Maxwell Research Administrators Monthly Meetings

Owned by Jill Ferguson
Last updated: Oct 03, 2024 by Vanessa Gatmaitan
62 min read

The following is an archive of notes documenting the proceedings of the Maxwell Research Administrator Network Monthly Meetings.  Unit administrative staff with proposal development (pre-award) and/or grants management (post-award) responsibilities address together the research-related policies, processes, and best practices for Maxwell. 

PLEASE NOTE:  Agendas and notes from meetings after July 10th, 2024 are now posted on the Maxwell RAN Teams channel.  Please email Vanessa Gatmaitan vqgatmai@syr.edu if you would like to join the Team!  

JULY 10, 2024 

In attendance: Vanessa Gatmaitan (Dean's Office), Liz Lance (ORD), Lisa Henty (Dean’s Office), Julie Davis (Dean’s Office), Doris Mahoney (ASI), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Lynnell Cabezas (ASPI), Karen Tavernese (ASI), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Debbie Toole (Geography), Juanita Horan (Moynihan)

cc: Peg Austin (CPR), Janet Coria (Sociology), Tara Slater (PARCC), Jackie Wells (Anthropology), Emily Graham (Lerner), Christiane Page (CQMI), Christina Cleason (History), Yetunde Hamilton (CEPA), Ashley DiCarlo (Economics), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR)

Round Robin - recent awards and future proposals

  • Put large upcoming projects on our radar so we know its coming
  • CQMMI may be able to assist with recent awards

Updates

  • Spring 2024 FCAR awards should be charged to the Dean's Office Research Subsidy - 11-22001-0003-XXXXXX-MYCODE
    • Always attach the faculty member’s MyCode – Be sure the MyCode description has both a first and last name
    • Please track all expenses for accurate posting to the GL
    • Reports may be requested at any time from: Vanessa Gatmaitan <vqgatmai@syr.edu>; Julianne Davis <jdavis01@syr.edu>; Lisa Marie Henty <lmhenty@syr.edu>
    • Final reports will be reviewed May 14, 2025, for submission to Office of Research for reimbursement
  • PINS and letters for AY 24-25 grad assistantships are due to M Tammy Salisbury <mtsalisb@syr.edu> by Fri Jul 12th at noon 
  • Grad student hiring (post meeting update)
    • During the AY, graduate students can only be hired for a second job for research activities (paid hourly up to 10hrs/week, job code 7900, account code 549976) IF they have assistantship(s) totaling 20hrs/week. This must be approved by their department chair, and the graduate school must be notified for tracking purposes.  If they only have a 10hr assistantship, they must be hired for another 10hr assistantship before accepting any hourly work.  Of course, international students cannot work more than 20hrs/week (including all assistantships and hourly work) while classes are in session.
    • Account code 503259 is typically the account code used for AY RAs, but the Office of Research has recently issued 503257 for RAs that are considered HERD eligible. This should not be necessary based on the above/attached HERD guidance.
    • When considering hiring graders, the graduate school provides this language: A student can be hired on an hourly basis for an hourly employment role (not with a title of an RA) if the duties require no specialty knowledge or experience, such as administrative tasks that require little training.  Such an hourly hire should not be called an RA or GA.
    • During the AY, graduate students may be hired for fall-only, spring-only, or full-year assistantships. Start and end dates are always static.  The attached booklet contains the rates for each program:

Fall start - 8/16/2024
Fall end date - 12/31/2024
Fall first pay - 8/31/2024
Fall last pay - 12/31/2024

Spring start - 1/1/25
Spring end - 5/15/2025
Spring first pay - 1/15/2025
Spring last pay - 5/15/2025

Full year start – 8/16/2024
Full year end – 5/15/202
Full year first pay – 8/31/2024
Full year last pay – 5/15/2025

    • Holly and Gabby are still working on some FAQs to provide a comprehensive list of all of these answers.

General Discussion Topics

  • Please see updated HERD guidance doc sent 8/1 (post meeting update)
  • HERD reporting changes for 2025
    • Higher Education Research and Development
    • Reporting expenditures related to research
    • No change for FY24
    • Process has been manual
    • Potential changes for FY25 - starting 7/1/24
      • Fund 13 requires no special coding - reporting done on back end - both for expenditures and faculty/staff
      • Non-personnel - New program codes - 0097/98/99 - Maxwell mostly basic
        • Can reach out to Vanessa - will bring in Colleen Burton
      • Not trying to find every research dollar - just trying to automate so we can run reports
      • Can JE when reconciling monthly
      • VG - what would be charged to 03 that is not HERD?
        • JM - reviews all expenditures and adds them up, asks all faculty what their research is
      • JH - How do we cover the expenses on 0097/98? Do funds have to be moved from 03?
        • Could the budget transfer happen at the end of the year? Or monthly?
      • JM - what about dept travel budget
      • VG - funds from 01 and 03 would be comingled in 097/98
      • VG - Can we use a "tail"?
        • LH - not given as an option, but can ask
      • LH - HERD RES chartfield? Only seen in JN screen
      • JH - Endowed funding for faculty?
        • If we have to switch back to endowment at the end of the year, have to provide documentation and enter as an expense
        • LH: If everything that comes out of that chartstring, could provide to OR for tracking
        • JH: Not the case
        • LH: may be unique to JH?
          • Appleby Mosher?
          • Lerner Center
        • JH - Could we just put it in the description?
        • VG - HERD Research field in Travel expense?
          • LH will look into this
        • JM - Has an email from Mary Pat describing what is HERD - will FWD to VG and LH
      • Faculty and Staff
        • During budget load - LH was asked who is what category - picked basic for all
        • Then used data on res leaves and admin leaves and anticipated courseloads - to calc % research time
        • Assigned a myCode or program code - opted for mycode so she could see full salary in one location
        • Then if there are changes - can just change the distribution percentage
        • VG: may use mycode for summer salary
          • LH - shouldn't be affected
          • VG to follow up with Colleen
        • JH: uses mycode for staff salary AY
  • Are there any summer grad RAs being moved to FICA taxable accounts?
    • JH: All of her RAs on sponsored, reverted to a holding account on 7/1
      • LH will ask something on her end
      • JH: thinks it happens during certain weeks
  • JH: can summer RAs continue during the year
    • Must be 10hr/20hr assistantship for full semester
      • VG to verify full semester or full year
    • Can have a second job paid hourly via account code 549976 - no letter
    • LC - grader? Must be TA?
      • VG to verify

JUNE 12, 2024 

In attendance: Vanessa Gatmaitan (Dean's Office), Liz Lance (Office of Research), Lisa Henty (Dean’s Office), Julie Davis (Dean’s Office), Janet Coria (Sociology), Doris Mahoney (ASI), Tara Slater (PARCC), Peg Austin (CPR), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Jackie Wells (Anthropology), Lynnell Cabezas (ASPI), Karen Tavernese (ASI), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Debbie Toole (Geography), Juanita Horan (Moynihan)

cc: Emily Graham (Lerner), (Christians Page (CQMI), Christina Cleason (HIST), Yetunde Hamilton (CEPA), Ashley DiCarlo (Economics), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR)

Round Robin - recent awards and future proposals

  • Put large upcoming projects on our radar so we know it's coming
  • CQMMI may be able to assist with recent awards

Updates

  • Grad RA (GRA) updates…
    • Supervisor and GRA for summer hires should receive pay notice but this process is inconsistent.  Should also be visible in MySlice and HR reports for those with department access.
    • Summer RAs may be paid more than their prior year salary-based hourly rate, and this has no bearing on their following AY salary.  Increases during the AY become the new base for any hourly work.
    • In the AY, grad students can only have one 20hr/week assistantship, or two 10hr/week assistantships.  The only research work permissible above that is a second job up to 10hrs/week.  This would need to be approved by the student’s department and sent to gradschool@syr.edu for approval/tracking.  This can be processed as hourly work through smartHR.
    • International students cannot work more than 20hrs/week (in total for any/all types of work) while classes are in session (On-Campus Employment - Center for International Services – Syracuse University)
    • Full year assistantships start 8/16 and go through 5/15.  A fall-only appointment would be 8/16 – 12/31 and a spring-only appointment would be 1/1 – 5/15.
    • When using summer RA/TA PIN’s grad school believes HR will go through and terminate those appointments, much like they do for the AY RA/TA’s.
    • Does anyone have summer RAs hired with account 543259 that have been switched to 536278 GA - Summer-FICA Taxable?  I have learned that this can happen for undergraduates on account 549976 when they are not registered full time (they are switched to 549978 on the back end by payroll), and with the switch, 13/15/16 funds are then charged fringe.  I’m concerned this will affect those of you who calculated summer assistantships without fringe on these funds, based on the rates for 543259. 
  • Info from Camile Donabella about students working while abroad
    • Stipend is a way to get around it because you don't take taxes out
    • Due to tax, employment law, and data security issues, University decided a few years ago that employees must reside in the U.S. when performing job duties (incl faculty, staff and students). 
    • There is a group looking into making this a formal policy.
    • In the meantime, you can reach out to Camille if you have a student working abroad, and she can work with the GC's office for guidance on your particular situation (duration of time abroad, type of work, and country will be necessary).
    • JN - student had to stop working due to this
    • JM - has had them in the past - no issues if can VPN in timeclock
    • PA - No one knows where people are being housed unless they update their W2

General Discussion Topics

  • Who has course buyouts for fall/spring?  Dean's Office is interested in capturing this for budgeting purposes
    • Send a note when you have them
    • Working on large plug figure for projections
    • Colin Elman may no longer be PI on his grants, so not sure if he will continue to get BO on his grants
    • JM - CE on admin leave for whole year, will update
    • Center/institutes don't have access to depts
    • Normally sent to Julie? 
    • LH – send to Julie and CC Lisa
    • LH - would like to know by Sept/October if possible for fall, Mar/April for spring
    • JM - Griffith (1 course fall)
    • JH - waiting for them to come out of woodwork, Mike W (DOD pending)
    • DM - still working out fall vs spring for Emily and Jennifer - will know by end of Aug in order to set up for payroll
    • PA - who is doing payroll? 
    • DT - EC on parental leave
    • JN - Chris Faricy - new director will have course relief
    • LC - two ASPI fellows who will need it - two fall, one spring
  • Reminder - Summer Salary Rate of Pay
    • LH - different things were done the last 3 fiscal years, Deans and Duncan Brown will be weighing in.  For now, for research, this is fine
    • LH - FY25 salaries still under review in the provost’s office, waiting for template, hoping letters will go out June 26th/27th/28th
    • JM - last year, depts/chairs were emailed and told to pick up letters from DO to send them out
      • Will the DO be sending salary worksheets?
      • LH found sample and will review
    • Reach out to Caroline with questions
    • PA - just includes one increase, they get what is in the grant
    • KT – PIs often don't spend all of the money anyway
    • Summer salary before July 1 should be at the faculty member's current semi-monthly rate of pay.  After July 1, use the next academic year's rate of pay.
    • This means that for Summer 2024, use the AY23-24 pay rate for May and June payments; use the AY24-25 pay rate for July and August payments.
    • This procedure applies regardless of funding source.
    • How is everyone budgeting given this procedure?
  • How is everyone processing payments to third party vendors, such as translation services like UpWorks or Google Translate
    • Often sees the same for transcription
    • Students on payroll need a RAP
    • If it’s a company the university deals with - it needs to go through ePro
    • However this creates extra work for admins
    • If cannot give admin the information or link to pay, usually ask faculty to charge and get reimbursed
    • UpWorks is a US company that hires freelancers to translate
    • There are payments for multiple/frequent transactions - per document or session, unclear if I can get an invoice
    • Is reimbursement after a number of transactions an option to reduce PI/admin burden?
    • Is it acceptable to save a dept JPMC to a faculty member's account?  How can faculty members get their own JPMC?
    • JM - asked disbursements and they said it can't go on JPMC
    • JC - one of their faculty used it and paid himself, disbursements approved as long as amounts were low
    • DT - one of her faculty gets articles translated – uses the honorarium form - all less than $500 - no issues with disbursements
    • KT - is this the same as cart services?
    • JW - received and invoice from a woman in India for indexing her book - submitting that on a paper req
    • PA - can set up a contract for services if less than $5k
    • JN - only chairs and directors should have JPMC - is that the same in other depts?
    • KT - some depts give every faculty member a JPMC

MAY 08, 2024 

In attendance: Vanessa Gatmaitan (Dean's Office), Christiane Page (CQMI), Christina Cleason (HIST), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Yetunde Hamilton (CEPA), Jackie Wells (Anthropology), Lynnell Cabezas (ASPI), Karen Tavernese (ASI), Ashley DiCarlo (Economics), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Debbie Toole (Geography), Juanita Horan (Moynihan)

cc: Doris Mahoney (ASI), Tara Slater (PARCC), Peg Austin (CPR), Emily Graham (Lerner)

Round Robin - recent awards and future proposals

  • Put large upcoming projects on our radar so we know it's coming
  • CQMMI may be able to assist with recent awards

Updates

  • Appleby-Mosher
    • tracking - did any FAST requests go through? No
  • GA letters, stipends
    • Did tables for GAs, summer money, etc come from DO yet? No
    • GA letter meeting with Gabby and Peter - notes from those who attended?
      • New letters came out
      • JH
        • all letters are semi monthly?  There are still hourly students - not working same hours
        • Paying students same rate but work is not necessarily an extension of their research - PhD level work
      • KT
        • Unless it's strictly admin - have to go through OnBase, have to have letters, have to create a pin
        • What do you do if they do some clerical, some research?  Part time?
      • JM - No guarantee they are doing the work
        • KT - not our responsibility, PI should be monitoring this
      • JN - emailed Gabby and seemed to think nothing has changed for hourly
      • JH - one award with 8 students - hours varying throughout the year
      • KT
        • just reached out about a student working on same project but taking two weeks off - had to do two letters and get them signed
  • Also appointments can cross fiscal years with one letter
      • AD - confirmed with Holly that if strictly admin can be paid hourly and a rate we set
      • CC - if it's hourly - we just have to pay at the rate?
        • KT - has to be a letter
      • What is admin?
        • If doing research, need a letter but can still pay hourly?
        • JH - MA level - learning skills
        • JW - Editing, transcription
      • JH - fringe rate for semi monthly will be different
      • DT - job code -
  • 7904 - TA
  • 7910 - RA
  • New hourly rate $30/hr, effective this summer?
    • AY stipend/39(week)s/20(hours/week)=hourly rate
      • $ 23,432/39/20 = $ 30.04102564 (so $30.05)
      • KT -this is just the rate of pay, still need to be paid bi-monthly, also PAIA has a higher rate for AY23-24
      • JM - what about a masters student at TA rate?
        • KT - Yes, use the TA rate for the calculation
      • Only for PhD students - not MPA/MAIR/MSOP/etc?
        • JH, AD - Applies to these as well
      • Ideas for how we can achieve that?
        • Ask sponsor if they can use MS/undergrad/external hires?
        • Work less hours?
        • KT - most projects have residual funds from Covid that can be shifted
      • $35/hr next year
    • Still need to know if we can still set up students as casual temp exempt?

