| IMPORTANT! ODU Research Foundation Timesheet Deadline Reminder! (11/5/2009) |
Please be reminded that hourly employee time sheets for the 11/13/09 pay are due on Monday, 11/9/09. Due to the bank holiday next Wednesday, late time sheets will NOT be accepted; therefore it is imperative that time sheets be received by the Research Foundation on time.
Also, please be reminded that time sheets placed in campus mail on Monday WILL NOT be received by the Research Foundation in time. You may fax the time sheets to (757) 683-5290 or scan and e-mail them to lacuddin@odu.edu.
If you have any further questions please feel free to contact Linda Cuddington at (757) 683-4293, ext. 615. |
| New
Purchase Requisition System (10/8/2009) |
| Good
morning. ODU Research Foundation's new purchase requisition system
is online and ready to use. The new system is available at http://www.odu.edu/forms_admin/forms/purchase.php,
or through the Research Foundation web site. Click on "Forms"
and then "Purchase Requisition" under "Accounting
and Procurement." Please contact Kathy Ganas (kganas@odu.edu;
757-683-4293 ext. 621) for instructions on obtaining access. |
| Office
of Research - Call for Proposals (9/29/2009) |
|
Attached
please find the call for proposals 2009-2010 Multidisciplinary
Seed Funding Program, Summer Experience Enhancing Collaborative
Research (SEECR), and Summer Research Fellowship Program (SRFP).
RFPSEECR2010_revised.pdf
SRFrfp2010_revised.pdf
MultidisciplinaryProgram2010_the
announcement.pdf
|
| The
Office of Research Funding Opportunities Newsletter for September
2009 (09/10/2009) |
|
The
office of research funding opportunities newsletter for September
2009. The monthly Office of Research Newsletter provides funding
opportunities for all colleges. All new and updated grant information
added to the newsletter. If you have any suggestions, please let
us know. Thank you.
http://www.researchfoundation.odu.edu/pdf/Office_of_Research_Newsletter_Sept09.pdf
|
| IMPORTANT
INFORMATION ABOUT NEW HIRE PAPERWORK (09/09/2009) |
| The
requirement that the Research Foundation use the on-line federal
E-verify program to check the eligibility of employees to work in
the US began September 8, 2009. In addition to doing a paper I-9
Form to establish work authorization for every new employee, the
Foundation now must go on-line to establish that the identification
documents used were valid. (more) |
| Use
of Sick Leave (09/08/2009) |
As
influenza seasons approaches, and in light of the expected prevalence
of the H1N1 strain, the Research Foundation is modifying certain
practices. It is important for investigators and supervisors to
take action to prevent the spread of the H1N1 flu virus at work.
This includes reminding your employees and student assistants to
not come to work if they are experiencing flu-like symptoms.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) created a poster
to help employers communicate to employees the importance of staying
home and not spreading the virus.
Please use the following link to access the poster and post it throughout
your departments:
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/business/toolkit/pdf/StopDoYouFeelSick_18x24.pdf
If an employee reports to work with flu-like symptoms, send him
or her home. Be flexible in requiring documentation from a health
care provider to support the absence. The Research Foundation will
not require medical notes for flu related illnesses.
Encourage staff to check the Campus Health Alerts site on the University's
web page for up-to-date information on the H1N1 flu virus. |
| The
Office of Research Funding Opportunities Newsletter for August 09
(09/04/2009) |
|
Below
is a link to the Office of Research Funding Opportunities Newsletter
for August 2009. The monthly Office of Research Newsletter provides
funding opportunities for all colleges. The newsletter contains
new and updated grant information.
http://www.researchfoundation.odu.edu/pdf/OORNewsAug09.pdf
|
| GRA
108s for Fall 2009 (7/23/2009) |
| This
is a reminder that Fall 2009 Payroll Authorization Forms (108s)
are due next Tuesday, July 28, 2009. To assist us in the quick expedition
of the GRA 108s, please review the following before submitting the
108s to Research Foundation Human Resources.
--Please
use the new 108 (revised July 1, 2009) which can be found on our
website at http://www.researchfoundation.odu.edu/forms/forms.htm;
--Attach a copy of the GRA award letter;
--Make sure the student has enrolled in a minimum of 6 credit
hours for the Fall semester (10 pay periods). If the student is
PhD and all but dissertation (ABD), then only 1 credit hour is
needed;
--The minimum a GRA can earn during the Fall semester is $3,200;
--A GRA must work no less than half of the semester (5 pay periods)
and can work no more than 20 hours per week;
--If the GRA is receiving a tuition exemption, check the correct
boxes in Part III of the 108. If the payment is through ODURF,
a copy of the student Tuition E-bill must be attached;
--Make sure that all four (4) signatures are on the 108 - Student,
PI, Dept. Chair and Dean. These signatures are needed regardless
of tuition exemption.
