In this Issue
Vice President's Message
• "A Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent
Design Circus"
• Newsday
Wants You: Why You Should Want Newsday
• Biannual
RF Operations Managers' Meeting
• Signatures Part
2
Good News and Coming Events
•
News
•
Events
Opportunities and Sponsor
Information
• Post-doc
Recruitment Ad
• BNL-SBU Seed Grant Deadline
•
NIH Pathway to Independence (PI) Award
• Stony Brook DARE Competition
•
Upcoming Funding Opportunities
•
Interdisciplinary Seminars
•
Music for Meetings
•
NIH and Grants.gov: Timeline
Changes, Requirement Remains
•
Grants.gov and Mac
Users
• Establishment
of Multiple Principle Investigator Awards at NIH
Essential Policies, Procedures
and Resources
•
BNL Tuition Cost Recovery
•
SUNY Policies on the Web
For More Information
Vice President's Message
"A
Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus"
Newsday has offered us a very important opportunity to contribute
to public enlightenment on the philosophy and methodologies of science
and of intellectual discourse in general, its importance was brought
home to us by the excellent program a week ago Friday arranged by Distinguished
Professor Jeff Levinton of Ecology and Evolution, which began with
the third showing anywhere (after director-writer Randy Olson’s home
state, Kansas (remember the Kansas School Board debate on teaching
evolution?) and Harvard) of a very humorous film with a very serious
message, Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent
Design Circus. The
message was not, as you may want to infer from the title, that the
forces of evolution/intelligent thinking are losing the PR debate – although
that also seems to be the case. It was that too often they – we – make
the assumption that this is only about PR and the folks on the other
side are ignorant yahoos, or their cynical – politically partisan – manipulators,
not worthy of our attention.
We were disabused of that notion by one of the members of the excellent
panel Jeff assembled to stimulate discussion with their own comments on
the film, Howard Schneider, who recently came to the campus from a distinguished
editorial career at Newsday to lay the foundations for an academic program
in journalism. (We have to acknowledge that our own appreciation for the
importance of having such a program at this campus, where there are so
many opportunities for multidisciplinary study and research at all levels,
including strengths in the history of science and the philosophy of science,
was significantly enhanced by the film and program.) Prof. Schneider cited
the consistent response to a Gallup Poll question that has been asked for
more than two decades, indicating that almost half of the respondents believe
that "God created man [sic] pretty much in his present form at one
time within the last 10,000 years.” A slightly greater proportion,
but still less than half, accept evolution but most of these respondents
still believe the process was divinely guided. While a national average
may submerge significant regional differences, the proportion of those
willing to embrace supernatural explanations for natural phenomena couldn’t
be so high without a significant portion of our coastal, Red State, New
York neighbors joining this majority.
In the context of de facto as well as de jure reductions in federal research
funding (although some of this may be reversed by President Bush’s
State of the Union address commitment to double NSF, DOE and NIST funding
over the next decade; the overall picture is troubling), that says to us
there is a lot of work ahead if we want to rebuild public support – in
all senses of the word – for basic research. Taking Newsday up on
its gracious offer, described below, would be a good step forward. Other
ideas are invited.
--Contributed by Dr. Ann
Marie Scheidt, Director of Economic Development
Newsday Wants You: Why You Should Want Newsday
In case you missed this notice in the previous issue: University
Media Relations Officer Pat Calabria has transmitted a request from
Newsday Sunday Opinion Editor Leslie Seifert for short essays (no
more than 800 words) on issues and topics that might not otherwise
receive general notice. The net is cast widely: his communication reads
in part, "Essays
might take various forms. There might be a memoir of a researcher’s
experience wrestling with a particular problem, and what he or she
learned from finding a solution. Or maybe a description of the beauty
of a mathematical theorem; sharing the joy of it with people who only
ever learned Regents exam math. A historian working on the life of an obscure
figure might share with us the story of that life, and show us why
this is a story worth knowing and preserving. People might share results
of particular research studies. We are interested primarily in getting
ideas into circulation. These essays need not have any consumer or
public policy orientation, though they can. They need not connect to items
in the news, but they can." A
sample of previously published essays may be found here. Interested
writers are asked to contact Mr. Seifert directly at seifert@newsday.com and
to put in the subject field: Ideas Essays.
