We need to insure that our collective experience in establishing and operating centers is available to others who may need to establish a center. We also need to be aware of the potential downside to having centers. A center is often quite large with a focused agenda and sufficient funding to cover a number of researchers, including some who may be employed only by the center. We need to insure that the existence of a center doesn't keep us from aggressively pursuing new research ideas. And we need good ways to disestablish a center that have served its purpose or is no longer able to support itself.
Centers are only one of several collaboration mechanisms.
We have also established consortia of industrial partners, where companies can come together to focus on a common problem. We also have the possibility of an umbrella agreement with a single company, as we have established with Caterpillar. And there may be future collaborations involving multiple universities and companies. These collaborations are beginning to involve more senior personnel from the companies and need to also have comparable levels of involvement from the university. The challenge is for us to continue to find innovative ways to collaborate, and to insure that this information is widely available on campus.