seasonal image ResearchHighlights Newsletter

August 2007

Welcome to ResearchHighlights, the online newsletter of the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs at The University of Mississippi. Archives of past issues are available here. For more information, or to submit news items or story ideas, please email the editor.

Office of Research and Sponsored Programs
University of Mississippi
662.915.7482 voice
662.915.7577 fax
Quotation Corner ~
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.
FOCUS: National Reports Highlight Growing Significance of Academic Research

In October 2005, The National Academies released Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future, a report addressing the nation’s response to the challenges of globalization and increased competitiveness in science and technology enterprise. The congressionally requested report — written by a committee that included university presidents, Nobel Prize winners, CEOs, and former presidential appointees — makes these four primary recommendations:

  • Increase America’s talent pool by vastly improving K-12 mathematics and science education.
  • Sustain and strengthen the nation’s commitment to long-term basic research.
  • Develop, recruit, and retain top students, scientists, and engineers from both the U.S. and abroad.
  • Ensure that the U.S. is the premier place in the world for innovation.

The report was met with an overwhelmingly positive response and was followed by the President’s American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI), a proposal that was integrated into the 2006 State of the Union address and budget, as well as congressional legislation.

The foundation of the ACI is a commitment to:

  • Scientific research, especially in basic research programs in the physical sciences and engineering which produces new ideas and new tools that can become the foundation for tomorrow’s products, services and ways of doing business;
  • A strong education system that equips our workforce with the skills necessary to transform those ideas into goods and services that improve our lives and provide our nation with the necessary researchers of the future; and
  • An environment that encourages entrepreneurship, risk taking, and innovative thinking.

Because of its emphasis on supporting universities that provide world-class education and creative research environments, this initiative offers unprecedented opportunities for our faculty researchers. As our nation renews its investments in science and technology, we must be prepared to meet the challenges. Sustained scientific advancement and innovation will be supported by a pattern of related investments and policies, including:

  • Investment in cutting-edge basic research that focuses on fundamental discoveries to produce valuable and marketable technologies, processes, and techniques;
  • Institutions of higher education that provide American students access to world-class education and research opportunities in mathematics, science, engineering, and technology;
  • Private sector investment in research and development that enables the translation of fundamental discoveries into the production of useful and marketable technologies, processes, and techniques;
  • An efficient system that protects the intellectual property resulting from public and private sector investments in research; and
  • A business environment that stimulates and encourages entrepreneurship through free and flexible labor, capital, and product markets that rapidly diffuse new productive technologies.

For more info on Rising Above the Gathering Storm, see www.nap.edu/catalog/11463.html

For more info on ACI, see www.whitehouse.gov/stateoftheunion/2006


Special Announcement: ORSP Begins RAMP Training Classes

Would you like to ramp up your skills in research administration? If so, then the ORSP’s new Research Administration and Management Program (RAMP) is for you. We are offering the following classes in the fall semester. Class size is limited to ten participants. To register, contact Sandra Allen at x7482 or swallen@olemiss.edu.

Thursday, September 6, 2007
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
208 Barr Hall
Module 1: The Basics

This class will focus on the research enterprise here at Ole Miss. We will discuss our mission as a public research institution and examine the ways in which research ties into the mission of public institutions. Following an overview of research conducted at Ole Miss, we will explain how to distinguish between sponsored programs and gifts and will explain the purpose of F&A (indirect costs) and explain how our F&A rate is determined. Information on the ORSP as well as other University offices that are part of the research infrastructure at Ole Miss will be provided.

Thursday, September 20, 2007
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
208 Barr Hall
Module 2: Proposal and Budget Preparation

Participants in this class will learn in detail each of the elements of a proposal, focusing intently on the proposal budget. Discussion of the budget will include topics related to direct costs and F&A (indirect) costs, allowable and unallowable costs, and the specifics of cost sharing. We will also briefly talk about certifications and assurances that are commonly submitted along with proposals to external funding agencies.

