Senate Approves FY 2014 Education Bill

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies approved a FY 2014 bill providing money to improve early childhood care and education. Several highlights are summarized below.

  • Head Start: The bill includes $9.6 billion for Head Start. This includes $1.4 billion to expand Early Head Start and Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships.
  • Child Care: The bill includes $2.5 billion for Child Care Development Block Grants.
  • Preschool Development Grants: The bill includes $750 million for a new program to support states’ efforts to expand or create high-quality preschool systems for four-year-olds from low- and moderate-income families.
  • Investing in Innovation: The bill provides $170 million for the Investing in Innovation education program.
  • Special Education: The bill provides $11.7 billion for educating students with disabilities, including: $463 million to support statewide systems of coordinated and early intervention services for two-year-olds and younger with disabilities, as well as their families; and $70 million to support research on how people with disabilities learn and how best to meet their educational needs.
  • Title I (Education for the Disadvantaged): The bill includes $14.6 billion for Title I grants to school districts for improving education for low-income students.

Visit this page for a complete summary.

To read the complete bill, visit http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s1284/text.

 

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Free iThenticate Accounts Available for Faculty, Post-Docs

Reprinted from UF Postdoctoral Update July 23, 2013

The iThenticate anti-plagiarism service is available free for faculty and graduate students through UFIT’s campus-wide contract. IThenticate can be used to scan your own possible publications and grant proposals to ensure proper citation of all sources prior to submission. Many government organizations use Ithenticate to review funding proposals and documents, including the NIH, NSF, and EPA.

To use, go to the LSS website, open Research Tools, click on iThenticate, and then click on Request an Account. Email UFIT’s e-Learning Support Services team for assistance with iThenticate or any of your online learning support needs.

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Qualifications for Principal Investigators of Human Subjects Research

Reprinted from UF Administrative Memo
July 11, 2013

Working with the three UF IRB’s (IRB-01, 02, 03), faculty stakeholders, and research deans in affected colleges, the Office of Research has developed guidelines to better define the qualifications needed to be a Principal Investigator (PI) of a human subjects research project.

The new guidelines are posted on the UF IRB website and specifically address the role students can play in overseeing human subject research. The University must ensure that PIs are suitably qualified and accountable for all aspects of research projects, and that other investigators are qualified to fulfill the requested role. The IRBs designate as PI the person who either conducts and/or oversees the entire protocol. The PI is also the person held accountable by the University and IRBs to ensure all human subjects’ regulations and any financial issues are addressed. A PI often delegates some of the research activities to students, study coordinators, or others; however, the PI remains accountable for the protocol.

These guidelines were updated to be consistent with peer institutions, are effective July 15, 2013, and will apply to any new protocol or revision request submitted. They are available at http://irb.ufl.edu/docs/studentpolicy.pdf.

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Office of Research Restructuring Announcement

Reprinted from UF Administrative Memo
May 28, 2013

Over the past year, the UF Office of Research has undergone some restructuring to better serve the needs of the UF research enterprise. The Office of Research is now composed of the following:

  • The Division of Sponsored Programs, formerly known as DSR, facilitates institutional approval for all extramural proposal submissions, accepts and administers grant awards, and negotiates contracts and other research-related agreements on behalf of the University of Florida.
  • The Division of Research Compliance supports and promotes ethical research practices at the University of Florida that fully comply with all federal, state, and local laws, and is responsible for coordinating institution-wide research compliance policy and procedure.
  • The Division of Research Program Development assists UF faculty and staff in the pursuit of internal and external research funding, coordinates internal funding programs, and assists in coordinating large interdisciplinary research initiatives.
  • The Division of Research Operations and Services provides support that underpins the campus-wide services that are part of the Office of Research portfolio.

Other functions within the Office of Research such as institutional oversight and research communications remain unchanged.

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Awarded Projects for July 2013

College of Education – Awarded Projects – July 2013
Principal Investigator: Philip Poekert (Lastinger Center for Learning)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: University of Florida Foundation
Project Title: Palm Beach Count STEM Initiative-PEW
Project Period: 05/15/2013—05/30/2014
Award Amount: $337,959.00
Principal Investigator: Philip Poekert (Lastinger Center for Learning)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: University of Florida Foundation
Project Title: Palm Beach Count STEM Initiative-Quantum
Project Period: 05/01/2013—06/30/2016
Award Amount: $905,894.00
Principal Investigator: Philip Poekert (Lastinger Center for Learning)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: University of Florida Foundation
Project Title: Palm Beach County STEM Initiative—Community
Project Period: 06/01/2013—05/31/2015
Award Amount: $661,203.00
Principal Investigator: Marisa Stukey (PK Yonge)
Co-PI: Christy Garison (PK Yonge)
Funding Agency: Florida Department of Education
Project Title: RTTT—District Evaluation Systems Monitoring
Project Period: 05/15/2013—06/30/2014
Award Amount: $30,000.00
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Submitted Projects for July 2013

