PLAN 2010 for Krawnow Institute
Background: Krasnow Institute 2004
The Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study of George Mason University was chartered
in 1990 as a private nonprofit Virginia corporation as a result of a bequest
from Shelley Krasnow a long-time resident of Fairfax Virginia. It subsequently
merged with George Mason University in April of 2002 as a chartered university
institute under the Office of the Provost.
The work of the Institute began in 1993 with a major scientific conference,
co-sponsored with The Santa Fe Institute and hosted at George Mason University.
This conference on “The Mind, the Brain, and Complex Adaptive Systems”
brought together an extraordinary group of scientists including two Nobel laureates
and produced exciting new approaches to this frontier.
Subsequently, these collaborative efforts set the Institute on the path of seeking
to understand the human mind: how it came to be, how it relates to the activities
of nerve cells, how it can be modeled on computers, and how it is a vital component
of what we are. A second strand of inquiry also emerged: how can understanding
the human mind be applied to help us in education, decision-making, and all
those countless activities that involve events in our brain and end up in the
actions that define our individuality and our contribution to mankind. All of
these areas of interest come together under the general heading of cognition,
the essence of the Institute's mission.
Today, with an annual budget of $2.4 million, the Institute is home to a scientific
staff of 50 (most of them Ph.D.’s or M.D.’s) who are, in turn, among
Mason’s most distinguished faculty. Their cognitive research spans from
molecules to mind. They have published extensively in the most prestigious scholarly
journals and collectively have brought in more than $13.2 million dollars in
sponsored research from federal agencies such as the National Institutes of
Health, as well as from elite private sources such as the Sir John Templeton
and Whitaker Foundation. In short, they are world-class.
2010 Broad Goals:
1. At least one major high-impact scientific discovery (results in a
News Story in Science/Nature)
Ultimately, a basic research institute is judged by the quality of its science.
While objective metrics such as number and impact factor of peer reviewed publications
are important, the most significant measure of scientific success is fundamental
scientific
discovery. Such discoveries are differentiated from more common scientific progress
because they change the existing paradigm within a field. Within the context
of neuroscience, they often have direct impact on clinical outcomes for neurological
and
psychiatric patients. It is therefore a broad goal of the Institute to achieve
a major discovery within our scientific focus by the year 2010.
2. 12,500 sq. ft. building expansion with Brain Imaging Center
In order to accommodate the continuation of growth and to allow Krasnow scientists
to continue to ask the high-payoff scientific questions, the Institute must
build the 12,500 square foot expansion that is currently included in the University’s
master plan. The state-of-the-art wet labs and brain imaging center will not
only facilitate growth in the Institute’s research portfolio, they will
also qualitatively change the Fairfax campus’ research space and core
facility inventory. This change will presumable have positive important impact
on University-wide indirect cost return agreements with the Federal Government.
3. Expand the Endowment to provide 20% of Operations Costs
The Krasnow Endowment at the George Mason University Foundation currently supports
debt payments on the current facility. Additional restricted funds support professorships
at Krasnow and are available to the Director in order to pursue scientific opportunities
as they present. It is an overall goal to expand the Krasnow Institute Endowment
from private donations and foundation grants to cover fully 20% of the annual
core operations costs. This will further secure the University’s investment
in the Institute and at the same time provide budget relief that will be used
to achieve scientific discovery. Evolve the scientific focus (Neurosciences,
Computer Sciences and Behavioral Biology)
The scientific focus as delineated in the 1993 Santa Fe Institute publication,
The Mind, The Brain, And Complex Adaptive Systems, has evolved over the last
decade. The field of Cognitive Psychology, a key part of the original triad,
has become encompassed within the neurosciences. At the same time, the field
of behavioral biology has become an important part of Krasnow science as evidenced
such projects as the Orangutan Language Project, Neuroeconomics and the broad
focus on learning disabilities. A broad goal is therefore to formalize this
evolution by repositioning the Institute to take advantage of
the opportunities at the nexus of Neurosciences, Computer Sciences and Behavioral
Biology.
