Research Newsblog

This session will help the department coordinators and PI’s that receive an account statement each month for review.

November 19, 2009 from noon to 1:00 pm

Please register at: http://www.admin.mtu.edu/research/vpr/registration/.

All human subject, animal subject and recombinant DNA applications submitted to the Office of  Research Integrity and Compliance between November 11-18 will be put into process on November 19.  Thank you for your patience.

If you are a Mac user, you may receive an error message when trying to open the new transmittal sheet for proposal submission to external sponsors.  To open the file from the website, http://www.mtu.edu/research/references/forms/, please follow the directions below:

To open the file, right click the link, click “Save Link As” and save the file to your desktop.  Open Adobe Acrobat, click “File”, “Open” and search for the file saved on your desktop.

Effective immediately, Michigan Tech will begin assessing the uncapped facilities and administrative cost rate [currently 63%] to all industrial sponsored proposals. As always, Sponsored Programs will consider requests to reduce the assessed F&A rate when cost share is required on a project, when there are concerns about cost-competitiveness of a proposal, and when the project has a maximum total cost – the form for requesting such a reduction is at http://www.mtu.edu/research/administration/sponsored-programs/pdf/IDCreduct_waiver.pdf.

Federal pass through funding will continue to be assessed the appropriate federal rate, and all proposals previously submitted with the capped rate will be grandfathered at the rate at which they were submitted.

The Office of Naval Research has recently issued a provisional Fringe Benefit rate for Michigan Tech.  Effective July 1, 2009, the regular and grant funded employee’s fringe rate of 42.6% will be applied to all funds.

Effective immediately, the regular and grant funded employee fringe benefit rate of 42.6% will be used in Sponsored Programs proposal budgets.  The new fringe benefit rate will apply to supplemental or additional funding where funding is added for work beyond what was contained in the original agreement.  The funding will generally be given a new index number in order to be separated from the funding in the original agreement.

For existing and incrementally funded Sponsored Programs, the fringe rate for regular and grant funded employees will be the lower of the rates used in the proposal budget or the new 42.6% rate.

The existing rates for the employee types, as described below, will be applied to all funds and will also be used in Sponsored Programs proposal budgets:

• Extra Compensation: 20.2%
• Temporary Employees: 10%
• Graduate Students: 8.75%
• Undergraduates: 0%

The current provisional rate agreement can be found on the Research Offices website at http://www.mtu.edu/research/references/facts-figures/.

The Office of Naval Research has recently issued provisional (temporary) F&A rates for Michigan Tech.  Although these rates were effective as of July 1, 2009, they are to be used in Sponsored Programs budgets that have a proposal submission deadline on or after August 1, 2009.

What does this mean for sponsored projects?  For existing projects and incrementally funded projects, the rates in effect at the time the project was awarded will continue to be charged.  For projects awarded under the provisional rates, the provisional rate will be charged until the pre-determined (final) rate agreements are fully-executed.   Incrementally funded projects exist when incremental awards will be received throughout the approved project period referenced in the original agreement; therefore, these project F&A rates would remain the same.  The new rates will apply to supplemental or additional proposals where funding is being requested for work beyond what was contained in the original agreement.   When awarded, the supplemental and additional funding will generally be given a new index number in order to account for the different rates.

The current provisional rate agreement can be found on the Sponsored Programs Office website at http://www.mtu.edu/research/references/facts-figures/.

The graduate student estimating tables for stipend levels and tuition and fee rates has been updated.  These rates are to be used in proposal budgets to external sponsors.  You can find the tables at Sponsored Programs Budget Estimating Tables.

These rates are effective immediately.

The Sponsored Programs Office would like to inform you of the following proposal submission change. Due to an expected increase in Grants.gov submissions relating to the processing of Recovery Act proposals, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has authorized agencies to use alternative methods for proposal submission and acceptance.

Effective immediately, new funding opportunities issued by NSF will exclusively require the use of FastLane to prepare and submit proposals. NSF plans to revise existing funding opportunity documents to reflect this change and to remove all active application packages from Grants.gov APPLY. Updated NSF information about available funding opportunities will be posted to Grants.gov FIND.

Once you have identified your grant opportunity, be sure to carefully read the instructions to ensure you are following proper submission procedures for that application, even if you have applied before. Grants.gov will still be the one place to find all available federal grant opportunities and all opportunities will include specific application instructions, including instructions for submitting applications outside of Grants.gov.

These agencies will be accepting some or all applications outside of Grants.gov: Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Education (DOED), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Treasury, Department of Transportation (DOT), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Air and Space Administration (NASA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Please pay close attention to the grant announcements and application instructions for these agencies.

