Announcements

The 2024-2025 Undergraduate Research Fellowship application submission period opened Dec 1, 2023 and closes Feb 15, 2024.

Students can select from year-long, two-semester, one-semester and summer fellowships. The starting semester can be Summer 2024, or Fall 2024 or Spring 2025. The fellowship award period can be up to May 9, 2025.

For more information visit the Undergraduate Research Fellowship program webpage.

Auburn University Libraries will hold its fall semester savvy researcher boot camp over Zoom on Saturday Sept. 9, from 9 a.m.-3:45 p.m. The daylong event is designed for graduate students who want to take their research skills to a higher level. Whether students are interested in learning how to locate scholarly sources in their field, write a literature review, manage data, organize citations or present their research, the Savvy Researcher workshops will help them become better, more effective, researchers.

List of all workshops offered. 

Link to register.

BY JASON HILL

Posters from the 2023 Auburn Research Student Symposium are currently displayed on the digital wall in the Innovation and Research Commons of the Ralph Brown Draughon Library. The symposium is an annual spring event that shares student research and creative scholarship with a broad audience consisting of faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students and the public.

The Digital Wall is located on the first floor of the Ralph Brown Draughon Library and is available for viewing during all regular library hours.

More information about the Auburn Research Student Symposium. More information about the Digital Wall.

FREE BUSINESS WORKSHOPS will be available through Auburn's New Venture Accelerator.

Are you an aspiring entrepreneur looking for the perfect place to get started? This summer, entrepreneurs-in-residence at the New Venture Accelerator are offering free business workshops on topics ranging from accounting and marketing to pitching your unique business idea. Start turning your ideas into reality now – we’ll guide you every step of the way!

Visit www.nva.auburn.edu/events/ for workshop dates, times and RSVP links

The Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development recently announced the procurement of the Huron Research Suite to support and facilitate the research administration and compliance processes at Auburn University.  Since then, we have executed the scope of work for the conflict of interest and IRB modules with starting dates of June 15 and July 1, 2023, respectively.   We anticipate a “go-live” date for these two modules in early spring semester of 2024.  The grants and agreements module (including proposal submissions) will begin onboarding in the fall with implementation for IACUC, animal operations and biosafety modules starting next summer. 

Implementation of each module includes:

• Onboarding – in-depth administrator training on the system, gap analysis, establishment of milestones and deadlines, updating procedures and workflow
• Integration – preparing mock-ups and protoypes, defining security requirements, roles and responsibilities, finalizing the testing and training plans
• Testing – trying to “break the system” to address any problems before going live
• Deployment – migrating to a production environment – i.e. “go live”
• Support – trouble-shooting and closing out the implementation of the module.

The onboarding and process analysis team at Auburn has begun data and process clean-up while Huron has assigned a team to work with us.  We are working on our communication plan and preparing for stakeholder focus group meetings.  The IRB module team at Huron has been assigned, and the conflict of interest module team is being created.  The ERA website (https://cws.auburn.edu/OVPR/pm/ERA) will continue to provide project updates as the system implementation process moves forward. 

Robert “Bob” Holm, associate director of the Office of Proposal Services and Faculty Support, has been appointed to a leadership position in Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities, or SENCER. Holm was named a SENCER ambassador in recognition of his work advancing civically engaged science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, learning and research.

“Bob has been involved with SENCER for almost 17 years,” said Tony Ventimiglia, assistant vice president for research administration. “When he started here in 2012, he introduced Auburn to this relationship and has engaged faculty in numerous SENCER events, including facilitating several delegations to the SENCER Summer Institute. Bob truly exemplifies SENCER’s goal of making science more ‘real, accessible, useful, and civically important.’”

SENCER, founded in 2001, is an international STEM reform network offering professional development, research and assessment tools to innovate undergraduate science curriculum. It is a project of the National Center for Science and Civic Engagement, a non-profit organization supporting STEM educators.

Robert "Bob" Holm

An internal search has been announced for the position of Associate Vice President for Research.  Click here to learn more.

Auburn University launched two new pilot internal awards programs in 2021 and has named the program’s first recipients.

