DETROIT---Wayne State University was recently selected as a 2010 Digital Education Achievement Award winner by the Center for Digital Education for the university's development of the Researcher's Dashboard, a Web-based custom software that monitors and manages proposals and grants in real time.
The Digital Education Achievement Awards recognize outstanding digital technology projects and programs that have enriched education for students and teachers. Nominations are submitted from around the world and are judged on their innovative use of technology, unique features and functionality.
The Researcher's Dashboard seamlessly and intuitively integrates multiple applications, allowing researchers and grant administrators an improved way of monitoring and managing proposals and grants they are assigned to, ultimately providing them with more accurate information in real time.
"Research in higher education is very competitive," said Hilary Ratner, WSU's vice president for research. "Faculty engaged in research often spend much time managing and administering the business aspect of their grants, losing valuable time in their labs. Through the development of the Researcher's Dashboard, we are connecting various systems through one portal, giving our research community easy access to grant information, reducing administrative burden and providing more time to conduct research."
Wayne State University officials are hoping to make the WSU-developed Researcher's Dashboard available to other research universities to help them innovate and advance the efficiency of research administration processes. The university is exploring a community source/open source deployment of the Researcher's Dashboard with SunGard Higher Education.
The Researcher's Dashboard was developed in a partnership between WSU's Computing & Information Technology (C&IT) office and the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR); this is its second award. To learn more about the Researcher's Dashboard, visit http://thelink.computing.wayne.edu/researchers-dashboard.php
Wayne State University is one of the nation's pre-eminent public research universities in an urban setting. Through its multidisciplinary approach to research and education, and its ongoing collaboration with government, industry and other institutions, the university seeks to enhance economic growth and improve the quality of life in the city of Detroit, state of Michigan and throughout the world. For more information about research at Wayne State University, visit http://www.research.wayne.edu/.