Focus on Funding is published by SDSU Research Foundation as a service to San Diego State University and staff. Additional information about the opportunities described in this publication can be obtained by contacting the Office of Communications at jseal@foundation.sdsu.edu or 594-2458.

October 2009 - Volume 5, Issue 2

Focus on Funding Home › Notices

Notices

SDSU Hosts Grant-related Workshops in October

SDSU faculty and staff are invited to attend the following informative workshops. If you would like to reserve a seat and for location information, please contact Jonathan Florendo at jflorendo@foundation.sdsu.edu or 4-4635.

Tuesday, October 13, 2:00-4:00 p.m.

Accounts Payable Essentials
In this educational session, many questions regarding your project account(s) will be answered by the knowledgeable staff in SDSU Research Foundation’s accounts payable department. For example, how will you get checks to your vendors? Are you planning on traveling and need assistance with travel and expenses? How do I get a lost check re-issued? Are there alternate payment methods for small dollar purchases (personal reimbursements and PCards)? Topics to be covered also include: what to do with an invoice; who to contact in each department; and other questions about invoices/credits. If you are interested in saving time and money on your project, this is the session for you.

Wednesday, October 14, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Budget Basics: Laying the Groundwork for a Successful Proposal

Part of writing a grant proposal is understanding the costs of your research. Where do you begin when creating your research budget? For example, do you plan on hiring students, using various supplies, renting space, or attending conferences? How will these costs affect your proposed budget? During this workshop, you will hear from successful SDSU principal investigators who will share their experiences with grant writing, shedding light on how to write winning proposals with corresponding budgets. Experienced staff in SDSURF’s development department will help answer questions and provide examples of how to work research costs into your proposal. The information presented will be useful for faculty and staff who are new to proposal preparation, as well as those faculty and staff who need a “refresher” on budget development. You may send your questions in advance to Joanne Cobble.

Thursday, October 15, 1:00–3:00 p.m.

Understanding Foreign National Immigration Tax Issues
Does your project involve international collaborations? Are you contracting with a nonresident? At this seminar, you will learn more about the U.S. immigration system, general tax issues, residence status for IRS tax purposes, classifying and sourcing the income, and how to process payments. If you would like to learn more about the policies involved in collaborating with international guests, you will not want to miss this workshop.

Tuesday, October 27, 2:00-4:00 p.m.

New and Improved!

Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Costs – Why are They Important to My Sponsored Project?

Do you have questions about Facilities and Administrative (F&A) costs associated with your proposal or project? You may have wondered: What are F&A costs (formerly known as indirect costs)? What is covered by F&A? What are the current rates? This session will provide answers to these questions and more by covering the definitions of F&A costs, explaining how F&A rates are determined, reviewing the distribution of recovered F&A costs to the university, and dispelling the myths related to F&A costs. If you are an experienced researcher or new to the grant proposal process and are interested in learning where your grant money is going, this informative workshop is for you!

Five Broad Themes Will Define NIH's Future

Francis Collins, the new director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), recently named five broad themes that will drive NIH activities in the years ahead:

Applying unprecedented opportunities in genomics and other high throughput technologies to understand fundamental biology and to uncover the causes of specific diseases.
Translating basic science discoveries into new and better treatments and practice. Private-public partnerships will play an important role in this area.
Putting science to work for the benefit of healthcare reform. This includes the areas of comparative effectiveness research, personalized health agendas, health disparities research (social and behavioral research, in particular, as well as healthcare economics), and payment-incentive models.
Encouraging a greater focus on global health.
Reinvigorating and empowering the biomedical research community. This last theme, Dr. Collins noted, is related to all the others.

At the meeting, Dr. Collins also encouraged members of the extramural research community to send him a brief, one-page summary of the issues important to them and the major issues to which NIH should be paying attention. Comments should be sent to NIH-LISTENS@nih.gov. Additional information on Dr. Collins is available online.

NSF to Require Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Training, January 2010

Effective January, 2010, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will require that institutions applying for NSF funds have a plan in place to provide and document student training in responsible conduct of research (RCR). All students and postdoctoral fellows supported by NSF funds must complete this training.

SDSU's Division of Research Affairs offers a one-unit Seminar in Research Ethics (INT-S 690) that meets this training requirement and is offered each semester. Other options for research ethics education may be developed to meet the needs of your students. Please contact Dena Plemmons at 594-2309 or plemmons@mail.sdsu.edu for additional information.