UCR Research and Economic Development Newsletter: August 27, 2016

Michael Pazzani

Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development

Back Issues of Newsletter: http://research.ucr.edu/vcr/newsletters.aspx

Grant Opportunity Search: http://pivot.cos.com

· Welcome to UCR Research and Economic Development Newsletter: 405 Clinical Faculty

· Russell Sage Foundation: social science research on the social, economic and political effects of the Affordable Care Act

· Searle Scholars Program: Sept 5, 2016

· Comment on the NSF Strategic Plan

· Limited Submission: NSF Partnerships for Innovation: Building Innovation Capacity – 9/15/16

· Limited Submission: NIH Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) Enhancing Diversity in Biomedical Data Science (R25) – 9/15/16

· USDA National Needs Fellowship (NNF) Program – 10/11/16

· African Hoopoe

Welcome to Research and Economic Development Newsletter: 405 Clinical Faculty

In a recent discussion with Clinical Professor, Howard Moss, I discovered that the newsletter I send out was not going to the clinical faculty in the School of Medicine. So with newsletter I have added an additional 405 clinical faculty to the list.

This newsletter is sent out by the Office of Research and Economic Development with the goal of informing faculty about trends in research, funding, and internal funding opportunities and encouraging collaborations across the university. Research and Economic Development Website: https://research.ucr.edu contains information on Sponsored Projects (for submitting all grant proposals), Research Integrity (For research involving human subjects, animals, etc), Technology Commercialization (for assistance with patenting, licensing, and new company formation), Research Development (for assistance with proposal strategy)

Here are a few resources of particular interest to clinical faculty.

Research Integrity:

· Institutional review boards (IRBs) UCR has two IRBs. A social-behavioral IRB and a clinical IRB. The IRBs are required by federal regulations to review all human subjects research conducted on behalf of the institution. IRB review is required for both funded and non-funded human subject research.

· Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) which oversees all research and care involving vertebrate animals.

· Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) functions as the local review body responsible for oversight of research activities, including teaching laboratories, involving the use, storage and handling of biohazardous materials

· Promoting Research Objectivity (PRO) is charged with reviewing investigator statements of financial interest related to their sponsored research activities and determining whether a conflict of interest management plan is warranted after review of all the facts and circumstances.

· Stem Cell Research Oversight (SCRO) Committee reviews activities involving human stem cell research, regardless of the type of stem cells or whether the stem cells are adult or embryonic.

Forms to have protocols/research approved by these committees may be found at https://research.ucr.edu/about/forms/research-integrity-forms.aspx

Research Funding

Here are a few resources at UCR that new faculty may wish to explore:

· Identifying Funding Opportunities. We use COS Pivot, http://pivot.cos.com a service that collects grant opportunities from the federal government. If you have a UCR email address, you can create an account on Pivot. It is easy to do, but if you like instruction, they are available at. http://research.ucr.edu/ord/funding/search-engines/pivot.aspx. In addition to searching for funding opportunities, Pivot allows one to save a search and emails you with new opportunities

· Electronic Campus Approval Form: http://cnc.ucr.edu/ecaf/quick_start.html UCR submits over 1500 proposals a year and has a streamlines electronic approval process for proposal submission.

· Cayuse: http://research.ucr.edu/spa/electronic-research-administration/cayuse.aspx Cayuse is an electric system that facilitates creations, submission and collaboration on proposals. UCR uses it for all federal proposals that are submitted through grants.gov, including NIH proposals.

This newsletter is not intended to be a comprehensive list of funding opportunities, but includes sample of those that may have wide interest or some with specialized interest that are representative of other opportunities. My newsletters typically close with a photograph of a bird, because bird photograph is a hobby of my mine.

UCR Funding Stats

Below are some charts and graphs that reveal some funding stats for UCR. Our acceptance rate at federal agencies continues to rise and we are now particularly competitive at NIH funding. This data ends at 2015 because many proposals submitted in 2016 are still under review at the federal agencies.

NSF continues to be the largest source of funding for UCR faculty, with NIH close behind and catching up, and DOE DOD and USDA are significant sources as funding.

Full professors are responsibility for the majority of the research funding at UCR, but all ranks are contributing to the research enterprise.

Although UCR is growing, the majority of the research funding is being brought in by faculty who have been here 5 years or longer.