Detailed instructions regarding the technical aspects of proposal preparation and submission via FastLane are available at: http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/.

If you have any questions contact the Sponsored Programs Office at 487-2226.

Two distinguished researchers at Michigan Technological University have been named to sustainability chairs endowed by Tech alumnus Richard Robbins and his wife, Bonnie.

Rolf Peterson, research professor in the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, will hold the Robbins Chair in Sustainable Management of the Environment, formerly held by the late David Karnosky.

Craig Friedrich, associate chair and director of graduate studies in the Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, was appointed to the Robbins Chair in Sustainable Design and Manufacturing.

These chairs and a third one in sustainable materials that was filled in August 2008 by David Shonnard, professor of chemical engineering, were made possible by the generous support of Mr. and Mrs. Robbins.

“Dick and Bonnie Robbins recognize that our students’ understanding of the fragile nature of the world around them depends on their direct experience with today’s environmental challenges, both in the classroom and in research,” said Michigan Tech President Glenn D. Mroz.

Robbins, who graduated from Michigan Tech in 1956 with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, and his wife expressed confidence that the three sustainability chairs will “add impact to Michigan Tech’s interdisciplinary work to solve some of the world’s most complex problems.”

Peterson, who has taught at Michigan Tech since 1975, heads the University’s world-renowned wolf-moose predator-prey study at Isle Royale National Park. The longest continuous wildlife study in the world, the wolf-moose study celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2008. Peterson’s research focuses on the ecology of the wolf and its prey. Of special concern to him is the challenge of the recovery of wild carnivores, exemplified by the gray wolf.

“This is a challenge because these species compete directly with human interests, and we have typically persecuted them for centuries,” the wildlife ecologist said. “The School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science at Michigan Tech is strategically placed, geographically and in terms of faculty expertise, to play a key role in understanding the broad implications of carnivore recovery.”

Peterson earned a bachelor’s degree in zoology at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, and a PhD in wildlife ecology from Purdue University. He has won Michigan Tech’s annual research award, the Isle Royale Institute Founders’ Award and a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Minnesota, Duluth. A board member and secretary of the International Wolf Center’s Board of Directors, Peterson also is an expedition leader for Research Expedition volunteers studying the wolves and moose of Isle Royal. The US Fish and Wildlife Service appointed him team leader of the Recovery Team for the Eastern Gray Wolf.

Friedrich has taught and conducted research at Michigan Tech since 1997. He has been researching mechanical microtechnologies or microscopic technologies for 20 years. For the past seven years, he has focused on two types of nanotechnologies: bionanosensors that could allow non-invasive detection of normal and abnormal physiology—for example, blood glucose monitors that do not require a finger prick; and bionanomaterials that could scavenge sustainable energy from light.

His current research focuses in four areas: development of micromechanical insertion tools for cochlear implants; orthopedic implant rods with surfaces suitable for impregnation with drugs to promote bone regrowth and antibiotics to reduce risk of infection; a signaling mechanism based on a protein that converts light to an electrical charge; and manufacturing of optical micro-waveguides, similar to optical fibers, that can greatly increase the speed of communications on and among circuit boards.

“The first three help sustain the quality and security of life, and the fourth will help sustain technological leadership,” the professor of mechanical engineering said.

Friedrich holds a PhD in mechanical engineering from Oklahoma State University. He is director of Michigan Tech’s Multi-Scale Technologies Institute, involving interdisciplinary research by 30 faculty members from 12 departments. He also oversees the graduate program for nearly 200 graduate students in mechanical engineering.

Michigan Technological University is a leading public research university, conducting research, developing new technologies and preparing students to create the future for a prosperous and sustainable world. Michigan Tech offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in engineering, forestry and environmental sciences, computing, technology, business and economics, natural and physical sciences, arts, humanities and social sciences.

Effective May 1, 2009, the Sponsored Programs Office (SPO) is implementing an internal deadline for all external proposal submissions. The completed technical proposal and all applicable internal paperwork are to be submitted to the Sponsored Programs staff 48 hours or more prior to the sponsor’s deadline (excluding weekend hours). The SPO staff will not submit a proposal if it is received after the internal deadline, even if it is received prior to the sponsor’s deadline. If a proposal deadline is outside normal business hours, the 48 hour deadline is counted from the end of normal business hours on the due date.

Due to capacity issues with grants.gov, we recommend that the complete proposal and all applicable internal paperwork be submitted to the Sponsored Programs staff five business days or more prior to the sponsor’s deadline for grants.gov submissions.