University of South Florida (USF)

INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT & COMMITMENT

University of South Florida (USF)

USF, in concert with the College of Behavioral and Community Sciences (CBCS) and the College of Public Health (COPH), are committed to providing and ensuring that adequate facilities, equipment, administrative support, and other resources are available to ensure that project investigators and associated staff are able to carry out project goal and objectives.

Scientific Environment. USF has an RU/VH: Research Universities (very high research activity) designation from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and a designation as an Innovation and Economic Prosperity University by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. In 2015, the National Science Foundation ranked USF as 25th in total research expenditures among public universities and 41st among all universities (public and private). The USF System is home to medical clinics, a major mental health research institute, and two public broadcasting stations and is the largest metropolitan research university within the State University System (SUS) of Florida,

Community Engagement. USF is one of 40 public research universities nationwide with very high research activity also designated as community engaged for its outreach and partnerships by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, a distinction attained by only 2.3% of all universities. USF is one of only 16 universities in the nation selected as a Tillman Partnership University of the Pat Tillman Foundation, a selection based on innovative veteran-specific support services and proven culture of community for military families.

The College of Behavioral and Community Sciences (CBCS). The mission of the CBCS is to improve the health, well-being, and safety of individuals and their families. CBCS focuses on the rigorous development, dissemination, implementation, and analysis of innovative solutions to the complex challenges that affect the behavior and well-being of individuals, families, populations, and communities in which we live. CBCS is one of the top grants-funded colleges At USF, receiving $27.4 million in total awards in FY14, a $2 million increase over the previous year, with $12,575,472 in federal funding, a $3 million increase over the previous year.

CBCS includes the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute (FMHI), the Dean’s Office, and six academic departments: Child & Family Studies, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Criminology, Mental Health Law and Policy, School of Aging Studies, and School of Social Work. The six departments and schools include clinical units, research-intensive units, and traditional academic departments. FMHI, established by the Florida legislature in 1967, is one of the largest behavioral health services research centers in the United States. Focused on high impact research, FMHI houses 13 research centers, including five national research centers. Its affiliates conduct multidisciplinary research, consistent with training in psychology, psychiatry, economics, criminology, gerontology, anthropology, social work, public health, nursing, and education.

With 155 faculty, 110 grant-funded research staff, and 83 administrative and support personnel, CBCS serves 2,600 students enrolled across 6 undergraduate, 9 master, and 5 doctoral programs and conducts numerous state contracts and Federal grants.

Other Unit Commitments.The USF Office of Research and Innovation (ORI) will assist with pre/post-award management, oversight of the IRB and research compliance. Research Computing (RC) and USF Information Technology will ensure that all personnel associated with the project have the network and computing supports necessary to conduct the project. USF Innovative Education will provide assistance in the development and delivery of online, distance learning programs and incorporation of multimedia technology. The USF Libraries system will provide access to the research literature and advanced reference/research supports. These units are described more completely in the Facilities and Resources section.

FACILITIES AND RESOURCES

Core Facilities

[Name of Program/Project]will be housed within the College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, a 200,000 SF building (MHC) housing faculty offices, research facilities, a research data center, instructional classrooms, a 32-unit instructional computer lab, administrative support units, a 10,000 SF conference center, and the FMHI Research Library (see Library Resources below).

USF Innovative Education (USF IE). USF IE supports USF’s distance learning programs and administers specialized credit and non-credit continuing education programs, distance learning, degree completion, certificate, workforce development, lifelong learning, and pre-college programs. Its Innovation Hub is a collaborative space designed for USF faculty and staff to create affordable, accessible, high-quality online courses that meet the needs of today's students. The Hub includes a video production studio, an audio recording booth, collaborative spaces, modern workstations, and a group of instructional designers, multi-media designers, and video production professionals who specialize in building sophisticated, interactive online courses. USF faculty can attend Innovative Education’s Online Instructor Certification course to learn core best practices of online instruction and methods for incorporating those best practices into USF Canvas courses.

Research Computing (RC).RC, a department within USF Information Technology, promotes the availability of high-performance computing resources including software tools, high performance computer hardware, and training for both faculty and students. RC maintains the CIRCE cluster (upgraded to 6000 cores). It uses a Lustre parallel file system for fast IO, and Infiniband for a computational interconnect. Its cluster web portal allows faculty to launch jobs, control data movements, set up group storage space, review usage statistics, and check job execution status.

Technology Support. The USF Information Technology (IT) staff provides hardware and software support to faculty and staff. Within the MHC building, IT operates a local area network (LAN) of 500 personal computers protected by a Nokia 390 Checkpoint-NGX firewall. A Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) is on staff and manages both technical and procedural issues of a complete information security program. These PCs are attached to a Windows Server Network with 17 servers, with over 8 TB of managed storage. IT services are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. USF IT maintains and operates a secured central server backed up daily to ensure that data is current and secure. An off-site Disaster Recovery center provides continuity of service (email, file access, web presence) in the event of a local disaster.

Standard software licensed to each computer includes Microsoft Office Professional (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and Outlook), Adobe Professional, Qualtrics, and EndNote. Data analysis software includes AMOS, LISREL, EQS, SPSS, HLM, MPlus, Sample Power, STATA, SAS, Systat, Atlas.ti, and NVivo 7. A wide range of site licenses are available when needed from the USF Computer Store. Laser jet printers are available as well as a system of networked Xerox multi-function devices capable of scanning, emailing, and high volume color printing and copying. Secured remote computing is also available.

Grant Support. The USF Office of Research and Innovation (ORI) provides development of institutional proposals for major federal/state/private funding, manages pre- and post-award services, and oversees University certification of federal and state compliance requirements. Within ORI, the Sponsored Research department is responsible for the review and approval of proposals to agencies for funding research and other academic activities. Within the College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, where ITRE resides, there are specialized pre- and post-award grant personnel assigned to assist, track, and support all awarded grants and contracts.

Library Resources. The USF Library System is comprised of the main campus library (referred to as the Tampa Library), two affiliated regional libraries at the St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee campuses, the Shimberg Health Sciences Library, serving the needs of USF Health, and the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute (FMHI) Research Library, serving CBCS. Collectively, the USF Library System owns 2,588,609 monographs, 91,680 serials, and 930 databases that support the academic programs and research conducted at USF. All of the USF Libraries offer computer labs, networked databases, full-text electronic resources, and interlibrary services. Professional research librarians at all of the USF Libraries offer classes, individualized instruction, consultation, and online tutorials to help students and faculty improve their research and information management skills. Distance learning supports, such as online reference and consultation chat and distance lending, provide distance learners with the same professional library and information services onsite students receive.

Office Space for Investigators. All of the study investigators and the study coordinator have private offices that are equipped with one or more personal computers with internet access and a variety of software applications and peripheral hardware components to meet the needs of the proposed research. Computers are password protected, connected to a network, and daily backed up to a server. These are in addition to the technology supports described earlier.