Year: 2020

This has been an incredible semester, one unlike any other in my 24 years at Clemson. I am increasingly proud of how you have navigated the challenges brought on by COVID-19, and I want you to know we are working to provide support.

First, I want to share my gratitude. Despite COVID-19, institutional research expenditures remain strong and proposal activity has been exceptional. You submitted $734 million in research proposals in fiscal year 2020, a banner year for Clemson. That is outstanding and a testament to your unwavering desire to feed knowledge to the world. Thank you. Please keep up your great work.

That said, I know from my own research activities that operational disruptions due to COVID are painful. That pain may not be felt equally across campus, however. While some of you may be continuing to work in your labs and offices, we know researchers from some disciplines still can’t access off-campus sites to continue their projects. Schools, hospitals and other community sites, for example, may limit access and in-person interaction still. I know some faculty and students have missed important travel opportunities and events. Some have been unable to advance the work necessary for tenure or graduation.

We are not alone in this. I have been meeting regularly with my peers through the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities (APLU) and the Council of Government Relations (COGR), as well as the funding agencies. We are continuously providing information and presenting a strong case for federal support for university research that would help us ease the effects of COVID-19.

In the meantime, we plan to support your research through our R-Initiative funding programs. While trying to cushion the financial sting to our own operations, the Division of Research anticipates releasing calls for proposals for numerous R-Initiative funding programs. You can view the list of current and upcoming R-Initiative solicitations, submission deadlines, and other details here.  We are trying to use limited resources strategically, while reducing some of the burden on you. For example, we have lifted the cost-share requirements from some competitions for this year in hopes this will provide you more opportunities to submit a proposal. However, because our resources are limited, proposals that are able to offer cost-share may receive preference.

Finally, with the University reverting to online-only instruction from the Thanksgiving holiday through the end of the Fall semester, I want to clarify facility access for conducting research during this time.

Faculty, students and staff will continue to have access to facilities during the period of online instruction. Core research facilities (Godley-Snell Research Center, Clemson Light Imaging Facility, Aquatic Animal Research Laboratory, and Electron Microscopy Facility) will continue to provide pre-approved access. Users should continue to follow the guidelines for these facilities posted to the COVID-19 Research Resources webpage.

During holiday breaks, buildings will be locked, as they have been in the past. In addition, buildings will also remain locked during times of reduced staffing. General building access for faculty, students and staff will be unavailable these dates:

• November 26-29
• December 14-January 3

You will need card access to enter buildings on these dates. If you have any issues with access on these dates, please contact your Department Chair and Building Security Coordinator to request access. You can search for your Building Security Coordinator here.

Thank you for your patience and productivity throughout this semester and next.

Go Tigers!

–Tanju

Anticipated 2021 R-I Schedule

This fiscal year, Clemson University faculty collectivity submitted $734 million in research proposals, a 23 percent increase from the prior year.

Your productivity in the months on-campus access was limited was extraordinary. As you juggled online instruction, uncertain funding guidelines, childcare, remote working and many more matters that I’m sure I am forgetting, you did not rest on your research. You seized the opportunity to do more. You sought more projects. You pushed forward. In fact, in the months of April, May, June and July, you submitted $311 million in research proposals, twice as much as the same period a year ago. Congratulations and thank you. I am so proud to work with such an extraordinary group of scholars who are constantly seeking answers to society’s grand challenges.

Despite the challenges of COVID-19, our competitive expenditures exceeded our Clemson Forward goal for a second year, and seven years ahead of schedule. Our competitive awards again increased. You can read more about our research activity in my September 2020 Research Report to the Board of Trustees. During my report to trustees, Trustee Joe Swann, who chairs the Research and Economic Development Committee, asked me to pass along his appreciation for all of the work you are doing. He said the entire report, which highlights your research productivity, made him very proud.

Challenges persist. We must remain United as Tigers to protect our own health and the health of the entire Clemson Family, so we can continue with in-person instruction and research. Wear a mask. Stay home if feeling ill. Wash hands regularly. You all know the routine. We have developed several guidance documents to provide tips for ramping up laboratories after extended shutdowns, sanitizing equipment and limiting coronavirus spread in laboratories. You can view those documents and other information on our COVID-19 Research Resources webpage. We will update this page as necessary, and I will email you and your college leadership with important updates on research activity, as needed.

