PROGRAM: SBE Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (SBE DDRIG)

OBJECTIVES: This program provides funding to doctoral students to improve the quality of their dissertation research. These grants provide funds for items not normally available through the student’s university, for students to undertake significant data-gathering projects, and for students to conduct field and archival research in settings away from their campus that would not otherwise be possible.

Proposals are judged on the basis of their scientific merit, including the theoretical importance of the research question and the appropriateness of the proposed data and methodology to be used in addressing the question. The following Programs are most active in support of dissertation research: Archaeology; Cultural Anthropology; Documenting Endangered Languages; Geography and Spatial Sciences; Linguistics; Physical Anthropology; Decision, Risk & Management Science; Economics; Law and Social Science; Methodology, Measurement, and Statistics; Political Science; Science, Technology and Society; Sociology; Research on Science and Technology Surveys and Statistics Program; Science of Science and Innovation Policy.

The awards are not intended to provide the full costs of a student’s doctoral dissertation research. Funds may be used for valid research expenses which include, but are not limited to, conducting field research in settings away from campus that would not otherwise be possible, data collection and sample survey costs, payments to subjects or informants, specialized research equipment, analysis and services not otherwise available, supplies, travel to archives, travel to specialized collections and facilities or field research locations, and partial living expenses for conducting necessary research away from the student’s U.S. academic institution.

ELIGIBILITY RESTRICTIONS: Proposals must be submitted through regular university channels by the dissertation advisor(s) on behalf of the graduate student who is at the point of initiating or already conducting dissertation research. The student must be enrolled at a U.S. institution, but need not be a U.S. citizen. Proposals from women, minorities, and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged.

DEADLINE: Please see the program guidelines for specific deadlines.

FUNDING INFORMATION: NSF anticipates providing $2.5 million to support 200-300 dissertation awards. Due to the variation in research techniques and needs across the social, behavioral, and economic sciences, individual programs vary widely in award sizes. Please consult the program’s webpage or program director for specific information.

In general, grants are awarded for up to 24 months. Funds are to be used exclusively for necessary expenses incurred in the actual conduct of the dissertation research. These funds may not be used as a stipend for the student, for tuition, textbooks, notebooks, journals, or for the typing, reproduction, or publication costs of the student’s dissertation. Although stipends are not permitted, an allowance for expenses during time away from the student’s U.S. academic institution may be allowed. Funds may be requested for research assistants only in special circumstances, which should be carefully justified. Many of the limitations are program specific.

AGENCY CONTACT: For a detailed list of cognizant program officers, please consult the SBE Doctoral Dissertation Contact List: http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/ddrig_contacts.jsp.

For agency contacts and the complete program guidelines please consult: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2011/nsf11547/nsf11547.htm

REMARKS: Applications must be submitted electronically by the dissertation advisor using either the NSF FastLane system or Grants.gov. For more information about FastLane, or to register as a FastLane user, please contact India Adams (adamsi@bu.edu) or A. B. Effgen (abeffgen@bu.edu) in the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) at x3-4365. Information about Grants.gov for BU Investigators can be obtained on the OSP web site at: http://www.bu.edu/osp/proposal-preparation/electronic-submission/. In addition, for investigators interested in submitting proposals via Grants.gov, NSF has published the NSF Grants.gov Application Guide which may be found online at: http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/docs/grantsgovguide.pdf. Investigators should contact the OSP Assistant Director assigned to their school or department as soon as possible to coordinate submission through either FastLane or Grants.gov.

Complete program guidelines and application material (NSF 11-547 and NSF GPG 11-1) may be obtained from the web site listed above or from the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP). Please distribute this notice to any faculty or staff members who might be interested in the information. For more information, please contact the OSP at X3-4365 or ospinfo@bu.edu, or visit the OSP web site at http://www.bu.edu/osp.

PROGRAM: Virtual Reality Technologies for Research and Education in Obesity and Diabetes (R01, R21)

OBJECTIVES: This program provides funding to support the study of the capabilities of Virtual Reality (VR) technologies to visualize outcomes, teach, motivate, and to extend the health care and learning environments, in order to foster desirable eating, physical activity, self-care, and other health-related behaviors necessary for prevention and management of obesity and diabetes. This program encourages multidisciplinary projects drawing on expertise in VR technologies and biomedical behavioral and pedagogical sciences. The overall goal is to develop the potential of VR technologies as research tools for behavioral science-oriented studies in diabetes and obesity, and as practical tools for clinical and public health-level prevention and management of obesity and diabetes.

