Research Revealed: Mentorship Experts, Research Funding, and More

Spotlight

Build Collaborative Relationships with Policymakers

Dr. Adam Seth Levine, co-founder and president of research4impact, spoke to Boston University faculty, students, and staff to share best practices for scholars seeking to forge new connections to solve complex social problems. Watch video

Meet Some of BU’s Research Training and Mentorship Experts

All are invited to an open house on Thursday, August 10 showcasing the services offered to PhD students, postdocs, and faculty by BU Professional Development & Postdoctoral Affairs (PDPA). The event will provide an overview of the office’s expanded portfolio of resources, programs, events, and peer-reviewed research. Learn more and register on PDPA’s website.

Research Funding

Sony Research Award Program

BU faculty are encouraged to apply for the Sony Research Award Program. With awards up to $150,000 per year, the program funds researchers pioneering new technologies in information technology, devices and materials, and biomedical and life sciences. The internal deadline to submit proposals to BU Sponsored Programs and Technology Development is Friday, September 1.

Sustainable Investing Practices

BU’s Impact Measurement & Allocation Program (IMAP) seeks proposals from BU investigators that aim to explore how sustainable investing practices can contribute to a more sustainable future, with a focus on ESG (environmental, social, and governance) metrics within the financial industry. IMAP is currently prioritizing work focusing on climate risk, carbon accounting, and human capital. Proposals are reviewed year-round.

Reducing Inequality in Youth Outcomes

The William T. Grant Institutional Challenge Grant encourages university-based research institutes, schools, and centers to build sustained research-practice partnerships with public agencies or nonprofit organizations to reduce inequality in youth outcomes. The award provides an initial $650k over three years, with the opportunity to apply for a two-year continuation grant of $350k, for a total of $1M in funding over five years. The next deadline for applications is Wednesday, September 13.

Campus Climate Lab

The BU Institute for Global Sustainability, in collaboration with BU Sustainability and the Office of Research, invites research proposals from faculty and graduate student teams to generate new knowledge on the impacts, adaptation, and/or mitigation of climate change that can be implemented at BU and beyond. Information sessions will be offered the week of September 18. Apply by Friday, September 29.

More Funding Opportunities

Grant Management

#ICYMI: BU Grant Proposals are Subject to Internal Deadlines

All administrative components for proposal submissions must be finalized five business days before the sponsor deadline and final proposals must be submitted in their entirety to BU Sponsored Programs three business days before the sponsor deadline. Proposals that do not meet these internal deadlines are at risk of not being successfully submitted given the high volume of proposals processed. Learn more in the Research Admin Blog.

More Grant Management

Ethics & Compliance

TikTok Ban on Devices used for Federal Contracts

In June, the US government issued an interim rule for federal contracts prohibiting the use of the social networking service TikTok and other applications from parent company ByteDance Limited on any devices used for federal contract work, including personally-owned devices.

The interim rule applies to federal contracts and subcontracts awarded or modified on or after June 2, 2023. Principal investigators with awards subject to the rule will be responsible for ensuring that TikTok and related apps are not installed and will not be installed on any device used in any way in the performance of the project, including reviewing emails and performing project-related work.

As specific awards are modified to reflect the ban, investigators will receive a communication from the University asking them to acknowledge their compliance with the federal regulation. For general questions about this federal guidance, please contact Kate Mellouk, Associate Vice President, Research Compliance, at kateski@bu.edu. For technical assistance, please contact ithelp@bu.edu.

Updated Animal Per Diem Rates

Updated animal per diem rates can be found on the Office of Research website. These rates reflect the costs for fiscal year 2024, beginning July 1, 2023, as well as proposed costs for the next four years. Please use these projected costs when preparing proposal budgets.

More Research Compliance

Communication & Dissemination

An Introduction to Promoting Your Research

A new guide to promoting research provides an overview of the proactive steps BU investigators can take to promote their work, including defining the audience, writing the pitch, sharing with networks, and reaching out to journalists.

