University Research Council
2004-2005
Activities Report
THE PROVOST’S CHARGE
Provost James Maher delivered the Council charge at the
November 5 meeting. He asked the Council
to:
Over the course of the year, members of the Council
developed the interdisciplinary seed grant program and advised the Office of
Research. Members of the Council worked
with faculty from humanities disciplines to develop a proposal to the Mellon
Foundation and studied how best to address research issues of national
interest. Work in the latter two areas
is ongoing.
FACULTY ASSISTANCE
The Council evaluated 50 proposals to the University’s
Central Research Development Fund (CRDF).
The Council recommended funding for 31 of the proposals. Nine of the 17 applications from health
science fields were funded, nine of the 12 applications from the science and
engineering fields were funded, and thirteen of the 21 applications from social
science and humanities fields were funded.
Interdisciplinary
Small Grants Program
The Council sponsored the first in an annual series of
interdisciplinary small grant competitions.
The program is designed to enhance opportunities for the University’s
faculty to engage in multidisciplinary research, scholarship, and creative
endeavors. The
program encourages faculty with different skills and training to address complex problems that span the humanities, social
sciences, engineering, physical sciences, and/or the biological and health
sciences. The Council funded one of the
eight applications.
Electronic Research
Administration
InfoEd is providing the software that
the Office of Research is using to update its electronic administrative
procedures. The new system’s proposal-tracking
module will be introduced this year.
Principal investigators will be able to submit proposals electronically,
and Office staffers will be able to track proposals electronically. The proposal-development module will be
introduced next year. This module will
support both complete online proposal development and the electronic proposal formats
of all external sponsors.
Federal Agencies
Trip
Twenty-one members of the University’s social science, humanities,
and education faculty and grant administration staff attended the annual
federal agencies’ briefing on March 21.
Representatives from NSF, NIH, USAID, and the Department of Education,
among others, spoke. The speakers
provided information on discipline-specific research programs, agency contacts,
and proposal review criteria. They also
discussed undergraduate research programs, joint research and educational
programs (e.g., IGERT), and teacher education programs.
A21 Regulations
Julie Norris, formerly of the Director of Sponsored
Programs at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, visited the University on
November 16 to discuss A21 regulations. She
is a highly regarded expert on issues related research administration. A21 refers to the Office of Management and
Budget’s Circular A21, which describes the types of costs that may be directly
charged to grants and those costs that are considered to be incorporated into
the indirect cost rate. These rules apply only to federally sponsored
projects.
OFFICE OF RESEARCH
The Office of Research’s workload increases as the
University’s research portfolio expands.
The Office processes an average of 450 proposals per month, but this
number can reach 600 per month during January, May, and September. NIH proposals are generally due in the
aforementioned months. The National
Institutes of Health are the source of 50 percent of the University’s research
funds. The new electronic research
administration system will help alleviate some of the burden associated with
this workload (see discussion under “Faculty Assistance”). Office staff will be able to track, process,
and submit research proposals more efficiently.
The Office hired several individuals to help process its
growing workload. A new Assistant
Director for Education and Training is developing a research administration
certificate program. Few universities
employ someone to educate and train staff in research administration. The Office of Research will benchmark the
development of its program against the programs of the few universities that do
employ such individuals. A fully
developed program should exist within three years. A new corporate contracts officer and a new
clinical contracts officer are processing contracts, and two new information
technology specialists are helping to develop the Office’s new electronic
administration system.
The Office of Research sponsored a forum for University research
administrators at which policy and procedural changes and ITARs
and EARs were discussed. Between 150 and 200 individuals
attended. The Office continues to sponsor
a series of National Council of University Research Administrators professional
development teleconferences.
Teleconferences held this year included:
COUNCIL RETREAT
Members of the Council met on June 23 to create an agenda
for the upcoming academic year. Issues
of interest include:
INFORMATION SESSIONS
Electronic Library
Resources
Dr. Rush Miller, Director of the University Library
System, discussed the University’s electronic library resources. The University possesses more than 150,000
individual items in its electronic databases and online resources. University investment in and use of electronic
resources generally exceeds its peer institutions investment in and use of
these resources. The library provides
real-time, digital reference services; extensive access to electronic journals;
an electronic thesis and dissertation database; and several electronic
archives. Electronic purchases account
for approximately one quarter of all of the library’s material purchases.
Strategic and Program Development
Sheila Rathke, Assistant Provost for Strategic and Program
Development, discussed strategies for publicizing the University’s teaching and
research efforts. She used the field of
nanotechnology as an example. Numerous
researchers at the University conduct high-profile work in this field, but some
individuals outside of the University community are unaware of these
researchers’ accomplishments. Ms. Rathke
is helping to develop a message that will inform lay individuals, local and
development officials, and state and federal legislators of this work. The message will describe the types of
nanotechnology research conducted at the University, illustrate how research at
the University differs from research at other universities, and demonstrate the
University’s long-term commitment to supporting this research.
Research Accounting
Caroline Correa and Mark Stofko
from the Office of Research Accounting and John Elliott from the Internal Audit
Department discussed accounting compliance issues. Compliance is becoming increasingly important
because the federal government is monitoring federally financed research
expenditures more closely. Recent
events, such as NIH site visits and the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, have
brought these issues to the fore. The
University is educating members of the faculty and staff about the potential
pitfalls associated with these issues through training sessions, compliance
testing, continual communication, etc.
Bridging the Life
and Physical Sciences
Dr. Jeremy Somers from the Office of Research, Health
Sciences, attended a joint NSF/NIH conference entitled “Research at the
Interface of the Life and Physical Sciences: Bridging the Sciences.” In the first breakout session, meeting
participants discussed the need to 1) develop an understanding of biology as a
complex system, 2) use this understanding to develop predictive methods, and 3)
develop new physical approaches to compete the aforementioned task. In the second breakout session, meeting
participants discussed ways to foster collaboration between the life and
physical sciences in order to address the challenges identified in the first
session.
ISSUE DISCUSSIONS
Members of the Council repeatedly discussed several issues
during the academic year. These issues
included:
The Department of Homeland Security is sponsoring several
multi-university, interdisciplinary academic centers dedicated to the study of
national preparedness. Annual funding
for the centers varies from $3.0 to $5.0 million per year over approximately
five years. DHS released several RFPs during the last academic year. Members of the Keystone Alliance, several
non-Pennsylvania universities, and several non-academic partners collaborated
on these proposals.
Material Transfer
Agreements
A material transfer agreement (
ITARs and EARs
International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITARs) and Export Administration Regulations (EARs) have become increasingly relevant in the post-9/11
world. EARs,
promulgated and enforced by the Department of Commerce, and ITARs,
by the Department of State, prohibit the unlicensed export of specific
technologies for reasons of national security or protection of trade. The
Office of the Provost and the Office of Research are educating the University
community on these issues. The Provost’s memo on ITARs and EARs is located on the
Provost’s website.
MEMBERS
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Chair |
George E.
Klinzing, Vice Provost for Research |
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Representing the |
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Faculty of Arts and Sciences |
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Graduate |
John Mendeloff |
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Graduate |
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Office of the Provost |
Janelle Greenberg, FAS |
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Esther Gal-Or, KGSB |
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Mike Lovell |
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Rory A. Cooper |
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Michael Lewis |
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Mike Madison |
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Raman Venkataramanan |
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Gregory L. Page |
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John D. Beuthin |
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University Senate |
Patricia W. Dowling,
Medicine |
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Gene W. Gruver, FAS |