Biannual RF Operations
Managers’ Meeting
Last week I attended the biannual Operations Manager's meeting at the
RF Central Office. Nothing unanticipated occurred but to bring you
up to date I report the following:
• RF is gearing up for an upgrade of the Oracle business system. We
believe this process will be much less traumatic that the original
Oracle implementation in that RF CO is involving campus input right
from the start and has promised us that there will be no "big bang" to
get it started. Rather a staged implementation run in parallel
with the existing system is planned.
• Topics with which you are familiar from reading Monday Memo were
discussed including export controls and Grants.gov. Disturbing
was the report that research expenditures in the SUNY system are
experiencing a decline. When
corrected for one time expenditures, our numbers are declining also. I
have sent an update to department chairs and deans that indicates
current (1/31/06) status for each department.
• GOOD NEWS!!! Careful management of fringe benefit
costs will permit a REDUCTION in fringe benefit costs for most RF employees
beginning 7/1/06. The
new rates may be used for future budgeting. (It should be noted
that the rates do not become official until approved by DHHS.) For
regular employees:
7/1/06-6/30/07 Old rate: 37% New
rate: 34.5%
7/1/07-6/30/08 Old rate: 39% New
rate: 35.5%
7/1/08-6/30/09 Old rate 39% New
rate: 37.5%
--Contributed by Gail S.
Habicht, Vice President for Research
Signatures
What your signature means:
This office asks for signatures from PIs, Chairs and Deans on a wide
variety of forms ranging from requisitions to conflict of interest
declarations to the infamous "four page form." All these signatures
have meaning and most of the time that meaning is obvious and taken
for granted. From time to time this year we are going to publish articles
on what you signature means on a particular form. The second in this
series is by Ivar Strand, Assistant Vice President for Sponsored Programs,
and describes the need to accurately reflect facilities information
before signing off on the "4 page form".
The SB299 (“4 page form”) and the Facilities Page
Many sponsors, including The National Institutes of Health require a facilities
page to be submitted as part of the application package. This document
must accurately reflect the space and specialized facilities that are available
under a proposed sponsored project by the applicant. Its primary
purpose is to assist the panel reviewers to properly assess an institution
and a principal investigator(s)'s ability to perform the project. When
Chairs and Deans are reviewing and endorsing the SB299 (aka "the 4
page form")' it is imperative that this information be reviewed for
accuracy and availability. Otherwise, the project's success can be
compromised and conflicts can result with others utilizing these facilities. Further,
should the application be signed off by the campus and the Research Foundation
of SUNY with an inaccurate facilities page, it can leave open criticisms
from the sponsor. It is for this reason that the Office of Scientific
Affairs in the School of Medicine's Deans Office now requires the submission
of a Facilities Page with each application. Therefore, when submitting
applications to sponsors for funding, I urge investigators to accurately
reflect facilities information in the proposal, and Chairs and Deans to
carefully review this information before signing off.
Should anyone have any questions please contact Ivar Strand in the Office
of Sponsored Programs. at 2-4402 or via e-mail at
IStrand@notes.cc.sunysb.edu
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Good News and Coming Events
News
Please join us in rejoicing with
colleagues for achievements that have become known since the last issue.
Marine Sciences Research Center
To provide a vehicle for protecting the
fragile ecosystems that sustain the island we live on while rationally
balancing the need to do nothing against human demands on the marine environment
for fishing, manufacturing, recreational, transportation, power generation
and distribution, security, and wasted disposal, Marine Sciences Research
Center Prof. R. Lawrence Swanson, Associate Dean and Director of the Waste
Reduction and Management Institute, and MSRC Dean and Director David Conover,
propose a public policy approach based on "marine zoning." In an Op-Ed
piece that appeared in the Long Island section of the February 12
issue of The New York Times, they suggested that the analogy to zoning
for land use is appropriate, because it could provide a comprehensive approach
to managing the coastal environment as an integrated whole, providing
a framework for decisionmaking where industrial, commercial, recreational,
and/or conservation demands are in conflict. Profs. Swanson and Conover
note than more than 20 million people live near coastal waters in the
tristate region and Long Island’s land area is expected to be fully built out
within the next decade.