Thank
you for your cooperation.
|
| New
ODU fringe benefit rate (7/16/2009) |
Based
on actual cost to the University, a new ODU fringe benefit rate
has been finalized by the federal government for fiscal year 2010.
The new rate of 34.5% of salary will be applied beginning July 1,
2009. As with any increase in costs, ODU fringe benefits will be
charged at 34.5% even if budgeted at a different rate.
The ODU fringe benefit rate applies to ODU faculty salaries charged
as Purchased Release Time (PRT) during the academic year or changed
under a 12-Month Conversion. Direct pay to faculty during their
off-duty quarter, usually summer, is not affected. If the change
in ODU fringe benefits cost affects your project accounts, a grant
and contract administrator (GCA) will be in touch regarding budget
adjustments.
If you have questions regarding implementation of this change, please
contact Carole Blett, sponsored programs manager, at 683.4293, ext.
604 or your GCA. |
| ODURF
Payroll Authorization Form (108) revised effective July 1, 2009
(7/9/2009) |
| The
Payroll Authorization Form 108 has been revised for immediate use.
The latest revision is dated July 1, 2009 and replaces the previous
form version last revised January 1, 2007. Please discontinue use
of all old versions of the 108 Payroll Authorization form. Changes
to reporting categories for veteran status information and other
minor clarification changes have been made. The basic required information
remains the same. Formatting has been enhanced to allow for fill-in
in the WORD format.
The
form is available on line as a WORD or PDF file under Human Resources
section at http://www.researchfoundation.odu.edu/forms/forms.htm.
|
| FY
2009 Final Research Proposal Numbers (7/6/2009) |
| With
your help and leadership and great efforts by our faculty researchers,
grant-writers, and ODURF GCA Teams, we have submitted this fiscal
year (ending on June 30, 2009) a record number of research proposals
valued at $309M (up from $224M last year). Here are the final unit
line-ups:
A&L:
$8,939K (up from $2,603K)
CPBA:
$1,051K (up from $1,032K)
Darden:
$20,272K (up from $11,770K)
BCET:
$78,096K (up from $73,760K)
Health
Sc: $18,428K (up from $6,946K)
Sciences:
$70,245K (up from $50,557K)
Others:
$112,470K (up from $77,673K)
The
list of "Others" include $68,248K for VMASC (up from
$34,309K) and $24,317K for Bioelectrics (up from $4,796K).
|
| Office
of Research funding opportunities newsletter for July 2009 (6/30/2009) |
| The
newsletter can be found here: http://www.researchfoundation.odu.edu/doc/OfficeofResearchNewsletterJuly2009.doc |
| New
NSF Major Research Instrumentation Program, Internal Competition
(05/18/2009) |
The
NSF Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program just announced
an additional MRI competition, funded through the stimulus program,
with an August 10, 2009 due date. Proposal budgets may include requests
from NSF in the range $100,000-$6 million from Ph.D.-granting institutions
of higher education and non-degree granting organizations; up to
$6 million(there is no minimum request) from non-Ph.D. granting
institutions of higher education or the disciplines of mathematical
sciences or social, behavioral, and economic sciences at any eligible
organization.
NSF expects to fund about 400 awards.
ODU may submit up to 3 proposals, two for instrument acquisition
and one for instrument development. For this MRI solicitation only
(MRI-R2), ODU is in a category that does NOT require an institutional
cost match.
We will have an internal competition, so if you would like to participate,
email Kate Ferguson (kferguso@odu.edu)
by May 25 and I will send you the materials.
LINKS TO FURTHER INFORMATION:
MRI-R2 May 11 press release:
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=114641
MRI Request for proposals: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2009/nsf09561/nsf09561.pdf |
| New
NSF Major Research Instrumentation Program, Aug 10 Deadline (05/13/2009) |
The
NSF Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program just announced
an additional MRI competition, funded through the stimulus program,
with an August 10, 2009 due date. Proposal budgets may include requests
from NSF in the range $100,000-$6 million from Ph.D.-granting institutions
of higher education and non-degree granting organizations; up to
$6 million(there is no minimum request) from non-Ph.D. granting
institutions of higher education or the disciplines of mathematical
sciences or social, behavioral, and economic sciences at any eligible
organization.
NSF expects to fund about 400 awards.
ODU may submit up to 3 proposals, two for instrument acquisition
and one for instrument development. For this MRI solicitation only
(MRI-R2), ODU is in a category that does NOT require an institutional
cost match.
It is likely that an internal competition will be needed, so please
let Kate Ferguson (kferguson@odu.edu) know by May 25 if you would
like to submit an MRI proposal.
