Welcome to "Outcomes"

On behalf of the entire Research Division, I would like to extend a hearty, "Welcome Back!" to all of the faculty, staff and students arriving back to campus for the start of the Fall 2010 semester. We hope that everyone had an opportunity to enjoy some well-deserved rest and relaxation over the past couple of months and that you return to campus energized and motivated to accomplish much in the coming academic year. 

I am also delighted to introduce this second issue of Outcomes, the Research Division's tri-annual newsletter. Feedback on the first issue was positive and we hope that you'll enjoy some of the new features in this issue, such as the profiles of faculty as well as news & announcements from some of the Division's individual units. We hope you will continue to provide feedback on Outcomes so that we can continue to provide you with the useful information about our services and interesting stories about the research and scholarly activities taking place every day here at NAU.

Though this summer, like all others, seemed to fly by, I am pleased by the projects that we completed in time for the start of this academic year. 

• Early in the summer we completed a division reorganization and now have a structure in place which we believe will better serve the campus community. See our new org chart at http://www.research.nau.edu/staff.aspx.
• We revamped our website to provide more in-depth information about NAU's research enterprise as well as to simplify navigation and organize information in ways that make it easier for the campus community to find what you're looking for. We will continue to enhance our website throughout the coming year and encourage you to provide feedback to us on what works and what doesn't.
• The new website includes a new Undergraduate Research portal which should make it easier for students (and prospective students!) to learn about and take advantage of opportunities to engage in research and scholarly activities outside of their coursework. 

Of course, over the summer we've also produced this second issue of Outcomes and will host our third annual Open House next Wednesday, September 15, from 2pm to 5pm. I hope you will stop by to participate and join myself, Provost Grobsmith and President Haeger as we present the 2010 Research & Creative Activity (RCA) awards and recognize campus inventors for their achievements during the past academic year.  This year's Open House includes our first-ever Undergraduate Research Salon, a unique and fun venue for students to pursue their interests in engaging in research and scholarly activities independently or under the mentorship of NAU faculty and research staff.

Again, in this and future newsletters, we hope to address your needs, feed your curiosity, and help you connect with the services that will continue making NAU a vital and exciting hub for all of your research and creative activities.  And we continue to encourage you to let us know if you have ideas for stories or other content that you would like us to present in future newsletters.