Emerson String Quartet Wins its 7th Grammy
The Stony Brook Artists-in Residence won their 7th Grammy
at the 2006 Grammy awards. The quartet, which was nominated in
two performance categories and one engineer’s category, received the
Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance for Mendelssohn: The
Complete String Quartets. Da-Hong Seetoo, who engineered the album,
received the Grammy for Best Engineered Classical Album, Classical.
The quartet had also been nominated for Best Classical Album for that recording.
The quartet is: Eugene Drucker (violin), Philip Setzer (violin),
Lawrence Dutton (viola), and David Finckel (cello).
“We are so proud of the Emerson String Quartet for what they contribute
not only to the University, but also to the cultural fabric of the region,
the country, and the world,” said Stony Brook University President
Shirley Strum Kenny.
Graduate Students Awarded
NSF Robert Noyce Teaching Scholarships
Three Stony Brook students in the process of obtaining their masters degrees
in teaching have recently been awarded National Science Foundation Robert
Noyce Scholarships. Jessica DeSerio of West Islip, Luisa McHugh of Setauket,
and Allan Martin, Jr. of Brooklyn, have each received $10,000. The fellowships
are awarded each semester to outstanding students who will teach science
or mathematics in high needs school districts. The Noyce Scholarship provides
support for the last year of training. The program is directed by LIGASE
(Long Island Group Advancing Science Education).
Robert Noyce worked for Fairchild Semiconductor which introduced the first
commercially available integrated circuit in the sixties and would go on to
be a co-founder of Intel in 1968.
New Edition of the Graduate School’s
Electronic Newsletter Available
The Graduate Review has a broad variety of stories on campus happenings,
successful alumni, faculty achievements, and upcoming events. The Graduate
Review, Vol. III No. 1, Winter
http://www.grad.sunysb.edu/newsletter/home.htm
Contributed by--Lawrence Martin, Dean of the Graduate School
Events
Provost's Lecture
Series
February 21: “How Do We Remember Recent Experiences? Insights
Gained from Real-time, Computerized Assessments of Medical Outcomes”
Arthur Stone is Distinguished Professor and Vice Chairman of Psychiatry
and Behavioral Sciences. He has helped to develop the Ecological Momentary
Assessment, a technique for monitoring individuals in their natural environments,
and applied behavioral medicine interventions. Tuesday, February 21,
2006, 4:00 p.m. Wang Center, Lecture Hall
March 2: “The United
Nations' Role in Conflict Prevention and Peace Building”
Ibrahim Agboola Gambari is the United Nations Under Secretary-General
for Political Affairs. Professor of political science and international
relations, he takes a leadership role in the prevention and resolution
of deadly conflicts through peacemaking and preventive diplomacy around
the globe in societies emerging from wars. Thursday, March 2, 2006, 4:00
p.m. Student Activities Center Auditorium
Wine Center
A Taste of Caribbean Culture: Celebrating Carnival!
Thursday, February
23 6:30–8:00 p.m., $55
Ramin Ganeshram, author From agricultural
Caribbean society to oil-rich political player, the twin island nations
of Trinidad and Tobago feature a unique culture based on a colonial history
with a rich diversity of people. Join cookbook author Ganeshram as she prepares
delicious tastes of the eclectic cuisine of the region and discusses
the historically unusual and interesting culture. Co-sponsored by the Department
of Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
Fresh Tastes: A Hint of Spring
Thursday, March 9 6:30–8:00 p.m., $55
Greg Gove/Michael Meehan, Peconic Bay Winery Peconic Bay's winemaker
Gove and executive chef Meehan are back by popular demand to offer a guided
taste of Long Island's freshest food and wine pairings, delivered with a
high level of excellence and down-to-earth entertainment. Learn what this
emerging regional cuisine is all about with two of its most innovative and
experienced creators.
