Research Revealed: Mid-Semester Collaboration Starters
October 2021 | Information & Support for the BU Research Community
Collaborate
- DATA SCIENCE & ANTIRACISM:
- Meet Collaborators Using Data Science to Investigate Racial Equity: On Tuesday, November 30, our Research on Tap lightning talk series brings together researchers using data science to uncover racial inequity and provide a data-driven path to an antiracist future.
- INFECTIOUS DISEASES:
- $25k Pilot Grants for Multidisciplinary Research on Emerging Infectious Diseases: BU’s Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases Policy & Research seeks to fund new research related to pandemic preparedness and response. Applications are due Friday, November 12.
- ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
- Researchers Across Disciplines Explore Consequences of Extreme Weather and Heat: BU biologists, public health experts, and epidemiologists are working across fields to understand the relationship between climate change and human sickness and disease.
Plus:
- Guide for conducting research through an antiracist lens (U of Minnesota)
- Tips for collaborating with scientists, from a philosopher (Nature)
- Database of clinical and biomedical research studies (Boston Medical Center)
Find Funding
- Future-Oriented Research: With grants of up to $10k per year, the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future seeks to catalyze interdisciplinary, policy-relevant, and future-oriented research of global significance. Proposals are due by Wednesday, December 1.
- Early Career Funding: Young investigator awards provide critical support to early career faculty, often serving as a funding bridge between postdoctoral years and fully independent investigator status. These awards, however, are usually very competitive. Join this faculty panel for valuable insights on how to secure these grants from both federal and foundation sources.
- Behavioral and Social Sciences: In a virtual workshop on Wednesday, December 8, Dr. Bill Riley, Director of the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, will highlight behavioral and social sciences research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The presentation will touch on these fields generally as well as three critical public health areas: COVID-19, structural racism, and firearms violence prevention.
- Sustainable Investing: The Impact Measurement & Allocation Program seeks to fund BU research teams exploring sustainable investing practices, and particularly ESG (environmental, social, and governance) metrics related to carbon accounting, climate risk, and human capital. Applications are accepted quarterly; the next deadline is Wednesday, December 15.
Manage An Award
- Grant Management How-to: A new instructional library provides best practices on a variety of grant management topics, from after-the-fact reporting to subawards. You can view the full list of topics and browse best practices on the Research Support website.
- Proposal Summary Form Update: Sponsored Programs has released an updated Proposal Summary Form, which streamlines the form overall and clarifies guidance in the cost share, facilities and administrative (F&A) waiver, and signature sections. Please begin using the new form as soon as possible. As of January 1, 2022, Sponsored Programs will require the revised form for all proposals.
Conduct Research
- Gift Cards for Research Participants: Research teams using gift cards to thank research subjects are reminded that Massachusetts law requires all gift cards be valid for seven years, i.e., longer than the federal requirement of five years. Please double-check all gift card purchases, especially those secured online or out of state, to ensure compliance.
- New Process for Injury Reporting: The Research Occupational Health Program is pleased to introduce a new system, Conduent, for reporting work-related injuries and illness that is available to the BU community 24/7/365. Effective September 1, a faculty or staff member who is injured in the BU workplace no longer needs to wait for a supervisor to submit a form online. Instead, they should immediately call Conduent at 833-951-2415.
- Working with Animals: This fall, Dr. Steve Niemi—a highly respected laboratory animal veterinarian, board-certified by the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine, with nearly 40 years of experience in both industry and academia—joined BU’s Animal Science Center as Director and Attending Veterinarian. He can be reached via email (sniemi@bu.edu), office phone (617-358-8375), or cell (617-816-1938).
Promote Your Work
- Pitching Media: Are you looking to inform public conversation or shape policy agendas? This remote workshop will cover best practices for pitching, drafting, and placement for a variety of media outlets, including The Conversation, an influential website and blog that publishes content exclusively from academics and researchers.
- Photos of Field Research: The Office of Research is collecting photos of BU research in action, including field research. Please send submissions to Emma Bonanomi at bonanomi@bu.edu.
Notes & News
- Future of Astronomy: The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s, a report that determines research priorities for the astronomy community in the next decade. Associate Professor Catherine Espaillat, Astronomy (CAS), was a reviewer on the report.
- CARB-X, the BU-led global partnership dedicated to accelerating antibiotic innovation, and the research of Professor Kevin Outterson (LAW) were featured in a new report from the National Academies on combatting antimicrobial resistance.
- Associate Professor Douglas Densmore, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ENG), and collaborators were awarded a $2.3 million, three-year grant from the US Department of Defense to run outreach programs that provide underserved high school students with access to pioneering biotechnology companies and an education in synthetic biology.
- Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities Ibram X. Kendi, History (CAS) and Director of the BU Center for Antiracist Research, was awarded a 2021 MacArthur “Genius” Grant.
- In the first study of its kind funded by the NIH, Professor Cara Stepp, Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences (Sargent), was awarded $2.8M to study the speech production of trans men.
Past Events
Video recordings and other resources from recent events:
- Strategic Communications: How to Use Social Media
- Find Funding: Department of Energy Research Opportunities
- Research on Tap: Improving Early Childhood Well-Being
- Research on Tap: Pandemic Preparedness & Response
Mark Your Calendar
Trainings & How-to
- Nov 17: Pitching and Writing Workshop with The Conversation
- Dec 1: Secrets of Early Career Funding Success: A Faculty Panel
- Dec 8: Behavioral and Social Sciences at the NIH and Implications for Public Health
- Dec 10: CTSI Regional Shared Mentoring Symposium
- Dec 16: Meet the Alzheimer’s Foundation
Seminars & Events
- Nov 15: The Climate Crisis & the Need for Global, Bold Action
- Nov 17: Environmental Risks and Power Plant Suspension
- Nov 17: Punishing Places: The Geography of Mass Imprisonment
- Nov 30: Research on Tap: Data Science for Racial Equity
- Dec 7: Justice in Urban Climate Plans: How and Where Cities Are Integrating Equity and Climate