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I'll be interested to see if Leonard's idea works. I'd not
 accuse reserachers of a lack of initiative in this area,
 but my experience is that they don't always volunteer for
 database listings and similar services.  Although
 databases and interest lists appear to be good ideas,
 I've yet to meet a reseracher who has used one to find a
 collaborator when they can search through their journals
 or through the grapevine.  It's easier to search known
 territory or, like my teenager to ask your buds, than to
 enter your interests in a computer file.
 If someone has found a way to make an effective interest
 database and they know it is used by the faculty, I'd
 appreciate knowing how it was done.  It's an idea that
 administrators like because they can say "look what we've
 done," but after doing several, I've never been able to
say "look how it works."
 Spanky
UCHC will be developing such a pointer in the near future, on our research
gopher.  The service will be purely voluntary, in that we will simply allow
faculty who wish to have their profiles listed the opportunity to do so.  We
are not going to actively solicit the profiles.  As to access, it will be
accessible to anyone.  We see this as an opportunity to allow potential research
partners access to a window on UCHC research activities.

"L"
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Leonard P. Paplauskas    Assistant Vice President for Research     |
203-679-3173             University of Connecticut Health Center   |
FAX 679-2670             Farmington, CT   06030-5355               |
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xxxxxx@neuron.uchc.edu                                           |
xxxxxx@sun.uchc.edu                                            |
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