The Research Support Program, or RSP, and the Creative Work and Social Impact Scholarship Funding Program, or CWSI, were established by the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development. Both programs provide a competitive internal funding source to support faculty and to provide an opportunity for them to experience a small-scale pilot and refine their projects before competing for larger awards.

“This is a pilot version of a larger intramural award program,” said Bob Holm, associate director of Proposal Services and Faculty Support, the unit that administers the programs. “It enables faculty to participate in a competitive funding program and make improvements to their projects before a commitment to a long-term award program is made. The pilot provides a platform to test what works and what does not.”

The RSP is intended to be an annual cycle funding program to foster the development and growth of innovative and transformational research activities. It builds on faculty expertise, stimulates interdisciplinary collaborations and strengthens seed research activities. It is a strategically focused Auburn investment that promotes promising and impactful new lines of research as well as the growth of collaborative and interdisciplinary teams to build the foundations of science, to overcome scientific and societal challenges and to promote and enhance the quality of life and wellbeing of individuals, groups and communities.

The CWSIS funding program fosters innovation and discovery and builds faculty reputation and competitiveness. Examples of prestigious recognition for CWSIS include: the McArthur Genius Award, the Gates Foundation Award, appointment to the National Council on the Humanities or the National Council on the Arts and an NSF Senior Advisor for Public Access. Disciplines associated with CWSIS include design and the arts, humanities and applicable areas within business, education, social sciences and health and well-being.

As a form of research, creative work poses questions and searches for the answers through iterative processes that demand intellectual rigor and hard work. Related scholarship narrates, analyzes and evaluates the production and products of creative work, or proposes new and innovative approaches to that work, including interdisciplinary collaborations and explorations. The goals of creative work and scholarship are ultimately tied to making significant contributions to a meaningful and dignified quality of life.

Social impact scholarship involves research that is specifically aimed at societal challenges and values both theoretical and applied domains to produce core knowledge and address persistent and complex issues to create a better world and improve the lives of all individuals. Research in this domain often engages a diversity of stakeholders with the goal of bringing beneficial effects and valuable changes to the economy, society, education, public policy, health and quality of life.

This year’s recipients are:

Research Support Program

Brian Albanese, College of Liberal Arts, $24,999.34; “Neurobehavioral sensitivity to negative reinforcement in suicide”;

Benjamin Bush, College of Architecture, Design and Construction, $24,987; “EX4C: Next Generation Blood and Vaccine Transport for Combat, Austere and Challenging Environments”; co-investigators: Lorenzo Cremaschi, Samuel Ginn College of Engineering; Joellen Sefton, College of Education; David Crumbley, School of Nursing;

Nathaniel Hardy, College of Agriculture, $25,000, “The Evolution of Virulence in Xylella fastidiosa”; co-investigator: Leonardo De La Fuente, College of Agriculture;

Amal Khalil Kaddoumi, Harrison School of Pharmacy, $25,000; “Amylin role in Alzheimer’s disease”; Co-Investigator: Ahmed Hamid, College of Sciences and Mathematics;

Peng Li, Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, $25,000, “Probing Novel Quantum Phases in van der Waals Magnet Fe5GeTe2”; co-investigators: Masoud Mahjouri-Samani, Samuel Ginn College of Engineering; Wencan Jin, College of Sciences and Mathematics;

Panagiotis Mistriotis, Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, $25,000; “Bioengineering tools to uncover the mechanisms of human mesenchymal stem cell migration”;

Kristina Neely, College of Education, $25,000; “Inhibitory Motor Control in Adults with ADHD,” co-investigator: William Murrah, College of Education;

Janna Willoughby, School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, $24,998; “How do environmental and genetic effects interact to determine individual fitness?”; co-investigators: Avril Harder, School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences; Lana Narine, School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences; Kelly Dunning, School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences.

Creative Work and Social Impact Scholarship Funding Program 

Junshan Liu, College of Architecture, Design and Construction, $20,000; “Digitally Preserving and Re-presenting Alabama’s Rosenwald Schools”; co-investigators: Gorham Bird, College of Architecture, Design and Construction; Richard Burt, College of Architecture, Design and Construction;

Alicia Powers, College of Human Sciences, $19,191.92; “A clinical-community pediatric wellness initiative to manage and prevent cardiometabolic diseases in children with limited resources in Alabama”; co-investigators: Jeanna Sewell, Harrison School of Pharmacy; Felicia Tuggle, College of Liberal Arts, Sarah Watts, School of Nursing.

