OARS Research News

OARS Research News September 2013 1

RESEARCH NEWSa publication of the Office for the Advancement of Research & Scholarship at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio • MiamiOH.edu/OARS

September 2013OARS

In this issueWelcome .....................................1Round table: Diekman group .....2Round table: Bali group .............3Round table: Boone group ........4Round table: Yousefi group .......5John Bailer research profile .......6Peer review insights ...................7Student research outlets ............8Third Frontier ESP ......................9On the right PAF ........................10Compliance ...............................11Funding .....................................12

Welcome to the first issue of AY 2013-2014by Jim OrisAssociate Provost for Research & Dean of the Graduate School

With the start of the

new academic year, OARS is im-plementing new programs de-signed to increase the number and quality of propos-als submitted to external funding

agencies. Our internal peer review/men-toring program is described in the side-bar on page 7, while our External Sub-mission Proposal Incentive and Indirect Cost Recovery Distribution to Principal Investigators programs are described in the sidebar on page 10. Details about all of these programs are available on our website.

Another program designed to increase funding from external sources was the round table event and seed funding competition OARS sponsored this past spring. To help meet the current demand by federal funding agencies for interdis-ciplinary research, the round table event

offered an opportunity for researchers to meet colleagues from other disciplines and discuss projects they might collab-orate on. Teams assembled at the event were invited to submit proposals for an internal seed funding competition. Four teams working on promising projects were each awarded $25,000 to support the gathering of preliminary data that can be used to increase the chances of funding by an external agency. We tell you more about the teams and their proj-ects on pages 2-5.

We also tell you about the data visualiza-tion work being done by students in John Bailer’s (Statisitcs) Advanced Data Visu-alization class, which he co-taught with Artie Kuhn (Interactive Media Stuides) and Stephen Siff (Media, Journalism, and Film) this summer. The students created graphic representations of various data for several real-life clients, including the Cincinnati Business Courier.

Speaking of student research, page 8 features some upcoming opportunties — both internal and external — for students to present or publish results of their work.

If there’s one element of grant-seeking that makes many faculty feel as if they

Jim Oris

have as much to learn as their students, it’s the seemingly mysterious peer review process. In May, OARS hosted a talk in which retired NIH Scientific Review Of-ficer Keith Crutcher shedded light on how peer review works at the NIH. Di-rector of Proposal Development, Tricia Callahan, summarizes highlights from Crutcher’s presentation on page 7.

On page 9, you will find the third in-stallment in Director of Technology Transfer and Business Partnerships Reid Smith’s series on Ohio Third Fron-tier programs. This time, he looks at the Entrepreneurial Signature Program.

Finally, we turn to administrative mat-ters, with a discussion of our Proposal Approval Form (PAF) that includes use-ful guidelines and tips; some reminders about compliance matters; and a run-down of deadlines for several internal research support mechanisms, includ-ing the University Senate Committee on Faculty Research (CFR) Faculty Re-search Grants.

As always, we welcome your feedback and ideas for this newsletter. If you have something you’d like to share, please contact our editor, Heather Johnston.

Got questions?If you have a question

about regulatory compli-ance (e.g., effort certifi-cation, audits, financial conflicts of interest, the IRB), send it to Heather Johnston at [email protected], and you

just might see it answered in our February issue.

OARS Research News September 2013 2

Four teams awarded OARS seed funding

Four interdisciplinary teams have been awarded project funding by the Office for the Advancement of Research and Scholarship (OARS).

The teams are the winners of an internal funding competition in connection with a March 28 round table event sponsored by OARS to facilitate interdisciplinary re-search.

Interdisciplinary collaborations resulting from the event were el-igible to apply for seed money to be used to gather preliminary in-formation and/or data necessary for developing a proposal for ex-tramural funding.

$25,000 was awarded to each of the four research teams profiled on pages 2-5.

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Researchers want more women in STEMby Heather Beattey JohnstonOARS Assistant Director& Information Coordinator

According to an April 2012 U.S. News & World Report article, nearly one in four American

workers is African-American or Lati-no, and almost half are women. But in engineering, only one in ten workers is African-American or Latino, and only 12% are women. Increasing the participation of these underrepresent-ed groups is key to resolving the wide-ly-reported shortage of U.S. workers trained in science, technology, en-gineering, and math – the so-called “STEM” fields.

