Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate and Professional Education

Sponsored Research Newsletter (9/13/09)

Predicting Future Funding Trends

Many federal agencies announce new funding programs with deadlines 2-3 months after the announcement. This makes it hard to respond particularly if one needs to assemble a large team. However, it's possible to get much earlier information by looking at the budget requests that agencies put together and looking back even further to the instructions that Office of Science and Technology Policy issues to the federal agencies. Below are some highlights of a letter describing the administration's goals for the 2011 budget.

Prioritizing key science and technology activities
Agencies should explain in their budget submissions how they will redirect available resources, as appropriate, from lower-priority areas to science and technology activities that address four practical challenges and strengthen four cross-cutting areas that underlie success in addressing all of them. The four practical challenges are:

Addressing these challenges will require:

Agencies should develop outcome-oriented goals for their science and technology activities, establish procedures and timelines for evaluating the performance of these activities, and target investments toward high-performing programs. Agencies should develop "science of science policy" tools that can improve management of their research and development portfolios and better assess the impact of their science and technology investments. Sound science should inform policy decisions, and agencies should invest in relevant science and technology as appropriate.

Finally, agencies are expected to conduct programs in accordance with the highest standards of ethical and scientific integrity and to have clear principles, guidelines, and policies on issues such as scientific openness, scientific misconduct, conflicts of interest, protection of privacy, and the appropriate treatment of human subjects

Right now agencies are busy preparing the 2011 budget. The 2010 budget requests completed earlier this year give guidance on new programs for the next year

NIH: http://officeofbudget.od.nih.gov/br.html (and by Institute http://officeofbudget.od.nih.gov/2010Budget_IC_Links.html)

NSF: http://www.nsf.gov/about/budget/fy2010/toc.jsp

DOE: http://www.cfo.doe.gov/budget/10budget/start.htm

NEH: http://www.neh.gov/news/archive/20090507.html

Dept of Education: http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget10/index.html

NOAA: http://www.corporateservices.noaa.gov/nbo/10bluebook_highlights.html

NEA: http://arts.endow.gov/about/Budget/NEA-FY10-Appropriations-Request.pdf

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Distinguished Faculty Talk Series: First Monday of the month at 3:30

Rutgers is a large, complex university where it is difficult to interact with faculty outside one's own field. To help learn what faculty across the university are thinking about, my office will be hosting a talk by a distinguished Rutgers faculty member on the First Monday of the month at 3:30pm in the Fiber Optics Auditorium, Busch Campus.

Nov 2: Carolyn Maher: "Video Mosaic Collaborative for Improving the Learning and Teaching of Mathematics"

Dec 7: Paul Falkowski: "Who to thank for the air we breath?"

Feb 1: Richard Riman: "Greening of Ceramic Manufacturing"

Mar 1: Thomas Nozkowski: "Alone Together: Solitude and Collaboration in Contemporary Art"

April 5: Joanna Burger: TBA

May 3: TBA

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Office of Technology Commercialization

In the past year, the Office of Technology Commercialization has filled three positions for business development managers who market Rutgers technology and capabilities to the outside world. All three have Ph.D.'s in their respective field and extensive experience in the commercial world. Tom and Bob have satellite offices in the CoRe building on the Busch campus so they can be close to the faculty they work with. Leon maintains an office on the cook campus. All three are available to meet with faculty and research groups to better understand faculty technology and to discuss steps for commercializing that technology.

Thomas P. Richardson, Ph.D. leads Life Sciences Marketing and Business Development in the Office of Technology Commercialization. He has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and was Post-Doctoral Fellow in Biomaterials and Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan focusing on drug delivery systems. His recent work experience was with Momenta Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA), a start-up he joined prior to its IPO. There, he led a multi-disciplinary glycomics drug delivery research group and built an IP estate of inhalable polysaccharides. Prior to joining Rutgers he was with Medarex Inc (Princeton ,NJ) where he was responsible for in-licensing and out-licensing drugs and technology platforms, and for managing research collaborations on pre-clinical and clinical drug candidates. He can be reached at thomrich@otc.rutgers.edu or 732-932-0115 x3001 or 732-445-6400 x708.

