Publication: A Princeton Companion
Research Board, University, a university-wide committee formed in 1959, is composed of members of the faculty and administration. The Board, advisory to the president, recommends policy in the acceptance and administration of research grants and contracts throughout the University and gives general supervision to the implementation of policy. Its administrative arm is the Office of Research and Project Administration, formed at the same time as the Board.
During its existence the Board has supervised sponsored research on a remarkable variety of subjects. Computerized music and an orbiting astronomical observatory; the editing of the Thoreau papers and the engineering application of laser beams; continental drift and Fifth Century BC excavations in Sicily; moon rocks and the luminescence of fireflies -- these represent but a few of the more than 700 research projects that have fallen within its oversight annually.
The Board's immediate predecessor was the Committee on Project Research and Invention, which had been established in 1946 under a directive from George A. Brakeley, vice president and treasurer of the University. Initial membership included Brakeley, Kenneth H. Condit (Dean of Engineering), Henry DeW. Smyth (Chairman of the Department of Physics), Hugh S. Taylor (Dean of the Graduate School), who served as first chairman, and Raymond J. Woodrow, who was executive officer and secretary.
When the Research Board succeeded the Project Research Committee in 1959, Professor Smyth, who had served as chairman of the committee for several years, became the Board's first chairman, serving, as have his successors. with the rank of dean. The new Board was drawn from the faculty (some appointed by the president and some elected by the faculty) as well as from the senior administration. The other original members were Ricardo A. Mestres (University Treasurer), Raymond Woodrow, Carlos H. Baker (English), Joseph R. Strayer (History), Donald F. Hornig (Chemistry), Lester V. Chandler (Economics), Arthur K. Parpart (Biology), and Joseph C. Elgin (Dean of Engineering).
Smyth served as Chairman through June 1966. His successors have been Lyman Spitzer, Jr. (Astrophysical Sciences), 1966-1972, Sheldon Judson (Geological and Geophysical Sciences), 1972-1977, and Robert M. May (Biology) since September 1, 1977.
By 1976 about $50 million was being spent annually on sponsored research. Of this amount, $30 million went to the Plasma Physics Laboratory on the Forrestal Campus for its attempts to control fusion as a peaceful energy source, and some $20 million of sponsored research was conducted by the several departments and programs on the main campus. About 95 percent of the funds represented federal grants and contracts. Exclusive of Plasma Physics, 54 percent of the research funds were for Natural Sciences, 29 percent, Engineering and Applied Science, 12 percent, Humanities and Social Science, and 5 percent, Interdepartmental Programs.
Through various subcommittees, the University Research Board has oversight of expenditures from the Higgins Trust (shared equally with Columbia, Harvard, and Yale), the Scientific Research Fund of the University, as well as institutional grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. In addition, the Board ensures the conformance of University practice with certain governmental regulations such as, for example, those governing research involving experimentation with animals, the use of human subjects, and the use of biohazardous materials. The Board originally had supervision of the senior professional and technical staffs that are organized into ladders parallel with those of the faculty. In 1975 this function was transferred to a committee (with the University Research Board Chairman as presiding officer), which reported to the dean of the faculty. This group, informally known as the committee-of-seven, is a counterpart of the so-called ``committee-of-three,'' which advises the president on appointments, promotions, and salaries of faculty members.
Over the years, general policies for the conduct of sponsored research have developed, and the University Research Board reviews each piece of proposed research in the light of these policies, e.g., that research at Princeton should promote the education of students, both undergraduate and graduate, and that it should provide for the advancement of knowledge and for its preservation and dissemination. The University does not administer funds whose purpose and character cannot be publicly disclosed nor does it accept contracts or grants for the support of classified research except under the most extraordinary conditions.
Sheldon Judson
From Alexander Leitch, A Princeton Companion, copyright Princeton University Press (1978).