UC Davis' academic blueprint is still a work in progress, but parts of that plan are already taking shape with the allocation of start-up funding and faculty positions for three interdisciplinary initiatives. What's emerging are programs that deans say will strengthen UC Davis' existing disciplines-galvanizing the current faculty, attracting top scholars and students, and bringing more outside funding-while creating new knowledge at the intersections of the humanities, social sciences, arts, engineering and sciences. The first wave of academic-planning initiatives to gain final approval by Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Robert Grey will: Create a Hemispheric Institute of the Americas and ultimately develop an undergraduate minor in Latin American studies and a graduate program in Western hemispheric connections; Expand a multidisciplinary research effort organized two years ago to study nanophases-tiny particles with widespread ramifications for science, industry, agriculture, health and the environment; and Establish a Center for Genetics and Development to help keep the campus on the forefront of the rapidly changing field of molecular biology. A total of 30 new faculty members will be hired over the next five years in connection with these three initiatives, filling vacancies created by a mix of growth and retirements. While the scholars will be affiliated with the initiatives, each will be appointed to one or more departments to teach and conduct research. Grey has allocated start-up funding totaling up to $2.3 million and given deans overseeing the initiatives the go-ahead to recruit candidates for the first five positions in the new fiscal year that begins July 1. Those positions include a director for the new Hemispheric Institute of the Americas, two faculty members for the Center for Genetics and Development, and two faculty members for the Nanophases in the Environment, Agriculture and Technology research program. The hires will be among the first arising from campuswide academic planning efforts that began two years ago on an unprecedented scale. Driving that planning is the campus's historic opportunity to reshape programs as the student population grows and many faculty members retire. Over the next six to eight years, UC Davis expects to fill about 500 faculty vacancies, about 350 created by retirements and the rest from enrollment growth. The initiative plans looked at how the cross-disciplinary programs would strengthen teaching and research in participating departments. Already, the first trio of initiatives is making an impact. The nanophases research program recently secured a $2.7 million National Science Foundation grant for graduate education. A $409,000 National Institutes of Health grant will help cover remodeling costs for the genetics research center. And coordinators of the hemispheric institute will bring a UC conference of Latin American historians to campus next spring. Two other initiatives are still undergoing review by the provost's Academic Advisory Committee and the Academic Planning Council. Final proposals for another five cross-disciplinary initiatives were due on Tuesday. Other topics include the arts, environment, mind sciences, business education, computational sciences and quantitative social-science research. Another round of initiatives will be chosen in three to four years. The first wave of initiatives will complement plans that were also due from schools, colleges and divisions by Tuesday for strengthening individual programs. Each plan, however, cited challenges in providing space for new faculty members' offices and laboratories. The genetics center, for example, will be carved from existing facilities on the third floors of Briggs Hall and the adjacent Life Sciences Addition. "In order to do that, we are basically cannibalizing our own space," said Mark McNamee, dean of biological sciences. Hemispheric Institute of the Americas While other universities have Latin American studies programs, UC Davis has developed a niche in looking at social, political, economic and other ties throughout the Americas-north, central and south. More than 35 scholars in 15 departments have interests in Latin America and the Western Hemisphere. They include anthropologists, historians, sociologists, linguists, ethnic and women's studies scholars, musicians, human and community development specialists, and agricultural economists. In addition to hiring an institute director, Grey committed to adding three faculty members over the next five years. Start-up funding from the provost totals $25,000, some of which will go to the library. Scholars who will be sought for the initiative include a historian specializing in black Caribbean or Brazilian history; a scholar on transnationalism, citizenship and identity formation, who would be appointed to the human and community development department; and the Fiddyment chair in Latin American Studies in the Spanish department. Charles Walker, an associate professor specializing in Latin American social, cultural and intellectual history, said a campus Western Hemisphere group has been very active, meeting every other week to discuss research by faculty members and graduate students. By creating an institute as an organized research program, Walker and others hope to bring more visibility to hemispheric studies-and with it attract more scholars, graduate students and grants. The institute also would collaborate with UC Berkeley's well-known Center for Latin American Studies. Student interest is high, with more than 25 graduate students expressing interest in obtaining a designated emphasis in hemispheric connections. Between 25 to 50 undergraduates are expected to minor in Latin American studies once it's offered. "We have the potential here to create a unique, world-class program," said Steven Sheffrin, dean of the Division of Social Sciences. A committee chaired by Walker will conduct a national search for a center director in the academic year. Nanophases in the Environment, Agriculture and Technology This initiative expands a multidisciplinary research program launched by materials scientist Alexandra Navrotsky soon after the interdisciplinary professor of ceramic, earth and environmental materials chemistry arrived from Princeton University two years ago. The initiative will add a total of 12 faculty members over the next six years to science and engineering departments in three colleges. They will join at least 31 faculty members who are conducting research on particles so small that most of their atoms are near their surfaces, which gives them unusual properties. Nanophases are being studied for wide-ranging reasons-including improving nuclear-waste cleanup, developing soils for farming that retain water better, creating more efficient ceramic and electronic parts for high-tech industry, improving models of planetary evolution and climate change, and controlling air and water pollution Navrotsky said UC Davis--with its combination of agricultural, environmental, biological, engineering and physical sciences--could become a "powerhouse" in the field. Other universities, some federal laboratories and private companies are studying nanophases but not across the same breadth of disciplines as UC Davis, she said. That breadth was reflected in the proposal's endorsements. The initiative was formally backed by 28 faculty members in the departments of chemical engineering and materials science, geology, physics, chemistry, and land, air and water resources as well as by deans of biological sciences, engineering, and agricultural and environmental sciences. The initiative envisions recruiting pre-eminent scientists in the field, in addition to promising young talent. A steering committee headed by Navrotsky will oversee recruitment. The first major grant--a $2.7 million, five-year Integrative Graduate Education, Research and Training Grant from the National Science Foundation--will provide support for about 14 doctoral students a year and enable the campus to buy an analytical scanning electron microscope, Navrotsky said. The initiative also will receive a one-time campus allocation of $750,000 to buy equipment and provide matching funds for a $5 million, five-year grant proposal to the National Science Foundation for the creation of a Materials Science and Engineering Center with emphasis on reactivity on the nanoscale. Out of 117 institutions nationwide, UC Davis was one of 33 invited to submit a full grant proposal this summer. Center for Genetics and Development This initiative will enable the Division of Biological Sciences to hire 10 new faculty members, two a year, over the next five years. Another four positions will be added to the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences during the same period. They will join 45 molecular and cellular biologists in the division and many others throughout the campus doing related research. Grey allocated $850,000 a year for lab renovation and equipment costs and $200,000 a year for administrative support over the next five years. In addition, he approved up to $250,000 in funds to be matched by the department and division for start-up costs for each faculty member. McNamee said the initiative was initially conceived as a way to recruit faculty members interested in molecular aspects of genetics and development across the division's five sections. "Genetics is a profoundly important way of looking at biology, and development represents one of the most interesting problems in biology," McNamee said. "Processes at the molecular level are not understood very well." The center will also help link biological sciences with related programs, such as the Cancer Center, which is recruiting faculty members in basic science. A center, by offering seminars and other programs, can connect the two faculties in ways that traditional academic structures do not, McNamee said. Plans for creating the center and hiring new faculty already helped secure a $409,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to help with remodeling costs. The center is part of a remolding of biological sciences programs to reflect rapid advances in genetic mapping and understanding of how genes express themselves in living organisms.