University of Georgia

Category: Announcements

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After 15 years of funding basic biomedical research and supporting over 600 New and Senior Scholars in Aging, Global Infectious Disease, and Neuroscience, the governing Board of Directors of the Ellison Medical Foundation has decided to establish a new direction for the Foundation’s activities and to discontinue funding these programs. Accordingly, the Foundation will no longer be accepting new applications for New and Senior Scholar awards in Aging, Neuroscience, or other biomedical research topics.

All currently funded awards will continue to be honored under all the terms and conditions established in the original award agreement between the grantee institution and the Ellison Medical Foundation, but no new applications or letters of intent will be accepted for these or other grant programs.

 

 

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Faculty and graduate students are encouraged to attend the launch of the Willson Center’s new Research Clusters at a public reception Thursday, August 29 at 4 p.m. in Room 285 of the Richard B. Russell Special Collections Libraries Building. President Jere Morehead and Vice President for Research David Lee will join Willson Center Director Nicholas Allen in announcing this major new initiative in humanities and arts research at UGA.

The Faculty Research Cluster (FRC) program supports groups of faculty who are organized to address large-scale humanities and arts questions in partnership with colleagues from allied departments, colleges, centers, and institutes. FRCs are designed to build research capacity in the humanities and arts and increase the profile and competitiveness of faculty for grants and support. The Faculty Research Cluster program is funded by the Office of the Vice President for Research through the University of Georgia Research Foundation.

Six Research Clusters are funded for the 2013 – 2014 academic year:

  • Athens Music Project • Co-directors: Susan Thomas (Music, Women’s Studies) and Jean Kidula (Music, African Studies)
  • International Modernism • Director: Jed Rasula (English)
  • EcoFocus Film Initiative • Director: Sara Beresford (Ecology)
  • Digital Humanities Initiative • Co-Directors: Stephen Berry (History), Bill Kretzschmar (English), Claudio Saunt (History)
  • Ideas for Creative Exploration (ICE) • Executive Director: David Z. Saltz (Theatre and Film Studies), Artistic Director: Mark Callahan (Art)
  • Neuroimaging, Movie Trailers, and Spectator Cognition • Co-Directors: Tianming Liu (Computer Science), Richard Neupert (Theatre and Film Studies), L. Stephen Miller (Psychology)

See more information.

 

 

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EITS has produced a new technology orientation Web site that includes information that can help new faculty ramp up their use of key technology services.

The “New to Campus” website includes information on everything from establishing a UGA MyID, setting up UGAMail, cloud-based printing; protecting your computer; as well as services specifically for faculty and staff, such as voicemail,  conference calls, and other telephone services; working off campus via remote access VPN; and the Georgia Advanced Computing Resource Center

IT also includes a “tech checklist” for new students.

In addition to these online resources,  faculty, staff and students are encouraged to contact the EITS Helpdesk at helpdesk@uga.edu with questions or requests for support with UGA technology services.

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EITS launched a new UGA wireless network for campus visitors, “Welcome to UGA,” which provides visitors with information on how to access UGA wireless Internet services.

The previous wireless service used by UGA guests, “PAWS,” was discontinued in July.

People without a MyID, such as visiting scientists, seminar speakers, or vendors, will be asked to contact the EITS Help Desk to receive a temporary guest account and password to access “Welcome to UGA.”

Units should consider routinely making such requests on behalf of visitors just before arrival so that they can get immediate access to the network while they are on campus.

Students, faculty and staff  are now directed to “PAWS-SECURE” for wireless Internet service that is more secure and more reliable.  PAWS-Secure requires just a one-time registration for any device. To access PAWS-Secure, provide a valid UGA MyID and password (the same as a UGAMail login and password).

The wireless network changes on July 19 will also affect users at UGA’s extended campuses in Griffin, Buckhead and Gwinnett. At the Health Sciences Campus, MedPAWS will no longer be available. Those with a MyID are encouraged to use MedPAWS-Secure at the HSC.

More information.

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An investigative scientist for the National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) Office of the Inspector General reported at a recent workshop that the predominant type of research misconduct seen by the NSF is plagiarism.