General Discussion Topics

  • FCAR
    • Where were they told to spend from?
      • JN - Dean's Office Research Subsidy
      • JW - This year was told to use her own
      • JM - two FCARs - email from July says to use DO account
    • Can they spend from their own accounts?
      • JN - can you create an account
        • VG to ask Julie/Lisa
      • Will they provide the GL detail required for reimbursement? Yes

MARCH 10, 2024 

In attendance: Vanessa Gatmaitan (Dean's Office), Liz Lance (Dean's Office), Christiane Page (CQMI), Christina Cleason (HIST), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Yetunde Hamilton (CEPA), Jackie Wells (Anthropology), Lynnell Cabezas (ASPI), Karen Tavernese (ASI), Doris Mahoney (ASI), Tara Slater (PARCC), Ashley DiCarlo (Economics), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell)

cc: Peg Austin (CPR), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), , Debbie Toole (Geography), Emily Graham (Lerner), , Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI), Juanita Horan (Moynihan)

Intros

  • Liz Lance, Director of Research Development for the Social Sciences, Office of Research

Round Robin - recent awards and future proposals

  • Put large upcoming projects on our radar so we know they’re coming
  • CQMI may be able to assist with recent awards
  • Intros to RAs for Liz
    • Tara (PARCC)
    • Ashley (ECON)
    • Debbie (Geo) – Chie and Andre working on NSF submission
    • Karen (ASI) - P30 center grant resubmission
    • Lynnell (ASPI) – Johannes - CNY Humanities Corridor, NSF recently submitted
    • Jackie W (Anthro) – Armstrong - Air force, NSF; DeCourse - NEH
    • Jackie N (Campbell) - Shana - Carnegie
    • Christina (Hist) - University of Michigan, CNY Humanities Corridor
    • Jacquie M (Poli Sci) - Yael – Guggenheim; GA APSA - Dissertation Completion (Georgiev)
    • Yetunde (CEPA) – Golden – USDA

Review of CQMI – Christiane Page

  • Associate Director CQMI, within Moynihan
  • Housed in Maxwell
  • Wants to help anyone at Maxwell/SU who wants to do collaborative research
    • Spec - Methods - Sub - Data Management Planning
  • CQMI can offer DMP, incl pre & post award services
    • NSF is requiring DMP, NIH - DMSP
    • Have worked with other gov't agency, private funders
    • Especially interested on helping on the pre award side
      • Help figure out a DMP that meets the award
    • Will help with DMP throughout the life of the data - teaching, etc
  • Free consultations – email qdr@syr.edu
  • Qualitative data repository - https://qdr.syr.edu/
  • Have worked with IRBs - anonymization, protection
  • Do their own research - NSF and private funders
  • DT - do you help grad students?
    • Need access to NVIBA, Adobe Cloud, MacCDQ, etc
    • Materials - tape recorders, etc
    • University software cannot be download on personal computers
    • CP -
      • have materials, please reach out
      • there are proprietary issues for software, can help with some licensing
      • CQMI is thinking of a system that is more student friendly
      • Looking into hands on tech to do qualitative research

Updates

  • Appleby-Mosher
    • JD working on DI access for all admins to AM program code
    • Track AM funds unless you have discussed with me a handoff
    • Zero out last year's funds in July
  • ASI SPA
    • Was due April 8th - no applicants
    • $2k plus fringe
  • Dean’s Office SPA
    • Due April 22, Decisions May 6
    • $2k
    • May apply while other applications pending but can only accept one
  • Grad student union agreement
    • New stipend rates - Shana would like us to begin using these for next year
    • Unclear whether or not fringe rates will change
    • VG to update on Answers
    • JM - Have received comm from DO - Table for GA, summer money, by each dept, how many assistantships
    • AD - Econ sends out letters - can they send new letters? Not per email from Peter/Gabby
    • VG - to FUP if updated letters can go out - to have new rates in writing
    • JW - in the past has received a stipend form from Julie to submit for May payment - was 4/21 last year - hasn't received yet?
    • KT - When does the union agreement go into effect - summer stipend?  Can we pay what was budgeted in grants for summer pay?
    • CP - Have been paying what grad school says, splitting by hr - will be looking for two academic year students and probably a couple more - can help if people can't fund their students
    • KT - new fringe rates prob released June 30
    • CC - Have been told (Carol) pot would be determined 2/9 grad student stipend *16 for summer funding - 16 of the grad student awards - $83,313 - this was for this year - what about increase?  Will pots increase?  Admin letters all went out as unofficial based on this
  • New OSP template
    • Reminder to pull from website prior to creating a new budget, to ensure you have the most recent copy
    • If I find a new one, please send to all of us
  • OR Newsletter
    • Until May 19 - 3 page limit on biosketches
    • NSF updates summary
    • Research computing series - as a reminder please engage with ICT
  • DI training video
    • Anne Marie Domingue-Kratz from roll out team
  • RAN Teams
    • Questions require more detailed information/backstory
    • Avenue for more meaningful/detailed responses
    • Holding on this right now since Liz and I are working out the best file sharing system for our projects and info
    • General RAN info may be included as a separate channel
    • Either way we will have a repository and method for chat
    • Wondering if a listserv may also serve another purpose? Yes

General Discussion Topics

  • NCURA
    • Does anyone know how bulk registration works?
  • Hiring grad students
    • ESF students - casual grad assistant - have to choose code that charges FICA for summer - when full time don’t get charged taxes
    • Undergrads
    • During the year - enter in ONbase
    • Contracts?
    • Hourly?
    • When/how to use each?
    • Tracking use of funds?
    • DT - uses equation from Mary Pat - based on total and rate and fringe - hourly, time clock
    • KT - uses casual exempt temp contract - pay system
    • JM - full time students not charged fringe
  • KT - NIH - any proposal submitted Jan 25 - common form for CV and C&P
    • Liz added more about form H, form I
    • ScienCV will be required the way it is for NSF
  • LL - Review criteria will also be changing in Jan - faculty will need more help on technical pieces while they address that

MARCH 6, 2024 

In attendance: Vanessa Gatmaitan (Dean's Office), Shana Gadarian (ADR), Peg Austin (CPR), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Karen Tavernese (ASI), Doris Mahoney (ASI), Debbie Toole (Geography), Jackie Wells (Anthropology), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Lynnell Cabezas (ASPI), Ashley DiCarlo (Economics), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Christiane Page (CQMI)

cc:  Emily Graham (Lerner), Tara Slater (PARCC), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI), Yetunde Hamilton (CEPA), Christina Cleason (HIST), Juanita Horan (Moynihan)

What is working well?  What would you change? (SG)

  • Tracking?
  • Appleby-Mosher - Will the money be transferred?
    • Working on creating chartstring for centers/institutes - Julie figuring out how
    • VG to administer/help with those not affiliated with center/institutes
    • Every dept has a code for CUSE grants 24015 - so was possible
    • AM has its own program code?
    • Admins need/want their own authorization
  • Important for admins to be notified of all additional funding
    • Supplemental funds
    • Endowed professorship
    • University professorship
    • Chairs, Grad Dir, Und Dir
    • Retention funds
    • Distinguished Professor
    • Departments pay the grad/und directors
  • SG - we can send out lists of some - AM, RM - can also be more clear about other letters
  • Important to share this feedback with new budget admin
  • Dept admins need to communicate with center/institutes admins
  • DT - issue with collaboration with Falk
    • Trying to pay faculty for third week of August - summer
    • Payroll kept trying to change it to academic year
    • Didn't get paid and ran against deadline for PAR
    • May be an issue with how payroll cuts things off (KT)
    • ERS doesn't like half pays (JM)
  • Grad student union contract - coming up on the deadline - April

Intros

  • Vanessa
  • Shana
  • Director of Res Development - Liz Lance - 3/18
    • Pre award/ideation
    • ASI P30 renewal
    • Large/individual projects
    • Individual Faculty - development

Internal Funding Updates

  • Appleby-Mosher
    • Should be tracking balances and zeroing out 22-23 funds by end of June
    • 23-24 funds available now and I am available to assist with administering for faculty supported by dept admins
    • We will be asking for a final report of how the funds were spent
    • For now all can ask me for any AM DataInsights reports that are needed
    • Julie is working on transfer of funds for centers/institute admins - feasibility of creating a new chart string
    • already using AM funds from this year from fund 11 - can JTE (PA - move to personal notes)
  • Roscoe Martin
    • Checks going out once approvals received or confirmation of no approvals
    • If used for summer specific purposes, this does disqualify GAs from Grad School pre-dissertation/dissertation summer fellowship funding
  • Maxwell DO Summer Project Assistantships
    • CFP late March - early April - deadline will be mid April - after ASI awarded
  • If a faculty member gets internal funding, shouldn't it go to research subsidy? (DT)
    • Employees should not get a personal check
    • RAP can be submitted for faculty teaching engagements - ASPI Grad Seminar
  • Some funds need to go into research subsidy - that is why there may be different mycodes for different projects?

General Discussion Topics

  • Put large upcoming projects on our radar so we know it's coming
    • Approvals
    • Connecting people - e.g. Matt Frew
  • NCURA Region II 2024 Regional Meeting will be held at the Kimpton Hotel Monaco Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, PA, from November 10-13, 2024
    • Full Annual meeting in August - universities and colleges only so very helpful - bigger picture - NIH/NSF do their own sessions (always full)
    • Right before some NSF deadlines in Mid-August - let faculty know
    • Regional smaller - may not be as many pertinent sessions - more intimate - good for networking
    • SRA - May
  • InfoReady Training Webinar - Awards and Progress Reports - March 19 1-2pm
  • Future RAN Meetings
    • Monthly? yes
    • Hybrid? yes
    • Wed 1pm - first Wednesday
    • Agenda - upcoming deadlines, ERS tricks and tips, other tips/tricks, fringe rate changes
  • RAN Teams? YES
    • General chat channel for questions/ideas/info between meetings? Purely task-oriented questions
    • Shared OneNote notebook for meeting minutes (also posted on answers)? No interest
    • Repository for shared files? Yes
    • Max Research Admin Contact list? Yes
    • Scheduled meetings and repository for chats/recordings? Yes
  • RAN Meeting notes
    • All on one page with expand macros on answers page? May be ideal for searching all min - yes keep as they are
    • One file for each meeting? Word?  PDF?  May be easier to navigate between days/save?  No
  • Process Capture
    • Teams/OneDrive repository? Answers? Yes
    • I could use the information on how to do things?
    • Curious if people are doing things differently and what I can learn from that?
    • Development of best practices?
    • Update of changes?
    • I could email in advance for agenda items - or these could be added to a shared OneNote notebook

DECEMBER 5, 2023 

In attendance: Peg Austin (CPR), Lynnell Cabezas (ASPI), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office),  Yetunde Hamilton (CEPA), Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Doris Mahoney (ASI),  Karen Tavernese (ASI), Debbie Toole (Geography), Jackie Wells (ANT)

cc:  Emily Graham (Lerner), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell),  Tara Slater (PARCC), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI)

FY 2023 Indirect Cost Recovery Return to PIs

  • At the end of each fiscal year, each school and college receives a transfer of funds from the Office of Research that represents indirect (F&A) costs related to its total research activity (i.e., expenses) on grants and contracts during that fiscal year. It is Maxwell’s policy to return 10% of recovered indirect costs directly to principal investigators as an incentive to pursue external funding for their research.  
  • Jill issued email notifications to PIs (cc'ing admins) on 12/1, and Alicia and/or Julie will do the journal entries soon (if not already). 

