Year: 2018

Hit the Ground Running 

Welcome back! As you all prepare for another successful semester, I want to remind you of ways to engage with the Division of Research to ensure your research advances smoothly, to encourage you to apply for internal funding under the University’s R-Initiatives, and to invite you to join me at the Watt Family Innovation Center for a special event in May.

The deadline to apply for funding under the SUCCEEDS program is Feb. 14. Grants of up to $35,000 are available to position inter-disciplinary faculty teams to compete in major external funding opportunities. Don’t miss the opportunity to collaborate with your colleagues and advance your research. This is just one of four R-Initiatives providing funding this semester. Details are online here.

One of the roles of the Division of Research is to support your success by establishing research policies designed to make your work progress smoothly by mitigating various risk. I appreciate your adherence to these policies. Our website has a repository of Division of Research Policies at this page. We are working hard to update this page, so I encourage you to bookmark it as it will be your resource for policy updates. We expect several updates to the site soon. If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact the Division of Research or one of its departments.

Additionally, our Conflict of Interest office is working hard to ensure you comply with federal requirements for grant proposals. More federal agencies are requiring researchers that submit grant requests to file annual conflict of interest disclosures. Additionally, the University requires all faculty to complete training on conflicts of interest every four years and to file a disclosure form. Currently, about 85 percent of faculty have completed this requirement. Thank you. The training takes around 30 minutes and will soon be moving to the University’s Bridge Training Management System. All of the information on these policies, training requirements and disclosure forms is available on the Conflict of Interest webpage.

I want to remind you that the Grants and Contracts Administration is now operating as part of Finance and Operations. The move better positions the University to identify and address potential risks before they result in reportable issues by putting the administration under the guidance of the office responsible for internal accounting controls, financial reporting, and coordination of external audits. The Grants and Contracts Administration continues to work very closely with the Division of Research and remains in its current Strom Thurmond Institute location. I appreciate the patience and support you’ve shown during the transition.

I am excited for us to continue our research growth this semester with even more collaboration across disciplines. Faculty from every college is invited to our 3rd Annual Clemson University Research Symposium 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 9 at the Watt Family Innovation Center. This event provides a platform for faculty from all colleges to tell their stories and find colleagues who may share similar or complementary interests. This is the venue to make the connections that lead to fruitful interdisciplinary collaborations. We have had fantastic participation at past symposiums, and I look forward to seeing you there this May.

Go Tigers!

Tanju

A shifting landscape of federal research funding and declining corporate research and development budgets make university and industry collaborations highly attractive.

Learn how to establish and manage these collaborations in a webinar series offered to the university community by the Division of Research’s Office of Industry Contracts with support from the Watt Family Innovation Center and the Clemson University Research Foundation.

Representatives from the Office of Industry Contracts and the Clemson University Research Foundation will be available for questions or further discussion at the end of each webinar.

To help faculty pursue opportunities for industry collaboration, CURF is offering an opportunity for faculty who attend the webinar to receive a travel stipend valued at $250 to be used to support registration or travel expenses (airfare, lodging) to an upcoming industry-related conference or meeting. A drawing for the stipend will be held at the end of each webinar. Those eligible are faculty or research faculty who attend the webinar and are present at the time of drawing.  The stipend will be in the form of travel reimbursement and CURF will require pre-approval of the designated conference/meeting.

The webinar series – “Working at the University-Industry Interface: Effective Strategies for Active Researchers” created by Academic Impressions and the University-Industry Demonstration Partnership – will guide you through the nuances and complexities of research collaborations between university and industry. Over seven sessions, experts at research universities and global corporations carefully cover the most critical considerations for creating win-win relationships:

1. Navigating the benefits and challenges
2. Managing expectations and creating relationships
3. Establishing contacts and handling proprietary information
4. Preparing proposals and budgets
5. Addressing compliance and contracting issues
6. Negotiating intellectual property (IP)
7. Leveraging government involvement

The sessions are ideal for faculty researchers, research center directors, research administrators, technology transfer officers, and any additional stakeholders who cultivate, negotiate or manage industry partnerships.