Thursday, October 11, 2007
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
208 Barr Hall
Module 3: Overview of Regulations and Compliance

Topics covered in this class will include federal, state and other regulations governing grants, cooperative agreements and contracts. Specific attention will be given to federal agency-specific regulations governing research grants and cooperative agreements; university policies regarding common transactions on sponsored projects; and compliance issues in university research.

Thursday, October 25, 2007
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
208 Barr Hall
Module 4: Post-Award Administration of Sponsored Projects

This class will tell you everything you need to know about what happens after a proposal is funded including award receipt, award review, award negotiation, award acceptance, account set-up, and the basics of award management. Additional information on some of the most common post-award administration activities will include changes to an existing award, sub-awards, re-grants, reporting, award closeout, and beyond closeout.

Thursday, November 1, 2007
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
208 Barr Hall
Module 5: Financial Administration of Sponsored Projects

This class will concentrate on post-award financial topics including account set-up; allowability, allocability, and reasonableness of costs; unallowable costs; special costing issues; account oversight; and account closeout.

Thursday, November 15, 2007
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
208 Barr Hall
Module 6: Effort Reporting and Certification

The final RAMP class will provide detailed information on the effort reporting and certification process at The University of Mississippi.

Faculty Q&A
Answering your questions

Each month we answer a question from the faculty. Please send your questions to research@olemiss.edu.

Q:
My grant has been awarded and I have a UM account number, but I need to expend the funds a little differently than the way they were budgeted in the proposal and award. Is that allowable?
A:

It depends upon the terms and conditions of the award. Check your award terms and conditions for a section called rebudgeting. Most sponsors allow some degree of flexibility in the grant budget without any prior approval. But some sponsors are very restrictive. Budget revisions that indicate a change in the scope of the project and/or budget revisions that require additional agency funds always require prior approval from the awarding agency.

When prior approval is required for budget revisions, the award terms and conditions will specify one of two types of prior approval. Sometimes the agency will give the ORSP the authority to approve budget revisions. This type of prior approval is known as “Expanded Authorities.” Sometimes the awarding agency itself must approve budget revisions. This is known as agency prior approval. In either case, the budget revision request should be sent to the ORSP. If you are unable to find rebudgeting information in your award terms and conditions, contact the ORSP at x7482 for assistance.

Speaking of COS

Keep Tabs on Your Favorite Sponsors
Some researchers, departments or centers can have a keen interest in particular funding sponsors. If you would like to know about funding opportunities announced by a certain sponsor, it's easy to do with COS :

  • Go to COS Funding Opportunities Main Search interface
  • In the Sponsor field, enter the name of your sponsor
  • Run the search
  • At the top of the Results page, choose to Save the Search to your COS Workbench. If you are a COS Funding Alert subscriber, you can choose to receive a weekly alert email.
  • Then you can go to your COS Workbench any time to run the search anew (and receive alerts of new and updated opportunities, if you use COS Funding Alert).

Alternatively, you can always go to the View by Sponsors interface, find the name of a specific sponsor, and see all the opportunities currently offered by that sponsor.

Don't Know About COS?
Check out our COS page, the January 2005, September 2006, and March 2007 newsletter articles, and/or the COS home page. COS is for all UM faculty in all academic disciplines and research areas.

Some Upcoming Events

Society of Research Administrators Annual Meeting ~ October 13-17 in Nashville
The Society of Research Administrators (SRA) International will celebrate its 40th anniversary during this year’s annual meeting, with the theme "Celebrating Our Heritage: Past, Present and Yet to Come." The meeting will consist of more than 40 workshops, 100 concurrent sessions, symposium publications including contributed papers and posters, and over 30 exhibitors. For more information, please visit www.srainternational.org.

Into the Future: 11th Annual ResearchChannel Meeting ~ October 21-22 in Seattle
ResearchChannel brings the future of technology and research to a global audience by connecting viewers around the world with the innovative discoveries and developments of leading research and academic institutions. Included in this meeting are demonstrations of the latest technologies in high-definition television and interactive conferencing. This year’s meeting is held in conjunction with the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference, also in Seattle this year October 23-26 (see below). For more information, please visit www.researchchannel.org/news/events/rcmtg07/agenda.asp.

