's A-list.”

Brokered by the office of Commercial Ventures and Intellectual Property and RL&D, Kodak and the campus signed a Master Research Agreement last month. Though Karen believes there are many ways to improve working with industry, one of the biggest hurdles can be the time it takes to negotiate the terms of a research project. “What's really exciting is that within days of signing the Master Agreement, two sponsored research projects were signed with Kodak, two are currently being negotiated and two or three more are under discussion,” says Karen. Kodak will also be sponsoring a graduate student in the Polymer Science and Engineering department. “This bodes well for increased research support from Eastman Kodak as well as for enabling other research collaborations of mutual value,” says Karen.

Microsoft is another company that knows the value of UMass Amherst. The software giant recently acknowledged its multi-year relationship with campus by designating UMass Amherst its first-in-the-nation IT Showcase School last year. “We're seeing the campus being chosen more and more as a strategic partner to industry,” says Karen. "It's our research, faculty and students that get us noticed, and it's the campus's ability to be a good partner that helps the relationships succeed.”

Another way Karen helps the campus to engage industry is as program manager for the Research Leadership in Action program. This relatively new internal grant program launched in 2005 by the Vice Provost for Research provides seed funds to faculty who want to develop or tighten ties with industry, government and private partners through high-profile annual events such as conferences, workshops, performances and symposia. The program requires awardees to secure a 1:1 match from one or more external organizations. As program manager, Karen is a resource to faculty interested in pursuing these grants. “Based on feedback from the faculty, the program is working. It's also been very satisfying to see the partnerships that are developing due to these events and we're here to help them grow,” says Karen.

Facilitating strategic partnerships and administering the RLA program are only two of the many ways in which the Research Area helps the campus engage partners from the corporate sector. To learn more about the campus's programs and strategies for industry/university relations, call 545-9586 or email Karen. You can find information about Kodak's Strategic Alliance program at Kodak's External Alliance website and the Research Leadership in Action program here.