A key part of the UC-wide Industry-University Cooperative Research Program is the UC Discovery Fellows Program. The purpose of the program is to expand the university’s public service mission, as well as strengthen the state’s R&D economy by accelerating the delivery of tangible benefits from publicly funded research in science, engineering, and other relevant disciplines.

The program will help the university develop a new cadre of
professionals whose job will be to provide leadership in building sustainable industry-university relationships across both the ten UC campuses and the UC-affiliated Department of Energy National Laboratories. These professionals (or "fellows") will work with researchers at the campuses, the laboratories, and in industry to develop and test innovative new models for building such relationships.

The UC Discovery Program also administers matching grants that are awarded by the IUCRP with state and university funding. The purpose of these grants is to leverage industry investments in UC research, effectively forming a 3-way research partnership between UC, California industry, and the state. UC Discovery Grants help California R&D companies and University of Californi researchers build long term partnerships through cooperative research projects.

UC Discovery Grants invest in five fields of science that drive the competitiveness of California's economy: biotechnology, communications and networking, digital media, electronics manufacturing and new materials, and information technology for life sciences. In addition to these five fields, the call for proposals now includes one-year Pilot Project for Multidisciplinary Research in three fields: energy and environment, health and wellness, and rapid application of nanotechnologies.

The next proposal submission deadline for all fields is May 17, 2007. More than $15 million in IUCRP funds are currently available. For more information, please visit www.ucdiscoverygrant.org or email proposalinfo@ucdiscoverygrant.org.

For questions, please contact Teri Melese, the IUCRP Fellows Representative at UCSF.