College of Education – Submitted Projects – July 2013
Principal Investigator: Pasha Antonenko (STL)
Co-PI: Kent Crippen (STL), Treavor Boyer (Environmental Engineering Sciences)
Funding Agency: National Science Foundation
Proposal Title: Co-regulation of Distributed Cognition and Collaboration in STEM Problem Solving
Requested Amount: $1,493,368.00
Principal Investigator: Elliot Douglas (Materials Science & Engineering)
Co-PI: Mirka Koro-Ljungberg (SHDOSE), David Therriault (SHDOSE)
Funding Agency: National Science Foundation
Proposal Title: How Engineers Approach Ill-Structured Problems
Requested Amount: $1,005,269.00
Principal Investigator: Philip Poekert (Lastinger Center for Learning)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: University of Florida Foundation
Proposal Title: Palm Beach County STEM Initiative–Quantum
Requested Amount: $900,430.00
Principal Investigator: Philip Poekert (Lastinger Center for Learning)
Co-PI:
Funding Agency: University of Florida Foundation
Proposal Title: Palm Beach County STEM Initiative–Pew
Requested Amount: $900,430.00
Principal Investigator: Philip Poekert (Lastinger Center for Learning)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: University of Florida Foundation
Proposal Title: Palm Beach County STEM Initiative–Community
Requested Amount: $900,430.00
Principal Investigator: Alice Kay Emery (SESPECS)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: Florida Department of Education
Proposal Title: Working with the Experts Project (Part B) 2013–2014
Requested Amount: $175,000.00
Principal Investigator: David Miller (SHDOSE)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: Take Stock in Children
Proposal Title: Take Stock in Children Evaluation
Requested Amount: $48,612.38
Principal Investigator: Bernard Oliver (SHDOSE)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: The School District of Palm Beach County (Subcontract)
Proposal Title: iLEAD Academy Project
Requested Amount: $1,137,891.00
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Grant Writing Tips: Letter of Commitment

A very common element of grant proposals is a letter of commitment from one’s department chair (in the case of COE, school director). See the following grant writing tip reprinted by permission from Grantseeker Tips newsletter Issue #362, June 18, 2013 published by Miner and Associates, Inc.

What information should be included in a letter of commitment from a department chair?

Department chair commitment letters are crucial because they help document the environment in which the research will be conducted and reassure the reviewers that there is institutional “buy-in” of the PI and the project.

Depending on each faculty member’s situation, letters may contain the following items:

•     Affirmation that the faculty member is a “rising star” in the department with a unique skill set.

•     Assurance that the faculty member will be given protected released time to carry out the proposed project.

•     Promise that the faculty member will have guaranteed access to essential departmental and university resources such as instrumentation, equipment, library holdings, computers, and similar items.

•     Pledge that the faculty member will be able to use “start-up package funding” or internal seed support to complement grant funding.

•     Guarantee that the faculty member will be provided support personnel to help carry out the project (e.g., student support from undergraduates, graduates, or post-docs; laboratory support from electrical or mechanical personnel; and research design and statistical analysis expertise).

To subscribe to the free Grantseeker Tips newsletter, go to http://www.MinerAndAssociates.com and enter your email address on the right-hand side of the home page.

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Awarded Projects for June 2013

College of Education – Awarded Projects – June 2013
Principal Investigator: Donald Pemberton (Lastinger Center for Learning)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: Madison for Education Consultancy, LLC
Project Title: Training Services Agreement
Project Period: 02/02/2013—08/31/2016
Award Amount: $1,815,099.00
Principal Investigator: Donald Pemberton (Lastinger Center for Learning)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: Zero to Three
Project Title: Zero to Three—Doris Duke Part B
Project Period: 06/01/2013—11/30/2015
Award Amount: $93,500.00
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Submitted Projects for June 2013

College of Education – Submitted Projects – June 2013
Principal Investigator: Lynda Hayes (PK Yonge)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: Florida Department of Education
Proposal Title: IDEA, Part B, Entitlement 2013-2014
Requested Amount: $196,593.00
Principal Investigator: Lynda Hayes (PK Yonge)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: Florida Department of Education
Proposal Title: Title I Part A: Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged 2013-2014
Requested Amount: $136,292.01
Principal Investigator: Lynda Hayes (PK Yonge)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: Florida Department of Education
Proposal Title: Title II, Part A, Teacher and Principal Training and Recruiting Fund 2013-2014
Requested Amount: $27,819.25
Principal Investigator: Virginia Dodd (College of Dentistry)
Co-PI: Anne Corinne Huggins (SHDOSE)
Funding Agency: National Institutes of Health
Proposal Title: Developing an Instrument to Measure the Antecedents of Oral Health Literacy
Requested Amount: $16,118.00
Principal Investigator: Philip Poekert (Lastinger Center for Learning)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: SRI International (Subcontract)
Proposal Title: Validation of SunBay Middle School Mathematics
Requested Amount: $2,241,002.00
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New Research Tool for UF Students, Faculty, and Staff: Statista.com