More information about these and other funding support programs supported by the AU Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development can be found by clicking here.

BY MITCH EMMONS

For university researchers who have or may have developed a patentable invention or copyrightable material, the Office of Innovation Advancement and Commercialization, or IAC, is here to support advancing that innovation towards the market. To help innovators better understand the commercialization process, IAC has released a video that outlines the basic steps from conception to licensing.

To access the video, click here.

Contact Brian Wright, director for commercialization, if you have any questions or if you have an innovation you'd like to submit.

Submitted by: Brian Wright

IRB COVID-19 Guidance

FOR THE MOST CURRENT INFORMATION, VISIT THE IRB "WHAT'S NEW" PAGE HERE.

Previous guidance:

March 31, 2020

Investigators conducting human subjects research must consider the risk(s) to participants within the current COVID-19 environment.  Risk of exposure to COVID-19 resulting from participation in human research may arise when research procedures include face-to-face interactions with participants, physical presence of participants on Auburn University campus or research site, or other scenarios.  Investigators are encouraged, as appropriate to meet research objectives, to consider replacing in-person activities with remote activities, technology-assisted participant interactions, or other methods to reduce the risk of participant exposure to COVID-19.

Investigators with active IRB protocols and those that are submitting new applications to the IRB may need to submit modifications to approved protocols and/or provide additional information related to the current COVID-19 environment. 

Investigators should monitor the Human Subjects What’s New webpage for updates.

This announcement will be updated as information is provided by AU's sponsors

Institutional and Agency Responses to COVID-19 (maintained by COGR) - check here for links to specific agencies!

COGR FAQs and Resources on COVID-19's Impact to Federal Awards

Non-Federal Sponsor COVID-19 Guidance (courtesy of Harvard University)

State of Alabama (resources for individuals - not related to sponsored programs)

Air Force (March 17,2020)

Air Force (March 26, 2020 - regarding extensions)

Alabama Department of Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention (shared COVID 19 resources)

Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (Energy Division) - contact information for questions

Alabama Department of Public Health

American Heart Association

Appalachian Regional Commission

Applied Research Laboratory (JHU APL)

ARPA-E (March Newsletter - COVID-19 information, deadline changes, etc.)

Center for Clinical and Translational Science

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) - Informational webpage related to COVID-19

Children's Trust Fund

Children's Trust Fund (update 3/23/20)

Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

Department of Defense

Department of Energy (Office of Science)

Department of Energy (Travel Guidance)

Department of Energy (seeking input)

Department of Energy (Implementation of OMB Guidance)

Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)

Department of Justice

Department of Justice (Grants Financial Guide - revision to allow electronic signature on award/ACH forns)

Department of Justice (Office of Justice Programs)

FDA

Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR)

Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA)

Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood Program

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Los Alamos National Laboratory (follow-up guidance)

Marfan Foundation

Missile Defense Agency

NASA

NASA (Closure of NASA Centers, Laboratories and Test Facilities for NASA Grant or Cooperative Agreement recipients due to Coronavirus (COVID 19) situation)

NASA (Message to Contractors)

National Endowment for the Arts

National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST)

National Institutes of Health (Video update from Mike Lauer - 3/6/2020; Video update from Mike Lauer- 3/26/2020)

NOAA

National Park Service

National Park Service (State, Tribal, Local, Plans & Grants Division)

National Science Foundation

National Science Foundation (S-STEM Guidance)

Office of Management and Budget (Memo M-20-11)

Office of Management and Budget (Memo M-20-17)

Office of Management and Budget (Memo M-20-18)

Office of Management and Budget (Memo M-20-20)

Office of Management and Budget (Memo M-20-21)

Office of Management and Budget (Memo M-20-26)

Office of Naval Research (ONR)

SAMHSA  (COVID-19 Information for SAMHSA Discretionary Grant Recipients)

SAMHSA (FAQs)

Sandia National Laboratory (onsite update #1)

Sandia National Laboratory (onsite upate #2)

Sandia National Laboratory (onsite update #3)

Space Telescope Science Institute - Deadline extension

US Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA)

USDA AMS

USDA Forest Service (Access Limitations/Guidance)

USDA NIFA (Deadline extensions!)

