Mizzou has some new partners in its efforts to expand research opportunities at the university. The group includes bankers, attorneys, researchers at national laboratories and research centers, distinguished military leaders, venture capitalists and business executives. They all got together Nov. 6 at the Reynolds Alumni Center to hear about current research efforts and to suggest ways the campus could ramp up those efforts.
MU’s Office of Research has established the Research and Development Advisory Board. Members who attended the first meeting last Friday received a detailed briefing about the new strategic initiative that is called Mizzou Advantages.
Those initiatives come “at a time when our university is reformatting everything we are doing and grappling with some changes,” Chancellor Brady Deaton told board members. “This reflects a transformation of the way we do business here.” He asked the board for the “frankness, candor and innovation that you can bring to the discussion.”
Rob Duncan, vice chancellor for research, told members that as Mizzou Advantages go forward, smaller groups of board members will be invited back to MU to advise campus leaders on specific issues. He said that especially valuable would be advice on “how to intersect the cultures” of the business world and academic research.