EDUCAUSE Annual Conference ~ October 23-26 in Seattle
EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology. Focused on the theme “Information Futures: Aligning Our Missions,” this meeting’s diverse program offers a variety of ways to gather information, meet with peers in the higher education IT community, and hear from leading figures in the field—including preconference seminars; track and poster sessions; small group meetings; and corporate exhibits, presentations, and workshops. For more information, please visit www.educause.edu/e07.

National Council of University Research Administrators Annual Meeting ~ November 4-7 in Washington
Usually attended by more than 2,000 research administration professionals, the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA) 49th annual meeting has the theme of "Unity through Diversity." The program offers a variety of educational sessions and workshops, as well as networking opportunities, of interest to all levels of research administrators. For more information and a preliminary program, please visit www.ncura.edu/content/educational%5Fprograms/sites/49/.

Third International Conference on Industrial Electronics, Technology and Automation (IETA) ~ December 3-12 via Internet
IETA 2007 provides a virtual forum for presentation and discussion of state-of the-art research on computers, information and systems sciences and engineering. IETA 2007 is one of the sub-conferences in the CISSE series of international joint e-conferences. The virtual conference will be conducted through the Internet using web-conferencing tools, made available by the conference. For more information, please visit www.cisse2007online.org.

A Few Program Announcements and Deadlines

National Science Foundation Publishes New NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide, Announcing Changes to Proposal Format Requirements
The National Science Foundation has published a new NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (NSF publication 07-140). This guide combines two previous NSF publications: the Grant Proposal Guide and the Grant Policy Manual. The new Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide contains several critical changes to NSF proposal requirements, including new guidance on allowable fonts and page formatting. It is critical that all researchers intending to submit to NSF review this new manual. NSF reserves the right to return without review proposals which do not comply with formatting requirements.
More Info:
NSF Dear Colleague Letter on new NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide:
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2007/nsf07042/nsf07042.jsp
New NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (NSF 07-140):
http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf07140

National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipends ~
UM Internal Deadline: September 12
NEH Application Deadline: October 2

Faculty members teaching full-time at colleges and universities must be nominated by their institutions to apply for a NEH Summer Stipend. Preliminary proposals will be reviewed and screened by an internal committee to determine the nominees to be submitted by UM to the NEH. The selection process will be conducted by the College of Liberal Arts. Questions about the internal review and selection process should be directed to Dr. Holly Reynolds, Assistant Dean of Liberal Arts (hreynold@olemiss.edu, 915-1514). Final proposals by selected nominees are due to NEH no later than Tuesday, October 2, 2007, and must be submitted by the ORSP (not the individual nominee) via Grants.gov; this is a change in process from previous years.  Questions about NEH guidelines and the Grants.gov online submission process should be directed to the Program Development Specialists in the ORSP.
Sponsor Website:  http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/stipends.html
COS Record: http://fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=20534

NSF Collaborative Research in Chemistry ~ Deadline November 12
The National Science Foundation’s Collaborative Research in Chemistry (CRC) program is designed to promote interdisciplinary collaborative research in a coherent, defined project at the forefront of the chemical sciences. CRC proposals will involve three or more investigators with complementary expertise. Co-investigators may include researchers with backgrounds in diverse areas of chemistry and other science and engineering disciplines appropriate to the proposed research. The use of cyber-infrastructure to enable and enhance collaborations is encouraged. Projects should be scientifically focused in areas supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Chemistry, limited in duration, and substantial in their scope and impact.
Sponsor Website: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5115&org=NSF&sel_org=NSF&from=fund
COS Record: http://fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=81065

Find MORE on the ORSP Funding Opportunities Recent Announcements page

SEARCH using COS Funding Opportunities

Bits & Pieces

New Graduate Tuition Rate for FY07-08
For proposal budgeting purposes, the FY07-08 tuition rate for a full-time (9 hrs) graduate student with a full assistantship is $2,466 per semester. Tuition remission for graduate assistants is REQUIRED on grants and contracts unless not allowed by the agency or program. Any variations must be approved by the Vice Chancellor for Research and Sponsored Programs.