Leon Segal, Ph.D. - Asst. Dir.-Licensing and Technology for plant, food and related technologies. He has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, Polytechnic Institute (NY); MS ChE, Northwestern University; BS ChE, Cooper Union School of Engineering; and an MBA, Fairleigh Dickinson University. His work experience includes Director - Business and Commercial Development; R&D management; Joint Ventures, Licensing and Alliances at AlliedSignal (Honeywell); Church & Dwight; Elementis Specialties; Rohm and Haas. His background includes polymers, electronic materials, specialty agricultural materials, nutraceuticals and food technologies, personal and health care, nanomaterials, composite materials, photovoltaics, joint ventures, venture capital programs, global alliances, market research, and business planning. He can be reached at segal@otc.rutgers.edu or 732-932-1000 x577.

Robert R. Gruetzmacher, Ph.D., CLP leads Physical Sciences and Engineering Marketing and Business Development in the Office of Technology Commercialization. He has a Ph.D in Chemistry and was a NIH Post-Doctoral Fellow in Biomaterials Macromolecular Science at Case Western Reserve University. He recently retired from DuPont where he most recently was responsible for university-company relationships. His work experience is varied and includes business management, R&D in physical, engineering and biological sciences, IP management, licensing and management of university collaborations. He can be reached at gruetzrr@otc.rutgers.edu or 732-932-0115 x3010.

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The NIH Director's New Innovator Award

Congratulations to Ki-Bum Lee, of <http://rutchem.rutgers.edu/?q=node/50> Chemistry and Chemical Biology and a member of IAMDN, who was just awarded an NIH Director's New Innovator award. The NIH Director's New Innovator (DP2) Award program was created in 2007 to support a small number of early stage investigators of exceptional creativity who propose bold and highly innovative new research approaches that have the potential to produce a major impact on broad, important problems in biomedical and behavioral research. The New Innovator Awards complement ongoing efforts by NIH and its Institutes and Centers to fund early stage investigators through R01 grants.

The next deadline for this program is October 27, 2009: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-09-011.html

Pat Sinko, (sinko@rutgers.edu) Associate Vice President for Research, served on a study selection for this program and is available to help faculty interested in applying to the program e.g., by reading drafts of proposals. [Top]

IRB Advisor Schedule

Dr. Kathryn Greene, the IRB Advisor, has been very successful helping faculty improve the quality of IRB submissions and therefore accelerating the approval process. Kathryn advises applicants on how to smoothly and successfully complete the process for IRB submission. Her activities include several University-wide presentations each semester on different Rutgers campuses, keeping "office hours" before IRB deadlines, and responding to emails sent to irbadvisor@orsp.rutgers.edu.

IRB Seminars:
"How to Smoothly and Successfully Complete the Process for IRB Submission" will include a presentation by IRB faculty reviewers followed by a question and answer session (total time between 1.5 and 2 hours). Faculty, staff and students (graduate and undergraduate) will all benefit from attending.

Sept 17, 10-12, Busch Student Campus Center, Room 116C
RSVP to: rivera@orsp.rutgers.edu
 
Oct. 27, 1-3, Douglass Student Center Lounge
RSVP to: rivera@orsp.rutgers.edu
 
Nov. 2, 10-12, CAC SC&I (SCILS) Bldg (corner of College Ave & Huntington), Rm 222 (Interaction Lab)
RSVP to: rivera@orsp.rutgers.edu

Fall 2009 Office hours:
The IRB Advisor will hold office hours each month before the submission deadline. Generally, the IRB Advisor's office hours will be held a week prior to the submission deadline (the 12th). Office hours are "open" (that is, not by appointment). Feel free to stop by with questions and/or submissions in progress. Location: CAC, SCILS (SCI) Building, Room 204 (corner of College Ave & Huntington).

Sept. 2, 12:00-2:00.

Sept. 8, 10:00-12:00.

Sept. 30, 1:00-2:30.