USDA NIFA (Implementation of OMB Memo M-20-17)

USDA NIFA (FAQs)

Dear Auburn Innovators,

During this unprecedented and transformational time, I am writing on behalf of Auburn’s Office of Innovation Advancement and Commercialization to let you know that we are here for you, ready and able to support your intellectual property, commercialization and startup needs with our full suite of services. Fortunately, we are able to operate remotely. We use market research, patent research, project and data management and communication tools that are online and cloud-based, allowing us to be as flexible as we need to be during this time. 

As an Auburn innovator, you may find that this period of alternate operations creates an opportunity to revisit any invention disclosure you may be considering or may have started previously using our innovator portal. If you are not familiar with it, the portal allows researchers to submit online intellectual property disclosure forms and make requests for material transfer agreements through a secure portal. Researchers can also use the portal to access current summaries and statuses of their intellectual property, agreements, patents and patent applications, and contact information.

We continue to conduct our full intellectual property (IP) evaluation and market assessment and are available to meet with you virtually to receive your feedback and move forward with protecting your discovery. In this week alone we have filed two provisional patents, both related to COVID-19. 

In keeping with our recent practice of having on-campus office hours in specific colleges and schools across the university, we plan to transition these to online office hours, available to all units but with a rotating focus on various colleges, schools and departments.

The Office of Innovation, Advancement and Commercialization is ready to support your commercialization needs and hope that we can take advantage of this time to move your ideas forward.

Thanks for working with us,

Jan D. Thornton, JD, MBA, CLP

Executive Director

Office of Innovation Advancement and Commercialization

March 20, 2020

Colleagues,

Given the current issues surrounding COVID-19, we wanted to provide a brief update in relation to the charging of salaries/fringe benefits to grants/contracts.

As the University remains operational, for all grants/contracts in which project-related activities continue without disruption, all applicable salaries/fringe benefits should continue to be charged accordingly.

As a reminder, if you are the principal investigator of a grant/contract and you anticipate that your deliverables will be delayed by offsite work or staff disruptions, please contact your program officer or technical point of contact immediately to let them know of your work plan adjustments and copy the Office of Sponsored Programs (ospadmn@auburn.edu) on the communication.  The appropriate OSP Contract Administrator will be made aware of the notice.

Currently, there remains uncertainty related to what federal agencies will be allowing in regard to the charging of salaries/fringe benefits to sponsored programs for which a disruption causes effort to be curtailed, however the Office of Management and Budget has released OMB Memo M-20-11 (“Administrative Relief for Recipients and Applicants of Federal Financial Assistance Directly Impacted by the Novel Coronavirus”) and OMB Memo M-20-17 (“Administrative Relief for Recipients and Applicants of Federal Financial Assistance Directly Impacted by the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) due to Loss of Operations”) with the intention of providing flexibility to federal agencies in their application of 2 CFR 200. Note that this is not direct guidance to recipients of federal financial assistance.

Currently, NIH is the only agency that has publicly announced their intent to incorporate this flexibility via NOT-OD-20-086:

Cost Related Flexibilities/Expenditure of Award Funds - Salaries:

 NIH understands that many researchers may be unable to work as a result of or related to the effects of COVID-19. If a recipient organization’s policy allows for the charging of salaries and benefits during periods when no work is performed due to the effect of COVID-19, regardless of the funding source, including Federal and non-Federal, then such charges to NIH grant awards will be allowable.

Reminder: NIH awarding Institutes/Centers (ICs) may request documentation to confirm the requirements of institutional policies.

At this time, the Department of Defense will only allow recipients to charge salaries and benefits to currently active awards for work actually performed to meet the project activities, regardless of the location where those duties are performed (i.e., telework eligible). Some allowable activities may include -- e.g., data analysis, preparation of articles and papers based on the analysis of the research findings, monitoring subrecipients, care of research animals, direct charged administrative costs, etc.