The program is seeking multidisciplinary collaborations between the technology industry and academia, and among researchers with diverse expertise in biomedical sciences (such as endocrinology, nutrition, and exercise physiology), behavioral science and pedagogical disciplines, and computer sciences including VR technologies. Projects will need to be clearly defined with regard to: research questions, technical approach, VR platforms, target population (by age, health condition, psychological status, education or literacy level, etc), and research outcomes. Many projects can be usefully conducted taking advantage of already existing tools, games, and software, although there is also a need to develop unique technologies.

General research topics include the following:

• Using VR to foster desirable eating, physical activity, and other health-related behaviors
• Using VR to motivate by “fast-forwarding” to the future
• Utilizing motivational and teaching aspects of VR technology
• Using VR to extend the availability and capacity of health care providers
• Social networking capabilities of VR

Please see the program announcement below for further program details.

DEADLINES:
R01: February 5, June 5, October 5 until May 8, 2014
R21: February 16, June 16, October 16 until May 8, 2014

FUNDING INFORMATION: These programs will utilize the NIH Research Project Grant (R01), and the NIH Exploratory/Developmental (R21) award mechanisms. Because the nature and scope of the proposed research will vary from application to application, it is anticipated that the size and duration of each award will also vary.

For the R01 program, application budgets are not limited, but need to reflect actual needs of the proposed project. Awards can be submitted for a project period of up to 5 years under this program.

For the R21 program, direct costs are limited to $275,000 over a two-year project period, with no more than $200,000 in direct costs allowed in any single year.

AGENCY CONTACT:
Abby G. Ershow, Sc.D.
Division of Cardiovascular Sciences
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 8160 (MSC 7956)
Bethesda, Maryland 20892
Telephone: (301) 435-0550
Fax: (301) 480-3667
Email: ErshowA@nhlbi.nih.gov
Web:  R01: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-11-211.html
R21: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-11-212.html

REMARKS: NIH requires that applications to this program be submitted electronically through Grants.gov (http://www.grants.gov). After submission via Grants.gov, applications will be retrieved and processed by the NIH Commons system (https://commons.era.nih.gov/commons/index.jsp). In order to prepare a responsive application, PIs should download both the complete program guidelines (R01: PA-11-211, R21: PA-11-212) and the corresponding application package from Grants.gov as well as the NIH Grants.gov Application Guide (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/424/index.htm). PIs must also be registered Commons users.

For more information about Grants.gov and the NIH Commons, or to register as a Commons user, please contact either India Adams (adamsi@bu.edu) or A. B. Effgen (abeffgen@bu.edu) in the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) at x3-4365. In addition, please contact the OSP Assistant Director assigned to your school or department as soon as possible to coordinate submission through the Grants.gov system.

Complete program guidelines and application material may be obtained from the web site listed above or from the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP). Please distribute this notice to any faculty or staff members who might be interested in the information. For more information, please contact the OSP at X3-4365 or ospinfo@bu.edu, or visit the OSP web site at http://www.bu.edu/osp.

From:     Ara Tahmassian, Associate Vice President, Research Compliance

Re:         New Export Control Certifications – Visiting Scholars

As you may know, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services recently issued new requirements in connection with obtaining certain visas for faculty and staff. Specifically, the I-129 Form (used in connection with H-1B visas for temporary workers, O-1 visas for persons of extraordinary ability, and TN (Trade NAFTA) visas) includes a certification concerning export controls. For the first time, the applicant (the University) must certify that the potential employee will not be given access to export-controlled technology and/or technical data except as permitted by export control laws. The certification is included in the new version of the ISSO intake form available at http://www.bu.edu/isso/forms/form_a.pdf.

In order to submit visa applications that are subject to this requirement, the University must rely on those in the academic department to assess the incoming researcher’s work. Specifically, the revised Request for Visa-Related Documents for an International Scholar (Form A) includes three new paragraphs concerning export controls. In addition, the revised Scholar Information (Form B) includes one new paragraph concerning export controls. Those additional certifications are included in the forms available at http://www.bu.edu/isso/administrators/checklist/index.html.  

