The Faculty Collaboration Database (FCD) is a collection of profiles of MCW faculty and is funded by the Office of Research, Medical College of Wisconsin and the Clinical and Translational Institute of Southeast Wisconsin (CTSI). As of 2011 CTSI faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Marquette University are being added to the
database. Additional faculty will be added in the near future.
The FCD is easy to use and is maintained by faculty. Profiles contain information such as department, division, grants, and title. They may be enhanced with the addition of information, such as research expertise, clinical expertise, methodologies, leadership positions, education, and publications. Complete CV’s can be uploaded and faculty have options to limit who can view theirs. Those options are to make it private (only they can view it), protected (viewable to others with log-in credentials such as MCW and partner institution faculty), or public (viewable to anyone). Faculty may also choose to designate another person, such as an Administrative Assistant, to be their Designee to manage their CV and profile.
For those looking to connect and collaborate, there is an easy to use search feature in the database. When a term is entered in the search box, it initiates an extensive query of all the data in the system. A summary of that data and where it was found is then provided.
This database is an effective tool for faculty to locate and connect with potential collaborators who share similar interests. It has proven to be a useful tool in making those connections with over 96,000 Unique Visitors from August 2008 and December 2011. In 2009 the number of visits was 75,845 and in 2011 had risen to 166,574.
Future plans for the database include enhancing and expanding data feeds from all CTSI partnering institutions; investigating and implementing VIVO, an open source semantic web application for maintaining and searching online profiles; biosketch creation; and embedding publications and other profile data on external webpages.
For more information on the Faculty Collaboration Database go to http://fcd.mcw.edu. The database is also accessible through the CTSI website using the FCD link located on the right at the top of all pages.
NIH Funding Acknowledgment:Important Reminder – Please acknowledge the NIH when publishing papers, patents, projects, and presentations resulting from the use of CTSI resources by including the NIH Funding Acknowledgement.