Russell Sage Foundation: social science research on the social, economic and political effects of the Affordable Care Act

The Russell Sage Foundation initiative will support innovative social science research on the social, economic and political effects of the Affordable Care Act. They are especially interested in funding analyses that address important questions about the effects of the reform on outcomes such as financial security and family economic well-being, labor supply and demand, participation in other public programs, family and children’s outcomes, and differential effects by age, race, ethnicity, nativity, or disability status. They are also interested in research that examines the political effects of the implementation of the new law, including changes in views about government, support for future government policy changes, or the impact on policy development outside of health care. Funding is available for secondary analysis of data or for original data collection. They welcome projects that propose novel uses of existing data, as well as projects that propose to analyze new or under-utilized data. We will not fund research on the effects of the ACA on health care delivery or health outcomes. (e.g., barriers to implementation, changes in the quality of care and health status, or trends in enrollment and affordability); other funders already do that.

A brief letter of inquiry (4 pages max. excluding references) must precede a full proposal to determine whether the proposed project is in line with the Foundation's priorities under this special initiative and available funds. All applications must be submitted through the Foundation's online submission system. If you still have questions after reviewing the information on our website, you can contact Aixa Cintrón-Vélez, Program Director, at programs@rsage.org.

There is a deadline of October 31, 2016, 11am for letters of inquiry, but earlier submission is encouraged

Details at http://www.russellsage.org/research/funding/affordable-care-act

Searle Scholars Program from the Kinship Foundation: Sept 5, 2016

UCR has been invited to select one candidate for the Searle Scholars Program from the Kinship Foundation. The award, given to 15 new recipients annually, is $300,000 for a three-year term with $100,000 payable each year of the grant. UCR’s limited submission process can be found at http://research.ucr.edu/ord/limitedsubmissions.aspx. The internal deadline is Sept 5, 2016

Foundation submissions are not open to individuals who have not been selected by their institution to participate in the competition. Applicants for awards will be expected to be pursuing independent research careers in biochemistry, cell biology, genetics, immunology, neuroscience, pharmacology, and related areas in chemistry, medicine, and the biological sciences. Candidates should have begun their appointment as an independent investigator at the assistant professor level on or after July 1, 2015. The appointment must be their first tenure-track position (or its nearest equivalent).

The Searle Scholars Program does not ordinarily support purely clinical research but has supported research programs that include both clinical and basic components. Potential applicants who are unsure if their research is appropriate for the program are encouraged to examine the research interests of present and former Searle Scholars on their website.

Final nominee is required to submit a statement from their department chair, and three letters of support (one from their doctoral mentor, post-doctoral mentor and a third one of their choice).

Submission for final application by September 30, 2015. Details at http://www.searlescholars.net/

Comment on the NSF Strategic Plan

The National Science Foundation is beginning the process of updating its Strategic Plan. As part of that process, the Foundation invites feedback on the Vision, Core Values, Strategic Goals and Strategic Objectives described in the current NSF Strategic Plan at http://www.nsf.gov/about/performance/strategic_plan.jsp.

The Foundation would welcome comments on the current Strategic Plan through the website, https://www.nsf.gov/od/oia/strategicplan/feedback.jsp.

Please send any questions to strategicplan@nsf.gov

Limited Submission: NIH Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) Enhancing Diversity in Biomedical Data Science (R25) – 9/15/16

The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research education activities in the mission areas of the NIH. The over-arching goal of this BD2K R25 program is to support educational activities that complement and/or enhance the training of a workforce to meet the nation’s biomedical, behavioral and clinical research needs.

To accomplish the stated over-arching goal, this FOA will support creative educational activities with a primary focus on Curriculum or Methods Development in Big Data Science to augment current institutional curricula for the training of predoctoral level biomedical scientists and provide concentrated instruction in the tools, approaches and quantitative analysis concepts in data science. To facilitate the integration of data science into biomedical curricula nationally, this FOA seeks to support a cohort of institutions that will work collaboratively and collectively to produce curricular materials that are findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR).

The UCR Internal Limited Applications are due by 5:00 pm on September 15, 2016. http://research.ucr.edu/ord/LimitedSubmissions.aspx?ae=A

For more information: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-ES-16-011.html

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Limited Submission: Partnerships for Innovation: Building Innovation Capacity – 9/15/16

The National Science Foundation has updated its solicitation for the Partnership for Innovation: Building Innovation Capacity program, now Solicitation 16-591.

The full solicitation is available at http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2016/nsf16591/nsf16591.htm.

The PFI:BIC program supports academe-industry partnerships, which are led by an interdisciplinary academic research team collaborating with at least one industry partner to carry out research to advance, adapt, and integrate technology(ies) into a specified, human-centered smart service system. The selected service system should function as a technology test bed. Unlike PFI:TT, this program does not require you to base the project on previous NSF support.

The “smart service system” is defined as follows: socio-technical configurations of people, technologies, organizations, and information designed to create value by fulfilling the needs of those participating in the system. A "smart" service system is a system that amplifies or augments human capabilities to identify, learn, adapt, monitor and make decisions.