Faculty Creative Activities and Research (FCAR) Grant Program

  • Award notifications for the fall-semester cycle were issued on 11/21. 
  • Terms of award: 
    • Project period: December 1, 2023 - November 30, 2024 
    • The Office of Research will coordinate with school and college budget directors for the reimbursement of FCAR funds once the full amount has been expended.
    • Awarded funds must be expended within the period of performance and extensions are not available for FCAR awards.
    • Funded are expected to be expended in the budget categories described in the proposal. Significant changes in the scope of work, or requests to move more than a total of $1000 of funding between budget categories over the lifetime of the award requires prior approval of the Office of Research Development. Contact resdev@syr.edu with a description of and reason for the anticipated change for pre-approval.
    • A final report is required and should be made one month after the conclusion of the award year (December 31, 2024). An additional outcomes report is due one year after the conclusion of the award to capture project outcomes (November 30, 2025).
  • Background: 

Appleby-Mosher and Roscoe Martin Applications

  • Applications for grants from the Appleby-Mosher Fund for Faculty Research and the Roscoe Martin Fund for Dissertation and Thesis Research were due 12/4. Funding decisions will be announced in late December or early January. 

  • The Appleby-Mosher Fund provides grants of up to $2,000 (increased this year from $1,500 in past years) to full-time faculty members in the Maxwell School for research-related expenses.
  • The Roscoe Martin Fund provides grants for expenses related to dissertation and thesis research. Graduate students in the Maxwell School are eligible to apply for awards up to $1,500 (increased this year from $1,200 in past years). 

  • The application deadline for both programs is Monday, December 4. For more information, including the CFPs, please see the following Answers pages: Appleby-Mosher Fund for Faculty Research and Roscoe Martin Fund for Dissertation and Thesis Research

Office of Research/Maxwell Research Office Updates

  • Contact Shana Gadarian with questions concerning research administration (pre-award and post-award) and the Office of Research Development at resdev@syr.edu with questions concerning research development support. 

OCTOBER 24, 2023

FY 2023 Indirect Cost Recovery Return to PIs

  • At the end of each fiscal year, each school and college receives a transfer of funds from the Office of Research that represents indirect (F&A) costs related to its total research activity (i.e., expenses) on grants and contracts during that fiscal year. It is Maxwell’s policy to return 10% of recovered indirect costs directly to principal investigators as an incentive to pursue external funding for their research.  
  • Jill will issue email notifications to PIs (cc'ing admins) in the coming days, and Alicia will do the journal entries shortly thereafter. 

Appleby-Mosher and Roscoe Martin Applications

  • A Call for Proposals for the Appleby-Mosher Fund for Faculty Research and the Roscoe Martin Fund for Dissertation and Thesis Research went out on last week to Maxwell faculty and graduate students, respectively. 

  • The Appleby-Mosher Fund provides grants of up to $2,000 (increased this year from $1,500 in past years) to full-time faculty members in the Maxwell School for research-related expenses.
  • The Roscoe Martin Fund provides grants for expenses related to dissertation and thesis research. Graduate students in the Maxwell School are eligible to apply for awards up to $1,500 (increased this year from $1,200 in past years). 

  • The application deadline for both programs is Monday, December 4. For more information, including the CFPs, please see the following Answers pages: Appleby-Mosher Fund for Faculty Research and Roscoe Martin Fund for Dissertation and Thesis Research

Maxwell Faculty Research MyCodes

  • Thank you to Jacquie Meyer for a reminder after the meeting about the email of 9/5/23 from Alicia re: a single research MyCode for each faculty member. (No new information to share here—just a mention for the record.)

SEPTEMBER 28, 2023

Office of Research/Maxwell Research Office Updates

  • Contact Jill with questions. 

AUGUST 22, 2023

In attendance: Peg Austin (CPR), Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office),  Yetunde Hamilton (CEPA), Heather Macknik (PAIA), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Karen Tavernese (ASI), Jackie Wells (ANT)

cc:  Lynnell Cabezas (ASPI), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Emily Graham (Lerner), Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Doris Mahoney (ASI),  Jackie Nocevski (Campbell),  Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Amy Schmidt (CCE) , Tara Slater (PARCC), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI), Debbie Toole (Geography)

Maxwell Research Support Overview on Answers

https://su-jsm.atlassian.net/wiki/x/uYWVCQ

  • This brief guide is intended for new faculty and as a quick reference for all  faculty researchers and research support staff. 

SU Office of Research Development

  • The Office of Research Development is responsible for supporting Syracuse University’s proposal, research and faculty development efforts. This includes facilitating team-based collaboration around strategic funding opportunities and managing the University’s internal funding competitions, including both seed grant programs and externally funded limited submissions.

RD and RA Org Chart Changes 

JUNE 27, 2023

In attendance:  Lynnell Cabezas (ASPI), Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office),  Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Yetunde Hamilton (CEPA), Heather Macknik (PAIA),  Doris Mahoney (ASI),  Jacquie Meyer (Political Science),  Jackie Nocevski (Campbell),  Karen Tavernese (ASI), Jackie Wells (ANT)

cc: Peg Austin (CPR),Emily Graham (Lerner), Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Amy Schmidt (CCE) , Tara Slater (PARCC), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI), Debbie Toole (Geography)

OSP Budget Template (FY'24) 

  • Per a June 27 email invitation to training sessions June 27-29, OSP has modified the OSP Budget Template to include a new "Other Personnel Detail" section: "The changes to the budget will allow for more precise personnel budgeting and will generate better alignment between the budgets and the SAMTool.  The training will also provide guidance regarding proper expense account codes to be used when assigning chartstrings to pay employees for research activities."

  • Additional trainings to be scheduled. 

Effort Reporting, cont'd.

  • Jill will invite Ryan Taub to attend a Maxwell RAN meeting before the next certification window (October). 

University Fringe Benefit Rates for FY '24

  • See email of June 9, 2023.  
  • Reminder to always make sure you are using the current version of the OSP Budget Template by checking the top row of the "Instructions" tab for the fiscal year. The current version is OSP Budget Template (FY 24). 

Syracuse University Identifiers and Financial Information

MAY 23, 2023 

Fiscal 2023 Year-End Accounting Closing Procedures and Dates

  • See email of May 15, 2022.

Effort Reporting

Certification Calendar 

Certification PeriodCertification WindowEffort Period of Performance
Spring 2023May 30, 2023 – June 16, 2023Faculty: January 1 – May 7

Staff: January 1 – May 15

APRIL 25, 2023 

In attendance:  Peg Austin (CPR), Lynnell Cabezas (ASPI), Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office),  Heather Macknik (PAIA),  Doris Mahoney (ASI), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science),  Jackie Nocevski (Campbell),   Tara Slater (PARCC), Karen Tavernese (ASI), Jackie Wells (ANT)

cc: Yetunde Dozier (CEPA), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Emily Graham (Lerner), Juanita Horan (Moynihan),  Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI), Debbie Toole (Geography)

Welcome to ASI and Maxwell, Doris! 

NCURA Annual Meeting, Aug 6-9 in DC

Summer Salary Rate of Pay

  • Summer salary before July 1 should be at the faculty member's current semi-monthly rate of pay.  After July 1, use the next academic year's rate of pay.
  • This means that for Summer 2023, use the AY22-23 pay rate for May and June payments;  use the AY23-24 pay rate for July and August payments.
  • This procedure applies regardless of funding source.

CUSE Grant Program 

  • This campus-level internal grant program is being sunset and a new request for proposals (RFP) will not be released.

Faculty Creative Activities and Research (FCAR) Grant Program

  • https://research.syr.edu/proposal-support-services/internal-grant-programs/faculty-creative-activities-and-research-fcar-grant-program/
  • New campus-level internal grant program from the SU Office of Research
  • Will be offered three times annually to fund projects starting during the summer, fall semester, and spring semester 
  • Faculty may request $1,000 – $5,000 in funding from the program. Grants are awarded for one calendar year and PIs may only hold one active FCAR grant at a time.
  • Grants will be administered differently than than with the CUSE Grant Program. The Office of Research is working out those details now ahead of the first award notices in late June (proposals due May 22). 

Onboarding for New Staff with Research-related Responsibilities 

  • Ongoing collaborative effort

MARCH 28, 2023

Updated IRR (March 2023)

Upcoming Research Administration Conferences (Fall 2023)

Please continue to share about the RA professional development in which you participate; see here for a curated listing. 

Cross-School/College Collaborations

  • Briefly discussed potential interest in cross-campus RA meetings, whether initiated from the central Office of Research or through partnering with other schools and colleges like Falk, CAS, or Newhouse where Maxwell has significant and/or emerging collaborations. 

FEBRUARY 28, 2023 

In attendance:  Peg Austin (CPR), Lynnell Cabezas (ASPI), Yetunde Dozier (CEPA), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office),  Heather Macknik (PAIA),  Jacquie Meyer (Political Science),  Jackie Nocevski (Campbell),   Karen Tavernese (ASI), Jackie Wells (ANT)

cc: Emily Graham (Lerner), Juanita Horan (Moynihan),  Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Tara Slater (PARCC), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI), Debbie Toole (Geography)

Survey of Pre/Post Award School and College Positions - Due March 1

New NSF Requirement: Plan for Safe and Inclusive Working Environment for Off-campus Research 

  • This new NSF policy requires that institutions receiving NSF grants must have a plan for providing a safe and inclusive working environment for off-campus research.  OSP has provided additional guidance, tools and resources to assist faculty in complying with this new requirement in our recent OSP news update NSF Requirement: Plan for Safe and Inclusive Working Environment for Off-Campus Research.
  • See email of 13 Feb 2023 from Stuart Taub (Director, Office of Sponsored Programs) to Grant Administrators and NSF Investigators.  

Next week’s Maxwell Staff Open Information and Skills Sharing Session 

Maxwell GA Pay Rate AY23-24

JANUARY 24, 2023

In attendance: Peg Austin (CPR), Lynnell Cabezas (ASPI), Yetunde Dozier (CEPA),  Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office), Juanita Horan (Moynihan),  Heather Macknik (PAIA), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science),  Karen Tavernese (ASI), Debbie Toole (Geography and the Environment)

cc:  Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Emily Graham (Lerner), Kathy Forrest (ASI), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell),   Tara Slater (PARCC),  Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI),  Jackie Wells (ANT)

New NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy Effective Jan. 25, 2023

  • The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has released a new policy for data management and sharing that applies to all research funded or conducted in whole or in part by NIH that results in the generation of scientific data. The Syracuse University Libraries and Office of Research have developed Syracuse University guidance to aid researchers on adhering to the new policies. 
  • Please share this important information with your faculty, as appropriate. 

New NSF Proposals & Awards Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 23-1) Effective Jan. 30, 2023

Requests to Waive Indirect Cost Recovery 

  • See here for current policies and procedures, under "Fringe Benefits and Facilities and Administrative Costs."
  • Note that the terms "indirect costs," "facilities and administrative costs," "F&A," and "overhead" are interchangeable.  

DECEMBER 20, 2022

In attendance: Peg Austin (CPR), Lynnell Cabezas (ASPI), Yetunde Dozier (CEPA), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office), Kathy Forrest (ASI), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell),   Tara Slater (PARCC), Karen Tavernese (ASI),

cc:  Emily Graham (Lerner), Juanita Horan (Moynihan),  Heather Macknik (PAIA), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science),  Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI), Debbie Toole (Geography), Jackie Wells (ANT)

AY 2022-2023 Dean's Office Internal Grants Awarded

  • Award notices for Appleby-Mosher funding for faculty research and Roscoe Martin funding for graduate-student research have been issued. 
  • There are no programmatic changes from last year. Requests for extensions to spend funds are reviewed and approved on a case-by-case basis.
  • In addition, the Dean’s Office will support two additional emerging projects as part of the Tenth Decade Project. 

Contracts versus Grants

  • In general, any project seeking external funding should be initiated with a proposal via the Office of Sponsored Programs, including a project description or scope of work, budget, budget justification, and IRR form. The resulting award could take the form of a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement. 
  • Grants constitute the majority of awards received by Syracuse University and are less restrictive than contracts or cooperative agreements.  
  • There are two types of contracts: fixed-price (more common at the University) and cost-reimbursement (less common).  

NOVEMBER 22, 2022

In attendance:  Lynnell Cabezas (ASPI), Yetunde Dozier (CEPA), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office),   Jackie Nocevski (Campbell),   Karen Tavernese (ASI), Debbie Toole (Geography)

cc: Peg Austin (CPR), Kathy Forrest (ASI), Emily Graham (Lerner), Juanita Horan (Moynihan),  Heather Macknik (PAIA), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Tara Slater (PARCC), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI), Jackie Wells (ANT)

Course Buyouts on Grants

Pre-award

  • The Maxwell School policy is here: Faculty Course Buyouts
  • In the OSP Budget Template, 12.5% of institutional base salary (i.e., the cost of a first buyout) is equal to 1.0625 academic months.   
  • The PI should seek prior approval by email from their department chair to include a course buyout(s) in a grant budget.
  • When routing the Internal Routing and Review (IRR) form, the departmental research administrator should include the chair's email as an attachment (along with the OSP budget template, the sponsor's budget form, the budget justification, and the project summary).  

Post-award

  • Requests for buyouts should be prepared by the faculty member and department chair and forward by the department chair to Associate Dean Andrew London. These requests must be received by March 15 for the fall term and by October 15 for the spring term.
  • Project Startup: Adding Project Personnel*:
10a. To update an appointment by moving a portion of salary to the sponsored account, enter a chartstring change request.
For committed effort, use the award’s chartstring for allocated costs. For cost sharing or voluntarily committed effort, use an institutional chart string, adding the award’s “project tail” (i.e., project, activity, and budget reference numbers).

