UF MainSpring Seminar: International Activities – Hot Topics and Best Practices

The expectations related to disclosure and participation in international activities are changing rapidly. In this forum held May 11, speakers discussed all facets of international activities including international collaborations, outside activities, and sponsored research. They provided tips for building and nurturing international collaboration while ensuring compliance with UF and sponsor policies, regulations, and expectations. A summary of the workshop is provided below.

Read more →

/by

UFIRST FYI: Updating Project F&A Returns

Each year, the Office of the Vice President for Research returns F&A costs collected from grants and contracts during the preceding fiscal year (July 1 – June 30) to principal investigators, department chairs, and if appropriate, directors of certain authorized centers. The remainder of the F&A costs collected are returned to the college after Sponsored Program Assessment (SPA) is calculated. For details regarding your current sponsored project distributions, please login using your Gatorlink at reporting.it.ufl.edu.  Navigate to Team Content > Sponsored Program Information > Awards > Center Return. The last day to make changes to F&A distributions for FY2020 is June 30, 2020. For more information, please see Updating Project F&A Instruction Guide for navigation to the UFIRST Activity.

Read more →

/by

UFIT Upgrades File Storage System for HiPerGator

UFIT is upgrading the storage options for HiPerGator users. Now in its final stages of stability, functionality, and performance testing, the new “blue” storage system will be available in June. Details on how files will be transferred from /ufrc to /blue will be published on the Research Computing website this month. In preparation, system users should schedule some time to remove old, unneeded data so that it does not have to be moved. Currently, the /ufrc holds 1.7 PB (83% of capacity.) Some of the new /blue systems specifications include the following:

Read more →

/by

Awarded Projects for May 2020

Congratulations to Maya Israel for her subcontract award NSF Flow Through from Michigan State University; Ashley MacSuga-Gage for her subcontract award DHHS Flow Through from the University of South Florida; Philip Poekert for his award from the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care; Philip Poekert for his subcontract award Administration for Children and Families Flow Through from the Florida Office of Early Learning; and Jacqueline Swank, Sondra Smith, and Elliot Woehler for their award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

For more details, see the Awarded Projects table.

Read more →

/by

Submitted Projects for May 2020

Best wishes to Pasha Antonenko and Bruce MacFadden for their proposal to the National Science Foundation; Alice Kaye Emery for her proposal to the Florida Department of Education; Christy Gabbard her proposal to the Florida Department of Education; Holly Lane, Vivian Gonsalves, Kathrin Maki, and Kristi Cheyney-Collante for their proposal to the U.S. Department of Education/OSERS-OSEP; Michelina MacDonald for her proposal to the National Education Association Foundation; Kathrin Maki for her proposal to the Society for the Study of School Psychology; Hannah Mathews for her subcontract proposal Spencer Foundation Flow Through from Binghamton University; Justin Ortagus for his proposal to Arnold Ventures; Jennifer Park-Jadotte for her subcontract proposal Administration for Children and Families Flow Through from NORC at the University of Chicago; Jennifer Park-Jadotte for her subcontract proposal South Carolina Department of Education Flow Through from Richland County School District One; Ashley Pennypacker Hill for her proposal to the Florida Department of Education; Philip Poekert for his proposal to the School Board of Seminole County; Paige Pullen and Philip Poekert for their proposal to the Charleston County School District; Paige Pullen for her proposal to the Spencer Foundation; Patricia Snyder and Darbianne Shannon for their proposal to the U.S. Department of Education/OSERS-OSEP; Patricia Snyder, Maureen Conroy, and Herman Knopf for their subcontract proposal Administration for Children and Families Flow Through from SRI International; and Ross van Boven for his proposal to the Florida Department of Education.

For more details, see the Submitted Projects table.

Read more →

/by

IES Announces FY 2021 Applications for New Awards

The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) has announced the FY 2021 funding opportunities for Education Research and Special Education Research. See the Federal Register notice May 4, 2020 for Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers 84.305A, 84.305B, 84.305C, 84.305R, 84.324A, 84.324B, 84.324P, and 84.324R.

Letter of Intent due: June 11, 2020
Application package available: June 11, 2020
Deadline for transmittal of application: August 20, 2020

IES also has announced the FY 2021 funding opportunities for Statistical and Research Methodology in Education and Using Longitudinal Data to Support State Education Policymaking. See the Federal Register notice March 25, 2020 for CFDA numbers 84.305D and 84.305S

Letter of Intent due: May 28, 2020
Application package available: May 7, 2020
Deadline for transmittal of application: July 30, 2020

Please let Ana (anapuig@coe.ufl.edu) know if you are pursuing one of these RFPs so OER can provide support. You will be added to our queue on a first-come, first-served basis. We look forward to working with you. You can find the OER Capital Needs Form here: https://education.ufl.edu/educational-research/capital-needs-form

Please visit https://ies.ed.gov/funding/ for more details.

Read more →

/by

Recent Updates from IES

Creating the Standards for Excellence in Education Research (SEER) Principles is one of the most important recent accomplishments of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). IES Director Dr. Mark Schneider discusses his thoughts on SEER Principles in two blogs Changes Are Coming to Research Competitions and An Update on the IES Version of LEED Standards.

