Strategic Planning of Research at NSF STCERSP

There are many approaches to strategic planning. An excellent summary of strategic planning can be found in the best practices section of the Engineering Research Center website. Our planning process follows a similar outline. What we describe here is an approach that we believe will work for us in planning our research. Planning is in progress and will be broadened to include the entire CERSP later this year. Other links to websites helpful for strategic planning are listed at the end of this section.

The main points of strategic planning are to establish direction and provide alignment. The direction that the Center takes over time is the result of hundreds of individual decisions made by researchers. Thus it's important that we establish the right direction with our strategic plan, that everyone understands and commits to the plan and makes decisions aligned with it.

Strategic planning is a cascade process. Each step is linked to the preceding one, with shorter range and greater detail. The plan began with a state-of-the-art analysis, which was done for the original project proposal to NSF. The need for "green" chemical processes was identified, leading to a vision reflecting the difference we hope to make. Our vision is a brief and, we hope, compelling statement of the world we seek to create. A "revolution in green chemistry" captures the visionary part of this statement. A revolution involves risk, and we intend to undertake the type of high-risk research that industry typically avoids. The phrase "cutting-edge science and engineering" describes the focus of our technical programs. "Enabling" describes our strategic intent to provide the underlying technology that enables commercialization. We derive the barriers which we must overcome in order to reach our vision by examining the differences between the future to which we aspire and today's world.

The statement of mission describes our role in overcoming these barriers to achieve our vision. "New generation of sustainable-...energy efficient, clean and safe-processes" adds detail to the vision. "Developing...a robust body of fundamental knowledge in CO2-related science and technology" describes the focus of our cutting edge science and engineering. "Identify and enable...economical...processes [and] improved products" shows that we plan for our technology to have practical application. "Economical" and "improved" are two adjectives against which the technology that we develop will be judged ultimately.

Our overarching goal contains the terms "integrated", "targeted", and "selected" emphasizing the need to conduct not only cutting edge scientific research, but the right scientific research-directed and well-coordinated.

The objectives (objectives research team 1, objectives research team 2, objectives research team 3, objectives research team 4)  of each project team as stated in the following format:
To...
 

In a way that...

So that...

These objectives may be read "TO accomplish a particular task SO THAT a particular end result can be achieved." The "TO" section directly links to the overarching technical goals of the CERSP. This part of the objective describes what the project team plans to accomplish; and the "SO THAT" section, why we want to accomplish it. The "In a way that" section introduces each of the individual team objectives, which defines how the result will be accomplished. Existing objectives were defined based upon the original CERSP proposal, to which we had a two-year commitment. They will be revised by September 2001 (vide infra) to reflect input from our industrial partners and External Advisory Board.

The strategic planning process, as we practice it, is inclusive, iterative and ongoing. We want all participants in the Center to contribute to the plan and accept it as their own. We have invited input and comment at several points from CERSP participants as well as our External Advisory Board and the Kenan Center for Utilization of Carbon Dioxide in Manufacturing. Strategic planning is iterative and ongoing in that we expect to update plans periodically. The vision is likely to be changed no more than once or twice during the coming years. On the other hand, project team objectives are likely to be updated every couple of years and individual objectives at least annually. Moreover, we intend to revisit our strategic plans semiannually to assure that they are still appropriate and to review individual programs annually to assure alignment.

The schedule of our planning process includes key dates in April (inclusion of our EAB and Kenan Center in target selection), May (inclusion of PIs, students and faculty in identifying technical gaps), June (submission of Request for Proposals), August (selection of new programs and inclusion into updated strategic plan), and September (presentation to NSF). We will also develop an annual review process as part of our plan.

For more information about strategic planning you might check out the following websites:

Two excellent plans can be found at:

Literature:

last update: May 23, 2001

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