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NIH to transfer all NCRR programs, awards, and applications to other Institutes and Centers

Following the dissolution of the National Center of Research Resources at the end of 2011, NIH will transfer all former NCRR programs, awards, and applications to other Institutes and Centers as appropriate to the science.

Over the next few weeks PIs will receive e-mails from NIH explaining where their NCRR applications and awards will be administered and identifying the appropriate NIH contact person for addressing questions.

 

Alison Ng, Special Projects Coordinator, Human and Animal Protections, earns CIP certification

The Certified IRB Professional (CIP) credential signals to research institutions, the public, and members of human research professions that certified individuals are highly qualified to discharge their duties and are well versed in U.S. rules and regulations, prevailing ethical codes, and administrative "best practices." Only IRB professionals with at least 2-3 years of direct IRB experience may sit for the exam, which was developed by the Council for Certification of IRB Professionals (CCIP), with substantial input from leading members of the IRB community.

 

Research, Scholarly, and Creative Works Symposium

ORSP invites the SF State campus to attend a research, scholarly and creative works symposium presented by faculty from last year's (2011) ORSP small grant and methodology awards competition.

It’s always a fascinating day of "speed" presentations of accomplished work ranging from hypertension management in Chinese elderly, to history as graphic art, to labor relations and more.

Date: Monday June 4th from 12:30 to 5 PM
Location: Library, Events Room 121

Agenda will be posted here soon

 

NSF fast tracks proposals using a new internally reviewed mechanism

In a recent Dear Colleague letter NSF's new Director Subra Suresh has unveiled a new fast track program for grant proposals "without a recognizable home" termed CREATIV (Creative Research Awards for Transformative Interdisciplinary Ventures). Only internal merit review is required; proposals must be interdisciplinary and potentially transformative; requests may be up to $1M and up to five years.

Read more

 

Renewing Its Vows: NIH Revises AREA Solicitation


The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has released a new program announcement (PA) for the Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA), the agency's mechanism for supporting smaller-scale research at institutions that receive comparatively little NIH funding. There is more emphasis on student engagement, and funding for diversity supplements. Applications are due by February 25, June 25, and October 25 annually.


The most significant revisions to the PA involve the ways proposals will be reviewed. AREA program director Erika Brown reports that the new PA will more explicitly drive “reviewers to focus on the goals of the program and the unique constraints of the applicants.” The following changes and clarifications are included in the new PA:


  • More focus on inclusion of students in meritorious research. Applications should include plans to expose undergraduate or graduate students to hands-on research (but should not include training plans);
  • All program directors and principal investigators involved with the proposed project must have a primary faculty appointment at an AREA-eligible institution;
  • The total budget for all years of the proposed project must be requested in Budget Period 1. Do not complete Budget Periods 2 or 3. They are not required and will not be accepted with the application;
  • There is more emphasis on the opportunities for AREA awardees to apply for administrative supplements to support and recruit  high school, undergraduate, and graduate students from groups that have been shown to be underrepresented in behavioral and biomedical sciences; and
  • Reviewers will be asked to provide an overall impact/priority score to reflect their assessment of the likelihood for the project to make an important scientific contribution to the research fields involved, to provide research opportunities to students, and to strengthen the research environment of the institution.

“It’ll be interesting to see how things improve with the new review criteria next year,” says Brown. She is available to answer specific questions at ebrown1@od.nih.gov.

 

NIH Mandates Use of the Commons to Submit No-Cost Extension Notifications

The NIH has just released a guide notice (NOT-OD-11-098) detailing their plan to mandate the use of the No-Cost Extension feature in eRA Commons when you need to notify NIH that you will exercise your one-time authority to extend (without additional funds) the final budget period of your grant. The majority of you are already using NCE for this purpose, but the new policy requiring its use will go into effect on October 1, 2011. As of that date, NIH will no longer accept these notifications via other communication channels.

 

New NIH Guidelines for mixed methods research

NIH develops Guidelines to assist investigators using mixed methods (qualitative + quantitative) as they develop competitive applications

 

New SPIN QuickSearch

SPIN has introduced new, more intuitive and user-friendly QuickSearch interface.

