Upcoming NIH regional seminars

Registration for two Regional Seminars on Program Funding and Grants Administration will open in January. The first will be held in early May in New Orleans; the second in late October in Baltimore. There will also be pre-seminar workshops available on topics such as using eRA Commons, intellectual property issues, and human subject protocols.

Please see this notice for more information: NOT-OD-17-026.

Need a mentor? Looking for a mentee?

The National Research Mentoring Network helps to match undergrad, graduate and postdoc biomedical researchers with junior or senior faculty, as well as non-faculty researchers and administrators, in mentor/mentee partnerships. It is a priority of the NRMN to increase diversity in the biomedical field. While a NIH program, you do not have to be supported by NIH funding to join the network. More information can be found here: https:/nrmnet.net

NIH announces new appendix policy effective January 25th

The NIH will be updating application instructions by November 25th to reflect changes in their appendix policy for applications due on or after January 25, 2017. The only allowable appendix materials (unless specified in the FOA) will be:
For applications proposing clinical trials

Clinical trial protocols

Investigator's brochure from Investigational New Drug (IND), as appropriate

For all applications

Blank informed consent/assent forms

Blank surveys, questionnaires, data collection instruments

FOA-specified items

Note that the biggest change is the disallowance of any publications.

Defense Innovation Summit, 11/29-12/1 in Austin, TX

Many Federal sponsors, including those from the Department of Defense, and private companies are looking to partner with universities to develop technology solutions to strengthen national security, keep our soldiers safe and help care for veterans. Attending this summit at the JW Marriott in beautiful Austin, Texas, could be a great way to find out what you have to offer these funders.

For more information on the summit, which is being held in tandem with the Defense Energy and SBIR/STTR Innovation Summits, or to register, please visit defenseinnovation.us.

NIH peer review briefings for fellowships and R01 applicants

The National Institutes of Health will be providing three online video briefings in November and December regarding peer review at the NIH. On 11/2, they will concentrate on fellowship applications; on 12/1, R01 applications; and 12/2 a more general briefing for basic research applications. Registration is required, but free, and registrants will have the opportunity to submit questions before and during the webinars. Please see notice NOT-OD-16-152 for more information.

GrantForward webinar October 10

GrantForward, one of the funding search tools that Fordham subscribes to, is holding a webinar on how to use the site:

Join us on Monday, October 10 at 2:00 - 3:00pm (Central Time) for a GrantForward Webinar. This webinar will focus on the basics of Using GrantForward as a Researcher. We will guide you through creating an account, trying a simple search, using advanced filters, exporting grants, saving searches, and creating a profile.

Note that Central Time is an hour behind Eastern so the webinar is 3-4pm New York time. Sign up for the webinar here.

Upcoming research workshops: NIH and NSF

The NIH is holding a Regional Seminar in Chicago, at the Palmer House, October 26-28. General registration for this seminar ends September 1st.
Visit http://regionalseminars.od.nih.gov/chicago2016/ to view the agenda and register for this seminar, which has three tracks: administrators, new investigators, and all interests (you are not limited to staying within one track).

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The NSF will be holding a Grants Conference in Pittsburgh at Carnegie Mellon University November 14 and 15. Visit http://www.nsfgrantsconferences.com/ehome/nsf/fall2016/ to view the conference site. Registration begins on September 8th. This conference is excellent for those who want to know more about the NSF's upcoming programs, the merit review process, and proposal preparation.

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These research workshops are a great opportunity to meet NIH and NSF program officers and staff. In the past, for example, more than 100 NIH employees were available at one of their regional seminars. Don't miss out!

NIH's new Rigor and Reproducibility requirement in a handy chart

The NIH has come out with a resource chart to help you make sense of their Rigor and Reproducibility in NIH Applications requirement (see http://grants.nih.gov/reproducibility/index.htm).

Click here to download the PDF version of the chart.

How can you, as a supervisor, promote research integrity?

As a PI, academic advisor, mentor or project director, you've got an opportunity to promote research integrity during day-to-day life in the lab or office among those you supervise.

The Office of Research Integrity has created a helpful infographic on how to do this, which you can download at this link.

It's the National Science Foundation's birthday!

Read about some of the exciting discoveries and inventions that resulted from NSF funding over the past 66 years in this article on Medium.

Experiment shows eliminating deadlines dramatically reduces submissions

" [Alex Isern, the head of the surface Earth processes section] eliminated the twice-a-year deadlines for four of her grant programs, in geobiology and low-temperature geochemistry, geomorphology and land-use dynamics, hydrological sciences, and sedimentary geology and paleobiology. NSF sent out a notice about the change at the beginning of 2015, and after a 3-month proposal hiatus, the no-deadline approach began in April 2015.

The number of proposals plummeted, from 804 in 2014 to just 327 in the 11 months from April 2015 to March... So far, she says, there have been no effects on the demographics of who is applying, such as the age of the principal investigator or the type of university they are applying from. Because of a lag in decisions, she hasn’t yet measured the expected rise in success rates."