Please note that while in-person instruction resumes, some members of the Division of Research team continue to work remotely. That said, the entire Division of Research is available and ready to support you. You can reach us via the emails listed on the Division of Research website, as well as the webpages for each office within the Division of Research. You can also call us on our office numbers, which will forward to team members’ mobile numbers if they are working remotely. If you receive voicemail, my expectation is that we will respond as quickly as possible. Like others, our team members will be taking furlough over the next several months. We will work to manage this time off with little disruption to the services we provide.

As you have likely noticed, the university has revamped Clemson.edu. As part of that, we have a new Division of Research landing page.  Here you will find information on our R-Initiative support programs; links to our offices, which provide support for proposal submissions, grant administration, industry collaboration, compliance training and more; along with introductions to the Division of Research Leadership Team. You’ll also find timely announcements and notices of upcoming events and workshops aimed at helping you advance your research. Important links that you may have bookmarked for safety, compliance or regulatory programs have not changed. If you notice anything working incorrectly, please notify Division of Research communications director Scott Miller at srm@clemson.edu.

Finally, I want to congratulate our Researchers of the Year and recipients of our University Research, Scholarship and Artistic Achievement Awards. Please take a moment to read about these outstanding faculty members. They are doing outstanding work and serving as role models for all of us, continuously seeking to impact society through their research. Unfortunately, but necessarily, our research awards celebration had to be conducted virtually this year. You can watch the video here. The event included some surprise award presentations that I hope made the occasion memorable. It is important for us to continue to celebrate our accomplishments together and to support each other in our efforts to improve the world.

Thank you for all you do and for your ongoing commitment to scholarship and discovery at Clemson University.

Go Tigers!

–Tanju

September 2020 Research Report

I want to thank you again for your patience and perseverance as we continue to manage a major disruption to our personal and professional lives. Your response to this unprecedented challenge has been inspiring. You have adjusted to online instruction here at Clemson, while in some cases homeschooling your children, too. You are juggling work-from-home schedules with your families. I have seen PhD students defend their dissertations on Zoom calls. I have seen our faculty members race to the call for research support from our health care partners. You have quickly ramped down your research projects to help protect the health of our Clemson family.

You have done all of these things while faced with the uncertainty and stress of a global pandemic. The Clemson COVID-19 Updates page includes a list of resources available for support. Your health and wellbeing is the top priority.

I thank you for all you have already done and appreciate your patience and support as we continue to work through this.

Research Operations

This is not over, and we will continue to work under modified operating conditions until further notice, with only essential research activity performed on site. A couple reminders on essential research:

• Approval for new “essential research” and changes to existing projects, including personnel changes and facility access schedules, should be submitted to your Associate Dean for Research. The University will review requests on the second and fourth Friday of each month.
• Consult the Guidance for Essential Research Activities During Modified Operations for additional information.
• Visit our COVID-19 Research Resources page regularly for updates.

We are monitoring funding agency responses to this pandemic and have compiled a list of frequently asked questions at our COVID-19 Research Resources webpage that may answer some of your questions about research funding and operations. Please review and if you have additional questions not listed there, email vpr@clemson.edu so we can find answers to share with the entire Clemson research community.

I have been communicating regularly with vice presidents of research at regional universities, Atlantic Coast Conference universities and with others around the country to compare continuity plans and learn from their planning and experiences. We have been monitoring COVID-19 responses at major universities across the country. Clemson is not alone. This is an unprecedented challenge to the global academic community.

Opportunities

I encourage you to continue to push research forward however possible: reading literature; analyzing data; writing and/or revising publications, including student theses and dissertations; preparing new ideas and developing new proposals. New opportunities may be on the horizon, so we must prepare.

With the United States reeling from recession in 2009, Congress invested heavily in an economic turnaround through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. That stimulus package amounted to a one-time increase to research spending of 25 percent, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Could a similar opportunity come in COVID-19’s wake? Very likely in my opinion.

Economic concerns have already pushed Congress to pass the CARES Act, which provides billions in taxpayer payments, cash-flow assistance to small businesses, loans to large corporations and other stimulus aid.

The act provides federal research agencies with additional funds to prevent, prepare for, and respond to COVID-19.

Additional federal research funding includes:

• $75 million for the National Science Foundation (NSF) for RAPID grant awards;
• $945 million to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for COVID-19 research;
• $99 million to the Department of Energy’s Office of Science to support the national laboratory system’s work on COVID-19; and
• $60 million to National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) with $50 million for the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership to support manufacturing research and $10 million for Manufacturing USA to spend on pharmaceutical and biotech research.

