DER Weekly Newsletter, July 31st, 2020


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July 31, 2020

		DER Funding Database

		Weekly In Progress Report

DER Director News

Engineering Research Reactivation SharePoint

The Engineering Research Reactivation all-inclusive SharePoint page has helpful reopening resources, important processes, and documents that need to be completed and approved to "return to research". Please request access if prompted.

Important Announcement:

Where is my "LABORATORY PLAN FOR A SAFE RETURN" in the approval process?

You can see what step of the approval process your plan is on by looking under the “Engineering Research Reactivation” folders on the SharePoint site.

If the plan has been approved by the Department Chair, you can see if it has been sent to VPRI by clicking on “EGR ADR Review” > “At VPRI for Review”. If the plan is in the “At VPRI for Review” folder then it is currently being reviewed by VPRI.
To check to see if your plan has been completely approved by all required departments (DC, EGR Dean's Office, and VPRI), you can click on the “VPRI Final Approved Plans” folder. If your plan is in the “VPRI Final Approved Plans” folder then you approved to return to research. Monique Blackmer (monique@msu.edu) will reach out to you.

SharePoint Page

		Human Participant Research Expansion
		The University has not opened widely as we are still in a pandemic and working under the Governor’s Executive Orders (EO). As a result, we are phasing in human research that has the potential for in-person interactions with participants over several months using different tiers of criteria as our guide, focusing on study location, participant benefit, and COVID-19 risks. The initial tiers of reopening will focus on research conducted in health care clinics, campus research laboratories, and outdoor activities. A matrix of the tiers of research and the order in which they will start is available at http://hrpp.msu.edu/COVID-19/index.html. Effective immediately, we will only accept applications for Tiers 0, 1 and 2. We will look at expanding beyond these tiers as experience is gained and as we acquire an understanding of the complexities associated with each tier. A major factor for expansion will be the prevailing rate of infection in Michigan and around the country. Read the full email HERE.

Do you need help with developing your research proposal or would you like reviewer comments before submission?

The Research Facilitation and Dissemination team provides guidance and proposal support for MSU researchers to enhance the competitiveness of grant proposals.

Find funding
Proposal development (i.e., writing, editing, reviewing, and data mining)
Grant project management and coordination for collaborative, cross-college, and multi-institutional research grant proposals
Support with creating budgets, and drafting supplementary materials
Assistance with federal funding agency online meetings and when travel resumes, - can arrange for visits

Please reach out to arrange for a timely review of your proposal before submission.

Grant editing
Peer-review coordination
Proposal consulting
First draft review (with comments)
Structure of your proposal
Exploring funding
Grant hot seat sessions (one-day critique sessions with fellow MSU researchers applying to the same agency)

RGS.review@campusad.msu.edu.

		Training, Education, & Resources
		SPA/OSP/CGA, in collaboration with SPROUT and an extensive network of MSU staff involved in pre-award, post-award and compliance aspects of research administration, provide a certified training series for research administrators and other support staff with responsibilities for research proposals, grants, contracts, and pre- and post-award administration at MSU. Learn more HERE.

MTRAC Bio Agriculture Seminar Coming in August

Coming in mid August, DER will be hosting a seminar about MTRAC Bio Agriculture. MTRAC AgBio research relates to food, fuel & fiber, either as inputs or outputs. This includes bio-derived/bio-based materials, natural resources and animal health.

Stayed alert for more information soon from DER.

		Data for Department Meetings available
		Each Summer, DER receives requests from Department Chairs for data to share at their annual retreats. This year, to be proactive, DER has pulled proposal data from 7/1/2019 to 6/30/2020 summarized by PI, status, and sponsor. If your department is interested in exploring the data, please send an email to DER@MSU.edu. As a reminder, DER will host an annual seminar in the fall to show PIs how to pull their own proposal data. DER is here to help!

Academic Analytics Enhancement Announcement

To pave the way for the upcoming school year, Academic Analytics have been hard at work on a summer update for Research Insight. This release includes:

Browse all open funding opportunities:

All Scholars viewed within Research Insight have recommended funding opportunities that may be a good fit for them. Now, users can search the entire collection of funding opportunities within our Academic Analytics data set. As part of this feature, we have developed an enhanced user interface that fully exposes filters users can leverage to explore funding possibilities.

Push notifications for new funding/award opportunities and approaching deadlines:

All Research Insight users will now be able to opt-in for email updates that occur every 2 weeks. The notifications may contain upcoming deadlines for all Limited Submission funding, upcoming deadlines for Saved Funding, new funding opportunities for any of your saved items, and new award suggestions for your saved scholars, depending on your choice of notifications to receive.

		Grant Opportunity--The Erb Family Foundation--Promoting Health of Great Lakes
		One of the major focuses of the Erb Family Foundation is to support actions and practices within Southeastern Michigan and the watersheds impacting Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties, that promote the health of the Great Lakes. To this end, they have three specific priorities—a. stewardship, b. agricultural runoff and c. green stormwater infrastructure. These are areas in which MSU has both significant focus and expertise. Grants usually range from $100K to $500K, depending the size and potential impact of a project. The grant application process begins with a letter of intention. While these are accepted on a rolling basis, Erb’s Board meets in Mach, June, September and December annually. An overview and more information is below. If you or other faculty in your unit have potential interest in applying to Erb for a grant, the first step is to contact Lawrence Wallach at: wallach@msu.edu to start the process. Learn more HERE

Knight Foundation--Information & Engagement in Detroit

As one of the eight cities in which the Knight once owned newspapers, the City of Detroit is a designated Knight Foundation Community, in which the Foundation has both a special focus and significant investment. In Detroit, Knight Foundation focuses on promoting quality local information and fostering democratic engagement to provide residents with pathways to shape their rapidly changing city. To that end, the Knight Foundation supports projects to enhance civic engagement by improving the quality of and access to local information, including use of media and digital technology and programs that use art to build community. Grants can range anywhere from $75,000 to $1,000,000, depending their impact and the degree to which they are both collaborative and innovative. In the event you or other faculty have interest in discussing a Knight Foundation request that falls within their priorities, please connect with Lawrence Wallach at: wallach@msu.edu. Learn more HERE

DER's Proposal Volume

The chart above shows DER's Proposal Volume as of (07/31/2020).

Take a closer look

DER Seminars

Miss the Last Seminar? Watch it Here!

The NSF Career Awards seminar presented by Dr. John Verboncoeur will empower and educate faculty who are looking to submit an NSF Career Award. This is a great opportunity to learn more about the ways to achieve your NSF Career Award. Please bring your NSF questions and be prepared to enhance your knowledge.