LINKS TO FURTHER INFORMATION:
MRI-R2 May 11 press release: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=114641
MRI Request for proposals: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2009/nsf09561/nsf09561.pdf |
| 2008-2009
Annual Research Report (05/08/2009) |
| The
Office of Research plans to produce an Annual Research Report for
2008-2009 that will showcase ODU faculty's research, scholarly,
and creative accomplishments. This Report will document our collective
as well as individual achievements. We envision it to have some
of its listings appear by Colleges/Departments as you must have
noted in our just-out 2007-2008 Annual Research Report. (more) |
| Reminder
notice about retirement contribution (04/9/2009) |
| Due
to a change in our retirement plan, temporary (non-student) employees
become eligible for 11% contribution into the retirement program
if they:
--are
initially hired on or after January 1, 2009, and
-- complete at least 1,000 hours of qualified employment during
their first 12 months of employment or any 12-month period of
July 1 through June 30 thereafter. Please note that 1,000 hours
of qualified employment includes work performed for all principal
investigators, not just work performed for you.
If
you employ temporary (non-student) employees beginning January
1, budgeting for the retirement contribution for these employees
will now be required. For this reason, ODURF staff will begin
budgeting, on all proposal submissions, for the retirement contribution
for any temporary (non-student) employees. This will impact any
proposal submissions that have expenditures for temporary (non-student)
employees on January 1, 2010 or beyond.
For
existing grant and contract projects, principal investigators
are encouraged to contact their grant and contract administrator
to discuss any budget revisions needed for the retirement contribution.
If
you have any questions, please direct them to your ODURF grant
and contract administrator.
|
| Reminder
to ODU research community of the five-day proposal guarantee (4/2/2009) |
Principal
investigators are reminded of the Research Foundation's internal
submission deadline, which encourages PI's to submit their completed
proposals at least five (5) full working days before the funding
agency's closing date.
Currently, the federal government's mandatory electronic proposal
submission portal, grants.gov, is struggling to handle the increasing
volume of proposal activity experienced in the past several months.
This load has far exceeded the throughput originally anticipated
by the system and has at times resulted in noticeably degraded performance
and the prevention of timely submissions by the deadline date and
time.
Additionally, it is anticipated there will be a high volume of proposal
submissions for deadlines associated with Recovery Act grant announcements.
This increase in activity will also have an impact on the time needed
by Research Foundation staff to thoroughly prepare, review, and
submit high quality proposals on behalf of principal investigators.
For more information on the directive referencing proposal submission
deadlines, see http://researchfoundation.odu.edu/news/09-25-08.htm.
Thank you for your cooperation. |
| National
Science Foundation Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide
(PAPPG), NSF o9-29, April 2009 (3/27/2009) |
| The
National Science Foundation has released a new Proposal and Award
Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG), effective for proposals submitted
on or after April 6, 2009. Proposers responding to a funding opportunity
with a due date on or after April 6th must comply with the new guidelines
found in NSF 09-29 http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf0929.
The
most significant change to the grants proposal guide involves
further guidance on complying with the mentoring requirement of
the America COMPETES Act. Proposals that request funding for postdoctoral
researchers must include a description of mentoring activities
provided for postdoctoral researchers. The description must be
no more than one page in length and be included in the supplemental
documents section of the proposal. Proposals that do not comply
with this requirement will be returned to the PI, by NSF, without
review. Detailed information referencing the summary of significant
changes can be found at http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf09_29/gpg_sigchanges.jsp.
|
| New
Income Tax Rates (3/5/2009) |
| To
all Research Foundation employees:
Due
to the recently passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
of 2009, the federal income tax withholding tables have been adjusted
by the IRS for calendar year 2009. The Research Foundation has
implemented the new federal withholding rates effective with the
payroll dated 3/6/2009.
Additional
information concerning the changes in the income tax code may
be found at the IRS website: www.irs.gov.
|
| Update
from the Council on Governmental Relations: Recovery Act information
(3/5/2009)
|
| Federal
agencies have begun posting information on how they plan to allocate
funding received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
of 2009 (ARRA), including in some cases how they will monitor and
report their actual spending. (more) |
| Federal
Stimulus (2/19/2009) |
As
you may already know, a good chunk of stimulus money will be spent
through federal agencies. While the agencies are yet to figure out
their own internal strategies, it is more likely be spent by some
of the agencies to fund (a) previously approved unfunded projects;
(b) additional projects above and beyond what they might fund typically
from a current RFP; and (c) new projects through new RFP's. Thus,
if a PI thought and knew if s/he had received high enough scores
but was not funded because of lack of enough funds, it may be time
for such PI's to be in touch with their respective Program Managers.
I very much encourage such PI's to re-establish contacts with the
program managers.
