UCR Research and Economic
Development Newsletter: May 18, 2013
Michael Pazzani
Vice Chancellor for Research
and Economic Development
Back Issues of Newsletter: http://or.ucr.edu/vcr/newsletters.aspx
·
Survey
for Industry Sponsored Research
·
SBIR/STTR
Pilot Program for new Phase I Proposals
·
NIH
Peer Review
·
Update
on NSF Workshop
·
NEH
Summer Stipends
·
Pew
Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences award
·
OFR-NSF
Funding Announcement
·
Stupid
Faculty Tricks
·
Horned
Grebe
Survey for Industry
Sponsored Research
University of California and
most universities have by policy or practice been taking the position that
intellectual property developed in the course of a project funded by industry
is owned by the university. Industry sponsored research agreements then contain
a clause giving the company the first right to negotiate a license to the
technology.
A few universities, such as
Penn State, University of Minnesota and University of Iowa have recently been
introducing an additional option in some fields that allows the sponsoring
company to have exclusive rights to the technology sponsored by the company
according to some predefined terms. See http://www.research.umn.edu/techcomm/industry-sponsor.html
for example.
I am participating in a UC
committee exploring whether there are problems with the “first right to
negotiate” approach and opportunities with having an option for a predefined
approach. Can I ask you to fill out a short survey on this to understand
better UCR faculty experiences and preferences? The short survey is https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Qx5wRcJKM0LYFQOWWlp_veN0yAMV9LyM0i7X9mIsadg/viewform
I repeat the survey below,
but encourage you to fill out anonymously at the website above
Have you experienced
problems reaching agreement on intellectual property when engaging in industry
sponsored research when university insists upon "first right to negotiate
a license"
Check
all that apply.
[ ] No, There is no industry
support for my type of research
[ ] No, Companies and I easily
agree on "first right to negotiate a license"
[ ] Yes, It takes too long to
come to an agreement when the intellectual property isn't important anyway
[ ] Yes, I have experienced
situations in which an agreement I wanted to pursue was never reached due to
intellectual property
[ ] Other:
Should the university have
an additional option available where any new intellectual property discovered
in an industry sponsored research project is automatically assigned to the
sponsored according to some predefined terms?
Mark
only one oval.
( ) No, Not in any field
( ) Not in my field, but it is
appropriate for some fields or some faculty
( ) Yes in my field, but not
in all fields
( ) Yes, in all fields
( ) Other:
SBIR/STTR Pilot Program
for new Phase I Proposals
I am pleased to announce
that the Research and Economic Development has established a pilot program to
stimulate and encourage UCR's participation in the U.S. Small Business
Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR)
programs, as well as increase interactions with promising small business
interested in advancing innovative technology of mutual interest. Through this
pilot program, UCR will waive all facilities and administrative (F&A) cost
on all UCR subcontract proposals with businesses applying for either SBIR or
STTR Phase I funding. The pilot program is effective for new proposals
immediately and will continue through June 30, 2015, at which time the program
will be evaluated to determine if it will continue. It is important to note
that this pilot program does not apply to SBIR or STTR Phase II funding, which
will continue to be subject to UCR's standard applicable research F&A cost
rate. Please see the RED website for more details.
About NIH Peer Review
For more information about
the NIH peer review process please see the following resources:
·
Video
– “NIH Peer Review Revealed”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBDxI6l4dOA
·
Document
– “NIH Peer Review: Grants and Cooperative Agreements”: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/PeerReview22713webv2.pdf
Update on NSF
Workshop-BRAIN Initiative: Physical and Mathematical Principles of Brain
Structure
The NSF recently held a workshop sponsored by the Physics Division
and the Division of Mathematical Sciences within the Directorate for
Mathematical and Physical Sciences. Many groups within the federal arena
are aligning themselves with the BRAIN initiative and we will surely see more
of these in the near future. This particular workshop highlighted the
importance of data sharing and linking of future findings. The white
papers that were collected at this workshop are available at http://or.ucr.edu/OrApps/VCR/Talks/20130505-BrainStuctureFunctionWorkshop/default.aspx
NEH Summer Stipends
It’s never too early to think
about next summer…NEH offers summer support to individuals pursuing advanced
research that is of value to humanities scholars, general audiences, or
both. Recipients usually produce articles, monographs, books, digital
materials, archaeological site reports, translations, editions, or other
scholarly resources. Summer Stipends support continuous full-time work on
a humanities project for a period of two months. The number of
applications to an NEH grant program can vary widely from year to year, as can
the funding ratio. For more information see the NEH website at: http://www.neh.gov/grants/research/summer-stipends.
