At any given moment, there are about 2,000 research projects happening in different fields of expertise at the University.
Now, they’re being compiled into a single database where researchers’ names and works can be viewed using a simple search bar.
Ashley Arceneaux, University director of strategic communications, said the idea for the database began about two years ago as a way to connect University research projects to others in the world of academics. The chancellor’s office paid for the website’s construction.
“The goal behind this is to help make it so people can see what goes on behind the gates of LSU, to open the doors of academia to the public,” Arceneaux said.
The database’s home page is black and white with a search bar in the middle and a photo background. When a user types in a name, research topic or subject, a list of people conducting research comes up.
After clicking on a researcher’s name, users can see what grants the researcher has received, in which University department they work and their area of expertise. The database, located at experts.lsu.edu, is expected to be completed by January.
“It’s been under works for some time, because it was built from the ground up to fit LSU’s needs,” Arceneaux said.
There are already a number of pre-built databases that could fit the University’s need to centralize research information. However, Arceneaux said it wanted to make sure the database was useful for students, professors, the media and other people outside of academia.
Gatorworks, a Baton Rouge-based website design agency, was commissioned to build the database with search functions and expandability in mind.
Gatorworks director Brian Rodriguez said the project took about six months to complete, and the team worked with the University to build the site. The project’s cost remains unclear.
Rodriguez said the website is now in its first edition, and it may change over time to better suit users’ needs.
Alison Satake, director of media relations for the Office of Research and Economic Development, said the database operates like a Facebook page for University researchers.
“The University is a research enterprise, and our job is to help foster that,” Satake said.
Professors, associate professors, assistant professors, graduate students and any other individuals conducting research can enter their information, or the departments they work for can input it for them, Satake said. Either way, uploading all of the information takes time.
“It’s not very populated at the moment,” said Matthew Lee, senior associate vice chancellor of the Office of Research and Economic Development. “They’ve basically got the shell of it up.”
Arceneaux said the University heard from students who wished to know more about their professors’ research to learn about what work they could do in their fields of study.
She said the search function of the database was customized so rather than requiring database users to know a lot of academic jargon, they could find what they are looking for using layman’s terms.