IFAS Research Vision and Mission

Mission Statement

The primary mission of UF/IFAS is to help Florida realize its maximum potential for food, agricultural and natural resource development and to contribute to the solution of social, economic, environmental and cultural problems of concern to the people of Florida.

The research function of IFAS contributes to the accomplishment of this mission through the search for new science and understanding by the application of biological, physical, economic, and social sciences to the problems facing Florida's agriculture and natural resource based industries.

The research mission of UF/IFAS is conducted through the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station. The Experiment Station's research program is carried out in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture, Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service; the State of Florida; and grantors and donors providing extramural grants, contracts, and gifts. Individuals with Experiment Station research responsibilities are provided faculty appointments at the University of Florida and may have joint responsibilities with teaching and/or extension.

Research Administration Goals

1. Promote, IFAS wide, the importance and need for in-depth research models, in all units and programs, which span basic discovery, innovation and applications research.
2. Increase scholarly productivity (as measured by refereed journal publications) and extramural funding and at a rate of 10% annually.
3. Strengthen academic research disciplines in IFAS with a goal to attain World Class status by supporting the development of individual faculty expertise and unit strategic plans focused on science leadership in the discipline.
4. Strengthen regional Research & Education Centers (RECs) in Florida by building strong multidisciplinary teams, with strategic plans that envision regional, state, national and international science leadership teams.
5. Develop a new focus on special IFAS-designated centers that meet extraordinary performance characteristics including aggressive strong grantsmanship, state-wide leadership, high-performance external advisory councils, multidisciplinary team development, multi-college faculty participation, and significant state, national and international recognition.
6. Review and revise recruitment efforts, research support plans and research reward structures to better help recruit and retain the highest quality research faculty in Research & Education Centers and academic departments.
7. Improve the "customer focus" priority and the functional effectiveness of IFAS Sponsored Programs to achieve an efficient and effective grantsmanship management center in IFAS that is recognized for its excellence and service. Minimize the effect of required bureaucratic administration on faculty research performance.
8. Develop and support new approaches to improve and expand both the graduate and undergraduate student research experience in IFAS.
9. Improve and amplify the linkages between the research mission of IFAS and our teaching and extension missions.
10. Build unit-level and IFAS-administration level programs that support the culture of faculty leadership development, which encourages and promotes IFAS faculty participation in state, national and international leadership roles representing IFAS as a world class institution of research in agriculture, natural resources and human systems.