The Office of Research Development has compiled an online list of COVID-19 Funding Opportunities available. Check this site regularly because we are updating it daily.

Additionally, we have worked with the School of Health Research to identify Clemson faculty members interested in collaborating on COVID-19 research. Be sure to add your information to the page.

This pandemic will challenge higher education operations. We are hopeful that the CARES Act and potentially future stimulus packages will provide support for higher education. The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities and universities across the country have banded together.

In the meantime, prepare yourself for new opportunities. Think creatively. Consider how you could shift your research to support this pandemic in some way. Find collaborators. Keep moving forward.

I empathize with what you and all of our Clemson faculty, students and staff members are facing. I continue to conduct research under the modified operational conditions. I am working with graduate students and postdocs, writing proposals and manuscripts, and searching for answers as research stalls. Like all of us, I want to see this situation resolve quickly. These unprecedented circumstances will test our ingenuity and resolve, but I believe we can tackle this challenge through empathy, cooperation and support of one another.

Sincerely,

–Tanju

Adam Lapidas joined the Office of Industry Contracts as a contracts associate.

He will be working with the Industry Contracts team to review proposals to industry and negotiate sponsored research and other research-related agreements with industry.

Prior to joining Clemson, Lapidas served as the contracts officer in the Office of Research Administration at East Carolina University.  Prior to that, he was responsible for grant proposals and research agreements in the Office of Research at Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

Lapidas received his Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his Juris Doctor from the Wake Forest University School of Law.

Experienced university compliance officer Robin Tyndall has joined Clemson University as director of the Office of Research Compliance.

Before joining Clemson, Tyndall worked as director of Research Protections at Appalachian State University, where she served as administrator of the Institutional Review Board (IRB), the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), and the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC), as well as the conflict of interest manager and the responsible conduct of research training coordinator.

In addition to her experience in academic research compliance, Tyndall has directed lean operations and quality control programs in the private sector for notable corporations, including IBM and the Lenovo Group.

Tyndall succeeds Tracy Arwood, who has transitioned to her new role as chief ethics and compliance officer.

Modified Operations

The Office of Research Compliance remains active and assisting faculty members as Clemson operations are modified due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Any adjustments to existing research projects should be communicated to Research Compliance. Additionally, faculty members planning to apply for federal or private funding to conduct research related to COVID-19 should notify Research Compliance.

April 2020 Research Report

February 2020 Research Report

The growth in our research enterprise is being noticed. In December, President Clements was contacted by a PhD student studying higher education management at the University of Pennsylvania. The student is researching Carnegie R2 universities who achieved R1 status in 2015 and had that status reaffirmed in 2018. Clemson, of course, fits the bill. “And, in looking at the research trends over time, Clemson didn’t just cross the line, Clemson jumped over it and is forging ahead. Hence my interest in studying whatever special is going on at the university,” the student wrote in his request.

To better understand what is making Clemson’s research enterprise special, the student visited Clemson in January to interview numerous people, including me. As I considered the answers to his question, one thing became clear: Together, we are nurturing a research culture with big aspirations. We are pursuing and securing large grant projects. We are joining our colleagues to form interdisciplinary teams that can tackle big societal questions. We are increasing our expenditures. We are increasing our PhD productivity. We are conducting more research than ever before.

Next month, I will present on our “research efficiency” to the Board of Trustees. I am proud to show them how favorable our growth is compared to our peer Carnegie R1 institutions and how much hard work you all have done. Thanks for all that you do to support scholarship and discovery at Clemson. All of my Board of Trustees reports are archived online here. The February report will be posted after the meetings in February.

In the meantime, I want to provide a couple important reminders from agency sponsors:

No. 1: Faculty seeking awards from the National Science Foundation must complete biosketches in a new format under a revised NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide. This is just one change implemented under the new guide. Read this announcement from the Office of Sponsored Programs to learn more of your responsibilities under this policies and procedures guide.

No. 2: Individuals supported by research training, fellowship, research education, and career development awards from the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be required to have Open Researcher and Contributor Identifiers (ORCID IDs). Read more on that here.

