This includes more than acting as an interface between the University and others, including government and industry, to identify research needs and find sponsors to fund research related to those needs. It also includes looking broadly at the capabilities of University faculty and becoming acquainted with and encouraging their interest in coal-related fields. These activities open up research opportunities, increase the reputation of University faculty, and possibly increase markets for Illinois coal. The center also provides a wide range of promotional materials to help advertise coal and the research activities and successes of faculty and staff to children, adults, politicians, sponsors, and other researchers. Development of these materials is an important activity of the Center.
Activities related to helping develop proposals are also broad.
The Center helps faculty and staff with budgets, reviews proposals for completeness and responsiveness, and copies and delivers proposals to the sponsor. In addition, the Center provides researchers a broad range of coal-related information organized into a library. Staff help to make proposals more competitive by bringing the talents of faculty from a variety of departments into the research in a synergistic way. This tends to add depth and completeness to a proposal. Other activities related to increasing the quality of coal-related research includes helping researchers in the preparation of reports, project management data, and budgetary information.