To Register: Call Ginny Clancy at (631) 632-9404. Note: You must
be 21 or over to participate in winetasting events. Reservations are required
for all sessions.
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Opportunities and Sponsor Information
Post-doc Recruitment
Ad in Science
All principal investigators and department chairs were recently sent a
notification that the University will be placing an advertisement in Science magazine’s
April 14 issue, with concurrent web listing, for campus post-doctoral positions. If
you would like your opening to be listed in these ads, all postings for
post-doctoral positions must be received and reviewed by Human Resources
Services no later than February 24, 2006. HRS staff
must approve all Post-doctoral Personnel Requisition forms (HRSF0064’s)
and advertising text before inclusion in the journal advertisement.
For your convenience, the advertised positions will automatically
be listed on the Campus Job Opportunities website at
www.stonybrook.edu/cjo,
and all applicants will go through the University’s Online Resume system. A
step-by-step description of the new process may be found in the
notice. IF YOU DID NOT RECEIVE THIS NOTICE PLEASE
LET THIS OFFICE KNOW AND A COPY WILL BE SENT TO YOU.
BNL-SBU Seed Grant Deadline
The deadline for this year’s RFP for BNL-SBU Seed Grants is March
10, 2006. For this eighth year, grants of up to $25k may be awarded.
Please see the below site or call the Office of Brookhaven Affairs (631)
632-7010 for more information about the Grants and details about the application
process.
http://ws.cc.stonybrook.edu/bnl/rfp.html
NIH Pathway to Independence (PI) Award
The NIH Pathway to Independence Award is an innovative, new program that
will provide an opportunity for promising postdoctoral scientists to
receive both mentored and independent research support from the same award.
NIH plans to issue between 150 and 200 awards for this program in the first
year, and for the each of the next five years, amounting to approximately
$390 million. The actual number and distribution of awards made by the NIH
Institutes and Centers will depend upon the quality of the applications
received and the results of the scientific peer review process.
The Pathway to Independence Award will provide up to five years of support
consisting of two phases. The initial phase will provide 1-2 years of mentored
support for highly promising, postdoctoral research scientists. This phase
will be followed by up to 3 years of independent support contingent on securing
an independent research position. Award recipients will be expected to compete
successfully for independent R01 support from the NIH during the career
transition award period. The PI Award is limited to postdoctoral trainees
who propose research relevant to the mission of one or more of the participating
NIH Institutes and Centers.
The subsequent application for the independent phase may be submitted on
behalf of the awardee (principal investigator) by any domestic for-profit
or non-profit institution/organization such as universities, colleges, hospitals
and laboratories at which the awardee has been recruited. Agencies of the
Federal government (including NIH intramural laboratories) and foreign institutions
are not eligible to apply for the independent phase of the PI award.
Eligible Principal Investigators include outstanding postdoctoral candidates
who have terminal clinical or research doctorates (including Ph.D., M.D.,
D.O., D.C., N.D., D.D.S., D.V.M., Sc.D., D.N.S. or equivalent doctoral degrees)
who have no more than 5 years of postdoctoral research training at the time
of initial application or resubmission(s).
Application Receipt Dates(s): April 7, 2006 then standard dates, please
see
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/submissionschedule.htm for
details.
The complete text of the announcement can be found at:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-06-133.html
Stony Brook DARE Competition
Stony Brook's DARE Competition encourages students at all levels
in the University community to act on their talent, ideas and energy
to create the next generation of Googles, Palms and OSI Pharmaceuticals,
right here on Long Island. Still a start-up in its second year, DARE,
allied with the National Science Foundation Partnerships for Innovation
program on campus, will award $10,000 each to the two teams of student
entrepreneurs whose business plans for new technology-based ventures
show the greatest ingenuity and potential.
Please pass on information about this contest to your students or whomever
may be interested or in a position to spread the word. The
deadline for submission is April 18, 2006. For more information go to
the DARE website.
