seasonal image ResearchHighlights Newsletter

January 2008

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 ~
Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
Upcoming Educational Opportunities ~ Spring ORSP RAMP Classes

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

Thursday, February 7, 2008
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
208 Barr Hall
Module 1: The Basics

This module will discuss the research enterprise here at Ole Miss. It will talk about our mission as a public research institution and how research ties into our mission. It will give an overview of research at Ole Miss. It will talk about how to distinguish between sponsored programs and gifts; it will give information on the ORSP as well as other University offices that are part of the research infrastructure at Ole Miss. It will explain the purpose of F&A (indirect costs) and explain how our F&A rate is determined.

Thursday, February 21, 2008
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
208 Barr Hall
Module 2: Proposal and Budget Preparation

Module 2 will discuss 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. This module will also explain allowable and unallowable costs. It will address the specifics of cost sharing. This module will also briefly talk about certifications and assurances that are commonly submitted along with proposals to external funding agencies.

Thursday, March 6, 2008
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
208 Barr Hall
Module 3: Overview of Regulations and Compliance

This module will cover federal, state and other regulations governing grants, cooperative agreements and contracts. This module will also cover 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, March 20, 2008
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
208 Barr Hall
Module 4: Post-Award Administration of Sponsored Projects

This module will explain 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. This module will also provide detailed information on some of the most common post-award administration activities including changes to an existing award, subawards, regrants, reporting, award closeout, and beyond closeout.

Thursday, April 3, 2008
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
208 Barr Hall
Module 5: Financial Administration of Sponsored Projects

This module will provide detailed information 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, April 17, 2008
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
208 Barr Hall
Module 6: Effort Reporting and Certification

Module 6 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 research project was funded and the funding agency sent a check directly to me. What should I do?
A:

The first thing that you should do is make a copy of the check for your files. If an account number has already been established for the project, send the original check to the Accounting Office at 318 Martindale. Include a notation of the principal investigator name and account number.

If the check is for a new project for which an account number has not yet been established, make a copy of the check and forward the original check to the ORSP at 100 Barr Hall. Include a notation of the principal investigator name, the project title, and any other information that may be helpful in linking the check to its corresponding proposal. The ORSP will send the original check to the Accounting Office along with a Notice of Funding memo and copies of the Transmittal Sheet and budget.

Speaking of COS

Well-Defined Search Criteria Lead to Relevant Results
If you are seeing information in your COS Funding Alert that is not relevant to you, you probably need to refine or update your search criteria. Many COS Funding Alert users have never reviewed or refined their search criteria after initial account set-up. Others may have neglected to update their criteria to reflect the evolution in their work and interests. COS Funding Alert can only search on the criteria set by users, so if those criteria are not kept current, the results can be less than useful. Each user can define multiple searches, so you can receive targeted, relevant results for multiple purposes. To modify your search criteria, access the COS Funding Alert section of your COS Workbench.

Keywords Help Find Broad Grant Opportunities
Many grant sponsors do not specify the kinds of research they will fund. Rather, they simply state the broad disciplines within which they will consider applications. If you are searching on a specific research topic without good results, try searching for grants in the broader fields that are relevant to your project. For example, a project to study zebra mussels may be eligible under the broader fields of Biological Science, Marine Biology, or Environmental Biology. Use the COS Keywords in searching for funding. Each opportunity in the COS funding database is indexed using these keywords, so they are the surest way to locate an opportunity.

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.

A Few Program Announcements and Deadlines

Dirksen Congressional Center Congressional Research Awards ~ Deadline February 1
The Dirksen Congressional Center invites applications for grants to fund research on congressional leadership and the U.S. Congress. The center's first interest is to fund the study of the leadership in the Congress, both House and Senate. Topics could include external factors shaping the exercise of congressional leadership, institutional conditions affecting it, resources and techniques used by leaders, or the prospects for change or continuity in the patterns of leadership. In addition, the center invites proposals about congressional procedures, such as committee operation or mechanisms for institutional change, and Congress and the electoral process. The center also encourages proposals that link Congress and congressional leadership with the creation, implementation, and oversight of public policy. Proposals must demonstrate that Congress, not the specific policy, is the central research interest. The research for which assistance is sought must be original, culminating in new findings or new interpretation, or both. The awards program was developed to support work intended for publication in some form or for application in a teaching or policy-making setting.
Sponsor Website: www.dirksencenter.org/print_grants_CRAs.htm
COS Record: fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=3404

NSF Collaborative Research in Computational Neuroscience ~ Deadline February 26 / October 30
Computational neuroscience provides a theoretical foundation and a rich set of technical approaches for understanding the functions of complex neurobiological systems, building on the theory, methods, and findings of computer science, neuroscience, and numerous other disciplines. This program seeks to make significant advances in the understanding of nervous system function, mechanisms underlying nervous system disorders, and computational strategies used by the nervous system. Two classes of proposals will be considered in response to this solicitation: (1) research proposals describing new collaborative research projects; and (2) data sharing proposals to enable sharing of data and other resources.
Sponsor Website: www.nsf.gov/pubs/2008/nsf08514/nsf08514.htm
COS Record: fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=83138