*From the Administrator New Award Checklist (Maxwell RAN resource on Answers)  

Suggestions for Future Meeting Topics

  • SciENcv for NSF proposals
    • Note: The mandate to use SciENcv only for preparation of the biographical sketch  and the Current and Pending (Other) Support information will go into effect for new proposals submitted or due on or after October 23, 2023. In the interim, proposers may continue to prepare and submit this document via use of SciENcv or the NSF fillable PDF. NSF, however, encourages the community to use SciENcv prior to the October 2023 implementation (NSF 23-1).
  • Issuing subawards
    • In the meantime, see here.

OCTOBER 25, 2022

In attendance:  Lynnell Cabezas (ASPI), Yetunde Dozier (CEPA), Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office),   Heather Macknik (PAIA),  Jacquie Meyer (Political Science),  Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Tara Slater (PARCC),  Karen Tavernese (ASI), Debbie Toole (Geography), Jackie Wells (ANT)

cc: Peg Austin (CPR), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Kathy Forrest (ASI), Emily Graham (Lerner), Juanita Horan (Moynihan),  Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI)

FY 2022 Indirect Cost Recovery Return to PIs

  • At the end of each fiscal year, each school and college receives a transfer of funds from the Office of Research that represents indirect (F&A) costs related to its total research activity (i.e., expenses) on grants and contracts during that fiscal year. It is Maxwell’s policy to return 10% of recovered indirect costs directly to principal investigators as an incentive to pursue external funding for their research.  

Appleby-Mosher and Roscoe Martin Applications

  • A Call for Proposals for the Appleby-Mosher Fund for Faculty Research and the Roscoe Martin Fund for Dissertation and Thesis Research went out on October 17 to Maxwell faculty and graduate students, respectively. The Maxwell Dean’s Office makes this funding available annually to support ongoing and emerging research across the School. The application deadline for both programs is Monday, November 21. For more information, including the CFPs, please see the following Answers pages: Appleby-Mosher Fund for Faculty Research and Roscoe Martin Fund for Dissertation and Thesis Research

New Resource: Grant Application Workflow

SEPTEMBER 27, 2022

In attendance:  Peg Austin (CPR), Lynnell Cabezas (ASPI), Yetunde Dozier (CEPA), Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office),  Kathy Forrest (ASI),  Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Karen Tavernese (ASI), Debbie Toole (Geography), Jackie Wells (ANT)

cc: Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Emily Graham (Lerner), Juanita Horan (Moynihan),  Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Heather Macknik (PAIA), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Tara Slater (PARCC),  Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI)

Proposal to Centralize Pre- and Post-award Research Administration for Academic Departments: Seeking Your Feedback

  • Faculty researchers who currently do not rely on a Maxwell center or institute for sponsored research support (pre- and/or post-award) would work with the Maxwell Research Office as their administering unit for grants and contracts.
  • Graduate-student sponsored projects administered by the University (e.g., NSF fellowships and dissertation grants) would also move to the Maxwell Research Office. 
  • There would be no change to functions or responsibilities within centers and institutes.
  • In addition to creating efficiencies to benefit departmental admin staff and their faculty,  adding a single-point-of-contact departmental research administrator will allow the Maxwell Research Office to better support the collaborative work of the Maxwell RAN, including within the centers and institutes. 
  • The timeline for initiating such changes is dependent on filling the pending Assistant Director position in the Maxwell Research Office.  
  • Jill will take this topic to the Department Chairs and Center/Institute Directors meetings in October; however, you should feel free to talk with your supervisors and direct them to Jill with questions in the meantime.

New Answers Page: Boilerplate Language for Grant Applications

AUGUST 23, 2022

In attendance:  Lynnell Cabezas (ASPI), Yetunde Dozier (CEPA), Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office),  Kathy Forrest (ASI),  Karen Tavernese (ASI), Debbie Toole (Geography)

cc: Peg Austin (CPR), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Juanita Horan (Moynihan),  Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Heather Macknik (PAIA), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Tara Slater (PARCC),  Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI), Jackie Wells (ANT)

Maxwell Research Support Overview on Answers

https://su-jsm.atlassian.net/wiki/x/uYWVCQ

  • This brief guide is intended for new faculty and as a quick reference for all  faculty researchers and research support staff. 

Working with the Office of Sponsored Programs | Sept. 14, 10-11 a.m. ET | Zoom

  • Join the Office of Sponsored Programs for an introduction to its services and staff. This educational session is designed to be especially informative for new and/or junior faculty, staff and students who engage in or provide support for externally sponsored research or scholarly projects at Syracuse University. Register here.

Travel and Other Expense Reimbursements to Students 

JULY 26, 2022

In attendance:  Peg Austin (CPR), Yetunde Dozier (CEPA),  Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office),  Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Kathy Forrest (ASI),  Heather Macknik (PAIA),  Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Karen Tavernese (ASI), Debbie Toole (Geography), Jackie Wells (ANT)

cc:  Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Holly Johnson (Dean's Office), Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell),  Amy Schmidt (CCE), Tara Slater (PARCC),  Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI)

  • No notes

JUNE 28, 2022

In attendance:  Peg Austin (CPR), Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office),  Kathy Forrest (ASI), Holly Johnson (Dean's Office), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Karen Tavernese (ASI), Debbie Toole (Geography)

cc: Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Heather Macknik (PAIA), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Tara Slater (PARCC),  Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI), Jackie Wells (ANT)

Syracuse University Identifiers and Financial Information

University Fringe Benefit Rates for FY '23

  • See email of June 10, 2022. 

The University has negotiated new fringe benefit rates with the federal government for fiscal year 2023 (July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023). These rates will be used for charging both sponsored (funds 13 and 91) and non-sponsored restricted (funds 15 and 16) chartstrings.

F&A Rates for FY '22 - FY '25

  • Excerpted from a June 16 email from OSP Director Stu Taub:  

The University has recently finalized its federally negotiated F&A rate agreement with the Dept. of Health and Human Services, and this communication is to provide information regarding the application of the F&A rates from FY ‘22 through FY ‘25.  This rate agreement is different than prior rate agreements in that it employs a “stepped rate” approach for on-campus research, rather than a single negotiated rate over the four year duration of the agreement.  The University’s implementation of this rate agreement is presented in further detail below.

The four-year rate agreement, covering sponsored projects awarded between July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2025, is as follows:

  1. On-campus research, stepped rates per fiscal year period
    1. 50% = FY ‘22
    2. 49% = FY ‘23
    3. 49% = FY ‘24
    4. 49.5% = FY ‘25
  2. Training/ Instruction, rates stay constant from FY ’22 through FY ‘25, as follows:
    1. 34% for on-campus training/instruction
  3. Other Sponsored Activities, rates stay constant from FY ’22 through FY ’25, as follows:
    1. 35% for on-campus other sponsored activities
  4. Off-Campus Rate for all programs (research, training/instruction, and other sponsored activities), rates stay constant from FY ’22 through FY ’25, as follows:
    1. 26% for off-campus research, training/instruction, and other sponsored activities

Proposals are now being submitted with the new F&A rates.  The OSP budget template has been updated to reflect the new F&A rates, as well as, the updated Fringe Benefit rates for FY ’23.

  • Multi-year on-campus research proposals will have stepped rates:
    • 49% for FY ‘23 budget period
    • 49% for FY ’24 budget period
    • 49.5% for FY ’25 budget period (and beyond, until next rate agreement is negotiated)
  • On-campus Training/Instruction: 34% for all budget periods
  • On-campus Other Sponsored Activities: 35% for all budget periods
  • Off-campus, all programs: 26% for all budget periods

Implementation plan for new F&A rates on sponsored project awards: In accordance with federal Uniform Guidance (Appendix III to Part 200), the F&A rate in effect at the time of initial award shall be utilized throughout the “life of the award.”  “Life” for the purpose of this guidance means each competitive segment of a sponsored project.

 See below for example award scenarios of On-Campus Research, and F&A rate determinations based on date of initial award:

  1. New Award for On-campus Research, awarded between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022:  F&A rate would be 50% for the life of the award. 
  2. New Award for On-campus Research, awarded between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023:  F&A rate would be 49% for the life of the award.
  3. New Award for On-campus Research, awarded between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024:  F&A rate would be 49% for the life of the award.
  4. New award for On-campus Research, awarded between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025:  F&A rate would be 49.5% for the life of the award.

MAY 24, 2022

In attendance:  Karen Cimilluca (ASI),  Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office),  Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Kathy Forrest (ASI), Holly Johnson (Dean's Office), Heather Macknik (PAIA), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Tara Slater (PARCC),  Debbie Toole (Geography)

cc: Peg Austin (CPR), Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Alexandra Punch (Lerner),  Amy Schmidt (CCE), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI)

Summer Pay

  • Continued discussion of Summer Salary Rate of Pay from last meeting (see notes below). 
  • Discussed the potential usefulness of "MaxFacts-like" refresher on Summer Pay in each March/April. Include representatives from HR, Payroll, etc., so, at minimum, those campus-level units have an awareness of the effort (and inefficiencies) involved in related processes. Jackie N. will take this suggestion to the MaxFacts committee to plan for 2023. 

Fiscal 2022 Year-End Accounting Closing Procedures and Dates

  • See email of May 18, 2022.

Effort Reporting

Certification Calendar 

Certification PeriodCertification WindowEffort Period of Performance
Spring 2022May 31, 2022 – June 17, 2022Faculty: January 1 – May 7

Staff: January 1 – May 15

Helpful Links

Spring 2022 SOURCE and Honors Grants

  • See email of May 9, 2022. 

APRIL 26, 2022

In attendance:  Karen Cimilluca (ASI),  Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office),  Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Kathy Forrest (ASI), Holly Johnson (Dean's Office), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Debbie Toole (Geography)

cc: Peg Austin (CPR), Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Heather Macknik (PAIA), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Tara Slater (PARCC),  Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI)

Summer Salary Rate of Pay

  • For consistency with common practice in other schools and colleges across campus, Maxwell's procedure for determining rate of pay for faculty summer salaries will change as of July 1, 2022.
  • Going forward, summer salary before July 1 should be at the faculty member's current semi-monthly rate of pay.  After July 1, use the next academic year's rate of pay.
  • This means that for Summer 2022, use the AY21-22 pay rate for May and June payments;  use the AY22-23 pay rate for July and August payments.
  • This procedure applies regardless of funding source.
  • This topic will be on the agenda for further discussion at the next Maxwell Admin Assistants Meeting, to be scheduled for the week of May 9. 

Follow-up/Discussion from SPA Workshop on Supporting Research with the SAMtool

  • The recording and slides are now available on the Office of Research Trainings web page.
  • Contact Cathy Hayduke or Toni Besaw in the Office of Sponsored Accounting (OSA) with questions or to request/endorse enhancements to the SAMtool.
  • OSA will continue to use PeopleSoft following the implementation of Cayuse in OSP and the Office of Research Integrity and Protections (ORIP). Cayuse will feed into PeopleSoft, which will alleviate the current manual-entry process for setting up new awards. 
  • Reminder for Maxwell RAs: Offering a SAMtool walkthrough with a new award's PI is part of our Administrator New Award Checklist. 

Onboarding for New Staff with Research-related Responsibilities 

  • Discussion ongoing for additional tools and other ways to support new staff, staff moving into new positions, or staff with expanding position responsibilities. 
  • Now and going forward, this network serves as a source of information and connection for staff to reach out to colleagues in other units as needs arise. Yay, team! 

MARCH 22, 2022

In attendance:  Karen Cimilluca (ASI),  Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office),  Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Kathy Forrest (ASI), Holly Johnson (Dean's Office), Heather Macknik (PAIA), Tara Slater (PARCC), Debbie Toole (Geography)

cc: Peg Austin (CPR), Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Amy Schmidt (CCE),  Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI)

SPA Workshop on April 6: Supporting Research with the SAMtool and Other Resources

Cayuse Update

  • The Office of Research has begun implementation of  Cayuse as the University's new information management system for sponsored projects, including pre-award, post-award, and research compliance (human subjects protections/IRB, animal research/IACUC, etc.). 
  • First priority is bringing the Institutional Review Board (IRB)-related processes into the system; currently those processes are paper-based.  
  • The timeline for full implementation has not been announced. 

Reminder: Maxwell Administrator New Award Checklist on Answers

  • The Administrator New Award Checklist is an internal resource to aid Maxwell administrators at the start-up of a sponsored project. In using the checklist, the administrator will: (1) review the award information to ensure accuracy, (2) discuss award set-up and management with the Principal Investigator (PI), (3) confirm all compliance requirements are met, (4) ensure all needed project accounts are established, and (5) ensure expenses are appropriately allocated and documented.

Dean's Office Summer Project Assistantships RFP

  • The request for proposals (RFP) will be posted here and emailed to all faculty in the next few days, with applications due in late April.