If agency-specific guidance has not been issued salaries should be charged to unrestricted funds until further clarification is issued.  If salary/wage transfers are appropriate at a later date, CGA will waive the 90-day transfer deadline, given the extraordinary circumstances.

A matrix is being developed to reflect agency guidance related to salaries as information is released.  This document will be shared as more agencies provide their plan. In addition, sponsor information related to COVID-19 (deadline extensions, contact information, administrative guidance) is being shared via the OVPRED website (COVID -19 Information Received from Sponsors).  For more information, visit the university’s COVID-19 information page and sign up for daily email updates.

James Weyhenmeyer, PhD

Vice President for Research and Economic Development

Auburn University researchers,

As you have seen in recent communications from senior leadership, in an effort to maintain the health and well-being of students and university personnel as the coronavirus (COVID-19) has entered the state of Alabama, Auburn has transitioned to a model of remote instruction and—as much as possible—a remote work environment for employees, through April 10.  Accordingly, this message is to provide guidance on how these changes will impact research operations during this time period. We would like to emphasize that most of our current operations are electronic and we do not expect any disruption in our operations.  While much of our work through April 10 will be conducted remotely, we will work to ensure that deadlines will be met.

Principal investigators should develop plans for their research activities that are consistent with Auburn University’s plan of action. 

• Stay in communication with all research and laboratory staff.  We suggest creating an emergency call or contact list that includes all members of your research team, designating a specific point of contact for all research-related activities.
• Identify essential research operations and who will be responsible for performing essential activities (including back-up plans as appropriate). 
• Identify research functions that can be performed remotely.  Remote work time could be used for preparing manuscripts, proposals, literature reviews, etc. 
• Consider what resources are needed for ongoing experiments and whether to adjust orders and/or related needs to maintain continuity of research operations.
• For regulatory approvals that may expire soon, contact the appropriate office to request an extension, if needed.
• Consider shutting down non-essential equipment that will not be damaged by shutdown or that requires reagents where supplies may not be readily available.  Plan for maintenance of equipment and disinfection of laboratory surfaces and equipment to protect research personnel (for laboratories that must remain open).

Additional Research Continuity Guidance:

Research Integrity

Research Integrity activities are expected to continue without disruption. 

Research Compliance

The IBC, IRB, and IACUC will continue regular operations to the extent possible.

Based on concerns related to COVID-19, regulatory oversight agencies have issued statements that in-person compliance committee meetings may be supplemented or replaced with remote technology-assisted voice or video conferences.  Such options will be made available for compliance committee meetings during this time.

Compliance checks for sponsored projects are expected to continue without disruption.

Principal investigators on IRB protocols are encouraged to submit renewal requests as early as possible to allow adequate time for processing and review.

Principal investigators on IRB protocols desiring to amend procedures to address concerns or challenges related to the current environment will need to submit a request for protocol modification.

Sponsored Programs (OSP, CGA, PSFS)

If you are planning to submit a proposal, the appropriate College-level designee or OSP Contract Administrator will continue to the best of their ability to submit proposals even if personnel are working from a remote location.  All new applications should go through the usual review process including the routing of the e-Cover Form (note that e-CF creation/review/approval from off-campus will require VPN).  Agencies may be flexible about deadlines under difficult circumstances beyond our control.  However, if agencies are officially closed, proposals will likely remain in queue, pending resumption of agency operations. You should move forward to submit by the published deadline regardless.

Support from staff in Proposal Services & Faculty Support (proposal development assistance, funding searches/PIVOT support, etc.) will continue to be available as long as the university is officially open and operational.  If a closure occurs, all attempts to work remotely will be utilized to the best of our ability.

Contract/grant negotiations, processing of awards, modifications and subcontracts, account set-up and other post-award actions will continue without disruption as long as the university is officially open and operational.  As necessary, all attempts to work remotely will be utilized.