Psychology professor Amanda Diek-man is particularly interested in fig-uring out how to attract women to STEM and entice them to stay. “For a long time,” she says, “people attribut-ed women not entering STEM roles to lesser ability. They thought women just didn’t have as much mathematics ability or science ability.” But recent data disprove this assumption, show-ing, for instance, that today’s girls earn math grades generally equivalent to those of boys.

So, says Diekman, if it’s not aptitude that explains women’s underrepresen-tation in STEM fields, then it must be attitude. “As a social psychologist,” she says, “I’m interested in why women aren’t choosing to go into math, nat-ural sciences, and engineering. What are the motivations or other concerns that inhibit pursuing that path?”

That’s something Bo Brinkman, an associate professor in the College of Engineering & Computing’s Depart-ment of Computer Science & Soft-ware Engineering, wonders about too. As a professor in a field with one of the lowest rates of participation by women – just 10% – Brinkman rec-ognized that he was “positioned to do something,” but didn’t know what that something was.

“I was kind of floundering,” he admits. But then, because of the OARS Round Table event, he connected with Diek-man and with Volwiler Distinguished Professor Stacey Lowery-Bretz (Chemistry & Biochemistry) and Assistant Professor Kimberly Ham-lin (American Studies and History). Brinkman says the interdisciplinary conversation that took root that day “helped to kind of cross-pollinate, and helped me find the ideas I need.”

Diekman agrees. “I’d been working all year with a group based in wom-en’s and gender studies,” she says, “but that was all humanities and social sci-ence people. What we were missing was having scientists and engineers at the table with us. So this feels like it

really does have the opportunity to go across the divisions of the university, and that’s reflected in the core team.”

The “core team” of four researchers will use their OARS Round Table seed funding to gather the prelimi-nary data necessary to apply for an NSF Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academ-ic Science and Engineering Careers (ADVANCE) grant.

By targeting academia, Diekman and her team hope to make a difference in other industries as well. “We know that having greater female representa-tion at the faculty level has influences on the undergrad level and the doc-toral level,” she says, “so having those role models available is likely to have a cascading effect.”

Diekman, Brinkman, Lowery-Bretz, and Hamlin hope to include other fac-ulty in their work, forming a broader group of 15 to 20 people who, as Diek-man puts it, “will be able to come to some meetings, who we can use as a resource – as experts in their fields, for their personal experience, and for helping to make sense of the data pat-terns that we see across the university.”

Diekman encourages anyone who’s interested to contact her. “The whole goal,” she says, “is to provide a struc-ture that we hope will grow and let people take on pieces of it or interact with the team.”

“Having female role models in academia

is likely to have a cascading effect.”

OARS Research News September 2013 3

“Today’s challenges require

complicated solutions that you need a group of people to be able

to solve.”

Team’s work could have impact in dairy, other industriesby Heather Beattey JohnstonOARS Assistant Director& Information Coordinator

If Samir Bali, Jason Berberich, and Jon Scaffidi have their way, the ex-pression, “it’s as clear as mud” will

go the way of “putting the cart before the horse,” “’til the cows come home,” and other quaint idioms.

Bali, an associate professor in the Depart-ment of Physics, has developed a method for analyzing substances as opaque as mud – such as human tissue, milk, and crude petroleum – with optical sensors.

By definition, optical sensors measure the transmission or reflection of light. How-ever, light does not travel through opaque substances, rendering transmission-based sensors useless for certain biomedical, pharmaceutical, and environmental ap-plications. At the same time, sensors that measure reflection are of limited use in these applications because of distortions caused by something known as the Goos-Hänchen shift, in which the reflected light ray emerges laterally displaced from the point of entry of the incident ray on the sample surface.

“The models that are out there to extract useful properties from reflection and so forth are inadequate,” Bali explains, “and so we have a new approach.”

Bali’s method has been validated in what he calls “idealized situations,” but he’s not content to stop there. “We could either spend our whole life just kind of validat-ing our method in different situations,” he

says, “or we could apply it and see if we can get something useful.”

