Fordham IRB's summer hiatus

In case you did not see the fliers that the IRB sent out, they'd like to remind you of their annual summer hiatus between June and August, and announce the following deadlines:

• New protocols: those for full board review must be submitted by April 12; expedited or exempt reviews must be submitted by May 9.
  
• Revised protocols: "approval pending" protocols must be returned by May 16; for full board review, return by May 27.
  

Questions? Contact David Wilbur, IRB Administrator, at 212-636-7946 or IRB@fordham.edu

NIH requests comments on an Early Independence Award Program

The National Institutes of Health has released a Request for Information (RFI) on a proposed new funding mechanism, the NIH Director's Early Independence Award Program, which would allow recent doctoral (PhD or MD) graduates the opportunity to forgo traditional postdoctoral training and move more quickly into an independent scientific career. If you'd like to learn more and respond to this RFI, please visit notice number NOT-RM-11-009.

NIH new investigator regional conference

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is hosting four Institute Directors from the National Institutes of Health (specifically, NCI, NIDDK, NHLBI and NIMH) on March 14th for a conference designed to assist new investigators with writing successful proposals. You must register by February 14th if you are interested. For more information and the registration form, click here.

What NOT to do on your proposal!

The Chronicle of Higher Education has published an amusing but informative article, written by seven experienced review panelists, entitled, "How to Fail at Grant Writing". Some examples:

"Don't explicitly state any goals, objectives, or hypotheses in your grant proposal. A good panelist will be able to figure out your questions from the methods."

"Make it obvious that you have cut and pasted sections from your other grants into this new proposal. Don't worry if the formatting does not match or there are sentences and sections from the old proposals that have no bearing on this one. Reviewers are impressed by people who are too busy to proofread."

NSF adds data management plan requirement

Any proposal to the National Science Foundation that is due on or after January 18, 2011, must include a supplementary document entitled, "Data Management Plan," which will demonstrate how the proposal will conform to the NSF's policy on dissemination and sharing of research results. For more information, see this section of the Grant Proposal Guidelines.

NIH may form new institute for addiction research

The National Institutes of Health has made a recommendation to Dr. Francis Collins, the Director, that all substance use, abuse and addiction research be concentrated under one, new institution, rather than spread out among the National Institutes of Drug Abuse, of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and various other programs within additional institutions under the NIH. A task force has been put together to look into this possibility; in the meantime all substance research will continue as is.

Vannevar Bush Award

The National Science Board invites nominations for the 2011 Vannevar Bush Award, which honors "lifelong leaders in science and technology who have made substantial contributions to the welfare of the Nation." Vannevar Bush was responsible for the creation of the National Science Foundation in 1950.

Details of the award's eligibility requirements and instructions for nominations, due November 3rd at midnight, can be found here.