Grants News
FY 05-06 fringe benefit rates announced
Check out CUR Quarterly
NASA changes proposal submission process
Attention, inventors
NSF seeks to beef up award monitoring
U.S. leads in research and discovery, but for how long?
CUR conference and institutes
NIH publishes public access policy
Grants.gov
Academe's patent pursuit assessed
U.S. Department of Education prefers randomized trials
UW Oshkosh FY 2004-2005 grants update
FY 05-06 fringe benefit rates announced
The FY 05-06 fringe benefits rates are as follows:
- Faculty/academic staff: 42.5 percent
- Permanent classified: 57 percent
- Graduate assistants (salaried): 30 percent
- Hourly student assistants (undergraduate or graduate): 2.5 percent
- Limited-term employee (LTE): 44 percent
- Research associates and interns: 34 percent
- Ad-hoc and undergrad assistants: 7.65 percent
Check out CUR Quarterly
CUR Quarterly (published by the Council on Undergraduate Research) provides information about undergraduate research and research at primarily undergraduate institutions. CUR Quarterly is a member benefit and also is available to libraries and nonmembers. For more information, go to www.cur.org/Publications/Quarterlies.html
NASA changes proposal submission process
NASA has implemented a new master proposal database system. All proposers, co-investigators and proposing organizations must register with the system at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/. The required cover page, proposal summary and budget summary must be electronically submitted by Linda Freed, Office of Grants and Faculty Development, or Dawn Herzig, Financial Services. Potential proposers are urged to access the system well in advance of the proposal due date(s) to familiarize themselves and enter the requested information. If you have questions, please contact the Office of Grants and Faculty Development at ext. 3215.
Attention, inventors
The WiSys Technology Foundation, Inc. (WiSys) is the designated intellectual property management organization for all UW System institutions other than UW Madison. WiSys, established in June 2000, is a subsidiary of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). WARF was founded in 1925 to patent and license the inventions of researchers at UW Madison. WiSys was established to do the same for the rest of the UW System institutions.
Through the WiSys Prototype Development Fund, limited funds are available for prototype development. WiSys will recommend funding to UW System administration, which manages the funds, for prototype development to enhance the marketing of selected inventions. Funding ranges from $5,000 to $15,000 per technology to be used for prototype development. The funds must be used or encumbered by June 30, 2005.
Applications are due no later than May 31. To ensure time for internal review, applications are due to the Office of Grants and Faculty Development by no later than May 20. For more information, contact Dr. Maliyakal John, WiSys general manager, at (608) 265-2135; e-mail maliyakal@wisys.org. Or call the Office of Grants and Faculty Development at ext. 3215. On the Web, go to www.uwsa.edu/fadmin/gapp/gapp34.htm. To view the WiSys Technology Foundation newsletter, go to www.uwosh.edu/grants/research_responsibility/intel_property.php
NSF seeks to beef up award monitoring
The Congressional House Committee on Science has been investigating the way the National Science Foundation (NSF) monitors research grant compliance. Christine Boesz, inspector general at NSF, testified that “NSF must broaden its approach to award monitoring to go beyond the relatively few high-risk awardees, develop more effective award oversight guidance, and increase the coordination between program and financial officers. We have recently received and are currently reviewing an action plan from NSF that proposes to address these additional award-monitoring activities."
U.S. leads in research and discovery, but for how long?
The Task Force on the Future of American Innovation assesses the international standing of the United States in science and technology. Benchmarks in education, the science and engineering workforce, scientific knowledge, innovation, investment and high-tech output indicate that the nation may soon fall behind global competitors. To view the report, visit www.futureofinnovation.org/PDF/Benchmarks.pdf
CUR conference and institutes
- CUR Dialogues was held at the Sheraton National Hotel in Arlington, Va., April 17-19. Listen to 47 presentations about potential funding sources and how to write successful research proposals. Linda Freed, Office of Grants and Faculty Development, presented a session titled Online Resources for Grantseeking. The plenary address included reflections on how integrating teaching and research can enhance education, how the climate in academic settings can be more welcoming to underrepresented minorities to encourage their pursuit of scientific careers, and how active participation in the civic and intellectual life is crucial to ensuring that undergraduate science education flourishes during this century. For more information, go to www.cur.org/.
- Mentorship, Collaboration and Undergraduate Research in Social Sciences and Humanities Institute will be held July 22-24, at Bridgewater State College, Bridgewater, Mass. The three-day workshop will bring together teams of three to five faculty members and administrators engaged in enhancing undergraduate research opportunities at their institutions, focusing on undergraduate research as faculty development, opportunities and ideas for community-based research, student-based inquiry and institutional support structure. Participants will hear plenary lectures presented by facilitators associated with CUR and participate in individual team meetings with CUR mentors. They also will discuss undergraduate research, mentorship and collaboration models; what “research” and “mentorship” mean in different disciplines in the social sciences and humanities; establishing and maintaining research contacts within the community; assessing the value of undergraduate research; and how to augment funding for undergraduate research internally and externally.
