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Impact of administrative/contract office moves
Dear MRI Faculty and Staff,
Many of you already know that the MRI proposals, contracts and accounting office, along with some of the IT staff, will be relocating from the MRL Building to the Land and Water Building behind the MRL Building. This will be the home for a new office within the OSVPR called the Strategic Interdisciplinary Research Office (SIRO). The attached document describes the vision and mission for this office. We apologize for the delay in this formal communication, but we have taken the time to involve the relevant staff in the creation of this office, and so it has been a continuous evolution over the past ~ 3months.
There were many motivations behind creation of this office at this time. One of them concerns the plans to transition the MRL building into an Energy and Materials Research Building focusing on collaborative research activities between PSIEE and MRI. These plans include relocation of faculty research activities to the MRL Building, and renovation of the MRL Building (primarily, to add more fume hoods). The funds for the building renovations are almost in place. Jim Adair is already moving his research labs to the Steidle Building, and Jeff Brownson (EME) will be moving his lab into the building shortly. Subsequent to the building renovation (to be completed over the next 18 months), Tom Mallouk (Chem) and a new MRI-PSIEE co-funded faculty member will take occupancy in the building to grow the Center for Solar Nanomaterials along with Craig Grimes, Jeff Brownson and Greg Barber. The Center was seeded last year by a small joint grant from MRI and PSIEE to create a solar simulation lab (which Barber is setting up, and will be managing under MCL), and to submit large multi-investigator proposals. The other MRL Building researchers, who are not moving to the new MSC Building, are 90% in the energy and materials area, and so their assimilation into this new building theme should be seamless.
Another dimension of this change is our anticipated move to the new MSC Building in 18 months. We do not yet know whether the SIRO will move to central campus where it can better service all of the institutes, and at the same time those of us who make the move to the MSC; or perhaps we will learn over the next 18 months how to make it work where it, even for those on campus. Obviously, the SIRO will continue to evolve, and our anticipated move to the MSC will be a factor in how it evolves. Your input on this will be welcome as we continue to make those plans. But we assure you that MRI’s ability to service its active research faculty, its industrial centers and partnerships and its culture of entrepreneurship will not suffer (although we will need your advice and understanding to get over the inevitable bumps that come with any change).
Beyond the SIRO, there will necessarily be some impact of this change on the way we do our day-to-day business within the MRL Building. We all know that our contracts/accounting offices and staff served many purposes, and their departure will have a ripple effect on how we do other things. Here too, we need your understanding as we make the transition… but mostly we need to hear from you about any negative effects so we can fix them, and/or suggestions for improvement.
Finally, a synopsis of the details we know right now: we expect that Sharon, Monica, Rick, and Cyndi will move sometime shortly after Labor Day, followed in a couple weeks by Patti and Amy . Kathy Gummo will remain at the front office in 201, and Tina O’Hara will move to 201A and continue with her HR responsibilities to MRI and provide overlap support of the front office activities. Bob Cornwall will split his time between the two buildings. For any paperwork that needs physical flow, we will organize a morning and afternoon swap at a particular time each day. Between now and the move to the Land and Water building, our staff groups will be meeting to make sure we have addressed as many conceivable problems as possible. Any suggestions or issues, please talk to, or send an email to, Bob Cornwall (rgc5@psu.edu).
Of course, feel free to come to me about any of this at any time. I know we can count on your help and understanding in making this change. After all, another motivation behind creation of the SIRO was the sharing of best practices amongst the Institutes…. each of you play a key role in the best practices that MRI has developed, so please keep it up.
Together, MRI, PSIEE and the other institutes are making an important change for Penn State’s future in research.
Thank you all, Carlo