That’s where Berberich, an assistant pro-fessor in the Department of Chemical, Paper, & Biomedical Engineering, and Scaffidi, an assistant professor in the De-partment of Chemistry & Biochemistry, come in.

Scaffidi recalls the trio’s initial meeting at the OARS Round Table event. “Samir has this very high-level physics background where he’s originally developed the tech-nique to look at fundamental optical properties of materials and to look at par-ticle sizes,” he says, “and then Jason and I are sitting there scratching our heads and saying, ‘Wait. If you’re measuring optical properties, there are all sorts of other techniques in the world this can be applied to for chemical and biochemical sensing.’”

Berberich recognizes a certain synergy that results from this kind of collabora-tion. “The interdisciplinary thing is im-portant,” he says, “because most of today’s challenges really require very complicat-ed solutions that need you to make devic-es that you need a group of people with different expertise to be able to solve.”

Among other solutions Berberich, Scaffi-di, and Bali envision developing are those that can be used to monitor water quality, detect pollutants in the environment, or measure blood chemistry.

“We’ve got all these things, which – in our heads and on paper – look like they’ll work great,” Scaffidi says. “The OARS Round Table funding will let us really push to see what the limitations on Samir’s technique are, so we can collapse down this huge range of possibilities to identify which ones are going to be most effective.”

One of the applications that may make the cut has the potential to improve the safety of the nation’s milk supply. According to Bali, the dairy industry has been clam-

oring for a way to monitor the quality of milk in real time during processing, so that spoiled or contaminated milk can be quickly diverted out of the supply chain.

“There are no methods to do that cur-rently,” he says. “It would be great if, for instance, the protein that causes mad cow disease can be correlated to specific optical properties. We can measure op-tical qualities very sensitively in opaque substances like milk, so we propose our method to be the one that can potentially solve this problem.”

When Bali demonstrated the potential of his method at the Ohio Innovation Sen-sor Summit held in Dayton this past June, he was encouraged by the positive feed-back he got from representatives of the sensing industry.

While Bali, Berberich, and Scaffidi plan to explore partnerships with other in-dustries in addition to the dairy industry – perhaps through Ohio Third Frontier (see article on page 9) or the federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program – they also hope to advance their research with funding from the NSF and/or NIH.

Regardless of the source, though, these three researchers will aggressively pursue the funding they need to turn their ideas into commercially viable products. The applications for this kind of optical sens-ing technology are “fruit that’s sitting out there waiting to be plucked,” says Scaffidi. And he thinks that together he, Bali, and Berberich are equipped to reach out and start picking.

OARS Research News September 2013 4

Often perceived as relentlessly rational, scientists are not usu-ally known for their emotional

warmth. Richard Moore thinks this reputation is not entirely undeserved. “Today,” says the associate professor of biology, “we don’t think so much about how we communicate to the larger pub-lic the importance of our own research, and the relevance, really.”

Communicating their passion for their work in a way that makes non-scientists care about it is not something science students are trained to do, but Moore and his Biology Department colleague, associate professor Michelle Boone, think that needs to change. “If the pub-lic doesn’t care,” Boone says, “it doesn’t matter what you find. You have to bring the public in. Scientists need to get out of the ivory tower and connect with oth-er human beings.”

For Boone, that message was brought home at an art museum, where she visit-ed an exhibit of gorilla portraits. “Some of them had scars,” she says, “and you wonder what happened to them. You want to know the story behind their lives.” The emotional impact of those photographs made her realize the poten-tial of art and other disciplines to engage the public in the questions and problems she explores as a conservation scientist.

“There wasn’t an overt conservation message,” Boone says. “And this was in a

venue where you don’t usually have your conservation nerds hanging out. It’s people interested in art and beauty, and that can be a way to bring people to care about nature.”

Through the OARS Round Table event, Boone and Moore, and their colleagues, David Gorchov and Michael Vanni, both professors of biology, connected with faculty from other disciplines: An-nie-Laurie Blair, clinical professor of journalism; Hays Cummins, Western Program professor; Scott Johnston, as-sociate professor of architecture and in-terior design; Rod Northcutt, assistant professor of art; Jacob Tonski, assistant professor of art and interactive media studies; Valerie Ubbes, associate pro-fessor of kinesiology and health; Roscoe Wilson, associate professor of art; and Jon Yamashiro, associate professor of art.