FEBRUARY 22, 2022

Maxwell GA Pay Rate FY22-23

Format for Vacant PIN Chartstring Change Comments

If 100% distribution to one chartstring:

SUID#:  123456-7890

NAME:  Tut, King

COMPENSATION AMOUNT (Contract):  $13,050.00

SEMI-MO RATE:  $3,728.57 (3.5 pays)

CONTRACT PERIOD:  5/8/21-6/30/21

If distribution to more than one chartstring:

SUID#:  098765-4321

NAME:  Harry, Debbie

COMPENSATION AMOUNT (Contract):  $25,555.20

     $10,222.08 on pr01161-001-01

     $7,666.56 on pr01234-001-01

     $7,666.56 on 11-21825-98765

SEMI-MO RATE:  $8,518.40 (3.0 pays)

CONTRACT PERIOD:  5/16/21-6/30/21

 CUSE Grant Program Submission Deadline: 5:00 PM, Thursday, February 24, 2022

JANUARY 25, 2022

Update for Sponsored Graduate Awards Processing from Graduate Awards and Sponsored Accounting

  •  Per an email of 12/10/21 from GradAward/Gabby Chapman (also forwarded from Holly Johnson): 

Graduate Awards and Sponsored Accounting have worked together to determine efficiencies in processing paperwork for sponsored assistantships. Going forward, a department should only use the attached Sponsored Tuition Form if the award includes a tuition chartstring with a project tail AND >0 credit hours. If you are paying for a student’s wages with a sponsored award but there are no tuition charges or the tuition charges are not being charged to a chartstring with a project tail you do NOT need to send to sponsored accounting for pre-approval. In these cases, please use the standard TA_RA recommendation form (Department Funded, see attached). Also, if you are only changing the chartstring that the PIN is being charged to, this happens via the chartstring change form. It is not necessary to send type of change to Graduate Awards for processing.  

FY 2021 Indirect Cost Recovery Return to Faculty 

  • Notices went out in November with cc to unit administrator. 

AY 2021-2022 Dean's Office Internal Grants Awarded

  • Award notices for Appleby-Mosher funding for faculty research and Roscoe Martin funding for graduate-student research went out in December.
  • No programmatic changes from last year, including the following reminder:  Under the current circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, affected research activities, including those that involve travel and/or face-to-face contact with human participants, must adhere to restrictions and modifications as described in the University’s Return to Campus Research plan.
  • Requests for extensions to spend funds are reviewed and approved on a case-by-case basis.

2022 CUSE Grant Program Request for Proposals

Spring 2022 Trainings and Presentations from the Office of Research

Building Strong Proposal Budgets11/17/2021RecordingSlides

The SOURCE Fall 2021 Grantees and Spring 2022 Programs Announced 

  • Fall 2021 SOURCE and Honors Grant Recipients. 11/19/21 email from Kate Hanson shared results of the fall undergraduate research funding and faculty research assistant grant application cycles. SOURCE and Renée Crown University Honors Program Awards support student-led projects; SOURCE Research Assistant Awards support faculty mentors to hire undergraduate students to assist with their research and learn skills and methods of the discipline, with priority areas of faculty in arts, humanities, social science, education, journalism, management, or professional fields and faculty working with 1st or 2nd year students. 
  • SOURCE Spring Deadlines and Programs. 1/1/22 email from The SOURCE, including a 1-page, PDF summary of spring programs and deadlines to share with students, faculty, and colleagues in all areas. There are opportunities for student research/creative project funding, development, and presentation as well as funding for faculty mentors to hire undergraduate research assistants.

NOVEMBER 23, 2021

In attendance:  Karen Cimilluca (ASI), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR),  Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office),   Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Debbie Toole (Geography)

cc: Peg Austin (CPR), Kathy Forrest (ASI), Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Heather Macknik (PAIA), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Tara Slater (Economics), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI)

SOURCE Update 

  • Results of the fall undergraduate research funding and faculty research assistant grant application cycles were announced on Friday, November 19.
  • Two programs: (1) SOURCE and Renée Crown University Honors Program Awards support student-led projects; (2) SOURCE Research Assistant Awards support faculty mentors to hire undergraduate students to assist with their research and learn skills and methods of the discipline, with priority areas of faculty in arts, humanities, social science, education, journalism, management, or professional fields and faculty working with 1st or 2nd year students.
  • Budget managers in departments with new awards should receive more detailed information this week (11/22-24). 

OCTOBER 26, 2021 

In attendance:  Karen Cimilluca (ASI),  Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office),  Kathy Forrest (ASI),  Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Debbie Toole (Geography), Roxanne Tupper (PARCC)

cc: Peg Austin (CPR), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Heather Macknik (PAIA), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Tara Slater (Economics), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI)

AY 2021-2022 Dean's Office Internal Funding Programs

Call for Proposals for Appleby-Mosher funding for faculty research and Roscoe Martin funding for graduate-student research went out on October 21. Proposals are due November 22.

No programmatic changes from last year, including the following reminder:  Under the current circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, affected research activities, including those that involve travel and/or face-to-face contact with human participants, must adhere to restrictions and modifications as described in the University’s Return to Campus Research plan.

Applicants are asked to apply via the Syracuse University Application Portal (see below) instead of by email as in years past. 

Requests for extensions to spend funds are reviewed and approved on a case-by-case basis.

Syracuse University Application Portal

Managed by the Office of Research, the Syracuse University Application Portal (InfoReady) is an online platform that streamlines the process of applying for internal funding opportunities and limited submission opportunities. Jill is one of several InfoReady system administrators for the Application Portal; contact Jill with questions or to explore using the portal for internal funding programs within Maxwell. (See above for Appleby-Mosher and Roscoe Martin as current examples, though the competitions will disappear after the application due date of 11/22/21.) 

Upcoming Office of Research Events

Please remind your faculty! Below are upcoming Office of Research events, which were announced in its October newsletter.  Most past events are recorded and can be found on the Office of Research Trainings webpage.



The SOURCE: Syracuse Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Engagement 

Among other activities, The SOURCE awards funding to faculty to hire undergraduate research assistants: https://research.syr.edu/source/for-faculty/source-funding-opportunities-for-faculty/

Jackie N. spoke with Kate Hanson (SOURCE director) about how faculty currently receive funds (moved into research account) and new policies and processes in development where the SOURCE will follow the CUSE model to provide a SOURCE account code. Jackie will keep us posted if and as she learns more. 

SEPTEMBER 28, 2021 

In attendance: Peg Austin (CPR), Karen Cimilluca (ASI),  Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office),  Kathy Forrest (ASI), Heather Macknik (PAIA), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Debbie Toole (Geography), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI), Roxanne Tupper (PARCC)

cc: Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Tara Slater (Economics)

Follow-up to Office of Research presentation, “Working with the Office of Sponsored Programs”

Syracuse University Postdoctoral Scholars Program

To further strengthen our identification as a student-focused and very-high-research-activity (Carnegie R1) university, Syracuse University will invest up to $1.4 M over two years to support up to 20 new postdoctoral scholars through its Invest Syracuse Initiative. 

Fall 2021 Research Administration Conferences

Consulting Agreements

Per the Administrator New Award Checklist, under Non-SU Collaborators:  

  • For projects with one or more consultants, complete required documentation (non-SU personnel worksheet, consultant agreement, third party engagement form) and submit to OSP.

Forward Funding

  • Forward funding on a sponsored project enables the PI to begin spending prior to having a fully executed award in place or to incur expenses before the start date of an expected award.

  • In the event the anticipated award is not received or costs incurred are subsequently determined to be unallowable by the sponsor or University, forward-funded costs will be transferred to the departmental or unit chartstring provided at the time of request.

  • OSP RAs receive a weekly report of projects in forward-funded status; however, as a best practice, schedule regular reminders to follow up with the PI and OSP for a status of the award document.
  • For a list of forward-funded projects, go to MySlice -> SAMTool -> Award Summary Report; “FF” in the second column (Forward Funded Indicator) denotes forward-funding status.

AUGUST 24, 2021

In attendance: Karen Cimilluca (ASI),  Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office),  Kathy Forrest (ASI), Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Heather Macknik (PAIA), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Debbie Toole (Geography), Roxanne Tupper (PARCC)

cc: Peg Austin (CPR), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Tara Slater (Economics), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI)  

  • No notes

JULY 27, 2021

In attendance: Karen Cimilluca (ASI),  Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office),  Kathy Forrest (ASI), Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Heather Macknik (PAIA), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Debbie Toole (Geography), Roxanne Tupper (PARCC)

cc: Peg Austin (CPR), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Tara Slater (Economics), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI)  

New Rebudgeting Spreadsheet from OSP

Reminder: Maxwell Administrator New Award Checklist on Answers

  • The Administrator New Award Checklist is an internal resource to aid Maxwell administrators at the start-up of a sponsored project. In using the checklist, the administrator will: (1) review the award information to ensure accuracy, (2) discuss award set-up and management with the Principal Investigator (PI), (3) confirm all compliance requirements are met, (4) ensure all needed project accounts are established, and (5) ensure expenses are appropriately allocated and documented.

Internal Communications Committee Update

  • Jill and Juanita briefed the group about the objectives and progress of the ad hoc Internal Communications Committee, specifically unit-level Answers pages for internal-audience resources such as course listings, how to schedule an event, and where to find Maxwell-specific forms. 
  • The committee intends to circulate a survey to identify what other resources might be made available to the Maxwell community via Answers. To contribute to the survey (for the purposes of Maxwell research administration), consider:
    • What are your most frequently asked questions about pre-award or post-award procedures from faculty, students (graduate and undergraduate), and other staff? 
  • Additionally, we reviewed a draft listing of Maxwell unit-level and campus-level pre-award and post-award contacts that Jill drafted and discussed how and when faculty are affiliated with various Maxwell research centers and institutes.   

Update on Research-Related Travel

NSF | Updates to Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) 

NSF has released a new PAPPG to be effective for proposals submitted or due on or after October 4, 2021. Significant changes include:

  • A new section covering requests for reasonable and accessibility accommodations regarding the proposal process or requests for accessibility accommodations to access NSF’s electronic systems, websites and other digital content;
  • Increasing the page limit for the biographical sketch from two to three pages;
  • Updates to the current and pending support section of NSF proposals to require that information on objectives and overlap with other projects is provided to help NSF and reviewers assess overlap/duplication;
  • Adding planning proposals and Career-Life Balance supplemental funding requests as new proposal types; and
  • Updates to travel proposals will require that AORs certify that prior to the proposer’s participation in the meeting for which NSF travel support is being requested, the proposer will assure that the meeting organizer has a written policy or code of conduct addressing harassment.

NIH | Reminder: Implementation of Changes to the Biographical Sketch and Other Support Format Page

  • As of May 25, 2021, NIH expects applicants and recipients to use the updated biosketch and other support format for applications, Just-in-Time Reports and Research Performance Progress Reports (NOT-OD-21-110). For application due dates on or after January 25, 2022, NIH will require the use of the updated format pages. Instructions on the new NIH biosketches are posted on the NIH Biosketch webpage.

JUNE 8, 2021

In attendance:  Karen Cimilluca (ASI),  Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Kathy Forrest (ASI), Heather Macknik (PAIA), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Debbie Toole (Geography), Roxanne Tupper (PARCC)

cc:  Peg Austin (CPR), Juanita Horan (Moynihan),  Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI)

FY22 Fringe Benefits Rates 

Internal Funding Program Updates

2021 CUSE Grants 

CUSE Grant Program Page,  /wiki/spaces/osp/pages/162039155

  • Maxwell faculty received eight (8) awards totaling nearly $150,000, including one (1) COVID Relief Grant, one (1) Good-to-Great Grant, five (5) Interdisciplinary & Interdisciplinary Research Grants, and one (1) Seed Grant. 

2020 Roscoe Martin and Appleby Mosher Awards

  • Unlike in past years when Roscoe Martin (student award) stipend payments were issued immediately following award announcements, some stipends have not yet been dispersed due to either pandemic-related delays in students' research plans, pending compliance approvals, or both; however, we are working with these students, and they will receive their stipends in the coming weeks and months corresponding with their planned research activities. 
  • For both faculty and student awards, requests for extensions and rebudgets should be directed to Jill Ferguson.
  • As a reminder, the following guidance accompanied all faculty and student award letters in 2020: 

Under the current circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, affected research activities, including those that involve travel and/or face-to-face contact with human participants, must adhere to restrictions and modifications as described in the University’s Return to Campus Research plan.

NSF Spring 2021 Virtual Grants Conference - Recordings Available Online 

Effort and Effort Reporting 

  • OSP and OSA are planning for an Office of Research Awareness session on Effort and Effort Reporting, to include planning for effort from the proposal/budget development perspectives and then transitioning to the post-award procedural details of effort reporting.
  • In the meantime, available resources including the following: 

https://bfas.syr.edu/comptroller/resources/effort-reporting/

https://bfas.syr.edu/comptroller/resources/effort-reporting/effort-reporting-faqs/

https://policies.syr.edu/policies/administrative-and-financial/effort-reporting-and-summer-salary-policy/

https://bfas.syr.edu/comptroller/resources/training/effort-reporting-training/

https://bfas.syr.edu/comptroller/resources/effort-reporting/effort-reporting-glossary/

  • Toni Besaw, OSA Assistant Director, is the overseer of the Effort Reporting Process and would be glad to assist with training items, in conjunction with Kelly Moshier.  Training is done one-on-one for each individual with the authority/security to represent the area because of the confidentiality of the subject.

Format/Location for Summer Meetings

  • July and August meetings will remain virtual on Teams. In-person meetings on campus will resume starting in September. 

APRIL 27, 2021 

In attendance:   Peg Austin (CPR),  Karen Cimilluca (ASI),  Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Kathy Forrest (ASI),  Juanita Horan (Moynihan),  Jacquie Meyer (Political Science)

cc:  Heather Macknik (PAIA),  Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Debbie Toole (Geography), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Roxanne Tupper (PARCC), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI)

New Tuition Rate

The graduate tuition per-credit-hour rate has increased from $1,683 (FY21) to $1,734 (FY22) (see 3/30/21 email from Mary Pat). Grant proposals budgets should use the new per-credit-hour rate. 