If you are the principal investigator of a grant/contract and you anticipate that your deliverables will be delayed by offsite work or staff disruptions, please contact your program officer or technical point of contact immediately to let them know of your work plan adjustments and copy the Office of Sponsored Programs (ospadmn@auburn.edu) on the communication.  The appropriate OSP contract administrator will be made aware of the notice.  Additionally, please prepare a brief explanation of the delay for your next progress report.  The explanation should outline the alternative work completed and your plan for accomplishing the original deliverables.  For non-federal sponsors (industry, state, other), this contact will be critical as there is less likely to be information shared directly by them during this time (similar to the notices being released by federal agencies).

As we hear from sponsors on any special considerations and allowable deviations on current grants and contracts, we will post these updates to the following link.   Federal agencies are aware of the current challenges and the Council on Governmental Relations (COGR) has developed a repository for both specific agency guidance (as it becomes available) and institutional guidance on mitigating the impacts to research.  COGR has also released an FAQ document regarding COVID-19’s impact on federal awards.

Risk Management and Safety (RMS)

RMS will continue to offer the following mission-critical support functions for research, although staff will primarily be working remotely:

• safety and health consultation
• emergency response
• radioisotope delivery
• regulated waste management
• testing and certification of critical lab equipment (safety showers, fume hoods, biological safety cabinets)
• protocol review
• communications and interactions with regulatory agencies 

Noncritical functions such as laboratory inspections and in-person training will be postponed until further notice, although training and meetings may still be conducted remotely to the extent feasible. 

Libraries

Auburn University Libraries' three buildings will be closed to the public. This includes Ralph Brown Draughon Library, the Library of Architecture, Design, & Construction and the Cary Veterinarian Medical Library.  

However, the Libraries' faculty and staff will work to meet your teaching and research needs as best they can and to make access to library resources as seamless as possible.

• Electronic resources including subscription databases and e-books will be accessible.
• Research and Instruction services via Zoom will be available. 
• If you don't find the information that you're looking for on this guide, please email ask@auburn.libanswers.com or call 334-844-1737 during regular university business hours.

• Contact the Libraries
• Contact your Subject Librarian

Research-Related Travel

Currently, all university travel, both domestic and international, is suspended through April 10.  For updates, see https://ocm.auburn.edu/news/coronavirus/. 

Standard Precautions

For additional information on appropriate hygiene and workplace safety, see the CDC’s COVID-19 safety guidance.

Updates specific to the research enterprise will be posted, when needed, at research.auburn.edu. 

For university-wide updates related to COVID-19, visit https://ocm.auburn.edu/news/coronavirus/.

Contacts for questions or concerns:

• Sponsored Programs (OSP, PSFS): ospadmn@auburn.edu
• Contracts & Grants Accounting: cgacomm@auburn.edu
• Animal Care: johnsnl@auburn.edu
• Human Subjects: johnsnl@auburn.edu
• Research Compliance: johnsnl@auburn.edu
• Risk Management and Safety: daa0002@auburn.edu
• Libraries: ask@auburn.libanswers.com
• VPRED: ovpr@auburn.edu

James Weyhenmeyer, PhD

Vice President for Research and Economic Development

Auburn University

202 Samford Hall

Auburn University, AL 36849

Email: jweyhenmeyer@auburn.edu

Phone: (334) 844-4784

research.auburn.edu  

In order to improve and applicant's proposal development experience with Grants.gov, Workspace was launched in October 2015.  Since its initial launch, functionality and training resources have been added to help applicants transition to Workspace (as the legacy PDC application package will be retired as of December 31, 2017, this is very important).  Grants.gov has developed a web site that provides an overview of Workspace, including instructions and tutorial videos. Click here for additional information.  Please contact the Office of Sponsored Programs with any questions you may have regarding this new option within Grants.gov.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the largest funder of biomedical research in the world, investing more than $32 billion a year to enhance life, and reduce illness and disability.  NIH has developed a web page (About Grants) that provides easy-to-follow information on the application process (including tip sheets, videos, podcasts).  If you are new to NIH as a funding option, you may want to explore this excellent resource.