In addition, some colleges and departments within the University are, by the nature of their work, more likely than other departments to engage in research that involves export-controlled technology or technical data. Those colleges or departments include Engineering, Earth Science, Computer Science, Computational Science, Cognitive and Neural Systems, Math, Physics, the Center for Remote Sensing, the Center for Space Physics and the Photonics Center. The Departmental Host from those departments are required to provide an additional certification as the individual who is most likely to anticipate the particulars of the international scholar’s work. That certification is included in paragraph 14 of Form A, which is available at http://www.bu.edu/isso/forms/form_a.pdf.

We encourage you to review the materials concerning export controls on the Office of Research Compliance website (http://www.bu.edu/orc/export/) for additional information. In particular, we encourage you to review the University’s commitment to openness in research (http://www.bu.edu/orc/export/laws-and-open-access/) as well as the information concerning the fundamental research exclusion (http://www.bu.edu/orc/export/exclusions/). As we explain there, for most technology and technical data:

The export control regulatory schemes acknowledge the importance of open, fundamental research at universities. Basic and applied research in science and engineering conducted on campus resulting in information that is ordinarily published and shared broadly within the scientific community is generally considered to be “fundamental research” and is excluded from export license requirements.

        *             *             *

In order to be considered “fundamental research,” the research cannot be subject to restrictions on the publication of the information resulting from the research and cannot exclude participation of foreign nationals. If the University or the researcher accepts broader restrictions on the publication of the results – whether formally (such as in a sponsored research agreement) or informally (such as a “handshake” agreement) – or has agreed to accept specific national security controls, then the fundamental research exclusion will not apply.

If you have any questions regarding the ISSO policies, procedures and forms, please contact ISSO. If you have any questions concerning export controls please do not hesitate to contact us.

Updated daily, the IRIS Database currently contains over 9,000 active federal and private funding opportunities in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities. In addition to funding opportunities for BU faculty, the IRIS Database also contains fellowships and scholarships for graduate and undergraduate students. Users can search IRIS by sponsor, deadline date, keyword, and other criteria.

IRIS’s Alert Service enables students, staff, and researchers at Boston University to create their own IRIS search profiles. Users can select their preferred search frequency, delivery method (e-mail or Web), and keywords. The program runs the user’s profile against the IRIS database and delivers the search results automatically via e-mail or the Web.

The IRIS Expertise Service allows Boston University researchers to create detailed electronic CVs (“biosketches”) and post them to a Web-accessible database for viewing by colleagues at other institutions, program officers at federal and private funding agencies, and private companies.

IRIS is now available from or through computers at both the Charles River and Medical Campuses. For immediate information on IRIS and its services, please consult: www.library.illinois.edu/iris/. Staff in the CAS Dean’s Office and the Office of Corporate & Foundation Relations will soon be offering support in IRIS and other subscription search engines available to all faculty and students.

If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact Alex Effgen (abeffgen@bu.edu) or the OSP Assistant Director assigned to your school or department at X3-4365.

• Any further NIH activity to implement, apply, or act pursuant to the NIH Guidelines;
• Issuance of all pending competing, and noncompeting continuation hESC awards and contracts;
• Peer review of all pending competing hESC applications and proposals;
• All review of hESC lines for inclusion on the NIH Human Embryonic Stem Cell Registry under the NIH Guidelines. The Registry is not accepting submissions of information about hESC lines for the purpose of establishing eligibility for funding under the NIH Guidelines;
• The February 23, 2010, proposal to revise the NIH Guidelines, FR_Notice_2-23-2010.

More information, including the NIH Director’s response to the injunction, at: NIH Stem Cell Information.

The elimination of the error correction window does not affect the two-business-day application viewing window (i.e. the time an applicant has to view the electronic application image in eRA Commons upon NIH’s receipt of an error-free application). Applicants will be able to view their application and reject and submit a corrected application prior to the submission deadline. NIH, AHRQ and NIOSH encourage applicants to submit in advance of the due date to take advantage of the opportunity to correct errors and warnings and to review the application in the eRA Commons before the deadline.

The complete notice (NOT-OD-10-103) may be obtained at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-10-123.html