The system utilizes data received, transmitted, or processed in a timely manner, thus improving its response to future situations. These capabilities are the result of the incorporation of technologies for sensing, actuation, coordination, communication, control, etc.

A project must be led by a university and must include a primary partner (either a for-profit or a not-for profit industrial partner) that has commercial revenues. It is essential that a designated minimally-qualifying industrial partner have experience with having brought a product, process, service, or system to the marketplace.

NSF recognizes that interdisciplinary collaboration (involving many areas of expertise beyond just those related to the technology) is needed to achieve successful integration into a smart service system. The research components to be included in this project are: 1) engineered system design and integration; 2) computing, sensing, and information technologies; and 3) human factors, behavioral sciences, and cognitive engineering. The proposer must show how these components will be integrated in the context of the project as part of the research plan in the Project Description.

Past recipients of this award can be found here:

https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=136268&org=NSF&from=news

This is a limited submission opportunity. More information can be found here: http://research.ucr.edu/ord/SearchOr.aspx?k=2126965755&ae=A Internal Proposals are due Sept 15

Size of the Award: Up to $1 million over three years.

If you are interested in responding to this program and need assistance, please contact Rosibel Ochoa, Associate Vice Chancellor for Technology Partnerships at rosibel.ochoa@ucr.edu.

WEBINARS: Webinars will be held to answer questions about the solicitation. Register on the PFI:BIC website (http://www.nsf.gov/eng/iip/pfi/bic.jsp). Potential proposers and their partners are encouraged to attend.

The UCR Internal Limited Applications are due by 5:00 pm on September 22, 2016. http://research.ucr.edu/ord/LimitedSubmissions.aspx?ae=A

For more information: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=504708&WT.mc_id=USNSF_180&WT.mc_ev=click

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USDA National Needs Fellowship (NNF) Program – 10/11/16

A single application may propose funding under any single Targeted Expertise Shortage Areas (TESA) up to a maximum of $262,500 per application.

Master’s Level Training: Funding at $41,000 for each Fellow. This consists of a student stipend of $18,500 per year for two years, plus $2,000 per year cost-of-education allowance.

Doctoral Level Training: Funding at $79,500 for each Fellow. This consists of a student stipend of $24,500 per year for three years, plus $2,000 per year cost-of education allowance.

Applicants should propose training projects at the master’s and/or doctoral levels to support graduate fellowship stipends in ONE of the following TESAs:

(a) Animal Production

(b) Plant Production

(d) Agricultural Education and Communication

(e) Agricultural Management and Economics

(f) Food Science, Human Nutrition and Human Sciences

(g) Agricultural Biosecurity

(h) Integrative Biosciences for Sustainable Food and Agricultural Systems – (integrative training in food and agricultural, social and economic disciplines).

The application deadline is October 11, 2016 and instructions are available at http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=287361

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Academic Research Funding Strategies: Research Development & Grant Writing News

The August issue of the Academic Research Funding Strategies newsletter is now available on the web at http://research.ucr.edu/OrApps/SP/Info/GrantWriting/GrantWritingNews.aspx. The index is below. My favorite sections are in Red

August 2016

· Understanding the Role of Your Program Officer

· USDA/NIFA Antimicrobial Resistance Webinar

· Basic Grant-Writing Training Presentation

· The Hallucinatory Proposal Narrative

· Research Grant Writing Web Resources

USDA AFRI Requests for Applications

In fiscal year 2016, the AFRI Program will undergo several phases to streamline the content of all the Request for Applications (RFAs). In so doing, sections of general information that are relevant to each RFA are provided below and can be accessed via a link in the official RFA document. In order to view the important guidance needed to complete a responsive application, please, click on the following link(s):

· Letter of Intent (LOI) Instructions 2016 (LOI_letter_of_intent_2016.pdf) (157.86 KB)

· Project Types (Project_Types_NIFA.pdf) (190.2 KB)

· Application Review Requirements (Review_Criteria_NIFA_0.docx) (28.85 KB)

· Grant Types - FY 2016 AFRI RFA (Grant Type - FY 2016 AFRI RFA.pdf) (142.38 KB)

· Educational Grant Writing Web Resources

· Agency Reports, Workshops & Roadmaps

o NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities Revisited

o Future Directions for NSF Advanced Computing Infrastructure to Support U.S. Science and Engineering in 2017-2020

o A Universal Process: How Mind and Matter Seem to Work

o NCES Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups 2016

o NSF Workshop on Portable Seismic Systems and Commercial Seismic Acquisition

o Science Literacy: Concepts, Contexts, and Consequences (2016)