FY22 Fringe Benefits Rates 

Not yet released/posted. Keep an eye out here: https://bfas.syr.edu/budget/ (scroll down to Links section). 

PD in RA: Building Budgets, IRB Overview, Post-award Grants Management

Upcoming sessions: 

April 28 - Building Strong Proposal Budgets (SU Office of Research; Peg Austin on the panel)

May 4 - An Overview of the IRB: Policies and Procedures with Jeanne Diederich (Maxwell's Center for Qualitative and Multi-Method Inquiry; register here)

May 5 -  Managing Your Sponsored Funding (SU Office of Research)

Internal Funding Programs 

MARCH 24, 2021

Dean's Office Summer Project Assistantships 

Applications due April 21. RFP sent via email to all Maxwell faculty on March 17 and posted here. 

PD in RA: Building Budgets and Post-award Grants Management

  1. Reminder about upcoming Office of Research sessions:

    April 28 - Building Strong Proposal Budgets

    May 5 -  Managing Your Sponsored Funding

  2. Please continue to share about the RA professional development in which you participate; see here for a curated listing. 

Reminder: Additional Approval Requirements Still in Effect for Research during the Pandemic 

Additional approvals are still required for any Syracuse University Travel (SUT) and for face-to-face human participant research. See here for full guidance, or refer faculty and students to Jill. 

Reminder: Tuition on Grants and Voluntary Cost Share

From August 2020 meeting: 

  • Per Maxwell Research Policies, budgets that include voluntary cost share require discussion and approval early in project planning and budget development—that is, well before the IRR routes for signatures. Examples include: 

    • F&A, either waived or return to the project 
    • Tuition remission for one or more graduate students (if an allowable cost on the grant)  

    In such cases, please send an initial draft of the internal budget to Jill Ferguson for review; as needed, Jill with consult with Andrew for pre-approval of the budget. 

    In general, voluntary cost share should be a rare exception. As such, in most cases, budgets will not require pre-approval ahead of the IRR. 

    Please including supporting documentation and/or a note in the IRR routing email for situations such as the following:     

    • The budget does not include full F&A recovery; however, the sponsor has a published policy, making the lower rate acceptable per University policy. 
    • The budget includes funds for a full-time graduate student(s) but does not include tuition remission; however, the sponsor has published policy that tuition remission is an unallowable cost or the PI has confirmed that the project requires an advanced student who has completed all coursework (ABD). 
    • The budget includes funds for a course buyout, which the academic chair has approved. 

FEBRUARY 23, 2021

In attendance:   Peg Austin (CPR),  Karen Cimilluca (ASI),  Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Kathy Forrest (ASI),  Heather Macknik (PAIA),  Jacquie Meyer (Political Science)

cc:  Juanita Horan (Moynihan),  Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Debbie Toole (Geography), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Roxanne Tupper (PARCC), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI)

Grants Management of Internal (within SU) versus External Grants 

Discussions around (1) the fact that as Maxwell faculty get a greater number of internal grants, there are additional administrative tasks that fall to department, center, and institute staff; and (2) process differences around restricted funds like Appleby-Mosher versus other accounts. 

Effort Reporting 

Certification Calendar 

Certification PeriodCertification WindowEffort Period of Performance
Fall 2020February 22, 2021 – March 12, 2021Faculty: August 24 – December 31

Staff: August 16 – December 31

Helpful Links

Additionally, Jacquie shared a document to the Maxwell Admins listserv with navigation instructions to accompany Kelly Moshier's email of 2/22/21. 

GA Rate for AY2021-22

Per an email from Holly Johnson on 2/19/21, the Maxwell Research Policies are updated as follows: For the 2021-22 academic year (AY), rates for a full AY (fall and spring) 20-hour graduate assistant (GA) are $22,000 for PhD students and $17,000 for MA students, with 24 credit hours of tuition. For a 10-hour GA for the full academic year or a 20-hour GA for one semester, calculate rates and credit hours by half. For a 10-hour GA for one semester, calculate rates and credit hours by one-fourth. To budget for out-years, increase rates by 3%.

Reminders: NSF Proposal Workshop, CUSE Grant Program 

JANUARY 26, 2021

In attendance:   Peg Austin (CPR),  Karen Cimilluca (ASI),  Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Kathy Forrest (ASI),  Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Heather Macknik (PAIA),  Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Debbie Toole (Geography), Roxanne Tupper (PARCC)

cc:  Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Amy Schmidt (CCE),  Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI)

New Campus-level Grants Trainings and Workshops for Spring Semester

Full listing here and registration links here.  In particular, please consider attending and encouraging faculty to attend the following sessions: 

Reminder: Tuition on Grants and Voluntary Cost Share

From August 2020 meeting: 

  • Per Maxwell Research Policies, budgets that include voluntary cost share require discussion and approval early in project planning and budget development—that is, well before the IRR routes for signatures. Examples include: 

    • F&A, either waived or return to the project 
    • Tuition remission for one or more graduate students (if an allowable cost on the grant)  

    In such cases, please send an initial draft of the internal budget to Jill Ferguson for review; as needed, Jill with consult with Andrew for pre-approval of the budget. 

    In general, voluntary cost share should be a rare exception. As such, in most cases, budgets will not require pre-approval ahead of the IRR. 

    Please including supporting documentation and/or a note in the IRR routing email for situations such as the following:     

    • The budget does not include full F&A recovery; however, the sponsor has a published policy, making the lower rate acceptable per University policy. 
    • The budget includes funds for a full-time graduate student(s) but does not include tuition remission; however, the sponsor has published policy that tuition remission is an unallowable cost or the PI has confirmed that the project requires an advanced student who has completed all coursework (ABD). 
    • The budget includes funds for a course buyout, which the academic chair has approved. 

Reminder: University Travel Policy: High-Risk Destinations

NOVEMBER 24, 2020

In attendance:   Peg Austin (CPR),  Karen Cimilluca (ASI),  Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Kathy Forrest (ASI),  Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Heather Macknik (PAIA),  Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI)

cc:   Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Debbie Toole (Geography), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Roxanne Tupper (PARCC)

University Travel Policy: High-Risk Destinations

  • Per University Travel Policy, a high-risk destination is a country or region identified as one or both of the following: 

  • Currently, most destinations worldwide are considered high-risk (CDC Level 3) due to Covid-19.

  • Researchers may petition the University’s International High-Risk Travel Oversight Committee (IHTOC) for approval to travel to a high-risk destination. In the Maxwell School, start by contacting Andrew London, Associate Dean for Administration and Research. 

Faculty Additional Compensation

  • In general, University faculty and full-time academic appointees are not eligible to receive additional compensation for activities related to their recognized University duties.
  • Under some circumstances, if allowable on the grant, a faculty member might be paid an honorarium; if so, the process mechanism is a RAP (Request for Additional Pay). A payment cannot be made as a transfer to a faculty member's research account or other Current Operations (11) account. 

OCTOBER 27, 2020

In attendance:   Peg Austin (CPR),  Karen Cimilluca (ASI),  Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Kathy Forrest (ASI),  Heather Macknik (PAIA),  Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell)

cc:  Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Debbie Toole (Geography), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Roxanne Tupper (PARCC), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI)

Essential Travel  

University-sponsored travel must be approved by the relevant chair, associate dean for research and the interim vice president for research.

Syracuse University has eased existing restrictions on travel deemed essential to an academic or business purpose of the University. For faculty, researchers, postdoctoral scholars and graduate students, essential travel is defined as travel required to (1) preserve the safety of a research subject and cannot be postponed; or (2) preserve the continuity and results of a research activity and cannot be postponed. 

  • For faculty, researchers, postdoctoral scholars and graduate students, travel to attend professional or educational conferences is defined as non-essential. 
  • Faculty, researchers, postdoctoral scholars and graduate students with questions about whether specific proposed travel is essential, or those seeking approval to engage in essential travel, should confer first with their department chairs.

In order to travel: 

  • Submit an application for Approval for Essential Research Travel, allowing at least 5 business days for such approvals. Deans (or dean’s designees) will make a recommendation as to the essential nature of the travel request and forward that recommendation to the interim vice president for research. The VPR will make the final determination and notify both the traveler and the dean or department chair making the request.
  • For research outside of the Syracuse area, including international travel: If the location's current public-safety requirements are less restrictive, the researcher must follow NYS requirements. It is up to the researcher to find out what the requirements/restrictions are.

FY 2020 Research Expenditures, Awards, and Proposal 

The Office of Research will post its FY 2020 Annual Report here in the coming weeks. 

AY 2020-2021 Dean's Office Internal Funding Programs

Call for Proposals for Appleby-Mosher funding for faculty research and Roscoe Martin funding for graduate-student research went out on October 2. Proposals are due November 16.

No changes from last year, with one exception noted in the cover email:  Under the current circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, affected research activities, including those that involve travel and/or face-to-face contact with human participants, must adhere to restrictions and modifications as described in the University’s Return to Campus Research plan.

Requests for extensions to spend funds are reviewed and approved on a case-by-case basis.

New Student Resources Added to the Maxwell Research Home Page on Answers 

See here. 

Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities

SEPTEMBER 29, 2020

In attendance:   Karen Cimilluca (ASI),  Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office), Kathy Forrest (ASI), Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Heather Macknik (PAIA),  Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI)

cc:  Peg Austin (CPR),  Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Debbie Toole (Geography), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Roxanne Tupper (PARCC)

Resuming Face-to-Face Human Participant Research 

  • Effective August 31, 2020, research involving human participants that was halted by the COVID-19 emergency may resume and new human participant research may begin (see Resuming Face-to-Face Human Participant Research). Any human participant research being conducted in person requires the submission and approval of a Return to Face-to-Face Research Plan prior to the conduct of in-person research. 
  • For the latest on the research guidance for the university’s phased re-opening see the Return to Campus Research Guidance web page.

National Listing of Institutional and Agency Responses to COVID-19 and Additional Resources

Hiring GAs

  • From Holly Johnson, Maxwell Budget Manager and Graduate Administrator: 

There really aren’t any guidelines for when to hire since so much depends on the particular needs of the faculty.  Part of what also plays into the timing, especially on the full GAs is who they are looking for.  Do they want a newly recruited student (if so, they should be working with their home department in that case) or do they need an ABD student who won’t need tuition? For the latter, it probably makes more sense to start looking after April 15th when most incoming students/GAs will be solidified and departments should have a good idea what their needs for the department will be for the fall.  If they want a new student, then they should be working with their home department earlier in the spring/late winter depending on the admissions cycle.  All that said, I think April 1st is a little early for having fall GA letters out, at least for returning students.  I don’t usually even start sending letters for returning students until after April 15th. I think May 1st for fall assistantships sounds reasonable.  For summer, I actually think May is a little late, especially if they are going to be working right after classes end in early May. 

 Also, it’s more typical for faculty to hire RAs for a full academic year.  We get some that are fall/spring, but they are less common.  Especially for students who would still be funded by their home department otherwise, it makes things a lot easier to do full academic years and not splitting whenever possible.  I think it’s easier for the faculty as well, although of course it depends on their funding situation.  In the case where they are splitting and need a spring-only GA, they probably are going to want to get this nailed down at the same time as the fall assistantships.  It’s really going to depend on what students are available and meet their needs.

Standing Invitation for Peer Demos 

  • Results from 2019 member survey showed interest in the following topics (with # of “interested” votes):  

   Award acceptance and project startup (7)

   Award management, e.g., monitoring award expenditures, monthly financial reports (6)

   Award close-out (6)

   Maxwell internal funding programs (6)

   Reviewing sponsor guidelines (6)

   Budget development (5)

   Cost share (5)

   Identifying potential funding sources (4)

   Effort (4)

   Financial Conflict of Interest Policy: what and why (4)

   Maxwell research resources, e.g., ICT (4)

   IRR Form: how and why (3)

AUGUST 25, 2020

In attendance: Peg Austin (CPR),  Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office), Kathy Forrest (ASI), Heather Macknik (PAIA), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science)

cc:  Karen Cimilluca (ASI),  Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Debbie Toole (Geography), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI), Roxanne Tupper (PARCC)

Grant Proposal Budgets and IRRs

A. Reminder: Dean Van Slyke does not review Internal Routing and Review (IRR) forms; rather, the Dean has delegated authority to Andrew London, in his capacity as associate dean for research, to review and approve. 

B. Clarification/New Process: Per Maxwell Research Policies, budgets that include voluntary cost share require discussion and approval early in project planning and budget development—that is, well before the IRR routes for signatures. Examples include: 

  • F&A, either waived or return to the project 
  • Tuition remission for one or more graduate students (if an allowable cost on the grant)  

In such cases, please send an initial draft of the internal budget to Jill Ferguson for review; as needed, Jill with consult with Andrew for pre-approval of the budget. 

In general, voluntary cost share should be a rare exception. As such, in most cases, budgets will not require pre-approval ahead of the IRR. 

C. Reminder: Please including supporting documentation and/or a note in the IRR routing email for situations such as the following:     

  • The budget does not include full F&A recovery; however, the sponsor has a published policy, making the lower rate acceptable per University policy. 
  • The budget includes funds for a full-time graduate student(s) but does not include tuition remission; however, the sponsor has published policy that tuition remission is an unallowable cost or the PI has confirmed that the project requires an advanced student who has completed all coursework (ABD). 
  • The budget includes funds for a course buyout, which the academic chair has approved. 