Oct. 6, 10:00-1200.

Nov. 3, 10:00-1200.

Nov, 5, 12:00-1:30.

Dec. 3, 10:00-12:00.

Dec. 7, 11:00-12:30.

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The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: Nov 2 deadline

Rutgers received three awards last year from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awards last year (Eric Lam, Carl Pray and Ilya Raskin) .The foundation is now accepting grant proposals for Round 4 of Grand Challenges Explorations, a $100 million initiative to encourage unconventional global health solutions.

Grant proposals are being accepted online at http://www.grandchallenges.org/explorations until November 2nd 2009, on the following topics:

Initial grants will be $100,000 each, and projects showing promise will have the opportunity to receive additional funding of $1 million or more. Full descriptions of the new topics and application instructions are available at http://www.grandchallenges.org/explorations. [Top]

ARRA Reporting Information Sessions

The receipt of ARRA funding entails new quarterly reporting requirements. In an effort to simplify these reporting requirements for you and ensure that Rutgers meets the ARRA reporting obligations, DGCA will be holding RU ARRA Reporting Information Sessions. We encourage faculty receiving ARRA awards and support staff to attend one of these sessions.

The agenda for the information session includes:

There will be 2 information sessions in September:

September 16, 2009 - Cook Campus - Foran Hall, Room 138A, 2:30 - 3:30 pm

September 17, 2009 - Busch Campus - CoRE Lecture Hall, 1st Fl, 11:00 am-Noon

To register, please email dgca1@rci.rutgers.edu.

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Back by popular demand - Technology Commercialization Workshop

Does your research have commercial potential? How can you protect your ideas? What are some key concepts and practices in licensing and commercialization?" Learn this and more at the free Technology Commercialization Workshop.



Date & Time:Thursday, September 17, 2009 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Place:Room 601 of the CoRE Building, Busch Campus.

This free event provides an overview or the tools you'll need to determine if your technology/business idea is commercially viable and the steps you can take to help protect that idea.

Special Bonus: "How to Deliver a Persuasive Business Pitch" with Dr. Ben Soprenzetti of the Rutgers Business School.

The Technology Commercialization Workshop is being offered by the Office of Technology Commercialization and the BEST Institute. To register for this event, email mcrews100@gmail.com

SAVE THE DATE:
November 19, 2009 - Faculty Pitch Forum/Venture Fair
Academic entrepreneurs from Rutgers, NJIT, Princeton and UMDNJ looking for seed money to finance a technology/start a company will be making speed pitches to Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors. A networking event will follow. Poster Space is still available. This half-day event is sponsored by The BEST Institute and The Office of Technology Commercialization. [Top]

New NCI Funding Opportunities for Small Businesses

September 30, 2009
8:30 am - 4:30 pm
University City Science Center
3711 Market Street, Suite 800
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Are you ready to take your innovative cancer research to the next level but lack early-stage technology financing?

Join NCI SBIR Development Center Director Michael Weingarten, Claire Driscoll of the NIH's Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)'s Technology Transfer Office, and NCI SBIR Development Center Program Director Gregory Evans and learn about the wide range of research, preclinical, and clinical resources as well as new funding opportunities available from the National Institutes of Health. There will be particular focus on the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs.

The STTR & SBIR Programs seek to increase small business participation and private-sector commercialization of technology developed through federal research and development. The NCI SBIR & STTR Programs foster research and development for anticancer agents, biomarkers, informatics, medical devices, nanotechnology, proteomics, pharmacodynamics, and many other biotechnologies and programs designed to prevent, diagnose, and treat cancer.

The speakers will present tips on how to successfully enter into productive research collaborations with NIH intramural scientists. Participants will learn how to leverage various NIH resources to help bridge the chasm between basic research activities and the commercialization of a product. An overview of NIH research resources, including but not limited to the following topics, will also be discussed: computational and data mining tools, clinical trial networks, in-vitro and in vivo screening programs (including assay development and high throughput drug screening resources), pharmacokinetic and animal toxicology testing, human tissue and cell repositories, animal model repositories, research reagent repositories (including biodefense-related materials), genetic and genomic resources, small molecule libraries.