The UF George A. Smathers Libraries are now subscribers to Statista.com, the first statistics portal in the world to integrate data on over 60,000 topics from over 18,000 sources onto a single professional platform. Categorized into 21 market sectors, Statista.com provides companies, business customers, research institutions, and the academic community with direct access to quantitative data on media, business, finance, politics, and a wide variety of other areas of interest or markets.

Faculty, students, and staff can download graphs, which will be a useful resource for student papers and faculty lectures as well as a reference tool that indexes, sources, and links to original sources of data.

For more information, contact Peter McKay, Business Librarian, at pzmckay@uflib.ufl.edu or 352-273-2634.

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Institute of Education Sciences (IES) Education Research News

The IES periodically publishes its own newsletter of grant-related information on its website. The current issue includes information on the following:

  • Use of technology in research projects
  • Regional Educational Laboratory partnership with public television to disseminate research findings
  • Results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress Economics Report Card
  • IES grantees receive research and journal awards
  • National Center for Education Evaluation & Regional Assistance work with ED program offices on large-scale evaluations
  • New Fast Facts from the National Center for Education Statistics
  • Webinars on upcoming funding opportunities

To view the newsletter or subscribe, see http://ies.ed.gov/whatsnew/newsletters/.

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New Effort Reporting Classes Are Available

Research administration staff members have been advised to complete two new effort reporting classes to better assist them in answering questions from faculty and principal investigators.

The RSH230 course is mandatory for any new individual who wants to acquire the effort coordinator role to allocate effort, and the RSH200 course explains how to use the system. The classes were designed by the Division of Sponsored Research, Contracts and Grants, and Human Resources. All people involved with budgeting and managing sponsored funds are strongly encouraged to complete these online courses.  For more information, please contact the Division of Sponsored Research.

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Awarded Projects for May 2013

College of Education – Awarded Projects – May 2013
Principal Investigator: Elayne Colón (Dean’s Area)
Co-PI: Thomas Dana (Dean’s Area), Theresa Vernetson (Dean’s Area)
Funding Agency: Florida Department of Education
Project Title: Revision of Standard Guidelines for Initial Teacher Preparation Programs
Project Period: 04/18/2013—06/30/2013
Award Amount: $45,000.00
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Submitted Projects for May 2013

College of Education – Submitted Projects – May 2013
Principal Investigator: Marisa Stukey (PK Yonge)
Co-PI: Christy Garison (PK Yonge)
Funding Agency: Florida Department of Education
Proposal Title: District Evaluation Systems Monitoring
Requested Amount: $30,000.00
Principal Investigator: Hazel Jones (SESPECS)
Co-PI: Kristi Cheyney (SESPECS)
Funding Agency: Department of Health and Human Services
Proposal Title: A Visual-Ethographic Investigation/Installation: Early Literacy Prazis within the Subsidized Childcare System
Requested Amount: $50,000.00
Principal Investigator: Donald Pemberton (Lastinger Center)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families
Proposal Title: Zero to Three: Doris Duke Part B
Requested Amount: $93,500.00
Principal Investigator: Donna Neff (College of Nursing)
Co-PI: David Miller (SHDOSE)
Funding Agency: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Proposal Title: Simulation Team Training for Timely Intervention During Respiratory Deterioration
Requested Amount: $30,624.00
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Awarded Projects for April 2013

College of Education – Awarded Projects – April 2013
Principal Investigator: Don Pemberton (Lastinger Center for Learning)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: Florida Office of Early Learning
Project Title: Early Care and Education Needs Assessment (RFP 2013-33 Rebid)
Project Period: 04/23/2013—08/31/2013
Award Amount: $368,113.00
Principal Investigator: Danling Fu (STL)
Co-PI: Cynthia Chennault (Languages, Literatures and Culture)
Funding Agency: National Security Agency
Project Title: StarTalk 2013 at the University of Florida for Teachers of Chinese
Project Period: 04/22/2013—02/28/2014
Award Amount: $89,086.00
Principal Investigator: Don Pemberton (Lastinger Center for Learning)
Co-PI: N/A
Funding Agency: Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families
Proposal Title: Subcontract 2013030050
Project Period: 03/01/2013—11/30/2014
Award Amount: $128,150.00
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