Three New Centers Established at UM
The University of Mississippi has established the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. A recommendation of the university’s task force on faculty support and development, this limited scope and outreach center serves to support and develop teaching faculty within the university. Specifically, the center exhibits the university’s commitment to educational excellence, supports all faculty and graduate students wishing to enhance their instructional methods, and encourages partnering and resource sharing across disciplines. The center is funded through state appropriations, tuition and student fees.
The University of Mississippi has established the Center for Mathematics and Science Education. This limited scope and outreach center proposes to develop a comprehensive program to improve mathematics and science education in Mississippi . Specifically, the center fosters interaction among university science, mathematics and engineering departments and K-12 education; provides outreach support and training to science and mathematics public school teachers and targets students under-represented in science and math careers. The center is funded through external resources.
The University of Mississippi is establishing the Sino-US TCM Research Center. This limited scope and outreach center will serve to collaboratively study and promote the value, safety and utilization of Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCM) through a partnership between the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica/CAS, China and the National Center for Natural Products Research. A “virtual” research center, the specific objectives are to isolate and purify potential bio-active chemicals from TCM to serve both as analytical reference standards and for biological evaluation; develop and validate analytical methods for TCM; identify and qualify new analytical techniques; exchange visiting scientists for the promotion of TCM research; host workshops on standardization, safety and other quality control issues and maintain a repository of plant voucher specimens, extracts and reference standards. The center will be funded through sponsored dollars and/or private funds.

ORSP News

ORSP Move ~ ORSP staff formerly located in the Old Chemistry building moved last week to Barr Hall (directly across the street from Johnson Commons). Come visit us in our new home!

Proposal Activity ~ ORSP staff (Lesha Agnew, Mickey McLaurin, Ginger Walton) processed 42 external funding proposals during July 2007. For a complete listing, see the July 2007 Report page.

Award Activity ~ ORSP staff (Scottie Casey, Julie Edgington, Anita Randle) processed 7 external funding awards during July 2007. For a complete listing, see the July 2007 Report page.

For complete information about the ORSP — mission, structure, services, responsibilities, and more — visit the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs page

Congratulations from the VCRSP

The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs oversees funding for research, service,
education projects. These activities complement the fundamental aspects of The University of Mississippi’s mission and are among its most tangible contributions to the future. Funding for these activities is one of the best measures of a university’s success in engaging with national and international communities.

All of us who have sought funding to test our ideas know that it is difficult and that the communities to which we belong are highly competitive. That spirit of competition is critical and it contributes more than a little to the relief and excitement a researcher feels on receiving a funding award.

Listed below are our colleagues who have been notified of external funding awards in the last calendar month. Please join me in congratulating them. The news of their discoveries and the importance of their contributions are part of all of our futures and the future of Ole Miss.

Alice M. Clark Signature

Alice M. Clark, Ph.D.
Vice Chancellor for Research and Sponsored Programs

PI Name
PI Department/Unit
Co-PI Name/s
Brewer, J. Biology
Davis, C. Mississippi Judicial College
Higdon, C. Communicative Disorders
Matsumoto, R. Pharmacology
Muir, T. National Center for Physical Acoustics
Murthy, S. Pharmaceutics
Prasad, S. Civil Engineering

July 2007 Report: A list of awards received and proposals submitted by The University of Mississippi in the previous month.

July Proposals Submitted: 42

July Awards Received: 7 totaling $2,338,356

FY08 Year-to-Date Number of Active Sponsored Projects: 360

FY08 Year-to-Date Number of Active Investigators: 182

Copyright ©2006 The University of Mississippi. All rights reserved.
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