After the presentation on funding opportunities and tips for applying, attendees will have the opportunity to meet with the presenters. Please indicate your interest in a one-on-one meeting in the registration application.

To Register - http://www.bioadvance.com/registration_form.asp

Speaker at Princeton: Director of NIH Center for Scientific Review

The NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR) is responsible for organizing the expert peer review groups that evaluate the majority of the nearly 80,000 grant applications submitted to the NIH each year. Dr. Antonio Scarpa directs the center with a focus towards enhancing the review process by shortening the length of applications, recruiting and retaining the best reviewers, and fostering a culture more favorable to innovative applications.



Speaker: Dr. Antonio Scarpa, Director, NIH Center for Scientific Review
Date: October 1, 2009
Time: 10:30 - 11:30AM
Location: Princeton University, First Campus Center,
Multi-Purpose Room (MPR)
http://www.princeton.edu/~pumap/buildings/26.html

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Scholarship in the Digital Environment: Opportunities, Challenges, Recognition: Oct 9

A Symposium Sponsored by:

Friday, October 9, 2009
8:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Multipurpose Room . Cook Campus Center
Cook Campus

8:30 Coffee
9:00 Welcome
Marianne Gaunt, Vice President for Information Services and University Librarian
9:05 Introduction.
Philip J. Furmanski, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
9:25 Changing Models of Scholarly Communication
Karla Hahn, Program Director for Research, Teaching, and Learning, Association of Research Libraries
10:10 Recognition, Rewards, and the University's Role in the Dissemination of Research & Scholarship
David Shulenburger, Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities
10:55 Break
11:10 Reactor Panel Discussion
  David Axelrod, Professor, Department of Genetics, School of Arts and Sciences, New Brunswick
  Meredith McGill, Associate Professor, Department of English, School of Arts and Sciences, New Brunswick
  Carolyn A. Maher, Professor, Director, Robert B. Davis Institute for Learning, Graduate School of Education, New Brunswick
  Bruce Mizrach, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, School of Arts and Sciences, New Brunswick
  Marlie Wasserman, Director, Rutgers University Press
11:55 Moderated Wrap and Outcomes
Douglas Greenberg, Executive Dean, School of Arts and Sciences, New Brunswick
12:30 Lunch and Table Discussions

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New Faculty Workshop: Research Funding and Commercialization

A workshop will be held on Oct 30 to provide information on research funding and technology commercialization to new faculty. (Old faculty are welcome too!)

Friday, October 30, 2009
8:30-1:00pm

Rutgers Student Center (click here for driving directions)

Multipurpose Room A, College Ave. Campus

8:30 a.m. Registration
9:00 a.m. Overview of Day's Schedule
Receive an overview of the day's events from Dr. Karen R. Stubaus, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Director, Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity.
9:10 a.m.Importance of Research in Achieving Faculty Excellence
Listen to Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Philip Furmanski, who will speak about the significance of research and graduate education at Rutgers University.
9:30 a.m.Overview of Research at Rutgers
Michael Pazzani, Vice President for Research & Graduate and Professional Education
Title: How to Succeed in Research
9:50 a.m.Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP)
Sheryl Goldberg, Director ORSP
Title or description: Pre-Award Procedures
10:10 a.m.IRB - Use of Human Subjects in Research
Kathryn Green, Associate Professor Communications
Title or description: Overview of IRB
10:30 a.m.Office of Proposal Development (OPD)
Michael Mueller, Senior Grant Facilitator-Office of Vice President for Research
Title or description: Finding External Funding & Proposal Writing
10:50 a.m. BREAK
11:05 a.m.Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC)
Yair Harel, Associate Director Ventures & Engineering Technologies
Title or description: Overview of OTC
11:25 a.m.Laboratory Animal Services (LAS)
Bob Harris, Director LAS
Title or description: IACUC & Use of Animals in Research
11:45 a.m. Questions & Answers
12:00 p.m. Lunch

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