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We are delighted to welcome two new members to the research support team.

Katelyn Turnbull joined WPI as the Grants & Contracts Administrator in the Office of Sponsored Programs in September 2019.  Katelyn is responsible for general administrative management of sponsored research awards at WPI in Post-Award, with a primary focus on closeout processes and subaward management.  Before coming to WPI, Katelyn, a Clark University alumni, spent several years in administration in the corporate world in a variety of companies and a wide range of industries, including the opportunity to create a new role in management for a software development consultancy started by WPI alumni.

Erin Michelotti joined WPI as a Grant Specialist in September 2019 providing proposal and award management support for faculty in the Computer Science, Data Science and Social Science & Policy Studies departments. Prior to relocating to Massachusetts and joining the WPI family, Erin worked in the sponsored research offices of University of Central Florida in Orlando as well as Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and PATH in Seattle managing various aspects of both pre and post-award including subaward management, proposal submissions and contract negotiations.

We are delighted to welcome Priscilla Vazquez as a Grants and Contract Administrator within the Office of Sponsored Programs. Prior to coming to WPI, Priscilla worked at Commonwealth Medicine (the health care consulting division of UMass Medical School) as a Business Partner Services Specialist and certified proposal management professional. In addition to proposal writing and management, she brings to WPI her experience as an academic administrator for research departments at University of Vermont and UMass Medical School. Priscilla has a background in graphic design, as well as a degree in Arts Management from UMass Amherst.

We are sharing an update and relevant guidance regarding the current partial federal government shutdown and its potential effects on federally funded grants and contracts.

General Information and Resources:

While many federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, Department of Education and Department of Energy, are not affected by the partial shutdown, some agencies, including National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Transportation (DoT), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), are being affected.

Please refer to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) webpage for various agency-specific contingency plans, as well as  agency-specific websites for updates regarding grants and initiatives. Some of the most relevant agency specific links for WPI researchers are below:

• NSF (for grantees): https://www.nsf.gov/shutdown/grantees.jsp

• NSF (for panelists): https://www.nsf.gov/shutdown/panelists.jsp

• NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/181218_revised_shutdown_plan.pdf
  

Guidance on Current Grants and Contracts:

In most cases, spending on current grants and contracts from an affected agency can continue, as planned, throughout their award period and budget cycle. Current grant holders should comply with any specific additional expenditure guidance they may receive from their funding agency. We also request that should you receive stop work notices from your sponsors, to please contact the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) immediately.

However, during this shutdown period, no new funding opportunities will be announced and no new grants will be awarded by affected agencies. Unless an agency advises otherwise, recipients will be able to continue using funds already awarded, as long as activities are under the already agreed-to award budget and period, as no extensions or supplements would be processed.

Guidance on Submission of New Proposals During the Shutdown Period:

Some agencies, in particular the NSF, are still accepting proposals through online submission portals such as Fastlane and grants.gov.  Unless an agency has issued a specific proposal deadline extension to accommodate the shutdown, we are advising all WPI faculty and staff to assume that proposal due dates remained unchanged.

Note that personnel at federal agencies may not be available to answer questions during the federal shutdown due to staff furloughs.

Access to Federally Run Facilities:

If your work necessitates usage of a facility that is managed by an impacted agency, you may not able to access this facility during the shutdown period.

Further Information

Should you have any additional questions about how the shutdown may impact your research, please do not hesitate to contact OSP.  We will keep you posted as we learn more.

 

“Research compliance” encompasses many university and sponsor policies designed to ensure that research is conducted ethically, responsibly, and in the public interest. The Office of Sponsored Programs can assist WPI faculty, staff, and students with all types research compliance issues, including Responsible Conduct of Research, Human Subjects/IRB, Animal Subjects / IACUC, Environmental Health and Safety, Research Misconduct and Financial Conflict of Interest.  Please visit our new webpage here https://www.wpi.edu/research/resources/support/sponsored-programs/resources/compliance.

 

 

A set of questions credited to George H Heilmeier that anyone proposing a research project or product development effort should be able to answer.

• What are you trying to do? Articulate your objectives using absolutely no jargon.
• How is it done today, and what are the limits of current practice?
• What’s new in your approach and why do you think it will be successful?
• Who cares? If you’re successful, what difference will it make?
• What are the risks and the payoffs?
• How much will it cost? How long will it take?
• What are the midterm and final “exams” to check for success?

 

The NSF CAREER Coordinating Committee hosts a webinar to answer participants’ questions about development and submission of proposals to the NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER). The webinar will give participants the opportunity to interact with members of the NSF-wide CAREER Coordinating Committee in a question-and-answer format.

Further details here

https://www.nsf.gov/events/event_summ.jsp?cntn_id=244740

Beginning April 2018, WPI will be transitioning away from Cayuse for Grants.Gov proposal applications, including NIH, DOE, ONR and DOD submissions. We will instead be utilizing Workspace, which is a submission portal integrated into the Grants.gov website.

Workspace utilizes fillable PDFs via webform to complete your application in a simple layout. Grants.Gov has issued an extremely helpful, short YouTube series on how to register and use Workspace. We encourage you to spend about 15 minutes watching the series on Workspace functionality here. You will find workspace registration instructions attached to this post as well.

Please contact your OSP department representative with questions and further guidance.

 

Thank you,

The WPI OSP Pre-Award Team

Lisa, Michelle, Tammy and Orla

 

This workshop will provide you with the opportunity to hear from colleagues who have recently won a CAREER award.  Profs. Ivon Arroyo (SSPS), Lyubov Titova (Physics), and Craig Shue (CS) have graciously agreed to talk about their experiences and answer your questions.

In addition, Prof. Chrys Demetry, the Director of the Morgan Teaching and Learning Center, and a representative from the STEM Education Center will be available to provide you with advice and resources to help with the education/broader impact aspects of your application.

Lunch will be provided.

Date and Time: Thursday, April 26, 2018, 12:00-1:00 p.m.

Location: Research Solutions Institute (RSI), 85 Prescott St., 4^th Floor (Large Conference Room)

Registration:  http://wpi.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_25bNiZYS7a78KGh

A study released by Columbia University School of Nursing shows that proposals which undergo an internal review process before being submitted to an external agency are twice as likely to get funded than those submitted without review. Though this may not come as a surprise, this demonstrates why it’s so beneficial to send your draft proposal to your colleagues and OSP for feedback as early as possible. To read more, view the “Inside HigherEd” article here.

 

The Office of Naval Research has issued WPI a new fringe benefit rate for FY18 (07/01/2017 – 06/30/2018), effective immediately. The rate has been increased to 27.2%. A copy of the rate is available on our Institutional Rate page and is also attached to this post. In addition, the blank budget template and justification posted on the OSP Proposal Development webpage have been updated to reflect this increase. Please contact your OSP department representative with any questions.

 

Fringe Benefit Rate Agreement FY18