Pew Scholars Program in
the Biomedical Sciences award
Be sure to check out the
limited funding announcements on our faculty website: https://or.ucr.edu/ord/limitedsubmissions.aspx.
We are always adding announcements. The latest is below
The Pew Charitable Trusts invites
UCR to nominate a candidate for the 2014 Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical
Sciences award. The Pew Scholars Program supports assistant professors of
outstanding promise in science relevant to the advancement of human health. The
award provides $240,000 in flexible support—$60,000 per year for a four-year
period.
OFR-NSF Seeks Proposals in Support
of Research Collaborations in Finance Informatics
The National Science
Foundation (NSF) and the Office of Financial Research (OFR) of the Department
of Treasury share an interest in advancing basic and applied research centered
on Computational and Information Processing Approaches to and Infrastructure in
support of, Financial Research and Analysis and Management (CIFRAM). NSF
and OFR have established a collaboration (hereafter referred to as CIFRAM) to
identify and fund a small number of exploratory but potentially transformative
CIFRAM research proposals. The collaboration enables OFR to support a broad
range of financial research related to OFR’s mission, including research on
potential threats to financial stability. It also assists OFR with the goal of
promoting and encouraging collaboration between the government, the private
sector, and academic institutions interested in furthering financial research
and analysis. The collaboration enables the NSF to nurture fundamental CISE
research on a variety of topics including algorithms, informatics, knowledge
representation, and data analytics needed to advance the current state of the
art in financial research and analysis. Proposals that involve collaborations
between Computer Scientists, Mathematicians, Statisticians, and experts in
Financial Risk Analysis and Management are especially welcome.
For further information,
please see: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2013/nsf13093/nsf13093.jsp?WT.mc_id=USNSF_25&WT.mc_ev=click
Stupid
Faculty Tricks
NSF’s
Office of Inspector general conducts investigations of scientific misconducts
and improper use of funds. A recent report http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2013/oig13001/index.jsp
lists several examples of practices that should be avoided.
Faculty Member Claims Copied Text was Public Knowledge
A
faculty member at an Ohio university plagiarized approximately 500 lines of
text into four proposals submitted to NSF. He admitted that he copied most of
the material, which he said he did because English was not his native language.
He also asserted that citations and quotation marks were unnecessary because
the text was copied from a public source, or was public knowledge. The
university investigation concluded that the faculty member’s actions were
reckless and he should have known of the need for citation.
The
university placed a formal letter of reprimand in the faculty member’s
permanent record, with an admonition that further plagiarism may result in
termination of his employment. It further required, for two years, the faculty
member and the Sponsored Research Office to certify that any proposals
submitted contain no plagiarism, and required that the faculty member enroll in
a course on research ethics. NSF recommended that NSF require certifications
and assurances for three years and bar the faculty member from participating as
a peer reviewer, advisor, or consultant for NSF for three years.
PI and his Company Suspended Government-Wide
A
PI for a Maryland company that received a Small Business Technology Transfer
(STTR) award from NSF falsely certified to NSF that he was primarily employed
by the company when he was employed full-time at a university. The PI also
falsely asserted that he had a mandatory outside investment to support a Phase
IB application for supplemental funding, and he failed to issue a required
subaward to the company’s partnering research institution in the Phase IB STTR
award. NSF suspended the PI and his company government-wide pending the
conclusion of our investigation.
University Returns $330,460 After Professor Falsely Certified Effort
An
Indiana university put $160,529 back into two active NSF awards and returned $169,930
to NSF for a third closed award after the university’s internal audit and our
investigation confirmed that a tenured professor at the university held an
undisclosed paid teaching position at a foreign university while simultaneously
serving as PI for the three NSF awards. The PI charged travel and summer salary
to the NSF awards, certifying 100% effort on his NSF awards for time during
which he was teaching at the foreign institution.
Horned Grebe
Four
horned grebes where reported at Bolsa Chica Wetlands in Huntington Beach.
I had never seen one before, so one day a few weeks ago while in the area on
other business, I stopped by. One was right where it was reported, so it
was easy to find and photograph.
(click to enlarge)
Michael Pazzani
Vice Chancellor for Research
and Economic Development
Professor, Computer
Science & Engineering
University of California,
Riverside
200 University Office
Building
Riverside, CA 92521
Assistant: Jennifer
Vazquez
951-827-4800