NIH/NCRR Shared Instrumentation Grants ~ Deadline March 24
The objective of the program is to make available to institutions expensive research instruments that can only be justified on a shared-use basis and for which meritorious research projects are described. This program is designed to provide for the acquisition or updating of expensive shared-use instrumentation not generally available through other NIH mechanisms. Types of instrumentation supported include, but are not limited to, nuclear magnetic resonance systems, electron and confocal microscopes, mass spectrometers, protein and DNA sequencers, biosensors, x-ray diffractometers, and cell sorters.
Sponsor Website: grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-08-036.html
COS Record: fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=112024

Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Awards at the Scientific Interface ~ Deadline April 15
Eligibility and Internal Coordination: Candidates must be undertaking postdoctoral training at UM and must be nominated by a UM dean or department chair; applications must be approved by the UM ORSP.
Advances in genomics, quantitative structural biology, and modeling of complex systems have created opportunities for exciting research careers at the interface between the physical/computational sciences and the biological sciences. Tackling key problems in biology will require scientists trained in areas such as chemistry, physics, applied mathematics, computer science, and engineering. These grants provide bridging support to foster the early career development of researchers with backgrounds in the physical/computational sciences whose work addresses biological questions and who are dedicated to pursuing a career in academic research. Award recipients are expected to draw from their training in a scientific field other than biology to propose innovative approaches to answer important questions in the biological sciences. Proposals that include experimental validation of theoretical models are particularly encouraged.
Sponsor Website: www.bwfund.org/programs/interfaces/career_awards_main.html
COS Record: fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=5360

National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships ~ Deadline May 1 (anticipated)
NEH Fellowships support individuals pursuing advanced research in the humanities that contributes to scholarly knowledge or to the general public's understanding of the humanities. Recipients usually produce scholarly articles, monographs on specialized subjects, books on broad topics, archaeological site reports, translations, editions, or other scholarly tools. Fellowships support full-time work on a humanities project for a period of six to twelve months.
Sponsor Website: www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/fellowships.html
COS Record: fundingopps.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?id=48068

Fulbright Distinguished Chairs ~ Competition Open January 10-August 1
Awards in the Fulbright Distinguished Chairs Program are viewed as among the most prestigious appointments in the Fulbright Scholar Program. Candidates should be senior scholars and have a significant publication and teaching record. The Fulbright Scholar Program sends 800 U.S. faculty and professionals abroad each year. Grantees lecture and conduct research in a wide variety of academic and professional fields.
Sponsor Website: www.cies.org/Chairs/
COS Record: multiple individual locations

Find MORE on the ORSP Funding Opportunities Recent Announcements page

SEARCH using COS Funding Opportunities

Bits & Pieces

ORSP Introduces New Procedure to Request Cost Share on Proposals
The ORSP frequently receives requests to provide cash cost share on proposals being submitted for funding of research and sponsored programs. It is UM policy that cost sharing of any kind will be included on proposals only when required or strongly encouraged by the sponsoring agency. When cash cost share is needed in such cases, requests for assistance are considered on a case-by-case basis. In order to assure that a fair assessment can be made, the ORSP has implemented a new procedure for requesting assistance. The new “Request for Cash Cost Share Assistance” form can be found on the ORSP Forms and Information page at www.research.olemiss.eduforms/index.html (ORSP>Researcher’s Toolbox>Forms and Information). Please note that we require your request to be made at least 30 days prior to the proposal deadline. For more information, contact your ORSP Program Development Specialist (see www.research.olemiss.edutoolbox/PDS_assistance.html).

IRB and IACUC E-Mail Addresses Change
The e-mail addresses for IRB and IACUC have been changed to irb@research.olemiss.edu and iacuc@research.olemiss.edu.

ORSP News

Proposal Activity ~ UM faculty and staff submitted 27 external funding proposals during December 2007. For a complete listing, see the December 2007 Report page.

Award Activity ~ UM faculty and staff received 8 external funding awards during December 2007. For a complete listing, see the December 2007 Report page.

Faculty Travel Support
In December the ORSP awarded $1,000 to help support research-related travel. Examples of research purposes for which faculty were recently awarded support include:

  • Accept invitation to attend, present, and discuss research at distinguished symposium
  • Access primary source materials
  • Meet with collaborators on documentary film project

The Faculty Travel Support guidelines, application, and FAQ are found on the ORSP Internal Support page (www.research.olemiss.edufunding/orsp_internal.html).

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 Hoeksema, J.
Reed, D.
Jackson, C.
Holland, M.
Stratton, G.
Lago, P.
Ochs, C.
Threlkeld, S.
Buchannon, R. Office of Research and Sponsored Programs
Burnham, T. School of Education
Cheng, A. Civil Engineering Song, C.
Al-Ostaz, A.
Mantena, P.
Clancy, T. School of Law
ElSohly, M. National Center for Natural Products Research Khan, I.
Jia, Y. National Center for Computational Hydroscience and Engineering Wang, S.
Wu, W.
Ying, X.
Jones, T. Physical Plant Pearson, A.

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

December Proposals Submitted: 27 from 21 Principal Investigators

December Awards Received: 8 totaling $6,886,860

FY08 Year-to-Date Number of Active Sponsored Projects: 467

FY08 Year-to-Date Number of Active Investigators: 211

Copyright ©2008 The University of Mississippi. All rights reserved.
Please send comments and suggestions to ORSP web page manager.
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