New research procurement program to hold information session March 22

Tufts University is holding an information session on March 22 about a new initiative intended to connect municipalities with higher education institutions to deliver applied research projects.

University officials say the New England Research Procurement Program will provide a cost-effective way for municipalities to analyze problems and explore alternatives to improve their programs, policies and services by streamlining operations.

Researchers at Tufts University and other universities throughout the region have long partnered with local governments to provide research services. These arrangements have historically been ad hoc, however, and often difficult to arrange and sustain. The New England Research Procurement Program was developed to help address these challenges.

New York City has developed a model for connecting university researchers with local government professionals. The program provides a procurement process through which city agencies can hire faculty-directed applied research teams to address real-world problems.

Tufts is seeking to replicate the New York model throughout New England, beginning in Massachusetts, in order to help municipalities with a range of research services, covering everything from studying the needs of senior citizens to preschool effectiveness assessments, from wetland science to public space planning.

The initiative was launched by Tufts through the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning in the School of Arts and Sciences and the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life.

The March 22 information session will convene local leaders, procurement officials and university researchers to explore ways to implement the New York model in New England. Speakers will be Terri Matthews, who directs the New York program, and Dean Alan Solomont of the Tisch College of Civic Life.

The session will be held from 1 to 3:30 p.m. in the Cheryl Chase Center at 200 Packard Ave. on Tufts’ Medford campus.

To attend the information session, RSVP by March 11 to professor Justin Hollander at justin.hollander@tufts.edu or Dean Jackie Dejean at Jackie.dejean@tufts.edu.