The Office of the Vice Provost for Research Advancement and the Academic Senate have announced a new USC Center for Excellence in Research mirrored on the successful USC Center for Excellence in Teaching that began 10 years ago.

The center is a faculty-originated initiative developed by the University Research Committee. It is designed to increase the impact and prominence of scholarly research throughout the university. To this end, faculty fellows will be selected to serve as research leaders and mentors to other faculty and students.

Faculty members will compete to become fellows, who will receive an annual award of $2,500 for three years. The first class of fellows will begin work in April. The deadline for applications is Feb. 15, with interviews to be held in March.

USC faculty members from both tenure track and non-tenure track are eligible. Prospective fellows should have a strong desire to assist colleagues at all levels in research techniques, be willing to contribute 50 to 100 hours per year to the new center and have the endorsement of the chair of the faculty member’s department or dean of the school.

The Office of the Vice Provost for Research Advancement currently offers courses that teach faculty members about research, but they are focused almost exclusively on obtaining grants. Randolph Hall, vice provost for research advancement, said he envisions the new center creating a mentoring environment for research.

Fellows, for instance, could help colleagues employ digital resources in research or teach better ways to develop collaborative projects. “It could involve a whole variety of ideas, and it’s only limited by the imagination of our faculty,” Hall said.

Much like the Center for Excellence in Teaching, the Center for Excellence in Research will recognize outstanding faculty and give them the honor and responsibility of elevating research throughout the university. “The idea is to create a set of activities to stimulate faculty-to-faculty mentoring and interaction,” Hall said.

The center was the brainchild of Maja Mataric´, professor of computer science and neuroscience and senior associate dean for research in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

Mataric´, who last year was president-elect of the Academic Senate, co-chaired a subcommittee with Malcolm Snead, professor at the USC School of Dentistry, that proposed the idea to the University Research Committee. This year, as Academic Senate president, she said she is thrilled to see the center become a reality.

“If we are to focus on research excellence, we need to provide consistent training, mentoring, promoting and awarding of our faculty at all levels,” she said. “Our own outstanding faculty can serve as the very best mentors.”

An appointment as fellow will be recognized as a contribution to university service. The Office of Vice Provost for Research Advancement will support the cost of advancement activities undertaken by the fellows, who also will be honored at an annual dinner.

A “research salon” is another innovation designed to nurture research that will be starting soon. This biweekly lunch meeting will gather 15 or so faculty members from USC at large at the University Club to discuss a theme determined by a faculty moderator.

Applications for the new research fellows can be found at http://www.usc.edu/research/for_researchers/funding/usc/

Questions may be directed to Justin Pearlman, postdoctoral research associate in the Office of the Vice Provost for Research Advancement at pearlman@usc.edu.