Upcoming
Funding Opportunities
For a complete list of
upcoming deadlines, please go to -
http://www.stonybrook.edu/research/fndopp/deadlcal.html
Interdisciplinary Seminars
Please remember that,
in an effort to encourage interdisciplinary research on campus, this
office will supply $100 toward a speaker's luncheon when your
department invites a Stony Brook colleague from an unrelated
discipline to give a seminar. Please contact Ann-Marie Scheidt
amscheidt@notes.cc.sunysb.edu to determine eligibility. You will
be asked to provide a copy of the seminar notice annotated with the
number of attendees and a brief description of any anticipated
collaborations with the speaker's department.
Music for Meetings
Please remember that
the OVPR would like to assist those of you who are planning a
research meeting on campus by providing musical interludes. If you
would like to have Stony Brook student musicians play at the
reception for your meeting it can be arranged by contacting
Ann-Marie Scheidt
amscheidt@notes.cc.sunysb.edu. OVPR will make a payment to the
Department of Music and the Department in turn pays the students.
You get to listen to some nice music.
NIH and Grants.gov: Timeline Changes, Requirement Remains
We continue to urge faculty and staff who will be submitting applications
to the NIH to familiarize themselves with the electronic application
process. Although the transition for RO1 applications has been moved
back from October of this year to February 1, 2007, NIH is maintaining
the June 1, 2007, transition for RO3, R21 and R33 applications. The videocast
describing the process can be found here-
http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/training.htm#10
The transition date for the U01s, NIH's Research Cooperative Agreements,
has also shifted to allow this mechanism to transition with the other
complex research mechanisms in October 2007. NIH will likely pilot
the multiple principal investigator initiative using the electronic
SF424 (R&R) on select Requests for Applications (RFAs) for submission
dates in the October 2006 timeframe. The experience NIH and the
applicant community gain from the pilot will help inform the larger
R01 transition scheduled for February 2007.
Updates on the status of the
transition to electronic submission and the new form set are posted
on the NIH eRA Electronic Submission of Grant Applications Web site.
[http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/index.htm]
Please note that while Principal Investigators (PIs) do not have to
register with Grants.gov – that registration is institutional – the
individual designated as the PI on the application must be registered
in the eRA Commons. The registration process can take several weeks,
especially when close to submission dates when registration volume peaks.
NIH recommends starting four weeks ahead of your target submission date.
PI registration must be done by an Office of Sponsored Programs official
at Stony Brook who is already registered in the eRA Commons.
Each funding opportunity announcement (program announcement/request
for application (PA/RFA)) includes an application package with an application
guide (sample guide). This document is critical to submitting a complete
and accurate application to NIH. There are fields within the SF424 (R&R)
components that are not marked as mandatory on the federal-wide form
but that are required by NIH (e.g., the Credential field of the R&R
Senior/Key Person Profile component must contain the PI's assigned eRA
Commons User ID). Agency-specific instructions for such fields are clearly
identified in the application guide. The funding opportunity announcement
to which you are applying also may include guidance on application submission.
Taking advantage of these resources will save you time in the long run
by avoiding the need to correct errors and resubmit your application.
SF424 (R&R) application guides, sample application packages and
related resources at-
http://grants2.nih.gov/grants/forms.htm
Grants.gov for Mac OS X
Grants.gov is the new unified clearinghouse for all
federal grant opportunities from all federal agencies that manage grant
funds. Grants.gov currently uses a Windows-only solution for electronic
grant submission. The PureEdge viewer is required to complete grant
application packages and, at this time, there is no native Macintosh
PureEdge client. IBM has acquired PureEdge, and now calls the product
IBM Workplace Forms; IBM plans to add Mac support in the future and Grants.gov
has committed to providing a cross-platform solution by November 2006.
In the interim, Grants.gov, in conjunction with NIH, has created a Citrix
server solution that allows Mac OS X users to complete their application
packages and submit them electronically using Mac OS X.