Mohammad Karim |
| New
Mileage Reimbursement Rate (2/4/2009) |
| Old
Dominion University Research Foundation will adjust its reimbursement
rate for the use of one's personal automobile for business purposes
to 55.0 cents for 2009. The new rate is effective February 1, 2009
and will apply to all official travel on or after that date. The
new rate matches the rate approved by the General Services Administration. |
| E-Verify
Program and Required Employee Paperwork (1/6/2009) |
| Beginning
September 2009 the Research Foundation, because it is a federal
contractor, will be required to participate in the federal E-Verify
program to check documentation employees use to establish their
eligibility to work in the United States. (more) |
| Indirect
Cost and PRT Release Time Updates - Effective July 1, 2008 (12/18/2008) |
| This
is to announce that new facilities and administration (F&A,
known customarily as "indirect cost") rates have been
just finalized by the federal government for fiscal year 2009. These
newly negotiated rates will be included in proposals for NEW funding
and competing continuations. (more) |
| Proposal
document development, department/college review and application
submission deadlines (9/25/2008) |
| After
much thought and discussion, the Office of Research (ODUOR) and
Research Foundation (ODURF) have concluded that we need an internal
submission deadline for research and sponsored programs applications
to external organizations. This conclusion is based on the need
to support an increasing number of proposal submissions, provide
the campus research community with proposal development assistance,
allow both college and department officials sufficient review time,
and accommodate funding agencies' processes and application submission
complexities. Each of these merits additional discussion. (more) |
| Manual
Payroll Check Fee (9/18/2008) |
| Beginning
October 1, 2008, the Old Dominion University Research Foundation
will start charging a fee for replacing payroll checks. The fee
for this service is $25.00 per check. This fee will be charged for
the following conditions:
1)
Replacing a check lost in the mail.
2) Replacing a check due to the check being held longer than 90
days.
3) Replacing a check that was damaged.
4) Replacing a check that was lost by the payee.
The
Old Dominion University Research Foundation offers all of its
employees the option to have their checks direct deposited into
a checking or savings account. By having your check direct deposited,
it eliminates the chances of having a check lost or stolen. The
funds are available to you on the payroll pay date. The form is
available on our website: www.researchfoundation.edu.odu under
the forms heading.
If
you have any questions regarding this new fee, please contact
Doreen Garrison, Accounting Manager at (757) 683-4293 ext. 601
or Julian Facenda, Director of Finance at (757) 683-4293 ext.
602.
|
| ODU
Research Foundation Signature Authorization/Delegation (8/28/2008) |
| Welcome
back to a new academic year of purchasing. The Old Dominion University
Research Foundation policies and procedures require that any financial
transaction initiated be done so with appropriate levels of authorization.
Signature authorization is the responsibility of the designated
Principal Investigator on individual project accounts, cost centers,
overhead accounts and discretionary accounts. Co-Principal Investigators
have automatic signature authority for projects on which they are
so designated. Signature authorization may be delegated to staff
or research assistants only upon express written approval of the
Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator. (more) |
| ODU
Research Foundation Termination Procedures - Effective August 1,
2008 (8/4/2008) |
| Principal
Investigators are required to notify the Research Foundation Human
Resources Department of pending termination of all Regular Status
employees and Postdoctoral Associates prior to the employees last
day of service. (more) |
| National
Institutes of Health Public Access Policy (2/4/2008) |
| The
NIH recently announced its new Public Access Policy regarding peer-reviewed
publications. The new NIH Public Access Policy will ensure published
NIH-funded research is accessible to the public, health care providers,
educators and scientists and will help advance science and improve
human health. (more) |
| ODU
Research Foundation Policy Updates (8/23/2007) |
| The
Research Foundation Board of Trustees promulgated certain policies
in accordance with the federal Cost Accounting Standards Disclosure
Statement (DS-2) process. The policies provide documentation to
formalize existing procedures but do not reflect change in practices.
These policies and procedures relate to specific areas of compliance
with OMB Circulars A-21 and A-110. (more) |
| Advanced
Travel Authorization Reminder (2/8/2007) |
| The
purpose of the Advance Travel Authorization procedure is to provide
documentation for insurance purposes regarding travel at the Foundation
as well as to verify the allowability, allocability, and reasonableness
of proposed travel under a sponsored program. (more) |
| ODURF
Guidelines and Approval (10/17/2005) |
| Do
you ever use ODU classified employees to work on funded research
projects? If so you need to be aware of the procedure on Secondary
Employment of a University Classified Employee through the Research
Foundation, effective November 1, 2005. (more) |
| Accident
Reporting and Treatment (3/10/2005) |
|
In
case of an at-work accident, a list of hospitals and Urgent Care
Centers can be found at http://www.researchfoundation.odu.edu/accidenttreatment.htm
|
| Faculty
Supplemental Compensation Procedure (5/26/04) |
|
This
serves to document the current Research Foundation procedure for
processing faculty overload payments. (more)
|
| |
