RAMP Classes for Fall 2009
Would you like to ramp up your skills in research administration? If so, then the ORSP’s 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. Contact Sandra Allen at x7482 or swallen@olemiss.edu to register.
Module 1: The Basics
Thursday, September 10, 2009
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m., 208 Barr Hall
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.
Module 2: Proposal and Budget Preparation
Thursday, September 24, 2009
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m., 208 Barr Hall
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.
Module 3: Overview of Regulations and Compliance
Thursday, October 8, 2009
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m., 208 Barr Hall
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.
Module 4: Post-Award Administration of Sponsored Projects
Thursday, October 29, 2009
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m., 208 Barr Hall
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.
Module 5: Financial Administration of Sponsored Projects
Thursday, November 5, 2009
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m., 208 Barr Hall
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.
Module 6: Effort Reporting and Certification
Thursday, November 19, 2009
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m., 208 Barr Hall
Module 6 will provide detailed information on the effort reporting and certification process at The University of Mississippi.
UM Research Funding News
Proposal and Award Activity
UM faculty and staff submitted 37 external funding proposals and received 29 external funding awards during August 2009. For a complete listing, see the Monthly Report.
Faculty Travel Support
In August $1,700 was awarded by the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs to help support research-related travel. The ORSP's Faculty Travel Support program provides funds for UM faculty members to take part in development activities that will lead to new or extended research, scholarly or creative work. The program typically does not support travel to a conference for presentation of completed work unless the request includes specific development activities beyond the conference itself.
Examples of research purposes for which faculty have recently received support include:
- Attend special focus international seminar and visit research sites
- Conduct field work with collaborators and develop new field research course
- Attend summer artists’ colony to develop new work
- Expand ongoing research project by conducting in-person interviews in new location
- Collect research data for planned monograph through observations and interviews
Additional Information
Bits & Pieces
New Subcontract Close-Out Procedure
A new procedure for close-out of subcontracts on externally funded grants and contracts has been added to the ORSP's Subaward Policies and Procedures Handbook (Section 7). The new procedure is also posted on the ORSP Policies and Procedures page under the Procedures heading, and the required Subcontract Close-Out Certification form is available there and also on the Subawards (Subcontracts) Forms and Information page.
Guide to Geospatial Technology Published
UM’s Enterprise for Innovative Geospatial Solutions (EIGS) has announced the release of a special magazine-style publication about geospatial technology. Mississippi’s Guide to Geospatial Technology provides information about how geospatial technology offers everyday solutions for business areas including homeland security, real estate, agriculture, utilities, natural resource management, recreation, transportation, and public health among others. The Guide was a special collaboration with the Mississippi Business Journal and was featured as a special supplement.
The goal of the publication is to educate potential customers about the innovative and cost effective solutions geospatial technologies can provide to industry and government. This information is useful for decision makers in a variety of private businesses as well as economic development organizations and all levels of government, but cities and counties in particular.
To order a free copy of the publication, please send your name and mailing address to Lisa Stone at EIGS. For more information about EIGS, please visit www.eigs.olemiss.edu.
Speaking of COS
COS Funding Opportunities Enhancements
COS Funding Opportunities is releasing several new features this month. Specific details on some of the new features are outlined below, and more will be announced soon.
- You can now save an unlimited number of searches – no need for multiple accounts.
- You can save a search even when no search results are returned.
- Opportunities can be tracked from a search results page. You can select one or more opportunities to track.
- When a tracked record has been updated, the title of the opportunity will be listed in the subject line of the email.
- The Award field can now be sorted from highest to lowest and vice versa with undefined amounts always appearing at the end of the list.
- Visual emphasis has been added to Internal Coordination (bolded and italicized) when required, making it easier to identify these types of opportunities.
- The Internal Coordination field has been added to the Exclude options.
- Shared searches and alerts can be distributed to more than five email addresses.
- Mouseover boxes on search results will display for a shorter amount of time and have a “close” option.
- When using the Search Wizard, search results will now be displayed with faceted searching and the newer results display.
- User-added tags to opportunities are now displayed alphabetically with a separator between tags for easier viewing.
All the feature enhancements will be available instantly to all authorized users without the need to download any upgrade programs.
COS User Training Webinars
Check out the COS User Training page to view the current webinar schedule. Note that recorded sessions are available for on-demand playback, or you can register for a live training webinar that suits your schedule.
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
Newberry Library Long-Term Fellowships ~ Deadline January 11
The library’s collections are history and culture of the civilizations of Western Europe and the Americas from the Middle Ages through World War I. Long-term fellowships are available to post-doctoral scholars for periods of six to eleven months. These grants support individual research and promote serious intellectual exchange through active participation in the Library's scholarly activities, including a biweekly fellows' seminar. Applicants may combine these fellowship awards with sabbatical or other stipendiary support.
