Marcus W. Shute, P.E., Ph.D.
Vice President for Research and Sponsored Programs
615-963-7660
The Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) provides leadership, information and services to encourage faculty, research associates, adjunct professors, post doctoral fellows, and staff to engage in research and creative activity. The University receives awards from federal agencies, industry and private foundations for research, training and technical assistance.
The Office of Sponsored Research is an investment in the future of Tennessee State University. Through scientific research, technological development, and educational reform and systemic change, the university is positioning itself to be at the forefront of knowledge and on the leading edge of research. OSR seeks to provide the best environment for study and research through a creative association of faculty and students as a community of scholars in expanding the boundaries of science, education, and technology. It serves as a liaison between funding agencies, principal investigators (PIs) and administrative units of the University. The OSR staff provides the following services:
- Locates potential funding sources
- Coordinates compliance on human subjects, animal care and use, and biosafety involving biological, chemical, electrical, and radiation hazards with university, local, state, and federal regulations
- Coordinates research partnerships, collaborations and cooperative agreements
- Guides faculty and staff through the grant application process
- Routes proposals through proper administrative channels for approvals and endorsements
- Maintains university award files
- Assists in matters relating to intellectual property, including patents, copyrights and publication agreements
- Maintains application kits, source materials, bulletins, announcements and guidelines
- Disseminates announcements and information through the OSR WEB site at www.tnstate.edu/osr/ and Information Edge publication on availability and deadlines of external funding sources
- Maintains files on time and effort certifications of PIs
- Coordinates the University’s RISE (Research, Initiation, Supplement and Enhancement) Incentive Program and EARDA (Extramural Associates Research and Development Award) initiative.
- Tracks equipment purchased under federal grants and contracts
Strengthening the university’s research infrastructure is a major priority of OSR. The level of creative thinking and the compilation of sponsored research projects are reflections of the competitive grantsmanship of the faculty and staff. The University displays a broad spectrum of sponsored research programs including: basic research, technical assistance, and contractual deliverables. The research programs range from single PI projects to major team collaboratives. Paramount among these activities are the centers of excellence, the Cooperative agricultural Research Program (CARP), Center for Neuroscience, Center for Neutral Engineering, Institute for Understanding Biological Systems, and the Center for Health Research. Increasing the university’s capacity to conduct research at the leading edge level, while strengthening its instructional programs and expanding its research infrastructure, is a major on-going goal of the University.
Tennessee State University conducts research in astrobiology, computer modeling and simulations, homeland security, advanced controlled systems, astronomy and astrophysics, nanotechnology, information technology, conditioned-based maintenance, biomedical applications of signal processing, and hazardous waste management. The university also conducts research in neural networks, robotics and machine vision, AI/expert systems, fuzzy logic, stress analysis, software engineering, microcircuit packaging and material processing, heat transfer, transportation planning and modeling, and hydraulics.
Faculty and staff are currently engaged in research involving large-scale control and distributed computing systems under stochastic structural perturbations, and light scattering of cylindrically shaped objects from the ocean. On-going research programs in photocatalytic dissociation of water, topology, biostatistics, harmonic analysis, organic synthesis, theoretical chemistry, drug binding to DNA, polymer chemistry, neuroscience, plant genetics, radiation effects on mammalian cells, gene expression, biofeedback, molecular biology, nutrition, liquid crystals, economics,plant protection and production, and animal physiology are well established research areas at the University.
New advances in research on family violence, statistical AIDS research and computational epidemiology, basic skills research in science education, and international affairs are currently being made. In addition, the university provides creativity in the arts, foreign languages, journalism, public policy, electronic media, and multicultural education.