Proposal

Narrative

NARRATIVE FAU's initiative to increase undergraduate students engaged in research across all disciplines has been a successful effort in the past 3 years. Indeed, FAU has been recognized for “implementing an exemplary Undergraduate Research program”. On the Jupiter campus, the Wilkes Honors College has increasingly been engaged in research; each student is required to complete a thesis. Also, with the opportunities of internships on the Jupiter campus at Scripps Research Florida Institute (Scripps) and Max Planck Florida Institute (MPFI), more and more FAU undergraduate students are engaged in biomedical research. In addition to these efforts, FAU has made efforts to grow various graduate programs which has resulted in the growth in the number of graduate students coming to FAU. One prominent effort has been made by FAU’s Brain Institute which now umbrellas a number of neuroscience, integrative biology and psychology graduate programs. One of the most important aspects of research is the communication of a student’s work and ideas, and the most accessible form of communication is by a poster presentation. A research poster is a large format print which are an easy, fast, and economical means of spreading your ideas. In Jupiter, Wilkes Honors College maintains the ONLY poster printer dedicated to the printing of academic/scholarly and creative/art posters on the campus. The use of the current printer goes beyond the students of the Wilkes Honors College as graduate students and faculty from College of Science, FAU’s Jupiter Life Science Initiative, FAU Brain Institute, and undergraduates in other colleges have had their research posters printed by the same poster printer. For a more detailed use, please see a list below. Note, only ONE poster printer is used for the listed purposes. CURRENT use of poster printer: UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS • Research presentation o Wilkes Honors College Research Symposiums, Jupiter o Office of Undergraduate Research and Inquiry (OURI) Symposiums, Boca o OURI SURF Poster Session, Jupiter o Scripps SURF Poster Session, Boca • Art pieces o Graphic Novels o Photography: Large Format Prints • Introduction to Leadership course (LDR2010), Jupiter GRADUATE STUDENTS, Post Doctoral Fellows, Faculty (each listed item is national and international conferences) • Society for Neuroscience • Drosophila fly Conference • Cold Spring Harbor • Scripps, SYNAPSE Symposium • MPFI, Research Day and SFN chapter symposium The proposed enhancement of the Wilkes Honors College ability to print large format materials for FAU undergraduate and graduate students from all colleges on the Jupiter campus is aligned with FAU’s 2015 Strategic Plan. We will be contributing to FAU’s Values by “wholly committing ourselves to our students’ futures” and attempting to “exceed[-] the expectations of our clientele”. In effect, increasing our support for FAU students with the use of the requested poster printer that has the capability to print on fabric as well as paper, we are directly addressing a major Strategic Action and Initiative by “Develop[ing] an academic support structure for timely student graduation”. PROJECT DESCRIPTION We request funds to purchase a new large format poster printer which along with the traditional uses of a poster printer, we seek to purchase a printer that includes the capability to print on fabric or textile material. When printing a poster for a presentation that is off campus (or even out of state!), the ability to transport the poster is cumbersome. Commonly the poster is transported in a poster tube, which many times is lost or damaged on transport. Additionally, with the growing cost of air travel, e.g. paying for a poster tube as a “carry on bag” is an unnecessary cost to the university . By printing a research paper on a fabric like material, our undergraduate and graduate students will be able to PRINT & FOLD their work and easily take it with them to multiple conferences and proudly represent FAU! Below is a list of how a new poster printer (with the capability to print on fabric) will benefit FAU’s students: • Growth in participation of each listed research presentation • Continuation and expansion of leadership courses on the Jupiter campus • New initiatives of graduate programs with Brain Institute will harbor an increase of graduate students on the Jupiter campus • Wilkes Honors College and the Brain Initiative are both making efforts to increase the number of research faculty in each of their units; this equates to increase in the number of students conducting research • NEW: art pieces can expand to include fiber art or collaborate between the printed image and fiber arts • NEW: use for creating signage for student life events and activities, for SGA events/activities, signage for recruiting events

Facilities

No request for facilities will be needed. Current space allotted for the poster printer will be sufficient for the addition of the printer being requested.

Hardware Requirements

Due to (1) our need to support the growing number of students (both undergraduate and graduate) who need research/academic posters to communicate their work, especially to off campus conferences (i.e. enabling students to travel with their posters) and (2) to supplement the current poster printer. It is possible that the requested printer will replace the current poster printer, which is 6 years old and has been highly trafficked, at least temporarily during maintenance of the current printer or permanently. By increasing the capabilities of the available tech and/or ensuring the continual availability of a working large format printer, the Wilkes Honors College will be able to support FAU students and graduates from all college on the Jupiter campus. HP DesignJet Z5600 PostScript (large-format 1 printer-color-inkjet), $4,373

Software Requirements

No new software is requested.

Personnel Costs

No personnel costs are requested.

Other Costs

All items listed are for one time requests. Subsequent purchases of some items (e.g. Tyvek material) will be purchased using college funds. Additionally, in an effort to (1) increase the longevity and (2) enhance the use of the requested equipment, funds for the following items are requested (Note: Cost of each item are contracted/negotiated amounts from approved FAU vendor (Office Depot). All costs are rounded to the nearest dollar.): • 3 Yr On-Site/Depot Repair Warranty (up to the value of $5,000) for Consumer Electronic, $231 • Dust Cover for Printer, $195 • Inks! (Avg. cost $82 each; request is for a set of 3 for each of the 5 “colors”), $1,230 • Red Ink (x2), $694 • Spindle, $83 • Tyvek material (x2), $920 • Vinyl (x1), $250 • Polypropylene Matte material (x3), $358 TOTAL OTHER COSTS: $3,961

Timeline

Implementation of the new poster printer will be initiated as soon as possible. If awarded, purchase of the poster printer will occur in May 2018, with an installation by mid-June to July. The requests for posters by undergraduate and graduate students occurs throughout the academic year for FAU research symposiums, state or national research conferences. Many undergraduate and graduate students participating in summer research programs (e.g. SURF programs) participate in poster sessions held at the end of summer term (for FAU and Scripps SURF programs). Therefore the earliest use of poster printer would occur in early August 2018.

Sustainability

Our goal is to provide maintenance of all equipment as per the guidelines of our university technology team, and to monitor for any upgrades or modifications as needed.

Resource Matching

N/A

Implementing Organization

If the proposal is awarded, Wilkes Honors College program coordinator will be responsible for ordering and coordination of requests to FAU OIT (Jupiter) to install the requested equipment (e.g. connecting the poster printer to the network). All printing requests will be managed by both the program coordinator and the Dean’s program assistant (especially during peak times of use).