NIH Update: new biosketch not required until 5/25/15

NIH has pushed back the requirement to use the new biosketch format from January to May, although they "encourage" people to start using it for applications due on or after January 25th. The new deadline for mandatory use of the new format is for applications due on or after May 25, as detailed in notice NOT-OD-15-032. They also state in this notice that they have made "adjustments to improve [the] usability" of the new forms.

New biosketch format for NIH applications starting 1/25/15

Applications submitted to the NIH on or after January 25, 2015 will need to use one of the new biosketch formats: standard or Fellowship-specific. These have been in pilot-testing for a few months. (Until that time you may choose to use either the old or new formats.) The new formats and an explanation for the change are found in NIH notice number NOT-OD-15-024; more information can be found on their FAQ's page.

NIH recommends the use of SciENcv for help with creating different biosketch formats. It's also available through My NCBI which you will be familiar with from managing your publications associated with NIH grants.

Fastlane unavailable 10/10 to 10/14

Because the NSF is transitioning to a new financial system, they are taking Fastlane offline from 8pm on Friday, October 10, to 6am on Tuesday, October 14. Please plan accordingly.

NIH operating under a continuing resolution through 12/11/14

The NIH announced on October 1st, the first day of their new fiscal year, that it is operating under a continuing resolution "at 99.9 percent of the FY 2014 enacted level." As a result, they will be issuing non-competing continuations below the level indicated on the most recent Notice of Award, "generally up to 90%". See the complete notice at NOT-OD-15-001.

Individual Development Plans - Introducing myIDP

Back in August we posted about NIH encouraging institutions to create Individual Development Plans with their graduate students and postdocs supported by NIH awards beginning on October 1, 2014. To assist in this process, respected journal Science has created myIDP, an in-depth and interactive website that helps grad students and postdocs explore their skills, strengths and interests, learn more about recommended careers in science, and discuss and share information with their mentors. They can also download their summary IDP as well as a certificate upon completing the website.

As of now, NIH PIs will be required to complete a section within their progress reports discussing the use of IDPs with any graduate students or postdocs included in the "List of Participants". The actual IDPs themselves need not be included in the report. The Office of Sponsored Programs suggests the use of myIDP to assist you in your reporting.

image from myIDP site

Fordham Professor wins NIH Peer Review Challenge!

NIH's Center for Scientific Review issued a challenge to Maximize Fairness in NIH Peer Review when a study revealed that black applicants do not fare as well as white applicants. Challenge #1 was "New Methods to Detect Bias in Peer Review", and the winner for that category is David Budescu from the Psychology Department. Congratulations to David! David and his colleague will receive a $10,000 award.

Click here for the announcement: The NIH Peer Review Challenge
Click here for more information about the winners: Learn More about the Winning Ideas

NSF distinguished lectures in mathematical and physical sciences

The National Science Foundation announces the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences distinguished lecture series 2014-2015 beginning on September 30th. All lectures take place at NSF headquarters in Arlington, VA. For a list of speakers/topics, see Media Advisory 14-017.

NIH will require eRA Commons IDs for students starting 10/1

For the purposes of project reporting, the NIH will be requiring that any graduate or undergraduate student participating on an NIH-funded project for one month or longer must have an eRA Commons username. Please contact our office to set up usernames for any students appearing in your report that need them.

Please also advise your students that since they'll potentially have these accounts for the entirety of their research careers, they may not want to use irreverent handles such as "labrat4lyfe" or "I_can_haz_neuroscience?"

NIH Loan Repayment Program

The National Institutes of Health Loan Repayment Programs (LRPs) repay the student loans of doctoral level, biomedical or behavioral scientists conducting research funded by nonprofit institutions. The application cycle opens on September 1, 2014 and closes on November 17, 2014. You may be eligible to receive up to $70,000 of qualified educational debt repayment with a 2 year contract.

Apply here.

Are you putting off your scholarly writing? Don't.

Joli Jensen of the University of Tulsa says you'll always have "more important" things to do instead of writing and why you need to make the time for it in this Vitae article Face It: Your Decks will Never be Cleared.

Defense Threat Reduction Agency webinar

The Chemical and Biological Technologies Department of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency 
is presenting a webinar for STEM faculty and students.

Tuesday, 9 September 2014 at 1pm EDT

Meet DTRA Science & Technology Managers

Learn how to search for employment, internships, and grant opportunities

Click here to register

NIH encouraging Individual Development Plans for grad students and postdocs

Starting October 1, 2014, "annual progress reports... must include a section to describe how individual development plans are used to identify and promote the career goals of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers associated with the award." At least initially, you will not need to include any specific plan in your progress report, but rather state whether or not you are using an individual development plan to help provide a structured training experience for the grad students and postdocs on your award. As the NIH is allowing institutions to decide whether to implement this encouraged practice and the management of such, Fordham's Office of Research and Office of Sponsored Programs are currently exploring options for the best approach to this. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, for more information on the Individual Development Plans, you may want to review:
The original notice NOT-OD-13-093;
The revised notice NOT-OD-14-113

NSF's Biology Directorate offers tips on "Broadening Participation"

Along with the NSF's very familiar mandate of "Broader Impacts" is the lesser-trumpeted "Broadening Participation" -- but it may be just as important to your Biological Sciences Directorate proposal. See this publication for more information on what they mean by this, and how to incorporate it into your next proposal.

NSF seeks reviewers for their fellowship program

The NSF's Graduate Research Fellowship Program, now in its 62nd year, needs reviewers. Interested? Please see their 'Dear Colleague' letter on the subject.

Foundations -- Back at Full Funding Levels?

Philanthropy News Digest looks at whether foundations were actually hurting from the recession in the first place, and what the future holds for foundation funding.
Have Foundations Recovered from the Great Recession?