Your PR Team, Standing By

In advance of a paper publication or other research milestone, it can be invaluable to loop in communications professionals around the University so they can help you prepare a coordinated promotional campaign. Communicators embedded in schools, colleges, centers, and departments are a great first contact, and they have a broad view of the channels and resources available to help you get the word out about your work.

Looking for Your Research Photos

Do you have photos of your research, research team, research images, research specimens, or technology? Share them with the Office of Research for a chance to have your work highlighted in an upcoming newsletter.

More Promoting Research

Notes & News

Office of Research Launches New Website: We’re excited to announce the launch of our new website, which introduces improved navigation, a searchable database of BU research facilities and equipment that can be filtered by campus and topic, and an updated listing of BU research centers and institutes. We continue to strive to make the site a robust resource of use to the entire research community. Please send questions and feedback to research@bu.edu.

Associate Provost and William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor of Computer Science Azer Bestavros, Computing & Data Sciences (CDS); Professor Ran Canetti, Computing & Data Sciences (CDS); Clinical Associate Professor Andy Sellars, Law (LAW); and Associate Professor Mayank Varia, Computing & Data Sciences (CDS), all contributed to the newly released United Nations Big Data 2023 Guide on Privacy-Enhancing Technology for Official Statistics.

Assistant Professor Jonathan Buonocore, Environmental Health (SPH), and Assistant Professor Mary Willis, Epidemiology (SPH), were awarded this year’s Sustainability Research Grant, jointly funded by the BU Institute for Global Sustainability and SPH, to launch the Energy & Equity Exposures Database for Population Health.

The Research Council of Norway awarded more than $1.1 million to a research team studying the role of digital transformation in Norway’s shift to clean energy, with a focus on its growing data center industry. The team is jointly led by researchers at BU and the Norwegian University of Science & Technology, and includes professors Ayse Coskun, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ENG) and director of the BU Center for Information Systems & Engineering, and Benjamin Sovacool, Earth & Environment (CAS) and director of the BU Institute for Global Sustainability.

The iLet Bionic Pancreas, first developed 20 years ago in the BU lab of Professor Ed Damiano, Biomedical Engineering (ENG), has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration and is now commercially available.

The 2023 Anthony Janetos Climate Action Prize was awarded to Carly Golden, a PhD student who’s part of a Serrano Lab team that implemented sustainable lab practices to reduce biomedical waste on the BU Medical Campus as a Campus Climate Lab project.

Professor Mark Grinstaff, Biomedical Engineering (ENG), Chemistry (CAS), and director of the BUnano Center, won the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Centenary Prize.

Professor Harold Park, Mechanical Engineering (ENG), is a member of one of the 31 winning teams of the Department of Defense Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative Award. Each team will receive an average of $7.1 million over the next five years to support their research.

Assistant Professor Pawel Przytycki, Computing & Data Sciences (CDS), has been identified as an early-career innovator in cancer research and was awarded a $50,000 grant from the American Cancer Society and the BU-BMC Cancer Center.

Associate Professor Robert Reinhart, Psychological & Brain Sciences (CAS), received the 2023 Innovator Award from the International Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Foundation for research seeking a novel OCD biomarker and treatment using personalized noninvasive neuromodulation.

Professor Benjamin Sovacool, Earth & Environment (CAS) and director of the BU Institute for Global Sustainability, received $500k from the Sloan Foundation to fund new research on renewable energy justice. He also is one of the first joint research appointments through BU and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s master agreement for the University Partnership Program, along with IGS Executive Director Rebecca Pearl-Martinez.

Assistant Professor Carl Streed, Medicine (CAMED), received the 2023 Excellence in LGBTQ Health Award from the American Medical Association.

Professor Xin Zhang, Mechanical Engineering (ENG), received the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Per Bruel Gold Medal for Noise Control and Acoustics and the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society Technical Achievement Award.

Events & Trainings

Trainings and seminars for BU’s research community.

Aug 10: Professional Development & Postdoctoral Affairs Open House

Aug 17: Reflecting on One Year of MPOX Response

Aug 29: Neuroscience of the Everyday World Conference

Past Events

Video recordings from events recently added to our past event archive.

Trainings & How-to

Seminars & Events

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