Research and Innovation Digital Newsletter June 2021
DEAR COLLEAGUES
Friends of research and creative scholarship at WMU:
It’s hard to believe that this will be my last introduction to an ORI newsletter. I can only say how proud I am of what has been accomplished at WMU in the time that I have been here with our ORI team. We have seen creation of new and exciting programs to advance our mission, such as our interdisciplinary grant and equipment grant programs, a new electronic research administration system coming online, new members of the ORI team dedicated to serving the needs of the WMU community, new Evaluation Center grants and many more. While there are wonderful numbers that speak to the contributions of our faculty, staff and students to increase our funding—such as our 33% increase in federal research expenditures in fiscal year 2019—it’s the individual stories of the research accomplishments and creative scholarship of our community that are the most exciting and of which I am the proudest.
I am excited that President Montgomery has appointed Dr. Steve Carr as interim vice president for research and innovation at WMU. I am so excited to see what Steve does to advance research and creative scholarship. I know that the team in ORI is well prepared to support Steve and keep the amazing forward momentum in research and creative scholarship at the University. I wish everyone the best of luck in their pursuits, I can only see great things ahead for WMU and will be watching for them.
Regards,
Terri Goss Kinzy, Ph.D.
Vice President for Research and Innovation
Read the May 14, 2021 Congratulations Letter from Dr. Montgomery
Dr. Steve Carr named interim vice president for Research and Innovation
His appointment begins Monday, June 21. Steve has served as chair of the Department of Computer Science at WMU since 2012 and as interim chair of the Department of Engineering Design, Manufacturing and Management Systems since July 2020. From 2010 to 2012, he was interim chair and chair of the Department of Computer Science at Michigan Technological University, where he was also a member of the faculty from 1993 to 2010. He served as a research scientist in the Department of Computer Science at Rice University from 1992-93 and earned his Ph.D. in computer science from Rice in 1993.
Dr. Carr’s early research interests were in memory hierarchy management for high-performance computing. He has been a principal or co-principal investigator on 21 grants from industry and the National Science Foundation worth over $3 million. His current research centers on data integrity models and pedagogy for computer security. In all, Dr. Carr is a co-author on 66 refereed conference and journal publications with his colleagues, eight doctoral students and numerous master’s degree students.
Dr. Carr looks forward to working the University faculty and staff to advance the research mission of WMU.
Research and Innovation hosts virtual town hall meeting
Join Terri Goss Kinzy and Steven Carr for a Research and Creative Scholarship Town Hall from 11 a.m. to noon on Monday, June 21, for updates on the review of R research positions, Cayuse implementation and other items. There will be time for questions immediately following the event.
NSIN virtual event explores Artic polar vortex, hacking
NSIN is presenting a virtual event on Monday, July 19, on developing concepts, technologies or systems to help collect, analyze, process and visualize geospatial data in the austere and mobile environments in the Arctic. Click this link to attend.
NSIN is a Department of Defense program office under the Defense Innovation Unit tasked with addressing national security problems by partnering with universities. Find more information.
MTRAC funding opportunities available
The MTRAC Advanced Computing has an open RFP for their next round of funding. The Life Science Innovation Hub has their kickstart RFP open with proposals due Monday, Aug. 2, and will be opening its full round RFP in July. MTRAC Ag Bio will be announcing their innovation challenge soon—a great way to get an intro to the program and get some cash to use for research activities with commercial potential. All of these are great opportunities to receive matching funds and mentoring for faculty interested in commercializing their technology. In addition to MTRAC, the University Early Stage Proof of Concept ADVANCE Fund through MSU supports a rolling RFP process for matching funds to complete commercial milestones.
FRACAA awardees named
The 2021 FRACAA projects have recently been awarded and can be found online.
University Libraries’ education, music and dance collection relocated
The University Libraries’ education and music and dance collections have been relocated to Waldo Library and may be requested through Library Search. It is anticipated that all book stacks will be open for browsing this fall. For more information, visit our website.
Changes to NIH biographical sketch and Other Support Format Page
The updated application forms and instructions will be required for applications and Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPR) submitted for due dates on or after May 25, 2021. During the transition to the new Biosketch format, NIH will not withdraw applications that include the previous Biosketch format. Beginning with applications submitted on or after Jan. 25, 2022, failure to follow the appropriate Biosketch format may cause NIH to withdraw your application from consideration. A summary of changes includes the following:
Biographical sketch
- Section B ‘Positions and Honors’ has been renamed ‘Positions, Scientific Appointments, and Honors.'
- For the Nonfellowship Biosketch, Section D has been removed. For the Fellowship Biosketch, Section D has been updated to remove ‘Research Support.’ As applicable, all applicants may include details on ongoing and completed research projects from the past three years that they want to draw attention to within the personal statement, Section A.
Other support
- The format page has been re-organized to separate funded projects from in-kind contributions.
- Signature block added for Program Director/Principal Investigator or Other Senior/Key Personnel to certify the accuracy of the information submitted. Each PD/PI or senior/key personnel must electronically sign their respective Other Support form as a PDF prior to submission.
- Supporting Documentation: For Other Support submissions that include foreign activities and resources, the recipients are required to submit copies of contracts, grants or any other agreement specific to senior/key personnel foreign appointments and/or employment with a foreign institution as supporting documentation.
View NIH Notice NOT-OD-21-073 for complete information and details related to these changes.
Cayuse eRA platform for pre-award, IRB is coming
The implementation of IRB and pre-award modules continues with rollout expected this summer and fall, respectively. Watch for more information in the coming months. Sarah Pratt and Julia Mays are overseeing this project and look forward to introducing this exciting software to you.
In-person data collection for Human Subject Research resumes
The IRB will allow face-to-face data collection to resume at this time. Minimize in-person interactions by following federal CDC guidance and the Sindecuse Health Center recommended precautions for close contacts . It is important to note the situation can change at any time, so we still encourage all human subjects research be conducted remotely, if possible.