JULY 28, 2020

In attendance: Peg Austin (CPR), Karen Cimilluca (ASI), Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office), Kathy Forrest (ASI), Heather Macknik (PAIA), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Roxanne Tupper (PARCC)

cc:  Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science),  Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Debbie Toole (Geography), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI)

Tenth Decade Project Special Call for Proposals 

  • On June 25, the Dean's Office announced a Special Call for Proposals for Tenth Decade funding under the theme "Confronting Systemic Racial Inequality." Applications for the Special Call will be accepted through September 30. 
  • The "Multidisciplinary Discovery" Call for Proposals remains open with a rolling deadline.    
  • See the Tenth Decade Project resource page for full details.  

New Shared Resources Added to the Maxwell Research Home Page on Answers  

Faculty and Staff Resources 

Finding Funding 

New! Funding Opportunities

Proposal Development Resources 

Proposal Library (Open Grants)   

NSF Application Toolkit

Grants Administration 

Administrator New Award Checklist 

Maxwell Research Administrators Monthly Meeting Notes  

Professional Development Opportunities in Research Administration 

Research

About 

New! Maxwell Research Policies 

Maxwell Internal Grant Programs 

New! Tenth Decade Project

Entering Payroll

  • Open discussion on processes (and preemptive workarounds) for entering payroll for summer salary, course buyouts, etc. Please continue to bring questions, tips, and tricks to the group. 

JUNE 23, 2020

In attendance: Peg Austin (CPR), Karen Cimilluca (ASI), Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Kathy Forrest (ASI), Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Heather Macknik (PAIA), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science),  Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Roxanne Tupper (PARCC)

cc:  Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Debbie Toole (Geography), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI)

Chartstring Changes Crossing Fiscal Years  

Per the following email from OSA, a prior issue with Chartstring Changes crossing fiscal years has been resolved. You can now enter chartstrings that cross fiscal years.   

From: Cathleen P Hayduke <cphayduk@syr.edu>
Sent: Thursday, June 4, 2020 1:16 PM
To: Kelly A O'Connor <kaocon02@syr.edu>; Melissa A Wike <mawike@syr.edu>; Liz Bull <ewbull@syr.edu>; Lynn Roundy <leroundy@syr.edu>
Cc: Toni M Besaw <tbesaw@syr.edu>; Cathleen P Hayduke <cphayduk@syr.edu>
Subject: Chartstring Changes

 Hello All,

 I want to share an update with all of you regarding Chartstring changes crossing fiscal years. The prior communication from Brian has now been amended.

 Prior:

Brian gave us the following instructions:

This fiscal year end dates would be as follows:

 Semi-monthly employees- on sponsored funds please input an end date of 6/30/20 for the sponsored chartstring and an effective date of 7/1/20 for the non­-sponsored chartstring.

 Weekly employees- on sponsored funds please input an end date of 6/24/20 for the sponsored chartstring and an effective date of 6/25/20 for the non­-sponsored chartstring

After discussions with Brian, Jim / HR, Mike, and myself, it was decided that since the Chartstring Changes inability to cross fiscal years last year has been resolved, we can now allow the crossing of fiscal years. If you recall, there was an issue with the effective dated rows and the processing of items using sponsored chartstrings that crossed fiscal years. This issue has been resolved.

 What this means, is that departments can now enter chartstrings that will cross fiscal years. The current limitation is: chartstrings can be entered that will either end one year after the current fiscal year (6/30/21), or the project end date, whichever occurs first.

This change is effective immediately. This changes should allow for improved workflow and management of sponsored awards.

Please feel free to share this with your department administrators.

 If anyone has any questions, or concerns, or wishes additional information, please let me know.

 Thank you,

Cathy Hayduke

Director, Office of Sponsored Accounting


Revised Travel Policy for Faculty and Staff 

  • Revised Travel Policy for Faculty and Staff (Coronavirus Update 6.12.20)

    Effective immediately, we will ease existing restrictions on travel deemed essential to an academic or business purpose of the University. For faculty, researchers, postdoctoral scholars and graduate students: Essential travel is defined as travel require to (1) preserve the safety of a research subject and cannot be postponed; or (2) preserve the continuity and results of a research activity and cannot be postponed.

    For faculty, researchers, postdoctoral scholars and graduate students, travel to attend professional or educational conferences is defined as non-essential. Faculty, researchers, postdoctoral scholars and graduate students with questions about whether specific proposed travel is essential, or those seeking approval to engage in essential travel, should confer first with their department chairs. Deans (or department chairs, if designated by the dean) will make a recommendation as to the essential nature of the travel request and forward that recommendation to the interim vice president for research. The VPR will make the final determination and notify both the traveler and the dean or department chair making the request. Any faculty member, researcher, postdoctoral scholar or graduate student whose essential travel is approved is required to register that travel on the University travel registry system.

NSF Application Toolkit: Standard Application Guidelines

  • Link to Answers page: https://su-jsm.atlassian.net/wiki/x/RYiVCQ

  • As of today, later sections are still under construction; however, sections through "Current and Pending Support” should prove useful now. 

  • The Biographical Sketch section and Current and Pending Support section address the significant changes to the requirements for these documents as of the current PAPPG (NSF 20-1); see 2/25/20 meeting  notes below. 
  • Active Funding Opportunities at the National Science Foundation (NSF): Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE), including:  
    • Biological Anthropology (July 20, 2020)
    • Law and Science (August 3, 2020)
    • Cultural Anthropology (August 17, 2020)
    • Security and Preparedness (August 17, 2020)
    • Accountable Institutions and Behavior (August 17, 2020)
    • Sociology (August 17, 2020)
    • Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences (August 18, 2020)
    • Economics (August 18, 2020)
    • Decision, Risk and Management Sciences (August 18, 2020)

MAY 26, 2020

In attendance: Peg Austin (CPR), Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Kathy Forrest (ASI), Heather Macknik (PAIA), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science),  Roxanne Tupper (PARCC)

cc: Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Debbie Toole (Geography), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI), Karen Cimilluca (ASI), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell)

Reminder: University's Fiscal 2020 Year-End Accounting Closing Procedures and Dates

Refer to May 19 email from Sponsored Accounting and May 15 memo from the Comptroller’s Office, which includes important information regarding requirements and deadlines to support the University’s fiscal 2020 year-end closing. Note that Sponsored Award deadlines differ from non-Sponsored deadlines.  

Reminder: Effort Reporting Certification Window is June 1-19

Overview

Certification Calendar 

Certification PeriodCertification WindowEffort Period of Performance
Spring 2020June 1, 2020 – June 19, 2020Faculty: January 1 – May 7

Staff: January 1 – May 15

Procedures

Off-campus Access to the Effort Reporting System (ERS)

  •  From ERS FAQs: ERS is an administrative function within MySlice that can only be accessed from on campus or via a secure Syracuse network. If off campus, a VPN or similar secure remote connection must be obtained to access the system. If additional assistance is needed, please on contact your DSP (technical support personal) within your home department.

Check-in on COVID-related Research and Effects of Shutdown on Active Projects

  • Watch for a "Return to Campus Research" email from Interim Vice President for Research Ramesh Raina, which all Maxwell faculty received on 5/26/20 (via the Dean's Office). 

  • All associate deans for research have been tasked with providing to the Office of Research a 1-page summary of anticipated research priorities post-COVID. Maxwell's response will suggest that research will largely look the same, although some research agendas will have expanded to take COVID-related issues into account. The summary will also acknowledge the investments we have made based on our strategic plan, our momentum (e.g., significantly increased research expenditures, new multi-year center and network grants, investment in postdocs), and our commitment to clusters. 

Maxwell Research Answers Page

Jill demoed this new internal resource, including how to:

  • Access compiled Maxwell RAN meeting notes

  • Export pages to Word and PDF (useful for Admin New Award Checklist for instance)

  • “Watch” the pages and receive notifications of updates

Please send comments, questions, and suggestions to improve on and expand the pages. 

APRIL 28, 2020

In attendance: Peg Austin (CPR), Karen Cimilluca (ASI), Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Kathy Forrest (ASI), Heather Macknik (PAIA), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Roxanne Tupper (PARCC)

cc: Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Debbie Toole (Geography), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI)

  • Welcome new member Karen Cimilluca, Assistant Director for the Aging Studies Institute

  • Introductions (including quick summary of grants-related job responsibilities) for new members

Effects of COVID-19 Shutdown on Active Projects 

In each of your units, which active projects have been affected by the shutdown and how? (e.g., requesting no-cost extension, delayed fieldwork, other requests/inquiries to sponsors)

Related reminder: Guidance for Researchers and follow-up 4/24/20 email from ADR Andrew London

  • One example from CPR of how active projects are affected: X Lab projects involving randomized controlled trials (human subjects research) have had to pause actions and activities. 

  • Several new no-cost extensions in both ASI and CPR.

  • Travel reimbursements: Many instances where faculty and GAs booked airfare for conferences, now cancelled, related to grant-funded projects. In cases where faculty have been issued airfare credits (versus refunds), questions include the following: 

    • If charged to the grant, does the credit also have to benefit the project? 

Waiting for further guidance from sponsors and OSP, but presumably yes.  

    • What if the project is ending and there are no other anticipated costs (travel or otherwise)? 

Waiting for further guidance from sponsors and OSP, but presumably the reimbursement should not come from the grant but rather another internal source such as the PI's faculty research account. The airfare credit could then be used at a later date for any research project, and grant funds could be re-budgeted to faculty summer salary, additional GA hours, etc., if appropriate for remaining effort/tasks on the project. However, this could raise concerns from faculty about having to pay from faculty research funds expenses that would otherwise be covered by a grant (current or future). 

Professional Development Opportunities in Research Administration

All: Please email Jill with information about the kinds of grants administration PD you have participated in and would recommend. Discussed initial leads, including OSP Awareness Sessions, Excel Training and Certification Program, LinkedIn Learning, SRAI, and NCURA. See Professional Development Opportunities in Research Administration Answers page for details.  

MARCH 24, 2020

In attendance: Peg Austin (CPR), Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Kathy Forrest (ASI), Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Heather Macknik (PAIA), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Jackie Nocevski (Campbell), Roxanne Tupper (PARCC), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI)

cc: Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Debbie Toole (Geography), Amy Schmidt (CCE)

  •  Welcome new member Jackie Nocevski, Administrative Assistant (budget, grants, major events) in the Campbell Institute 

SU COVID-19 Guidance for Researchers 

Guidance for Researchers and follow-up Maxwell email of 3/24/20 (appended  below). Important takeaways:  

  • Guidance applies to both faculty and graduate students conducting research.

  • Researchers should consider all ongoing research projects, both externally and internally funded.

  • Jill can help to comb through the University and sponsor guidance as questions arise. 

Subject: RE: Guidance on Research / Please Circulate to All Faculty, Graduate Students 

From: Andrew S London <anlondon@maxwell.syr.edu> 
Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2020 4:59 PM
To: Andrew S London <anlondon@maxwell.syr.edu>; Douglas V Armstrong <dvarmstr@maxwell.syr.edu>; Stuart S Rosenthal <ssrosent@maxwell.syr.edu>; Thomas A Perreault <taperrea@maxwell.syr.edu>; Norman Alan Kutcher <nakutche@maxwell.syr.edu>; William D Coplin <wdcoplin@maxwell.syr.edu>; Matthew Cleary <macleary@maxwell.syr.edu>; Prema Ann Kurien <pkurien@maxwell.syr.edu>; Renee de Nevers <denevers@maxwell.syr.edu>; Brian D Taylor <bdtaylor@maxwell.syr.edu>; Robert Bifulco Jr <rbifulco@maxwell.syr.edu>
Cc: Jill S Ferguson <jsfergus@maxwell.syr.edu>

 Maxwell Research Community,

 In accordance with the recent Guidance for Researchers from the Syracuse University Office of Research, the following is intended to provide additional information to assist with next steps for all ongoing research in Maxwell:

 For the purposes of assessing and managing impacts due to COVID-19, ongoing research falls into one of four categories, listed below. Principal investigators (PIs) should be certain about which categories their research activities fall into and thus the appropriate course of action for all project personnel, including faculty, staff, graduate students, and undergraduate students. For any project or activity where the determination is unclear, please contact Jill Ferguson or Andrew London in the Dean’s Office.

1.    Essential campus-based research

Effective immediately, PIs must scale back research activities to a minimum and report the essential research activities for approval to remain operational.  

2.    Non-essential campus-based research

Effective immediately, PIs must pause all research activities conducted by all project personnel (faculty, staff, and students) until further notice.  

3.    Non-essential human subjects research involving in-person data collection activities

Effective immediately, PIs must pause all research activities conducted by all project personnel (faculty, staff, and students) until further notice.  

4.   Research that can be conducted remotely (including human subjects research that limits participant interactions to online or remote communication, telephone contact, remote monitoring, remote data collection or secondary data analysis)

May continue as before

For any other questions about the impact of COVID-19 on research (e.g., late applications, salaries and stipends, travel, conference grants, no-cost extensions), please email your department/center research administrator, OSP research administrator (if externally funded), and Jill Ferguson in the Dean’s Office.

 Continued best of luck with your research, and take care,

Andrew

Dean’s Office Summer Project Assistantship Application Deadline

Applications due April 17

Administrator New Award Checklist: Current Final Version Date 3/24/20

Final version (dated 3/24/2020) posted in Word and PDF versions to MS Teams under “Files” and to the shared Dropbox folder.