The University
of Wisconsin has created a single preconfigured package for Mac OS
X users to access this solution. This package is provided to the community
as a service by the University of Wisconsin, and is not an official
product of Grants.gov. The University of Wisconsin cannot provide support
for this solution.
The platform can be found here:
http://apple.doit.wisc.edu/grants.gov/
Contributed by--Peter Saal, Director, Research Resources Center
Establishment of Multiple Principal Investigator Awards for the Support
of Team Science Projects at NIH
In 2006 the National Institutes of Health
(NIH) will begin to implement a Federal-wide policy to allow formally
more than one Principal Investigator (PI) on individual research awards.
This presents a new and important opportunity for investigators seeking
support for projects or activities that clearly require a “team
science” approaches and which
do not fit the single-PI model. The multiple-PI model is intended to
supplement, and not to replace, the traditional single PI model. The
overarching goal is to encourage collaboration among equals when that
is the most appropriate way to address a scientific problem. Although
the number of applications submitted with more than one PI is expected
to be relatively small compared with those that continue to use the
traditional single-PI format, we know that the impact on multidisciplinary
efforts may be great.
The NIH will make the multiple-PI option available for
applications submitted in response to a selected group of Requests for
Applications (RFAs) and Program Announcements (PAs) with May-June 2006
receipt dates. It
is likely that additional initiatives will be selected to pilot this
activity for receipt dates in the October time frame. Based on
experience from these pilot initiatives, it is expected that the multiple-PI
option will become available for most investigator-initiated research
grant mechanisms submitted for January 2007 and later application receipt
dates. The NIH will announce those specific RFAs and PA selected to
pilot the multi-PI option as well as future plans for expansion to
other mechanisms in the NIH Guide to Grants and Contracts at
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/index.html#search.
A Multiple Principal Investigator website (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/multi_pi/)
has been created to provide general information on the new policy. This
includes: background and features of the multiple-PI policy; major issues
to be considered in its implementation; PI roles and responsibilities;
distribution of credit; allocation of funds; and awards to more than
one institution. Much of this information is located in the “Frequently
Asked Questions” (FAQ) section of the web site. Many of the
questions listed in the FAQ section are based on communications received
in response to Requests for Information (RFI) published by the NIH and
by the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the
President. Results from these RFIs are also available at the Multiple
Principal Investigator web site. There has been additional outreach
to the scientific community through a recently published article in “NIH
Extramural Nexus,” (http://grants2.nih.gov/grants/nexus.htm) the
NIH’s bimonthly extramural update that is available free to all
who request it.
Many procedures for implementation of the policy to recognize formally
multiple PIs on individual research awards are still in the planning
stages, and the NIH looks forward to continued input from the scientific
community. All potential applicants are encouraged to access the NIH
Guide for Grants and Contracts for official notice(s).
For additional information please feel free
to send email to multi_PI@mail.nih.gov.
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Essential Policies, Procedures and
Resources
BNL Tuition Cost Recovery
Graduate student tuition cost recovery has been extended to SBU students supported
by BNL researchers. A memo from the Provost describing the policy can be
found here.
--Contributed by Robert McGrath, Provost and Vice President for Brookhaven
Affairs
SUNY Policies on the Web
SUNY recently created a section on its Website where all system-wide policies
may be accessed. This library contains University-wide policies,
procedures and related forms. They are organized here to provide
information to all University employees. For policies and procedures specific
to a campus, contact that campus directly. The site may be found at–
http://www.suny.info/policies/groups/public/documents/system/pub_source_0009.htm
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For More Information
An abundance of
specific information for the research community is available on our
Website, where past issues of this bulletin can also be found.
Office of the Vice President for Research -
http://www.stonybrook.edu/research/
Monday Memo archive -
http://www.stonybrook.edu/research/monmemo/mmarchive.html
All past issues of Monday Memo are keyword searchable.
And if you are challenged by the embarrassment of riches in the
over 2,000 individual Web pages that comprise the Website, you may
find the alphabetical site index helpful. The index can be accessed
at
http://www.stonybrook.edu/research/sitemap.html.
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