Thoughts from a First Time NSF Applicant

Philip Guo is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Rochester, and he applied for his first sole-PI NSF grant this past winter. He doesn't know the results of his submission yet, but has a lot of thoughts about the writing/submission process to share with other first-timers:
http://pgbovine.net/NSF-grant-proposal-first-time.htm

NIH to Roll out New Biosketch Format

Already in the pilot testing phase, the new biosketch format will take effect across NIH in FY2016. The goal of the new, longer format is to emphasize accomplishments instead of just publications. You can read more about it and the reasons for its implementation here at Dr. Sally Rockey's "Rock Talk" blog.

Symposium on Basic and Translational Training and Diversity of the Biomedical Workforce

This symposium, presented by Rockefeller University, Memorial Sloan Kettering, Weill Cornell Medical College and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, will occur on June 25th, 2014 at Rockefeller University and includes Sally Rockey of the NIH in its list of speakers.

Please see the schedule and registration information here.

NIH Seminar on Program Funding and Grants Administration, Baltimore, June 26-27

The NIH Regional Seminar in Baltimore is a good opportunity to learn about the NIH and personally meet some NIH personnel. From the NIH:

What does the 2-day seminar offer?
The NIH Regional Seminar offers a comprehensive program for the NIH extramural community about the NIH grants process and related policies, including such topics as peer review, grant writing for success, pre-award and post-award issues for administrators and investigators, compliance, animal and human subject research, how to interact electronically with NIH, and mapping your career with NIH. In addition, special interest sessions are provided on topics like research integrity, data sharing, foreign collaborations, the NIH Intramural Program, and more.

More information and registration link here: Notice NOT-OD-14-083

How Professors Spend their Time

In an article in The Blue Review, John Ziker explores how "Homo academicus" at Boise State University spends his or her time: https://thebluereview.org/faculty-time-allocation/

An excerpt:
"The most surprising finding of our analysis of practices was that faculty spent approximately 17 percent of their workweek days in meetings... Thirteen percent of the day was spent on email... Thus, 30 percent of faculty time was spent on activities that are not traditionally thought of as part of the life of an academic. Twelve percent of the day was spent on instruction... and an equal amount of time was spent on class preparation. Eleven percent of the day was spent on course administration... Thus, 35 percent of workweek days was spent on activities traditionally thought of as teaching. Only three percent of our workweek day was spent on primary research and two percent on manuscript writing."
(emphasis mine)

New fringe benefits rate posted

The fiscal year 2015 fringe benefits rate has been posted to our Institutional Information page (at the bottom). Please use these rates for any applicable grant proposal that will start after July 1, 2014.

A reminder: Fringe benefits are only directly budgeted into a grant if we are not receiving our full on-campus or off-campus indirect cost rates.

NIH relaxes their stance on resubmissions

The NIH and AHRQ released a notice (NOT-OD-14-074) on April 17th that reads in part:

Effective immediately, for application due dates after April 16, 2014, following an unsuccessful resubmission (A1) application, applicants may submit the same idea as a new (A0) application for the next appropriate due date. The NIH and AHRQ will not assess the similarity of the science in the new (A0) application to any previously reviewed submission when accepting an application for review.

A FAQ's page has also been released: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/resubmission_q&a.htm

UPDATE 4/28/14: The NIH has provided clarification of the policy, based on questions they received. You may find the answers helpful.
Notice NOT-OD-14-082

NSF Day at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is Rescheduled!

We had some disappointed faculty when last Fall's NSF day had to be canceled due to sequestration. Fortunately CSHL have rescheduled the workshop for June 4th, 2014. A tentative agenda is here.
From Walter L. Goldschmidts, Ph.D., Executive Director of Sponsored Programs at CSHL:

The workshop is intended to assist new faculty and other research scientists and educators from the New York and the northeast region to learn more about the full scope of NSF supported research and education programs and priorities and to better understand the NSF grant proposal and merit review process. Representatives from seven NSF Directorates and the Office of International and Integrative Activities are anticipated to make presentations on their programs and will be available informally and in breakout sessions for discussions of potential research proposals.
The workshop will be held in the Grace Auditorium on the CSHL campus and support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has been secured by CSHL to help defray participant costs so that registration fees can be held to a minimum. Space is limited, so please register early by visiting: http://meetings.cshl.org/meetingsregistration_nic.asp.

Symposium on Public Access to Scholarly Research

The Tri-Institutional Collaboration Network, Rockefeller University and Weill Cornell Medical College are sponsoring a symposium on the Public Access policy on April 16th at Rockefeller University. To learn more and register for the free symposium, click here: http://www.mskcc.org/events/symposium/public-access-scholarly-research.

Two NSF Items

First, an article from Inside Higher Ed about a bill passed earlier this month that could decrease NSF's budget for social and behavioral research.

Second, the NSF's FY 2013 Performance and Financial Highlights, which includes information like this: in fiscal year 2013, 49,014 proposals were evaluated by their merit review process and 10,844 were funded. This is the lowest number of new awards since fiscal year 2006. It can only get better from here!

Beware of a grant scam!

The Council on Financial Assistance Reform (COFAR) has received reports from a number of people regarding a grant scam. The scammers contact investigators saying they represent COFAR and want to award the investigator a grant ranging from $5,000 to $25,000, but they require a processing fee be paid first and ask for bank account information. COFAR wants people to know that they never award grants; in addition, no one from the government would ever ask for someone's bank account information for any reason.

Read more about the scam here: http://www.fordham.edu//images/academics/Office_of_Research/OSP//COFAR-Grants-Alert.pdf

NIH raises salary cap to $181,500

The NIH announced today that they are operating under a continuing resolution, and that the Executive Level II salary is increased by 1% from $179,700 to $181,500. See NOT-OD-14-043 for more information.