4. Scientist-trainee recruitment
Because scientist-trainees are the engines of basic research (under the guidance
of their Principal Investigator mentors), Krasnow Science will continue to grow
in excellence if newly recruited scientist-trainees (graduate students and post-doctoral
fellows) are of better quality than those that leave. This has already been
the pattern over the first decade. Our goal is to have at least two high quality
post-doctoral trainees for each Principal Investigator by 2010 (between 20 and
25).
5. An NIH Center Grant at the Krasnow Institute
The Institute’s science portfolio includes two NIH-supported principal
investigators. The recruitment of one new such investigator in a complementary
scientific area will allow the Institute to become competitive for an NIH Center
Grant. Such funding (in the neighborhood of $1M/annually over five years and
with the potential for renewal) will qualitatively increase the scientific prestige
of the Institute while at the same time providing stable funding for Krasnow
Investigators over an extended period of time.
6. 10-13 competitively funded research groups
The Institute now has 8 well-funded research groups that have collectively produce
$1.5M annually in sponsored research dollars to the University. The current
strengths and areas of research include:
1) machine learning and evolutionary algorithms
2) neuroeconomics
3) neural dynamics, i.e. the study of how local brain activity is regulated
4) intracellular neurophysiology
5) neural modeling
6) comparative (evolutionary) neuroanatomy
7) development of language
8) emergence of biology from basic principles (origin of life)
It will be crucial to maintain the above pattern of several different but complementary
areas since insights as to how the mind emerges from brain may come piecemeal
and from unpredictable sources. The principal investigator pool should be added
to in a way that bridges some of the current areas of research. Such areas might
include: imaging, ion channel dynamics and “in silico” modeling
of neurobiological phenomena. By 2010 we project between 10 and 13 such research
groups, each lead by a senior faculty member/Principal Investigator for a total
of $5M in annual sponsored research support.
7. Expand the International Scientific Reputation
Krasnow Scientists currently have extensive international collaborations. These
include scientific interactions with Oxford University in the UK, The National
Center for Biological Sciences in India and the University of Miguel Hernadez
in Spain, among others. At the same time, the Institute has a long tradition
of hosting international scientists at all levels ranging from post-doctoral
fellow to senior scientist. The Institute’s international orientation
was recently symbolized by hosting former Polish President and Nobel Peace Prize
winner Lech Walesa at a reception. It is a goal of the Institute to vastly expand
these collaborative relationships over the next seven years in order to expand
the international scientific reputation of the Institute.
Locally, the Krasnow Institute has also sponsored scientific workshops and conferences
which are international in terms of participation. Recent conferences have focused
on biological metaphors for computer network security, neural dynamics and deception
detection.
8. Expand Diversity among Krasnow Principal Investigators
Krasnow currently has counts one under-represented minority individual (female
native American) among its eight PI’s. Because diversity is a crucial
component to both the quality of the research work place, but also the study
of minority health issues, the Institute is committed to recruiting at least
one more under-represented minority principal investigator by 2010. We intend
to work proactively with the Office of Minority Health Affairs at NIH and historically
black colleges (such as Howard University) in order to indentify appropriate
candidates and to recruit them to Mason as Krasnow PI’s.
9. Leverage Howard Hughes and INOVA-Fairfax Proximity
INOVA-Fairfax Hospital is now the largest hospital in Virginia and the only
tertiary-care facility serving Northern Virginia. The clinical expertise and
materials potentially available from Fairfax Hospital are extraordinarily important
to the process of translating basic discovery to the bedside. It is therefore
a goal of the Institute to formalize the already informal bridges to Fairfax
Hospital.
At the same time, the new Howard Hughes Janelia Farms facility currently under
construction in Loundon County will dramatically change the footprint of biomedical
research in Northern Virginia. It will be crucial for the Institute to build
bridges of scientific collaboration to the Howard Hughes facility as a way of
both expanding scientific opportunity but also gaining potential access to new
funding sources.
10. DOD/Intelligence Community Relationships
The Institute has had historical ties to the Defence/Intelligence/Homeland Defence
communities as a result of its relationship to the Santa Fe Institute and the
computer science work in evolutionary algorithms based at Krasnow. With the
appointment of
MacArthur Award winner Stuart Kauffman to the Krasnow affiliate faculty, the
opportunities for increasing these ties have qualitatively increased. The Institute
must broaden these bridges by 2010 with emphasis on areas such as robotics,
agent-based
modeling and deception detection. From a policy perspective, a nascent relationship
with the Arlington-based Potomac Institute for Policy Studies will be expanded
to link scientific progress at Krasnow in these DOD/Intelligence/Homeland Defence-related
areas and policy decisions at the federal level.
