The Center for Label-free Imagingand Multiscale Biophotonics (CLIMB)

SUMMARY The CLIMB investigators have had abundant managerial experience, including with running other research centers and large collaborative projects, heading NIH study sections, the UIUC Bioengineering Department, founding and running start-up companies, leading training and education programs with international impact. Through campus cost-share funding, CLIMB received staff and infrastructure support for administering our efforts. The Organizational Chart summarizes our plan for breaking the Center operation into well integrated components, sharing a balanced load of responsibility. In addition to the External Advisory Board, which will provide us with outside feedback on all aspects of our activity, we will establish an Internal Advisory Board as well, focused mainly on assessing our efficient leveraging of campus resources and infrastructure. We have a detailed plan in place for organizing meetings at TRD, CP, and Center-wide level. We intend to hold the Annual meeting collocated with the CLIMB Summer School, Research Workshop, and EAB visits, an “all-hands-on- deck” event meant to nurture a culture of center community. Our plans for managing the CP/ SP interactions will include performance assessment on both the Center and collaborator sides, procedures for expanding with new projects and, when necessary, phasing projects out. The CLIMB Computational Infrastructure will serve several different purposes, central to our mission: provide high- end computing means for all our projects, provide a direct avenue for sharing resources and expertise with the community, and host educational and training materials for our users.