Building on the success of a similar event in 2003, Binghamton University will be hosting a major statewide research symposium, Destination Discovery ’05, on March 23 and 24, 2005. The event will explore the changing face of sponsored research by means of both broad-based and targeted sessions designed to help faculty succeed in securing funding, collaborators and resources for their work. The theme will be Across the Disciplines: Research Policies, Practice and Promise.

“Destination Discovery will promote cross-disciplinary and multi-institutional collaborations as well as university-industry partnerships that can ignite the process of discovery in New York,” said Gerald Sonnenfeld, vice president for research. “Our commitment across the disciplines is to foster the research, scholarship and creative activity of our faculty, and that is the prime driver behind this event. But we’re also aware that events of this caliber advance the reputation and profile of Binghamton University as a research institution, that they show our partners—whether in academe, industry or local, state or national governance— the breadth of creative energy and the scope of intellectual resources Binghamton brings to the table.”
Sonnenfeld said the event is also designed to foster continued development of individual research areas because all disciplines of scholarly activity are important to the University.

The two-day event will take place in the University’s Lecture Hall complex, with an opening day luncheon in the Mandela Room. Syposium registration for Binghamton faculty and affiliated graduate students will be $25. Registration for all other participants will be $75.
The event is expected to attract more than 400 participants from business and industry as well as from health care and academic institutions from across the state, said Susan Barker, executive director of research advancement. Presenters from private foundations as well as all major federal sponsoring agencies including the National Institutes of Health, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, among others are expected to be on hand to discuss trends in funding for research and scholarly activities across the disciplines, said Barker, who is the facilitator of the event’s planning committee.

Other members of the planning committee include Mary Beth Curtin, director of federal relations and public affairs, Lisa Gilroy, director of research development services, Kim Riley, grant and contract administrator, Mary Lou Sollis, administrative assistant to the vice president for research, and Ashok Subramanian, creative and information services director for the Division of Research.

Organizers intend to start the symposium with a keynote address delivered in a plenary session by a nationally prominent speaker. That event will likely be open not only to registered symposium participants but also to community leaders and to the campus community.

A breakout event, entitled the “Synervations Expo” will present up to 40 booths, showcasing the fruits of cutting-edge research, scholarship and creative activity at Binghamton University as well as from its institutional and industrial partners. The Synervations Expo will take place around the periphery of the Lecture Hall, and will provide attendees the chance to check out prototypes and interactive and multimedia displays and to talk to student and faculty researchers, artists and scholars responsible for some of the latest advances and achievements in their fields. A reception will be held in conjunction with the expo on the afternoon of the March 23.

Exhibition space for the Synervations Expo will be limited, and only sophisticated “show-and-tell-type” displays will be featured. Traditional academic posters will not be accepted but can serve as the basis for more accessible public presentations or displays of the work they feature. Binghamton faculty interested in participating in the event should contact the Office of Research Advancement at 777-4791 or email research@binghamton.edu as soon as possible for particulars.