 

Please provide your feedback to ORSP

Please give us your feedback by completing this survey

 

The "Route to Successful Grant Submissions"

Follow the Route to Successful Grant Submissions!
Review our new submission timeline

 

New SF State Travel Policy

Effective Spring 2011, SF State has a new campus-wide travel policy that has resulted in many changes to the travel process. Our web page Paying for Travel Expenses on a Project outlines the most common aspects of travel on ORSP grants and contracts. Please review this page carefully and refer to the linked policies and forms that come directly from SF State’s Travel Department.
If you have any questions, please contact your ORSP Grant Administrator.

 

New 5-week lead time for PI Checklists

In the past, PI checklists were suggested to be submitted 3 weeks before proposal deadlines. This hasn’t allowed enough time for budget preparation, external pre-review of federal proposals, corrections and edits by our grant writer, or for Dean/Chairs to be advised about special needs of proposals, or for any pre-proposal conferences with funders that might need to occur. We are now suggesting and urging a 5-week lead time for the PI Checklist. In these days of budget contraction, together we must be strategic about proposal submissions. Unchanged and as before, there is a seven business day deadline for the final budget, budget justification, and draft narrative.

 

Welcome to new IRB members

Serving on the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of San Francisco State University is a generous commitment by each of the members. Not only does this service meet the regulatory needs of the University’s research program, but also is a way of giving back to researchers and their students by spending time helping them shape their research aims and methods.

Therefore it is with great pleasure that Jaylan Turkkan, AVP for Research and Sponsored Programs, together with Alison Ng, Coordinator of the Human and Animal Protections unit at ORSP, and Ellen Hines, Chair of the IRBs, welcome four members to the SF State IRB community:

  • Qian Guo, Associate Professor of Geography and Human Environmental Studies. His areas of expertise are rural sustainable development of China, geopolitical strategies of China, and geography of northwest China.
  • Jae Paik, Assistant Professor of Developmental Psychology. Her research focuses on the development of early mathematical concepts, comparison processes, and verb acquisitions specifically in relation to language, culture and conceptual development.
  • Marco Bravo, Assistant Professor of Elementary Education. He is an educator who specializes in the integration of science language literacy and teaching science to English language learners.
  • Seung Hee Yoo, Assistant Professor of Social Psychology. Her research focuses on interpersonal functions of emotion, cross-cultural research on emotions and context.

 

Now required: NSF Data Management Plan

Several federal agencies including NIH, NSF and NASA require PIs to post data for access by researchers and policy makers. The NSF now requires a (maximum) 2 page section in all proposals, and have given Directorate by Directorate guidance on ways in which data, images, audio/video files and physical specimens can be processed, shared and archived. These sections will be reviewed.

A new resource page on the ORSP website provides guidance and links to related policies and guidelines.

Questions should be directed to Barbara Ustanko, ustanko@sfsu.edu, x8-3052.

 

NIH reminds extramural research community about policies affecting NIH Grant Submissions for due dates on or after January 25, 2011

NOT-OD-11-021: Reminder: Policies Affecting Submission of NIH Grant Applications for Due Dates on or after January 25, 2011.

SRA will host two Webinars on the following two topics in the next month.

  • Window Shut, Now What? Submitting Error-free NIH Grant Applications
    Grant applicants submitting to NIH deadlines January 25, 2011 and beyond, will no longer have the safety net of an error correction window to address system-identified errors/warnings after the deadline.  This Webinar will provide an overview of NIH’s electronic application submission process with an emphasis on avoiding common pitfalls and submitting error-free applications.  NIH instructor to be announced.
  • eRA Commons: Post-submission Functionality – The Latest and Greatest
    eRA Commons is your tool for managing post-submission functionality, including new NIH policy mandates. Learn about Federal Financial  Reporting (FFR), xTrain, Electronic Streamlined Award Process (eSNAP) and Just-In-Time functions in eRA Commons. NIH instructor to be announced.

Dates, times and registration information available after January 14 at:
www.srainternational.org.

 

New statistical resources for faculty

Several new resources are now available to SF State faculty at no cost to them, for analyzing data, receiving statistical training, and obtaining consultations on statistical analysis and study design. Read more.