11. University Relationships
The Institute has an excellent historical relationship with the School of Computational
Sciences and the College of Arts and Sciences. These relationships are both
intensive (building an interdisciplinary PhD program in neurosciences) and extensive
(multiple joint appointments, many scientific collaborations, teaching in multiple
departments and programs). The Institute has some experience in collaborating
with the School of Information Technology and Engineering and the Graduate School
of Education. The Institute’s goal over the next seven years is to expand
the level of collaboration with these and other University academic units with
the notion of leveraging the entrepreneurial orientation of Mason to promote
excellence in science. The Institute has a particular interest in the field
of computational social science and the new Center for Social Complexity at
George Mason University.
12. Intellectual Property
Increasingly, scientists are being encouraged by their organizations to disclose
intellectual property so that it can be protected by patent and ultimately licensed.
In the federally-funded research sector (which is the most important to Krasnow)
this position
as codified by the Bayh-Dole act. It is the goal of the Krasnow Institute to
develop an innovative approach to protecting the intellectual property developed
by Krasnow scientists in collaboration with appropriate University officials.
Specifically, the Institute will work to appropriately match inventor incentives
to institutional ones. Our goal is to expand the already significant Institute
portfolio with the notion of providing additional resources to Krasnow scientists.
13. Education
Krasnow scientists already participate extensively in the educational mission
of the University, usually through their joint appointments in other University
academic units. With the approval of the new PhD program in neuroscience, Krasnow
becomes a more formal academic partner in graduate education with the two other
participating units: School of Computational Science and College of Arts and
Sciences. It is the goal of the Institute to build the new PhD program into
national excellence, as evidenced by US News and World Report rankings (top
100), by 2010.
14. Computer Infrastructure
The scientific focus of Krasnow with its emphasis on computer science intersections
with neuroscience and behavioral and cognitive biology requires the continued
deployment of high performance computing. The Institute’s initial investment
in such systems during the late 1990’s are now legacy equipment. Therefore
the Institute will make a significant investment to position itself favorably
in this area over the next seven years. Such investments are likely to be focused
on modular computing systems such as blade servers and Beowulf clusters which
can be expanded as necessary to handle increased demand for computational power.
Conclusions
By the year 2010, it is our goal that the Institute will have received international
attention for a major scientific advance in the cognitive sciences. The Institute
will have opened its new expansion facility and the Brain Imaging Center will
be utilized as a University-wide resource for asking basic questions about human
functional neuronal activity within a variety of intellectual contexts.
The Institute’s primary source of extramural funding will derive from
an NIH Center Grant at Krasnow (and is anticipated to be $6M annually), although
endowment revenue will provide for 20% of the core operations. It is also anticipated
the intellectual property license revenues will provide significant support
for the Institute’s operations. The Center Grant award will be a result
of an upward quality cycle of scientist recruitment that increases the total
number of funded research groups doing complementary research to between 10
and 13. This would imply a growth in scientific staff from a current level of
50 to approximately 80 (faculty, post-doctoral fellows, graduate students, undergraduate
trainees and technicians).
A key goal of the Institute is to significantly increase diversity among its
principal investigators. With diversity in the senior research faculty will
come a parallel increase in diversity among the staff, as members of under-represented
minorities perceive a friendly working environment.
The Institute will leverage its research success to greatly expand its international
orientation. Concurrently, the Institute will have built significant bridges
to INOVAFairfax Hospitial and Janelia Farms that should facilitate further scientific
discovery. Within the University, the Institute will broaden its collaborative
reach beyond SCS and CAS. Investments in high performance computing will be
a key component of shared instrumentation facilities within the Institute. Such
investments are necessary to meet the projected increased demand in this area
which will occur during the next seven years.
Finally, the Institute will, with its academic partners in the School of Computational
Sciences and the College of Arts and Sciences, take the PhD program in neurosciences
into the top 100 such programs in the country.