Updates from Sponsored Programs to BU’s research community.
Change in Advance Account Policy and IPAR Form
Effective immediately, Sponsored Programs will be setting up advance accounts with $0 dollars and limited to 6 months. Expenses charged to advance accounts will reflect a negative balance in SAC until the agreement is received, and the award budget entered into the system. These changes are being implemented in response to shifts in the Federal […]
BU Information Security Update on Federal Research Requirements: Shared Computing Cluster now meets CMMC Level 1
Federal sponsors are increasingly requiring researchers to comply with stringent cybersecurity standards like the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publications 800-171 or 800-53. Additionally, the Department of Defense (DOD) now requires some research to comply with its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program. Boston University provides infrastructure to help meet some of […]
Closure of Mouse Assisted Reproductive Technologies (MART) Core
Due to availability of comparable commercial alternatives and low utilization, the Mouse Assisted Reproductive Technologies (MART) Core will be closing at the end of 2025 on December 19, prior to intersession. The Animal Science Center (ASC) will continue to assist in neonatal rederivations or caesarean rederivations, as needed, to meet health status requirements for our different […]
Department Administrator Forum: Advance Accounts
Hosted by Sponsored Programs. We invite all Boston University staff involved in Research Administration to join the Department Administrator (DA) Forum on November 13 from 10:30am – 12:00pm. This session will provide a comprehensive overview of Advance Accounts and recent updates to BU Policy. This session offers an invaluable opportunity for professional development, collaboration, and direct access […]
How Might the Federal Government Shutdown Affect BU?
Student aid will continue and researchers should work on existing grants, but new awards might be delayed.
Government Shutdown – What to Know
TO: Principal Investigators, Deans, Associate Deans for Research, Center Directors, and Grant Administrators FROM: Diane Baldwin, Associate Vice President for Sponsored Programs DATE: Updated October 1, 2025 SUBJECT: Government Shutdown – What to Know The federal government officially shut down after midnight on September 30, 2025. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide […]
New Application Structure for NIH Funded International Collaborations, including Subawards
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced in NOT-OD-25-155 a new application and award structure for NIH-funded projects with foreign components. This is a follow up to the NIH policy on Foreign Subawards previously released in NOT-OD-25-104. For grants requesting NIH funding for one or more foreign components, NIH will require that competing applications […]
FY 2025 Institutional/Departmental Research Expenses
The Office of Strategic Financial Initiatives (SFI) is working to compile data related to the annual submission of the Fiscal Year 2025 NSF Higher Education Research & Development (HERD) survey. The university is required to fully disclose institutionally supported research funding (note that SFI has already gathered all expenditure activity related to sponsored research and […]
NIH NCE Re-enabled in eRA Commons
On August 7, National Institutes of Health (NIH) re-enabled the No-Cost Extension Functionality in eRA Commons that was previously disabled in NOT-OD-25-142. Any NCE previously requested using the prior approval module will not be reviewed and must be resubmitted using the Extension action within the Status module of eRA Commons. This notice overwrites the blog […]
Personnel Activity Reports (PARs) Have Been Distributed to Department Administrators/Effort Coordinators
To comply with Federal Regulations, all Boston University employees who are paid from Sponsored Research funds receive a Personnel Activity Report (PAR) on a semi‐annual basis to review and certify their salary and effort. PARs for the period January– June 2025 have been distributed the week of August 11 via email to department administrators/effort coordinators. […]