Another important topic for IES is replication as Dr. Schneider summarizes in A More Systematic Approach to Replicating Research. Emphasis has been placed on replication because science cannot be built without replication. IES has funded many efficacy trials but almost none are replicated.

The next wave of research will include cost-effectiveness analysis to do replications. IES has underscored the importance of cost analysis and is requiring this analysis in proposals. Dr. Schneider comments on the ability of IES-funded researchers to conduct appropriate economic analysis as part of their studies in his blog A New Tool to Support Cost Analysis in Education Research. To help grantees and education researchers, IES has launched a Cost Analysis: A Starter Kit. The starter kit provides a three-phased approach to the basics of cost analysis.

IES also has placed an emphasis on using common measures to standardize comparisons across interventions. IES will be identifying and encouraging the use of common measures as Dr. Schneider describes in Making Common Measures More Common.

Some additional updates include the following:

Read more →

/by

NSF Updates Reminder

As a reminder, the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) new Proposal & Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) 20-1 has been released and will be effective for proposals submitted or due, and awards made, on or after June 1, 2020. As part of this new guidance all senior personnel biographical sketches and current and pending information must be in the NSF fillable pdf or generated from SciENcv. NSF would like your feedback on these formats prior to the June 1 requirement. Please provide your comments and questions to policy@nsf.gov.

NSF also recently recorded a webinar about the requirement to use an NSF-approved format for both the biographical sketch and current and pending support documents as part of proposals submitted to NSF.

To assist the UF community, the UF Division of Sponsored Programs has highlighted some of the key changes in PAPPG Summary of Changes. However, you are encouraged to review the by-chapter summary of changes provided in the Introduction section of the PAPPG. NSF has provided helpful resources related to these changes, which can be found on the DSP National Science Foundation Updates webpage.

Read more →

/by

Grant Writing Workshop: Writing Broader Impacts for NSF Proposals

On the heels of the successful National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant Writing Workshop conducted via Zoom on April 1, UF Research Development is happy to present a workshop on Writing Broader Impacts for NSF proposals. There are no costs associated with attending the workshop. Registration is required to allow for follow up.

When: May 27, 2020
Time: 9 a.m. – 11 a.m.
Place: Virtual Meeting
Please register here: https://ufl.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4YeuYZnk69UrRgF Read more →

/by

Awarding NSF S-STEM Scholarships to Students Enrolled at Least Half-Time

A potential consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic is the need for some students to reduce their enrollment status to less than full-time. This communication serves as notice to Principal Investigators of all active NSF S-STEM projects that your institution is authorized, effective immediately, to award scholarships to otherwise eligible S-STEM scholars as long as they are enrolled at least half-time, as defined by your institution.

Read more →

/by

NSF Grants Conference in Minneapolis Canceled Due to Coronavirus

Due to the ongoing threat posed by the Coronavirus (COVID-19), the National Science Foundation (NSF) has canceled the NSF Grants Conference that was scheduled to be held in Minneapolis, MN on May 18-19, 2020. NSF is currently exploring virtual conference opportunities and will continue to update its Grants Conference website as more information becomes available.

Read more →

/by

2020 NCES STATS-DC Data Conference Canceled Due to Coronavirus

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) will NOT be holding the 2020 STATS-DC Data Conference in July. NCES is reviewing alternative options and will send notification as soon as there is further information to share.

Read more →

/by

AERA 2020 Virtual Research Learning Series

The American Educational Research Association (AERA) will offer nine 4-hour courses to expand professional development and capacity. All courses are from 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. EDT with live or on-demand access. The cost is $35. To register or for more information, please see the AERA 2020 Virtual Research Learning Series webpage.

Read more →

/by

COVID-19: New NIH Resource to Analyze COVID-19 Literature: The COVID-19 Portfolio Tool

Due to the increase in research in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) joined the White House and key industry and university leaders to release the COVID-19 Research Dataset (CORD-19). The dataset is a comprehensive library of coronavirus scholarly literature to date. Additionally, the NIH Office of Portfolio Analysis (OPA) has assembled a comprehensive listing of COVID‑19 publications. NIH also continues to add new resources to its COVID-19: Information for NIH Applicants and Recipients of NIH Funding webpage.

Read more →

/by

Guidance on Updating Sponsors on Status of Sponsored Project During COVID-19 Pandemic

The University of Florida continues to work through the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Despite these challenges, most of our sponsored projects have continued, many by temporarily transitioning to remote workplaces, some with modifications to work plans, while others have been allowed to maintain some on-campus effort as a designated essential activity.  As we continue to support the research objectives in specific sponsored projects, it will prove helpful to keep sponsors accurately informed on the status of university operations and of specific sponsored projects, including modifications of work plans.

To read the entire guidance, please see Guidance on Updating Sponsors on Status of Sponsored Project During COVID-19 Pandemic posted here: https://research.ufl.edu/covid-19-updates.html

Read more →

/by