As you settle into another semester, I want to provide a few additional reminders for conducting research at Clemson:

• Do not sign any research-related documents (e.g., non-disclosure agreements, grant agreements, research contracts, consulting agreements). Contact the Division of Research.
• Visit our Office of Research Development to view various funding opportunities.
• When you identify a funding opportunity for which you plan to apply, first notify the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) Support Center in your college. Contacts are listed here.
• If you haven’t already, complete the Sponsored Programs Certification Program here. You will not be able to submit proposals through Clemson University without the certification.
• Register when applicable for any electronic registrations/accounts (NSF Fastlane/gov, eRA Commons, etc.) required by the funding agencies.
• Faculty should have a current Conflict of Interest Disclosure on file to be able to submit proposals (e.g., NIH, NSF). Access COI training here and submit your disclosure through InfoEd here.
• Make sure to set up your lab on the new online BioRAFT platform to begin managing your research safety requirements. Login in with your university credentials and follow the BioRAFT Quick Start Guide. If setting up a new lab or beginning research in a new area, include the Office of Research Safety in your planning.
• Register for a Brown Bag Series seminar to better understand research integrity and compliance and earn credits toward required Responsible Conduct of Research training, when applicable. If you have questions or concerns related to research integrity/misconduct, please contact the Research Integrity Officer.
• Prior to beginning a research project, make sure that all regulatory and compliance protocols regarding animal care, biosafety, human subjects and other research have been submitted and approvals are in place. Consult with the Office of Research Compliance on regulatory and compliance matters.
• Once you have been awarded funds, OSP will forward the award to the Grants and Contracts Administration (GCA), which will setup the award and provide an account number. Do not start your funded research project prior to account setup, unless you obtain a risk account.
• Review your Sponsored project dashboard with the Faculty Business Information System (FBIS), which provides an expense summary, transaction details and burn-rate information. Use the Sponsored Program Verification System to manage your semi-annual compensation reporting requirement online.
• To disclose an invention, license intellectual property, or identify an industry collaborator, contact the Clemson University Research Foundation.
• For assistance with any research or research-related agreements with industry, contact the Office of Industry Contracts.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please reach me directly at vpr@clemson.edu.

Thank you again for your contributions to scholarship and discovery at Clemson University.

Go Tigers!

— Tanju

Individuals supported by research training, fellowship, research education, and career development awards from the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be required to have Open Researcher and Contributor Identifiers (ORCID IDs) beginning in FY2020.

The requirement for ORCID identifiers will be incorporated into the appointment process for trainees, scholars, and participants supported by institutional research training, career development, and research education awards that require appointments through the xTrain system, including the following:

T03, T15, T32, T34, T35, T37, T42, T90/R90, TL1, TL4, TU2, K12/KL2, R25, R38, RL5, RL9

Beginning with receipt dates on or after January 25, 2020, the requirement for ORCID identifiers will be enforced at the time of application for individual fellowship and career development awards, including the following:

F05, F30, F31, F32, F33, F37, F38, F99/K00, FI2, K01, K02, K05, K07, K08, K18, K22, K23, K24,
K25, K26, K38, K43, K76, K99/R00

More information is available in the NIH Notice or by contacting the Office of Sponsored Programs.

A revised version of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 20-1) has been issued and will be effective for proposals submitted or due, and awards made, on or after June 1, 2020. Significant changes include:

• NSF-approved format in submission of the biographical sketch and current and pending support documents, once the PAPPG (NSF 20-1) becomes effective. NSF is partnering with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to use SciENcv: Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae as an NSF-approved format for preparation of both documents.  Use of an NSF-approved format will not be required until implementation of PAPPG 20-1 on June 1, 2020. To assist the community, NSF has developed websites with additional information for the preparation of the biographical sketch and current and pending support. NSF will post fillable pdfs for both the biosketch form and current and pending support in February and March 2020 that will also be considered approved formats.  The Office of Sponsored Programs is making available a step-by-step guidance document for preparing a biosketch in SciENcv.
• Appointments section in the Biosketch must include any titled academic, professional or institutional position whether or not remuneration is received.
• Separate section in the project description no longer needs to include Intellectual Merit.
• New requirement for providing e-mail documentation of Program Officer approval for the submission of RAPID and EAGER proposals; and
• Clarifications to current and pending support coverage: Current and pending support includes all resources made available to an individual in support of and/or related to all of his/her research efforts, regardless of whether or not they have monetary value. Current and pending support also includes in-kind contributions (such as office/laboratory space, equipment, supplies, employees, students²⁶. In-kind contributions not intended for use on the project/proposal being proposed also must be reported²⁷.

NSF plans to conduct a webinar covering these changes on February 6 at 2PM EST.  Visit the webinar website to register for this event.

While this version of the PAPPG becomes effective on June 1, 2020, in the interim, the guidelines contained in the current PAPPG (NSF 19-1) continue to apply.