New policy regarding externally funded proposal submissions

Effective Jan. 1, 2019, UA implemented a new policy for externally funded proposal submissions. This policy is intended to lessen the General Fund investment of research and other sponsored programs performed for outside governmental and private granting organizations. There are two changes that researchers and others who work with research and other sponsored programs must be aware:

  1. All submitted proposals must include at least $5,000 of tuition and fees per year for each graduate and undergraduate student who will be paid a stipend from the project — when charging for tuition and fees are permitted by the funding organization (e.g., some National Institutes of Health mechanisms such as the R15 emphasize the funding of undergraduate students).
  2. For all new proposals, for every two dollars allocated to non-academic-year faculty salary (e.g., summer salary), one dollar is required to be allocated to academic-year salary (i.e., a 1/3 rule for academic-year salary). When tuition is not allowed to be covered by a granting organization, then the principal investigator will be expected to increase the amount of academic-year salary to help recover the lost increment from the student tuition.

The full policy document can be read online on the Office of Research Administration website, (or from the ORA Policies webpage. The ORA is creating a FAQ to help ensure good communication and consistent handling as everyone adjusts to these changes.

Early in 2019, UA will implement a more comprehensive policy that integrates this new Research Policy with faculty workloads and RTP/merit evaluations.

Partial Government Shutdown Impacting Funding Agencies

A partial government shutdown has continued into the new year. While NIH and the Department of Education are funded, others such as NSF, NASA, NOAA, USDA, NIST, and NEH are not. Agency Contingency Plans and FAQs can be found on the OMB website:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/information-for-agencies/agency-contingency-plans/

Please contact the Office of Research Administration with general or grant-specific questions.

Congratulations to Emily Njus, new ORA Pre-Award Manager!

Congratulations to Mrs. Emily Njus who has accepted a promotion to Manager, Pre-Award Research Administration, effective August 1, 2018.

Emily’s connection to UA began when she was a child and would come to UA with her late father, Dr. Glen Njus, Biomedical Engineering.  She went on to earn her Bachelor of Science in Biology.  Her work as a student assistant lead to her position as Research Vivarium Supervisor, and then to Senior Grants Coordinator in the Office of Research Administration.   She left UA for Summa Health, where she spent over two years gaining valuable grants administration experience from a non-higher education perspective.  As Manager of Pre-Award Administration, Emily hopes to utilize her Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and her other knowledge and skills to help the ORA better serve UA’s researchers.

Sony Research Award Program 2018 – Invitation to submit proposals

As part of one of the world’s most innovative and recognizable brands, Sony is committed to support university research and innovation in North America, while also fostering partnerships with university faculty and researchers. This Research Award Program provides funding for cutting-edge academic research and helps build a collaborative relationship between faculty and Sony researchers. With awards up to $150,000 per year for each accepted proposal, both the Faculty Innovation Award and Focused Research Award create new opportunities for university faculties to engage in pioneering research that could drive new technologies, industries and the future.

For more program details, please follow the link:  https://www.sony.com/research-award-program#Overview

Faculty Innovation Award:  up to $100K in funds to conduct cutting-edge research in Sony’s general areas of interest

Focused Research Award:  up to $150K to conduct research in the areas of Sony’s immediate interest

Submission window:   July 15-September 15, 2018

If interested, please consider submitting proposals to Sony within the scope described on the website following the guidelines.