The Office of Research Compliance will accept protocol and report submissions to the Institutional Review Board (IRB) via email. Protocol forms, modification and renewal requests, and final reports may be submitted to IRBsubmit@auburn.edu which is a designated email for submission purposes only. Please incorporate all materials related to the request into one pdf file.  All electronic submissions for full board review must be received by 4:45 PM on the day of the submission deadline to be considered at the next meeting. An automated confirmation will be provided upon receipt of your submission.  If Investigators prefer, a hardcopy of protocols and reports will continue to be accepted at this time. For hardcopy submissions, only the original is required (additional copies are not necessary).  To avoid confusion, please do not duplicate submissions using both methods.  Please contact the Office of Research Compliance at (334) 844-5966 or IRBadmin@auburn.edu with any questions.

Effective September 26, 2016, FastLane will now check to ensure that the combined text of the Project Summary text boxes (or uploaded PDF if the Project Summary contains special characters) does not exceed one page prior to submission, rather than the current check of 4,600 characters. See the Proposal & Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG), Chapter II.C.2.b, for further information.  The October 2016 Tiger Tips article provides additional information regarding these checks.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has a developed a one-page guide to explain how to address rigor and reproducibility in NIH applications.  This resource walks through each of the four key areas of scientific rigor, explaining how and where to address each area in your application. 

NSF has implement a more convenient and secure process for resetting passwords. NSF awardees and applicants will now be able to reset their own passwords.   To do this, awardees and applicants can go to www.research.gov and click “Log In,” then “Forgot Password.” After entering their NSF ID and clicking, “Send Temporary Password,” they will be able to reset their passwords using the temporary password sent to their email address on file. 

Passwords must be between 8 and 20 characters and use three of the four categories below:

• Upper-case letter
• Lower-case letter
• Number
• One of these special characters # & % ! @ ( )

In addition, the last six passwords cannot be reused, and accounts will be locked for five minutes after the tenth unsuccessful password attempt. 

The Offices of Proposal Services and Faculty Support (PSFS) and Sponsored Programs (OSP) websites have been updated with a Data Management Plan (DMP) tool. This tool has been created for faculty writing proposals for which a plan is required (currently NSF, DOE and certain NIH programs require a plan).  The Auburn-specific DMP tool was developed by the Auburn University Libraries with content support provided by OSP and PSFS: https://alpha.lib.auburn.edu/dmp/nsf-dmp.php.  

The National Institutes of Health releases a monthly "NIH eSubmission Items of Interest."  The November release includes a number of reminders regarding proposal compliance, including the new biographical sketch format.  To review these reminders, click here.  If you are interested in subscribing to this monthly e-mail, please visit http://era.nih.gov/about_era/get_connected.cfm.

Beginning in October 2014, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will require all personnel working on a grant to have an eRA Commons ID for reporting on your Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR).

This applies to all personnel, including undergraduate and graduate students, who participate in the project for at least one person month.

For about the last year, you should have seen a warning when submitting an RPPR without eRA Commons IDs for each participant. In October, that warning will become an error and prevent submission of the report.

For more information on the policy change, see NIH Notice NOT-OD-13-097.

To have an eRA Commons account set up, or if you have questions, please contact your Contract Administrator in the Office of Sponsored Programs.

NIH has shared its latest statiscs regarding success, award and funding rates. Check out Sally Rockey's June 29, 2015 Rock Talk for details

When an NIH awardee’s grant project periods comes to an end, recipients must close out their grant by submitting a Final Federal Financial Report (FFR), Final Progress Report (FPR), and Final Invention Statement and Certification (FIS). The deadlines for these reports has recently changed to align with forthcoming standard award terms and conditions for participating Federal research agencies. All projects with a period of performance end date on or after October 1, 2014 must submit the final FFR, the FPR, and the FIS within 120 calendar days of the end of the period of performance. For any grants with a period of performance (project period) end date prior to October 1, 2014, the reporting deadline will be 90 days from the project period end date. For more information visit NIH's FAQ's on grant closeout.

In guidance documents issued in February 2012, NASA noted that appropriation bills for the past two years (NASA’s 2011 continuing resolution and NASA’s fiscal year 2012 appropriation) contain a funding restriction with respect to China. Specifically, the funding statute states that none of the funds appropriated may be used by NASA to:

develop, design, plan, promulgate, implement, or execute a bilateral policy, program, order, or contract of any kind to participate, collaborate, or coordinate, bilaterally in any way with China or any Chinese-owned company unless such activities are specifically authorized [by law.]
 