 

Text and Academic Authors (TAA) Association

The Text and Academic Authors Association (TAA) is the only nonprofit membership association dedicated solely to assisting textbook and academic authors. TAA's overall mission is to enhance the quality of textbooks and other academic materials, such as journal articles, monographs and scholarly books, in all fields and disciplines, by providing its textbook and academic author members with educational and networking opportunities.

Academic Authoring Workshops. TAA sponsors workshops on college and university campuses across the country. These workshops are designed to assist academic authors in jump-starting their writing, getting their writing published, finishing their dissertations, and writing effective grant proposals.

Teleconferences. Members can participate in one or more 60-minute teleconferences. New teleconferences are offered each Fall and Spring. All teleconferences are made available as downloadable recordings.

Publication Grants. TAA members are eligible for grants of up to $750 to subsidize the cost of publishing scholarly journal articles or books, e.g., the preparation of art-work, having the article formatted to the journal's style, the preparation of photographic images, and straightforward publication costs.

How-to Articles. For example: How to find a textbook publisher; Tips for writing at home when you're not alone

Visit the Text and Academic Authors (TAA) Association website:

http://www.taaonline.net/

 

Attending bidders conferences

If you are invited to attend a bidders conference regarding a proposal you are planning to submit, please contact Alison Sanders, Director of ORSP (asanders@sfsu.edu or 5-3943), so that we can send a representative to attend.

 

CBPR Mentored Grant Development Award Announcement

The CBPR Collaborative is pleased to announce four grant awards to assist SFSU faculty and a designated mentor in the development of a CBPR grant. After review by an interdisciplinary objective faculty committee from SFSU, each winning proposal received $6,000 in funding, with funding partly allocated to the community partner. The Collaborative anticipates that this support will lay the groundwork for successful grant applications to governmental and non-governmental funding agencies. The Collaborative would like to congratulate the following recipients of the 2010-2011 Mentored Grant Development Award:

  • Amy Smith, Department of Psychology: Evaluation of The Alliance for CHANGE, an organization that works to reduce recidivism and increase public safety by successfully preparing incarcerated men for reintegration upon release
  • Juliana Van Olphen, Department of Health Education: Youth-led CBPR campaign to identify and change municipal policies affecting childhood obesity
  • Jessica Fields, Department of Sociology: Exploration of the production of knowledge in CBPR and PAR as compared to established and emerging standards of research integrity
  • Rebecca Toporek, Department of Counseling: A CBPR project with a Mission District high school Career Counseling Center

 

NIH unfurls two videos for grant applicants

NIH unfurls two videos - one providing an inside look into how reviewers actually talk about, evaluate and rank grant applications, and the other offering tips on grantsmanship.

 

New Mobile Media Workgroup has formed

A new interdisciplinary group has formed at SF State led by Miriam Smith, a faculty member in BECA, focusing on mobile media in both artistic and research settings. The Mobile Media Workgroup met for the first time this week, and powerpoint slides are available. An Elluminate recording of the session also will be made available.

A listserv for the group has been created:

To subscribe: send an e-mail to majordomo@sfsu.edu with the following:

  • In the body of the message type: subscribe mobile
  • leave subject line blank

To send a message to the listserv: mobile@sfsu.edu

Any questions or problems, please contact Kevin Kelly (kkelly@sfsu.edu) or Majordomo-Owner@diana.sfsu.edu.

A notice about future meeting dates will be sent out from ORSP

 

NSF announced signficant change in how PIs can budget and charge salary

The National Science Foundation announced a new Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) NSF 10-01 that is effective January 2010. We want to make you aware of a significant change in how faculty Principal Investigators can budget and charge salary to NSF awards. The new policy limits faculty to two months of salary per year from all NSF sources unless specifically budgeted and approved by the NSF. It has removed the current requirement that faculty salary must be taken in the summer months. A few points of consideration:

  • This change is being made because NSF believes that faculty engage in a variety of activities even in the summer months. As such, NSF specifically states that salary charges should follow actual effort spent on the project.
  • Research scientists and similar individuals without a faculty appointment are not considered by NSF to be “Senior Personnel” for purposes of this revised salary policy. Prior to the policy revision this was the case, and under the revised policy, nothing is changed.
  • The policy allows faculty PIs to charge two months total (academic year plus summer) to NSF projects per year, whether those projects are direct awards from NSF or subawards to SF State using NSF funds.
  • In some cases, PIs were able to re-budget funds (under Expanded Authorities) to cover a third month of salary. This is no longer possible. This action now needs to be specifically approved in writing by your NSF program official.
  • This policy is in effect for all proposals prepared on or after January 5th, 2009, and any awards made after January 5th.

 

HHS eliminates error-correction window after 1/25/11

HHS (which includes the NIH, The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, NIOSH, and part of the CDC) will no longer allow an error-correction window for grant proposals submitted on or after January 25th.   See NOT-OD-10-123.  This doesn’t, they assure us, include “system issues…if appropriately documented”.  This means – please don’t wait until the last minute to submit, since we won’t be able to fix it after the deadline.

 

Dr. Ephraim P. Smith Appointed Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Academic Officer for CSU

Dr. Ephraim Smith, Provost at CSU Fullerton, has been appointed Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Academic Officer at the CSU Office of the Chancellor. He will start July 1, 2010. The current Executive Vice Chancellor, Dr. Jeri Echeverria, will be retiring as of June 30th, 2010.

A link to the formal announcement may be found at the following website:
http://www.calstate.edu/pa/News/2010/release/Smith_Appointed_EVC.shtml

Dr. Smith has served as Provost at CSU Fullerton for 12 years. He brings a wealth of experience to his new position.

 

CSUPERB: SFSU grant awardees announced

The following SFSU CSUPERB Seed Grants were approved:

  1. Megumi Fuse (Biology, San Francisco State University); Award: $ 14,995 for the proposal titled "Systemic Responses to Tissue Damage and Regeneration."

The following SFSU CSUPERB Joint Venture grants were approved:

  1. Laura Burrus (Biology, San Francisco State University); Award: $25,000 for the proposal titled "Porcupine Bioconformatics."
  2. Rahul Singh (Computer Science, San Francisco State University); Award: $24,900 for the proposal titled "Computational Phenomics-Based High-Throughput Drug Discovery."

The following CSUPERB Faculty Travel Grants were approved:

  1. Christopher Smith (Biology, San Francisco State University); Award: $1,000 for travel to present research at the International Union for the Study of Social Insects Meeting (August 8-14, 2010) in Copenhagen, Denmark

The following CSUPERB Student Travel grants were approved:

  1. Henry Hunter (Cell and Molecular Biology, San Francisco State University); Mentor: Christopher Smith; Award: $1,000 for travel to present research at the Arthropod Genomics Symposium (June 10-13, 2010) in Kansas City, Missouri
  2. Teresa Laird (Biology, San Francisco State University); Mentor: Christopher Smith; Award: $1,000 for travel to present research at the Drosophila Research Conference (April 7-11, 2010) in Washington, D.C.
  3. Sandra Melloy (Biology, San Francisco State University); Mentor: José de la Torre; Award: $1,000 for travel to present research at International Symposium on Microbial Ecology (August 22-27, 2010) in Seattle, Washington
  4. Camilla Teng (Biology, San Francisco State University); Mentor: Laura Burrus; Award: $1,000 for travel to present research at the Society for Developmental Biology Meeting (August 5-9, 2010) in Albuquerque, New Mexico

 

Eric Hsu named new Director of Center for Science and Mathematics Education

Sheldon Axler, Dean of the College of Science and Engineering, has announced Eric Hsu's appointment as the new Director of the Center for Science and Mathematics Education, effective immediately.

Dr. Hsu was an undergraduate math major at Harvard. He then received a PhD in mathematics from UC Berkeley, followed by a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Texas, Austin. He came to SF State in 2001 as an Assistant Professor of Mathematics, where he is now an Associate Professor. Since coming to SF State, he has been awarded a prestigious NSF CAREER grant and a large NSF Math Science Partnership grant and a California Math Science Partnership grant.