NSF Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement ~ Deadline January 13
The CCLI program seeks to improve the quality of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education for all undergraduate students. It especially welcomes proposals that have the potential to transform undergraduate education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) for all students. The program supports efforts to create, adapt, and disseminate new learning materials and teaching strategies to reflect advances both in STEM disciplines and in what is known about teaching and learning. It funds projects that develop faculty expertise, implement educational innovations, assess learning and evaluate innovations, prepare K-12 teachers, or conduct research on STEM teaching and learning. It also supports projects that further the work of the program itself, for example, synthesis and dissemination of findings across the program. The program supports projects representing different stages of development, ranging from small, exploratory investigations to large, comprehensive projects.
Additional Resources
Some Upcoming Events
NSF Regional Grants Conference ~ October 5-6 in Jackson MS
The first National Science Foundation Regional Grants Conference of fiscal year 2010 will be held in Jackson, Mississippi and hosted by Jackson State University on October 5-6, 2009. Key representatives from the National Science Foundation (NSF), as well as faculty, researchers, and grant administrators representing colleges and universities from around the U.S. will participate. This two-day conference is valuable for new faculty, researchers, educators and administrators who want to gain key insight into a wide range of current issues at NSF including the state of current funding; new and current policies and procedures; and pertinent administrative issues. NSF program officers representing each NSF directorate will be on hand to provide up-to-date information about specific funding and answer your questions. Highlights include:
- New programs and initiatives;
- Future directions and strategies for national science policy;
- Proposal preparation;
- NSF's merit review process;
- Cross-disciplinary and special interest programs;
- Conflict of interest policies;
- Breakout sessions by discipline.
- Conference Registration
Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences ~ October 8-11 in Madison WI
The Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS) is an independent faculty-and-student-based professional association in higher education, designed to serve the needs of environmental scholars and scientists who value interdisciplinary approaches to research, teaching, and problem-solving. Founded in 2008, the Association seeks to provide its members with the latest environmental information and tools to create better courses, strengthen research, develop more satisfying careers, harness the power of a collective voice for the profession, and enjoy each other’s company at national and regional meetings. AESS will launch a flagship journal in 2010, and will convene its inaugural Annual Conference in Madison, Wisconsin, October 8-11, 2009.
Congratulations from the VCRSP
The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs oversees funding for research, service, and 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, Ph.D.
Vice Chancellor for Research and Sponsored Programs
Summary of Awards Received in August 2009
| PI Name | PI Department/Unit | Co-PI Name/s |
|---|---|---|
| Angle, T. | Division of Outreach and Continuing Education | Love, Fannye E |
| Berti, Emanuele | Physics and Astronomy | |
| Buskes, Gerard J | Mathematics | Cole, Donald |
| Cavaglia, Marco | Physics and Astronomy | |
| Chambers, James | Jamie Whitten National Center for Physical Acoustics | |
| Clark, Alice (2 awards) | Office of Research and Sponsored Programs | |
| Clark, Alice | Office of Research and Sponsored Programs | Davis, Steven R Doerksen, Robert Ritchie, Jason E Wadkins, Randy Mack |
| Dang, Xin | Mathematics | |
| Glisson, Allen | Electrical Engineering | Daigle, John N Elsherbeni, Atef Z Goggans, Paul M |
| Goulet, Tamar | Biology | |
| Gross, Alan M (2 awards) | Psychology | |
| Hensley, Desiree | Office of the Dean of Law | |
| Highsmith, Ray | National Institute of Undersea Science Technology | Lutken, Carol Slattery, Marc |
| Johnson, Jay K | Sociology and Anthropology | |
| Mattern, Daniell L | Chemistry and Biochemistry | |
| Metcalf, Michael | Modern Languages | Dyer, Donald |
| Murthy, Sathyanarayana | Pharmaceutics | |
| Ross, Leigh Ann (4 awards) | Pharmacy Practice | |
| Showalter, Stephanie | Mississippi Law Research Institute | Wilkins, William |
| Sukanek, Peter | Chemical Engineering | Elsherbeni, Atef Z Yang, Fan |
| Tekwani, Babu | National Center for Natural Products Research | Ilias, Muhammad Nanayakkara, N P Dhammika |
| Walker, Larry | National Center for Natural Products Research | |
| Waxler, Roger | Jamie Whitten National Center for Physical Acoustics | |
| West-Strum, Donna | Pharmacy Administration | Bentley, John P |
- August 2009 Report: A list of awards received and proposals submitted by The University of Mississippi in the previous month.
- August Proposals Submitted: 37 from 30 Principal Investigators
- August Awards Received: 29 totaling $13,235,725
- FY10 Year-to-Date Number of Active Sponsored Projects: 362
- FY10 Year-to-Date Number of Active Investigators: 215