A Coordinating Committee will guide the Consortium, and is comprised of the coprincipal investigators, including: Sonny Ramaswamy (Chair of the Coordinating Committee); Thomas Phillips, OSU; Bh. Subramanyam, KSU; Frank Arthur, USGMPRC; and Dirk Maier, Purdue University. Committee members, along with other collaborators, participated in brainstorming sessions from which this proposal was derived. This committee will meet annually to discuss and formulate overall consortium policies, set themes and topics for seminars, discussion series and symposia, and approve proposals for staff exchange etc.

    The day-to-day operations of CIMSPIP will be managed by Sonny Ramaswamy. Ramaswamy has been head of the K-State Entomology department since 1997, with a staff of nearly 100 and an annual budget of approximately $4 million. He has been involved in multiinstitutional collaborations and evaluation of the same, including governance, resource allocation, multi-location and multi-disciplinary research agendas, accountability, and attribution of credit for accomplishments. Financial aspects will be managed by the K-State Department of Entomology office staff.

    The Coordinating Committee seeks to maintain a coherent research agenda and will convene discussions on this matter at annual symposia, to be held on a rotating basis between the member institutions to allow sharing of data and research ideas. With input from other participating scientists, we will develop strategies for determining research directions in which Consortium faculty can excel and emphasize the unique nature of their opportunities and responsibilities. These will constitute discussion topics for some of the annual symposia sessions. Collaborating scientists will participate in an annual symposium to enhance formal interchange of findings and ideas, to which non-consortium participants, including the advisory board members, will be invited also. Educational and outreach activities will be coordinated by Bh. Subramanyam, a professor at K-State in the Department of Grain Science and Industry.

    The Consortium will include the following co-PIs and collaborators, whose curriculum vitae are listed below.