Read the full story in Science.

Two upcoming research workshops

On May 11-13, the 2016 NIH Regional Seminar is being held in Baltimore, Maryland at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel. This workshop will cover all aspects of grant-making processes with the NIH for beginner, intermediate and advanced levels, from how to find a funding opportunity to how to comply with post award requirements such as the Public Access Policy. More information here: http://regionalseminars.od.nih.gov/baltimore2016/

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The OHRP-sponsored Research Community Forum will take place June 21-22 at the Lowes Vanderbilt Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. This year's theme is "The Changing Landscape of Research: Where do we go from here?" and will focus on recent and proposed changes to research as it pertains to human subjects. Everyone from physicians to students are invited to participate in this event. More information at this link.

Thoughts on the rules changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act and how it may affect smaller universities

David A. Armstrong, the president of Thomas More College in Kentucky, provides his opinion on the proposed increase to the federal salary threshold from the current $23,660 (which is lower than New York State's requirement) to $50,440. Read "Potentially Dire Impacts" on Inside Higher Ed's website.

NIH issues clarification on yet another new biosketch format

NOT-OD-16-080 clarifies the instructions for biosketches to be included with proposals that have application due dates on or after May 25, 2016.

Also, don't forget that for these applications, most will be using the new Forms D packages on Grants.gov. Be sure you download the correct version!

AACU announces call for proposals for the Transforming Undergraduate STEM Education conference

The Association of American Colleges & Universities and Project Kaleidoscope announces a call for proposals, due March 24, for their "Transforming Undergraduate STEM Education: Implications for 21st Century Society" conference in Boston, November 3-5, 2016. Learn more at their website: http://www.aacu.org/meetings/stem/16.

NSF Director France Cordova on Women in STEM

"Despite advances in overall STEM degrees, women are still vastly underrepresented in fields like physics and engineering; the number of women receiving a bachelor's degree in computer science has actually declined since 2002. This spills over into disparities in employment and even salary: In 2013, median salaries were highest for those with doctorates in computer and information sciences and engineering, fields in which men outnumber women substantially. To close these gaps, we must promote gender diversity in STEM education, and support women every step along their path to a science or engineering career. And we must get more girls excited about STEM. Every child has a moment when their imagination is sparked by science and engineering. Watching Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin step onto the Moon was that moment for me -- it was a reminder of my early, innate interest in science and space.

Imagine if we could keep that spark alive and nurture it. We would have a new generation of scientists and engineers, a new STEM-savvy generation."

Read the full post, and more, in Dr. Cordova's blog, NSF Director Field Notes.

NIH Seminars on Program Funding & Grants Administration

Registration for the NIH's Spring and Fall 2016 Regional Seminars is now open. Spring (May 12-13) is offered in Baltimore at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel; Fall (October 27-28) will be in Chicago, at the Palmer House Hilton Hotel. The NIH Regional Seminars offer a comprehensive program for the NIH extramural community about the NIH grants process and related policies, including such topics as Fundamentals of the NIH, compliance, peer review, grant writing for success, pre-award and post-award issues for administrators and investigators, animal and human subject research, and how to interact electronically with NIH.

Please see Notice NOT-OD-16-065 for more information on the program and how to register.

Reminder: Changes in NIH and NSF procedures in effect 1/25/16

On the NSF side of things: The new 2016 Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) is now in effect. You can find it here.

Any unsolicited proposals sent in response to the GPG need to reflect this change on the cover sheet -- in the "Program Announcement/Solicitation/Program Description Number" box, make sure to use NSF 16-1. Solicited proposals should of course continue to use the number provided in the program announcement or description.

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On the NIH side of things: Many changes! All are listed in NIH notice number NOT-OD-16-058, here is a summary:
• information about rigor and transparency in research must be included in applications;
• the vertebrate animals section has been simplified;
• the definition of "child" has been changed from a threshold of 21 to 18 years of age;
• Forms Version C application packages have been updated and the new versions should now be used;
• Instructions for Version C packages have been updated and should be followed.

These changes are just phase I for the time period January 25 through May 24. Notices regarding phase II, starting May 25, will be released shortly.

Fashion for women in STEM

Etsy store Shenova specializes in fashion inspired by the STEM disciplines, including chemistry, medicine, astrophysics, neuroscience, math and computer science.

I think my favorite is the Space Time Warp dress.

via Neatorama

NIH salary cap raised for 2016

The maximum salary on an NIH award has increased to $185,100 effective 1/10/16. This figure represents a base salary over a 12-month calendar, so to figure out whether your 9-month academic year base salary is at or above the cap, use a 9-month figure of $138,825. If your academic year salary is at or above this amount, you must use this figure when calculating salary costs on an NIH grant proposal.

More information on this calculation may be found in the Fordham Research Manual.
More information on the NIH salary cap may be found at this notice: NOT-OD-16-145.