To complete the online application and for more information, go to www.cur.org/institutes/SocSciHum.html.
- Proposal Writing Institute will be held July 16-20 at Colorado State University-Pueblo. This institute will bring together faculty and administrators interested in preparing proposals for submission to external funding agencies. The four-day institute will consist of one-on-one work with a mentor, small-group discussions, writing and critiquing of proposals, and plenary sessions. The institute assists novice to experienced proposal writers in drafting complete proposals for submission.
Applicants should submit a one- to two-paragraph outline of their proposal and the name of the intended funding agency and/or program in the online application. Accepted participants will be expected to submit a background literature survey and as much of the proposal as they have completed by the first week of June. For the online application and more information, visit www.cur.org/institutes/Proposal.html.
NIH publishes public access policy
The National Institutes of Health has released the agency’s final policy on public access to NIH-supported research results. The policy requests (but does not require) that grantees send research manuscripts accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals to the NIH for archiving by the National Library of Medicine. Public access to the manuscripts will be available at PubMed Central. Researchers will be allowed to control manuscript release dates and will have up to a year to delay making them publicly available following initial publication. To review the policy, go to grants2.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-05-022.html.
Grants.gov
Grants.gov allows organizations to electronically find and apply for competitive grant opportunities from all 26 federal grant-making agencies. Grants.gov is the single access point for more than 900 grant programs offered by the agencies. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services manages Grants.gov.
Recently Grants.gov hosted a webcast to answer grant seekers’ questions. Here is a sampling:
Q. Will agencies that currently have their own electronic submissions systems be transitioning to Grants.gov as the sole online method for application submission (e.g. NSF-Fastlane, NIH-Commons, ED – E-grants, DOE, NASA, DOJ)? Is there a published schedule of planned changeovers?
A. All federal grant-making agencies are currently migrating the customer-facing or front end of the process of finding and applying for grants to Grants.gov. Additionally, all agencies are streamlining and standardizing their grant application processes and forms to migrate to their grant programs for electronic submission through Grants.gov. This electronic application system is working closely with all federal grant-making agencies to provide a one-stop solution to the grant community and grant applicants for finding and applying for all federal grants.
Q. What are the plans to interface Grants.gov with NIH-Commons and NSF-FastLane? Is there a timeline for this process?
A. The NSF-FastLane and NIH-Commons systems include additional functionality than just the Grants.gov Find and Apply. Those elements will continue to be in production while NSF and NIH transition more of their programs to Grants.gov customer-facing electronic application system. With regards to moving to Grants.gov, NSF plans to test 15 initial program announcements. From that pilot, NSF will look at lessons learned and eventually expand the number and complexity of the packages posted.
Q. Are award notices sent through Grants.gov or through traditional means?
A. Grants.gov is not currently involved in the award or post-award process. After successful electronic submission of the grant application, Grants.gov bows out of the picture, and all activities and communications regarding the review and award of grants is conducted by the awarding agency.
Q. Can Grants.gov answer questions post-award (i.e., equipment issues, grant extensions, budget modifications)?
A. No, those types of questions would be handled by the awarding agency.
Q. How can I learn more about submitting an application on Grants.gov?
A. The Grants.gov Web site is full of information and instructions to assist you in submitting an application. Go to www.grants.gov/Apply.
For the complete Q & A, go to www.grants.gov/assets/WebcastQA.pdf.
Academe’s patent pursuit assessed
In February 2005, the American Association for the Advancement of Science began surveying 4,000 of its member scientists to see if they believe academe’s thirst for patents is “aiding or hindering the progress of science.”
In 1980, the federal Bayh-Dole Act gave institutions of higher education permission to patent inventions developed with federal funds. Since then, academic researchers have been scrutinized for possible patent infringements for using patented materials in research.
For more information, see “In 2 Surveys, Science Association Assesses Impact on Research of Quickening Drive for Patents” in the February 21, 2005, edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education.
U.S. Department of Education prefers randomized trials
The U.S. Department of Education now gives preference to research grant applicants who conduct randomized controlled trials or similar methods. USDE officials say that initially the priority will pertain to only a small portion of the department’s discretionary grant programs.
Critics of education research allege that such research is diluted. However, scholars disagree and say randomized trials are costly, cumbersome, pose ethical problems and undermine the value of descriptive, qualitative classroom research.
For more information, see “New Federal Policy Favoring Randomized Trials in Education Research Takes Effect Today” in the February 24, 2005, edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education.
UW Oshkosh FY 2004-2005 grants update
Research opportunities allow UW Oshkosh faculty and academic staff to grow professionally. Such opportunities, in turn, benefit UW Oshkosh students by improving the quality of their academic experiences and providing opportunities for faculty/student collaborative research. Hats off to the project directors and all those who have worked with them to make their research a success. Please click on the following link for a list of grant projects that began between January 1 and March 31, 2005.
http://www.uwosh.edu/grants/assets/a_grant052.php