Dr. Hsu will be devoting 40% of his time to serving as Director of the Center for Science and Mathematics Education. In announcing Dr. Hsu's appointment, Dean Axler said, "I am confident that he can help lead our Center for Science and Mathematics Education to take advantage of the multiple exciting opportunities that will be available in STEM education."

 

NIH - New Application Packages & Shorter Page Limits

All new or resubmission applications to the NIH targeting due dates on or after January 25, 2010 (for FY2011 funding consideration) require the use of new application forms and instructions, which include shorter page limits. Applicants should review these new instructions and begin preparing for a shorter research plan, and may wish to revisit the original Funding Opportunity Announcement or new Parent Announcement to verify they have download the new, correct forms. For more details on these changes and the new forms, please refer to the latest NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-10-031, the ADOBE-FORMS-B Application Guide (found at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/424/index.htm), or the Enhancing Peer Review web site.  Applications submitted using incorrect application forms will be delayed and may not be reviewed. 

 

Proposal Submission Policy (effective January 1, 2010)

SF State University submissions to external sponsors cannot be made without appropriate review and approval, as required under the Chancellor’s Executive Order 890. Therefore all approvals must occur prior to the submission deadline.

For this reason, ORSP has implemented a seven business day proposal submission policy, which was effective January 1, 2010:

All proposals must be received by ORSP no later than seven business days prior to the sponsor deadline. In order for a proposal to be considered "on time", the following documents are required:

  1. A finalized budget
  2. A final budget justification
  3. A draft of the proposal narrative

PIs will still be able to refine and work on the proposal narrative, but changes to the budget and budget justification will not be permitted, as these sections will be in the process of being routed and approved.

Proposals that are not submitted to ORSP by seven business days before the proposal deadline will not be submitted to the sponsor.

This policy applies to all PI Checklists submitted on or after January 1, 2010. For questions please consult your grant administrator.

Please disseminate this notice to staff. General questions about this policy can be directed to Alison Sanders, Director of Research and Sponsored Programs, asanders@sfsu.edu, 415-405-3943.


Research opportunities at SF State's Children’s Campus

As Children’s Campus (CC) works to build their research agenda, they are interested in hearing the ideas of researchers from related disciplines such as child development, health education, social work, early care and education, and teacher training. Please use this questionnaire to provide your input regarding research opportunities at Children’s Campus.

PLEASE RETURN to jclaw@sfsu.edu or Julie Law, CAD Dept., SCI 390.


ORSP will pay for external pre-review of federal proposals

Federal grants are hard to get, and recent changes in the number of submissions allowed to the NIH, for example, require that proposals be pitch-perfect before they go out. Because of this, faculty in many universities have found that pre-review of their proposals through external consultants reveals problems that can be fixed before final submission. ORSP will pay for a pre-review of your federal agency proposal, if the narrative section is submitted one month before the proposal is due. If you feel you meet this criterion, please email Dr. Turkkan jturkkan@sfsu.edu a draft proposal narrative one month prior to the submission date. Include in your email names of several federally funded researchers who are working in your topic (ideally, those who you referenced in the narrative).


Revised NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide

A revised version of the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPP), NSF 10-1, will become effective January 4, 2010. A by-chapter summary of significant changes is provided at the beginning of both the Grant Proposal Guide and the Award & Administration Guide to assist users in identifying changes. Two significant changes made in order to comply with the America COMPETES Act are:

  1. the addition of a new proposal certification to address the responsible conduct of research requirement, and
  2. a new requirement for PIs to provide a project outcomes report for the general public within 90 days following expiration of the grant.


NIH Policy on Resubmission (Amended) Applications

NIH announces a change in the existing policy on resubmission (amended) applications. Beginning with original new applications (i.e., never submitted) and competing renewal applications submitted for the January 25, 2009 due dates and beyond, the NIH will accept only a single amendment to the original application. Failure to receive funding after two submissions (i.e., the original and the single amendment) will mean that the applicant should substantially re-design the project rather than simply change the application in response to previous reviews. It is expected that this policy will lead to funding high quality applications earlier, with fewer resubmissions.


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