  • Is there a better (i.e., more easily and regularly accessible) way to share documents and other resources? Current options include: Dropbox, MS Teams, and the Collab (Maxwell shared) drive 

FEBRUARY 25, 2020

In attendance: Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Kathy Forrest (ASI), Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office), Roxanne Tupper (PARCC), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI), Peg Austin (CPR)

cc: Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Heather Macknik (PAIA), Debbie Toole (Geography), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Juanita Horan (Moynihan)

Off-campus Access to the Effort Reporting System (ERS)

From ERS FAQs: ERS is an administrative function within MySlice that can only be accessed from on campus or via a secure Syracuse network. If off campus, a VPN or similar secure remote connection must be obtained to access the system. If additional assistance is needed, please on contact your DSP (technical support personal) within your home department.

Summer Project Assistantship Programs across Maxwell

  • Select Maxwell units including the Center for Policy Research (CPR), the Aging Studies Institute (ASI), and the Dean’s Office offer assistantships for summer projects. Faculty members apply for this internal funding to support a graduate student to work with the faculty member to develop a research proposal that the faculty member will submit to an external funder.

  • Requests for proposals will go out over the next few weeks, with decisions in April. Faculty affiliated with units that have a SPA program should submit their proposals to that unit; all other faculty should submit proposals to the Dean’s Office program.

  • The funding amount per assistantship for summer 2020 is $2,000. The graduate student is hired through payroll at an hourly rate; assume a fringe benefit rate of 8.5% (FICA only), though it may not be charged. In that case, you can add a few additional hours to spend the full amount of the assistantship. 

NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (NSF-20)

  • NSF PAPPG (NSF 20-1): NSF announced the issuance of the revised Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (NSF 20-1). The new PAPPG will be effective for proposals submitted on or due, and awards made, on or after June 1, 2020. Significant changes include a new NSF approved format for preparation of biosketches and current and pending support documents.

 NIH FY2020 Salary Cap 

  • (not discussed, but FYI): NIH FY2020 Salary Cap: NIH Notice NOT-OD-20-065 increases the Executive Level II salary cap to $197,300.

Administrator New Award Checklist: Revisions to Draft 

The current draft is here, including the following revisions based on meeting discussion: 

  • Deleted sections on debarment and suspension as this process is an OSP/HR function.

  • Deleted sections on intellectual property agreements (IPAs) as this is now an annual process versus by project. As with financial conflict of interest (FCOI) disclosures, OSP monitors IPAs and alerts the faculty/staff and department administrator if lapsed. 

Jill will continue to circulate and revise, aiming for a final version to approve at the March meeting.

Graduate Research Assistantship Stipend Levels

Graduate research assistantship stipend levels seem to be the only Maxwell-specific rate that research administrators and faculty need to know in addition to OSP’s Syracuse University Identifiers and Financial Information.

Holly Johnson sent the AY2020-2021 rates to the Maxwell Admin Assistants distribution list on 2/25/20.

All: Please share with your research faculty for use in proposal budgets. 

JANUARY 28, 2020

In attendance: Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Kathy Forrest (ASI), Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office), Roxanne Tupper (PARCC), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI), Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Peg Austin (CPR)

cc: Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Heather Macknik (PAIA), Debbie Toole (Geography), Amy Schmidt (CCE)

Staffing Updates 

  • La’retta Castro’s last day with the Aging Studies Institute (ASI) was December 21. The job listing for the Assistant Director position can be found here: https://www.sujobopps.com/postings/83463

  • Sunju Raybeck’s last day with the Campbell Institute of Global Affairs was January 28. The job listing for the Administrative Assistant (S4) position can be found here: https://www.sujobopps.com/postings/83525

Policy Review: Special Considerations for Graduate Assistants – Fringe Benefits and Tuition

 https://sponsoredprograms.syr.edu/develop-and-submit-proposals/the-specifics/budget-development/preparing-your-budget/personnel-compensation/fringe-benefits/ 

There are two fringe benefit rates for Graduate Assistants.

1) The federal rate must be used on all federal awards and on non-federal awards where tuition is a direct charge. The federal rate may be charged on some non-federal awards provided that the student hasn’t previously received tuition support using the non-profit/foundation fringe benefit rate. In cases where the non-profit/foundation rate is waived, no tuition may be provided to the student.

2) The non-profit/ foundation rate may be used for graduate assistants proposed on non-federal awards for which tuition is not direct charged, but is an allowable cost. The higher fringe benefit rate may not be used for sponsors that disallow tuition as a direct cost.

 University Fringe Benefit Rates FY2019

https://bfas.syr.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/University-Fringe-Benefit-Rates-for-Fiscal-2020.pdf

 Jill is detailing clarification on this topic to disseminate soon and discuss again at the February meeting. 

Administrator New Award Checklist: Revisions to Draft

All: Please review (marking edits, comments and questions with Track Changes) the current draft of a proposed Administrator New Award Checklist, saved here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1eknn2ky5mbcklu/AAD8jusLG2NDx1o6UTZd1YRda?dl=0

DECEMBER 17, 2019

In attendance: Peg Austin (CPR), Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Heather Macknik (PAIA), Sunju Raybeck (Campbell), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Kathy Forrest (ASI), Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office)

cc: Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Debbie Toole (Geography), La’retta Castro (ASI), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Roxanne Tupper (PARCC), Anthony Terrinoni (ASPI)

Initial Efforts to Develop Administrator New Award Checklist 

Award Acceptance and Project Startup

The action item from the November meeting was to work toward a shared resource for initiating a new award at the department level. During the December meeting, we discussed the process of award review, negotiation, and acceptance/execution in OSP. We identified key differences in the SU process compared to that represented in the VCU checklist example.

We noted that compliance considerations (e.g., IRB-approval for human subjects research, financial conflict of interest [FCOI] disclosure, responsible conduct of research [RCR] certification) should be incorporated into the Maxwell checklist.

Next step: Jill will make next-round revisions and redistribute to the group for comment. The following documents (saved to the Maxwell RAN shared folder) remain the basis developing this internal resource document; other examples are welcome and encouraged.

  • OSP’s Award Management Aids for PIs and Support Staff

  • VCU’s Administrator New Award Set-Up Checklist

Maxwell Internal Funding Programs: 2019 Awards from the Appleby-Mosher Fund for Faculty Research and Roscoe Martin Fund for Dissertation and Thesis Research

For the 2019 cycle, 23 faculty members received Appleby-Mosher funding, and 43 graduate students received Roscoe Martin funding.

Jill is working with the Maxwell Communications Team on a formal announcement/news article. If you would like a list of your unit’s awardees in the meantime, email Jill.

SU Office of Foundation Relations

FYI re: SU Office of Foundation Relations: https://corporationsandfoundations.syr.edu/about/office-of-foundation-relations/services/

Institutional Review Board for Human Subjects Research 

FYI re: Institutional Review Board approval for human subjects research: https://researchintegrity.syr.edu/human-research/

NOVEMBER 26, 2019

In attendance: Amy Schmidt (CCE), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Roxanne Tupper (PARCC), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR), Kathy Forrest (ASI), Jill Ferguson (Dean’s Office)

cc: Peg Austin (CPR), Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Heather Macknik (PAIA), Sunju Raybeck (Campbell), Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Debbie Toole (Geography), La’retta Castro (ASI)

Report from National Science Foundation (NSF) 2019 Fall Grants Conference (Jill)

Presentation slides and webcasts available here.

Policy Update

  • A new version of the Proposal and Award Policy and Procedure Guide (PAPPG) is typically posted in October with an implementation date of January. However, this year NSF received a significant number of comments in response to the draft PAPPG, one-third of which related to the Current and Pending Support form and instructions. While NSF works through those comments and makes additional clarifications to the draft PAPPG, posting and implementation dates for the new version have not been set. So, for now, continue to follow the PAPPG (NSF 19-1).  

  • In the draft PAPPG, NSF announced that it will only accept PDFs for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support components that are generated through use of an NSF-approved format. NSF has selected SCiENcv as an approved format and encourages faculty to begin using the NSF template in SciENcv.  SciENcv (Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae) is an online tool developed by a federal interagency working group that helps researchers create a research profile.

Proposal Preparation

  • For the Biographical Sketch, NSF policy (PAPPG, Chapter II.C.2.f(i)(d)) allows for up to five distinct examples of synergistic activities.  Each item must be one activity and must not be followed by a listing of additional sub-activities.  As an example, you may summarize that you served on ten review panels, however, you should not list the specific panels for that distinct example. You may also be in contact with the cognizant Program Officer listed in the solicitation to which you are submitting your proposal for additional guidance on this subject.

  • For the Budget Justification, NSF guidance for proposed travel is that the justification should be “itemized, specified, and justified." Q: Should the justification be as specific as rates for airfare, hotel, per diem, etc.? A: Reviewers pay attention to the budget, so being specific is important; however, consider timing—i.e., it is reasonable to estimate next-year travel (and so itemize) but probably not travel planned for three years from now (and so generalize).

  • Voluntary uncommitted cost sharing (e.g., release time) should be described in the Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources attachment, not in the Budget Justification or Project Description. Voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited. See PAPPG, Chapter II.C2.i.   

  • Letters of Collaboration should use the template language provided in the PAPPG and must not recommend or endorse the PI or project. All relevant collaborative activities should be described in the Project Description, or in the Facilities statement. A Letter of Support is endorsement and is not allowed. The spirit of the guidance is that the letter use the template language only, with the level and nature of collaboration described elsewhere. 

  • In the Results from Prior NSF Support section, you can list awards more than 5 years past, but only those within 5 years are required. For large, collaborative proposals, NSF acknowledges that it can be a challenge to include all required information within the 15-page Project Description when there are numerous projects that must be summarized (with intellectual merit and broader impacts).

 Award Management

  • There are real and potentially severe consequences of overdue reports. An overdue report prevents NSF approval of all actions (funded and administrative) for the subject award and any associated awards for both the PI and any co-PIs. Delayed submission can impact other PIs' awards—especially critical during the 4th quarter of the fiscal year. NSF has started to send emails to VPs of Research listing the overdue reports, essentially asking: What are you going to do about these, and what are you going to do to prevent this from happening in the future? 

  • For all reports, submit early: The program officer must review and approve the report by the due date. There is a 30-day grace window, but don't take it. 

  • Submitting a final report means that you have completed the project. If you haven't completed the project, don't submit the final report. Ask for a no-cost extension; talk to your program officer to see what your options are. 

  • A no-cost extension is always about the scope, not about the money. While it is okay to mention funds remaining in the request, the fact that funds remain should not be the driving reason for the request to extend. Be mindful of the original scope of the project or the scope that was approved. A project with $0 will not be extended: The project is over. 

Award Acceptance and Project Startup

Review and comment on OSP resource:

Award Management Aids for PIs and Support Staff

Can/should we further develop this as a Maxwell shared resource? Are there other models? 

  • Agreed that collectively we will work on developing a checklist. Jill will circulate a starting point.

Additional OSP guidance to consider and possibly incorporate:

Clarification on Manually Terminating Positions in Payroll

Discussion for clarification from last meeting         

  •  FYI/Reminder: For payroll, positions no longer automatically terminate as of the end date of a grant account (or other fund account). Be sure to manually terminate to avoid having charges continue to post past the end date.

OCTOBER 22, 2019

In attendance: Sunju Raybeck (Campbell), Amy Schmidt (CCE), Jacquie Meyer (Political Science), Juanita Horan (Moynihan), Peg Austin (CPR), Katrina Fiacchi (CPR)

cc: Debbie Toole (Geography), La’retta Castro (ASI), Kathy Forrest (ASI), Alexandra Punch (Lerner), Heather Macknik (PAIA)

End Dates on Fund Accounts

  • Grant accounts (like other fund accounts) no longer automatically terminate as of the end date. Be sure to manually terminate to avoid having charges continue to post past the end date.

Forward Funding

  • Forward funding on a sponsored project enables the PI to begin spending prior to having a fully-executed award in place or to incur expenses before the start date of an expected award.

  • In the event the anticipated award is not received or costs incurred are subsequently determined to be unallowable by the sponsor or University, forward-funded costs will be transferred to the departmental or unit chartstring provided at the time of request.

  • [update 11/12/19:] Peggy confirmed with Caroline McMullin that OSP RAs receive a weekly report of projects in forward-funded status.

  • [update 11/12/19:] For a list of forward-funded projects, go to MySlice -> SAMTool -> Award Summary Report; “FF” in the second column (Forward Funded Indicator) denotes forward-funding status.  

  • To our knowledge, there is no systematic monitoring in OSP/OSA of forward-funded projects. As a best practice, schedule regular reminders to follow up with the PI and OSP for a status of the award document.

Maxwell Internal Funding Programs

  • Appleby-Mosher and Roscoe Martin applications are due November 18. The Calls for Proposals are attached.

  • Going forward, Dean’s Office funding opportunities (and others) will be shared via the Maxevents listserv in addition to chairs and directors distribution lists.

  • Tenth Decade Project: Four new projects were recently funded. The current round of this internal funding opportunity has a rolling deadline. The Call for Proposals, initially distributed in March 2019, is attached. 

  • Tracking: We discussed the various ways units track (or do not track) research funds awarded to faculty from the Dean’s Office and other internal funding programs. At minimum, it is helpful for RAs to be notified when faculty in their units receive internal funding. 

Campus-wide Programs and Initiatives

Award Acceptance and Project Startup

We tabled this topic for the next meeting, both given the productive conversation noted above and to hopefully include additional group members in this discussion in November.