The scientist, Scott Moore, went on to say that “inexperienced” researchers, in particular, are more likely to submit proposals that contain plagiarized material.   For example, approximately 2-3% of NSF proposals in a given year contain actionable plagiarized sections, yet 10-15% of these are submitted by individuals within 5 years of starting their academic career.

CAREER proposals were singled out by Moore during the workshop as having the highest levels of actionable plagiarism.  Oftentimes, expert reviewers for NSF discover that CAREER applicants submit proposals plagiarizing the reviewers’ work!  NSF also uses plagiarism-detection software to randomly check proposal submissions.  All researchers are reminded to take a few minutes and ensure that proposals to any sponsor contain proper citations and attributions, as required. Source: Report on Research Compliance (Vol. 10, No.8, August, 2013)

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NIH has posted a Notice in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts announcing that NIH encourages grantees to develop an institutional policy requiring an Individual Development Plan (IDP) for every graduate student and postdoc supported by any NIH grant, regardless of the type of NIH grant that is used for support.

IDPs are a useful tool to help graduate students and postdocs identify their career goals and what they need to accomplish to achieve those goals. The IDP process also can facilitate communication between faculty mentors and their trainees.

Read more from NIH on how this came about from NIH. Read the Notice.

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The National Science Foundation has issued an update explaining the impact of Sequestration on NSF operations for the remainder of the current fiscal year.

The key information from the update is:

  • NSF will fully fund all existing continuing grant increments in FY 2013;
  • NSF directorates have now received full-year funding allocations, which will allow funding decisions to be made prior to the end of the fiscal year on September 30th;
  • NSF expects to make fewer new awards in FY 2013;
  • NSF will fully fund all FY 2013 major research equipment and facilities construction projects;
  • Competitions for some programs and solicitations may not be conducted in FY 2013; and
  • NSF staff will not be furloughed, allowing for no interruptions to the NSF proposal review and award decision making processes.

The original notice (Notice 133) indicated that 1000 fewer new awards would be issued this year. Read the entire update (Important Notice 133A).

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The first two modules of UGA’s integrated electronic research administration system, Grants and IRB, went live this summer.  The integrated system will simplify and streamline administrative processes, ease the burden these processes place on faculty, and serve the University community better via transparency and better communication.

The new eResearch Grants and Awards Portal (“Grants portal”) went live on June 11.  As of this date, users must login to this new system with MyID  to submit proposals of all types to Sponsored Programs.  This new portal will also handle all electronic  grants.gov submissions to federal sponsors. Weekly training sessions are offered. Find out more.

The new eResearch Portal for Institutional Research Board (“IRB portal”) went live on May 30. UGA researchers users must login to this new system with MyID  to submit new Human Subjects proposals, amendments and continuing reviews. Training is available online.  Find out more.

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As of Mon., July 29 at 11 a.m. U.S. Eastern Daylight Time, the CITI Program website will be unavailable for approximately two to three days to complete a major software upgrade.

This software change will update many internal features of the CITI Program platform, and provide a changed user interface across the site designed to improve the experience of both learners and administrators. Learners will find all their familiar links and tools, but in a format that is easier to navigate. In particular, the main learner menu and other learner sections will be divided into areas that expand and contract on a click, to allow easier focus on particular information.
Please plan on completing your IRB training accordingly to avoid any delay in submitting your IRB Applications through Click IRB; you are also advised to log off prior to this time.  If you have any questions, please contact the Human Subjects Office at irb@uga.edu or 706.542.3199.

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OVPR and Office of International Education have partnered with EITS to create procedures that help assure these mid- to long-term visitors have access to services and facilities, from libraries to research services, transportation and housing.  Key to accessing services is an UGA ID.  A new OVPR web page provides a step-by-step guide to assuring visiting researchers are provided with a UGA ID, from before 3 months before arrival, to on and just after arrival, with clear assignment of roles for the sponsoring department, the visitor, and the unit HR representative.

Resources – from airport information to transportation information to housing and child care – also are available to help assure productive visits to UGA.