Physics professor Smith GS '66 named first dean for research

In an effort to streamline fundraising and maintain the University's status as a major research institution, the Board of Trustees appointed physics professor A. J. Stewart Smith GS '66 last month as the first dean for research.

Smith, who joined the faculty in 1967 and chaired the physics department for most of the 1990s, was most recently the chair of the University Research Board, where he spent half his time managing the University's research efforts. Now, University Vice President and Secretary Bob Durkee '69 said, "We've come to realize that this is an area that demands full-time attention."

"It's a way to provide more support in seeking research and to increase grant-seeking from federal aid agencies and from corporations and research units," Durkee added. "We're doing very well ... We just need to keep doing well."

Along with Smith's appointment, the University pledged to overhaul its research management structure, making the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations, the Office of Research and Project Administration and the various research units all report to Smith.

The move comes as Princeton — which prides itself as a top-tier research institution — faces increased competition from larger, graduate-oriented universities, sharp rises in research costs and dwindling private and public funding nationwide.

Last year, Princeton scholars were awarded approximately $225 million for their research, a third of which was allotted to the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Ninety percent was issued from federal agencies, mostly the Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Only 10 percent came from private corporations and foundations.

The University "has not attracted as much support from corporations as it should be able to," Durkee said.

In his new position, Smith will spend time helping faculty through the grant-seeking process.

"When research proposals come up, we all have to discuss and understand them in order to decide which agencies and corporations would be most appropriate and advantageous to approach," Smith said.

Between the end of the World War II and the end of the Cold War, Smith said. "There was enough money around to support good ideas." During that time, the Research Board focused on enforcing research policy and ensuring the "dissemination of new knowledge beneficial to society," instead of obtaining funding.

Present circumstances, however, have confined the University to providing little more than "startup packages" for new projects. "We provide our faculty with 'seed' money and hope that they can go on to sustain themselves with outside funds," Stewart said. "We have to place our bets with the most outstanding research."

The grant process is not easy, however.

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"Both corporations and the government receive thousands upon thousands of grant applications on a yearly basis," Smith said. "We are competing against very good scholars and researchers, and that means we have to work very hard to attract support."

"The good news for Princeton," he added, "is that here, we have some of the best people in the field, and we intend to compete very effectively."

Smith said he is a proponent of a "bottom-up" management style. "The inspiration comes from the faculty, but it is the adminstrator's job to get the most brilliant petitions to flourish," he said.

"We'd like to expand our contacts and enhance funding from all available sources," he added. "Good ideas should never be allowed to die on the vine."