Operational and Fiscal Management of Core Facilities: A Survey of Chief Research Officers

Abstract

Sharing research equipment and personnel across investigators and laboratories has a long-standing history within research universities. However, the coordinated management of centralized, shared resources (i.e., core facilities) that provide access to instruments, technologies, services, expert consultation, and/or other scienti c and clinical capabilities by Chief Research O cers (CROs) represents a more recent shi within the academy. While a number of recent surveys and studies have focused on the experiences of core facility directors and users, there has not yet been a targeted survey of CROs. Partnering with the Association for Public and Land Grant Universities Council on Research, yeight CROs (or their designee) om research universities completed an electronic survey on core facilities (response rate = 35%). Core facilities formally reported to a range of entities within the university (and many to multiple entities), including the CRO o ce (83%), colleges/schools (67%), institutes/centers (42%), and departments (42%). Forty percent of respondents indicated that their university does not have a formal process to become and/or retain status as a recognized core facility. CROs also perceived that di erent types of core facilities directors di ered in their general e ectiveness (F(3,179)=6.88, p<.001); professional sta and administrators were rated as signi cantly more e ective at directing/ Carter, Delahanty, Strasser, Knoedler, Wilson, Davis, Engel