Although the statute does not define “China” or “Chinese-owned company,” NASA’s procurement guidance states that the terms mean the People’s Republic of China, any company owned by the People’s Republic of China, or any company incorporated under the laws of the People’s Republic of China.

The statute applies to any NASA grant, cooperative agreement, or contract and applies to all subrecipients at any level. Therefore, the restriction prohibits Auburn University from collaborating with or issuing a subaward to the Chinese government, a government-owned company, or a company incorporated under Chinese law. This includes using NASA funds for the U.S. side of a collaboration with these entities that is performed on a “no-exchange-of-funds” basis. The restrictions do not apply to commercial items of supply needed to perform a grant or cooperative agreement.

The appropriations law does not restrict the use of NASA funds to support Chinese national students or visiting researchers. A NASA grants guidance document states participation by Chinese nationals will be reviewed by NASA grant and technical officers prior to awarding grants or cooperative agreements (including amendments), and the University will continue to monitor these developments to ensure no citizenship restrictions are accepted in violation of University policy.

Please contact your OSP Contract Administrator with any questions.

Reference

• NASA Grants Information Circular (GIC) 12-01
• NASA Procurement Information Circular (PIC) 12-01A

The Research Security Office (RSO) has a new way to contact all its staff with just one e-mail. This is a very convenient way to obtain help with any security related issues, because any of the RSO staff will gladly reply to your e-mails in a timely manner; as oppossed to addressing the issue to just one person, who happen to be away from the computer at that particular time.

This new e-mail address will help to minimize delays and will facilitate wider dissemination to your requests. The new e-mail address is aurso@auburn.edu

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.  Information regarding this policy update can be found in Notice Number: NOT-OD-14-074 released April 17, 2014. In addition, the May 2014 Tiger Tips article provides Sally Rockey's blog discussion on this topic, and also provides a number of direct links for more details. Finally, NIH has updated the FAQ website for Resubmissions to assist with questions regarding the new policy.  As always, do not hesitate to contact the Office of Sponsored Programs if we can provide additional assistance with questions or concerns.

All animal use protocols, SOPs, and protocol modification forms are required to be reviewed and signed by the Project Veterinarian BEFORE being submitted to the Auburn University IACUC. Please allow up to 3 business days prior to the IACUC submission deadline for appropriate veterinary review.

NO FORMS WILL BE ACCEPTED WITHOUT A PROJECT VETERINARIAN SIGNATURE.

Grant and Contract Submission Requirements Regarding the AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals: 2013 Edition has been published in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts on August 7, 2013, NOT-OD-13-098. After September 1, 2013, the Vertebrate Animal Section (VAS) of grants and contracts must be consistent with the 2013 Guidelines. In submissions to NIH, investigators are required to describe any method of euthanasia to be used and the reasons for its selection and to state whether the method proposed is consistent with the 2013 AVMA Guidelines. If the proposed method is not consistent with the AVMA Guidelines, a scientific justification must be included in the VAS.

NIH has recently posted a Notice  in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts encouraging grantees to develop an institutional policy requiring an Individual Development Plan (IDP) for every graduate student and postdoc supported by any NIH grant regardless of the type of NIH grant that is used for support.  Dr. Sally Rockey in her weekly "Rock Talk" blog also addressed this topic and provided some additional thoughts.  MyIDP is a free site sponsored by The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) that assists with the development of these plans.  More information will be shared regarding this topic as it becomes available. 

USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture is now requiring training in responsible conduct of research (RCR) for any faculty, staff, or students participating in NIFA research projects. The training must be documented and is subject to NIFA review. Auburn University has adopted a plan to fulfill the NIFA training requirement.  The requirements of this plan are applicable to all awards subject to the USDA NIFA February 2013 Terms and Conditions or subsequent Terms and Conditions that contain the RCR training requirement. Please note that, in accordance with the NIFA Training Process, all identified project personnel must complete RCR training before a Fund may be established for a NIFA research project. Please refer to the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) page on the Research Compliance web site for additional information.