Upcoming Webinar Sessions

Preparing Proposals and Budgeting
Wednesday, March 21, 1 – 2:15 p.m.
Location: Room 238, Strom Thurmond Institute
Speakers: Abby Benson, assistant vice chancellor for research and innovation, University of Colorado Boulder; and Gaylene Anderson, U.S. director, contracts and alliance management, Boehringer Ingelheim
REGISTER

Addressing Compliance, Contracting and Consulting, and Outside Activities
Wednesday, April 4, 1 – 2:15 p.m.
Location: Room 238, Strom Thurmond Institute
Speakers: Katie Morris, university director, research contracting, Indiana University; and Charles Adelsheim, contracts and licensing manager, research and strategic collaborations, Varian Medical Systems
REGISTER

Managing Intellectual Property (IP) Issues
Wednesday, April 25, 1 – 2:15 p.m.
Location: Room 238, Strom Thurmond Institute
Speakers: Dushyant Pathak, associate vice chancellor for technology management and corporate relations, University of California, Davis; and Mary Jo Meyer, director, intellectual property management, Givaudan
REGISTER

Benefiting from University-Industry Collaborations with Government Engagement
Wednesday, May 2, 1 – 2:15 p.m.
Location: Room 238, Strom Thurmond Institute
Speakers: Theresa Mayer, vice president for research and innovation, Virginia Tech; and Chris Ramming, research manager, VMware
REGISTER

The Division of Research is working to enhance the quality of scholarly endeavors and growth of research programs with direct input from faculty.

The newly created Research Faculty Advisory Board held its first meeting in November. The board will provide input to the vice president for research on procedural matters and other issues affecting research at Clemson. Faculty are encouraged to share ideas and concerns with the advisory board members from their colleges.

The board will meet monthly, with members serving three-year terms. Research Faculty Advisory Board members are:

Andy Wesolek
University Libraries

Antonis Katsiyannis
College of Education

Brian Powell
College of Engineering,
Computing and Applied Sciences

Christopher Parkinson
College of Science

Edmond Bowers
College of Behavioral,
Social and Health Sciences

Lawrence Fredendall
College of Business

Lee Morrissey
College of Architecture,
Arts and Humanities

Sarah White
College of Agriculture,
Forestry and Life Sciences

For planning purposes, please notify individuals in your college/division to use the following proposed pooled fringe benefit rates for Fiscal Year 2018-2019.

The FY2018-19 pooled fringe rates have been proposed and submitted to the Department of Health and Human Services for review.  We anticipate their approval by the beginning of the next fiscal year.

The deadline to apply for seed grants from the Clemson Faculty SUCCEEDS program is Feb. 14. The program provides seed grants of up to $35,000 to help interdisciplinary faculty teams compete for external funding of $1.5 million or more.

SUCCEEDS (Strategic University Challenge for Competitive Excellence and Expertise in Discovery and Scholarship) is one of four R-Initiative funding opportunities available this semester. It provides seed grants to support leading-edge research and scholarship that capitalizes on the existing intellectual capital at Clemson. Preference is given to projects that are multi-disciplinary, inter-institutional and that advance the ClemsonForward strategic innovation clusters: advanced materials; cyber infrastructure and big data science; energy, transportation and advanced manufacturing; human resilience; health innovation; and the sustainable environment.

The goal for each funded Clemson Faculty Succeeds grant is the successful submission of a significant external research proposal.

Last year’s SUCCEEDS grants supported work on prenatal care, computational genomics and virtual reality research, and novel dietary therapies for gluten sensitivities. More information on last year’s grant recipients is available online.

The R-Initiative funds are part of the ClemsonForward strategic plan, representing the “R” of the REAL priorities – Research, Engagement, the Academic core and the Living environment.

For details, guidelines and instructions for applying, visit the R-Initiatives webpage. Questions should be directed to Diana Thrasher in the Division of Research at dianas@clemson.edu or 864-656-6444.