“The idea,” says Moore, “is to bring in journalists and artists, people who

would communicate differently than we as scientists would. They are trained in communication. Scientists are too, but we’re trained to communicate to other scientists, and that cuts out a broader audience.”

The National Science Foundation (NSF) considers reaching that broader audi-ence to be so important that it has made doing so a criterion for project fund-ing. “The successful NSF grants today,” Moore says, “all have a high rating on broader impacts, in addition to the sci-ence.”

“If we can cross-pollinate with other dis-ciplines,” says Boone, “I think that’s go-ing to be really valuable to our students when they graduate and start careers, because this is just going to get more and more important.”

Boone acknowledges that tension often exists between scientists and the media, and that this is part of what prevents the public from appreciating their work. “A common problem scientists have is that the media often misinterpret the science,” she says, “and media have the problem that scientists sometimes seem to make no sense when they’re trying to communicate.”

She also notes that as the staffs of tradi-tional media outlets shrink, the public will come to rely more and more on di-rect communications from scientific ex-perts. So, she says, “if we can gain some skills from working with journalists, so that we can do part of that job in getting the science out to the public, that’s really valuable.”

“There are many different directions we could go in,” Boone says. Moore agrees. “This semester is really going to be all about defining what we’re doing and fig-uring it all out,” he says. One thing they are considering is sponsoring a contest that encourages Miami students to de-velop an effective public outreach video.

Once they have plans in place, Moore and Boone say the team will collabo-rate to seek funding for a project they’re all involved in, perhaps from the NSF through its CREATIV program or IG-ERT program, or from a private orga-nization like the Keck Foundation or the Scripps Howard Foundation. But, Boone says, “We have a big group and some people may naturally fit together to work on some smaller offshoot proj-ects too.”

As big as the group is already, Boone and Moore are open to including any-one who wants to participate. “If people are interested in having student projects that relate to something we’re doing, we would love to hear from them,” Boone says.

Interdisciplinary project aims to improve communicationby Heather Beattey JohnstonOARS Assistant Director& Information Coordinator

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OARS Research News September 2013 5

For a salamander or a starfish, a severely damaged (or even ampu-tated) limb is no big deal. But for

humans – whose ability to regenerate tis-sue does not match that of Urodela and echinoderms – significant bone loss from trauma, osteoporosis, or cancer can be debilitating.

According to Amy Yousefi, Spooner Schallek associate professor in the De-partment of Chemical, Paper & Biomed-ical Engineering, a human bone defect of a certain critical size (about one inch in the radius or ulna, or two inches in the femur or tibia) will not heal complete-ly without a graft. Traditionally, grafts are taken from elsewhere in the patient’s body or from a human donor. However, there are a number of complications as-sociated with this approach, so synthetic bone graft substitutes, or bone scaffolds, are increasingly used in place of natural human bone.

Ideally, a synthetic bone scaffold will foster biological regeneration process-es while also assuming the load-bearing function of healthy bone. “The scaffold should be receptive to cells; cells should like it in terms of structure and chemis-try,” Yousefi says. At the same time, the scaffold’s mechanical properties should enable the patient to exercise almost im-mediately following surgery because, as Yousefi points out, “exercise is stimula-tion that promotes bone growth and pre-vents bone resorption.”

But it turns out that these criteria com-pete with one another. “It’s very difficult to get everything working at the same time,” Yousefi says. “There are other re-search teams working on the same kind of design. Some of them have constructs that are load-bearing, but they’re not nec-essarily porous enough, or if they’re po-rous enough, they don’t have the required mechanical properties, or if they have both of them, they won’t have the right chemistry and cells won’t necessarily like the structures.”

Yousefi saw the OARS Round Table event as an opportunity to assemble an inter-disciplinary team with the potential to resolve the tensions between the compet-ing criteria. Yousefi; Paul James, associ-ate professor of biology; Shouzong Zou, associate professor of chemistry; Jing Zhang, assistant professor of statistics; and Jens Mueller, senior research com-puting specialist, each contribute a key piece to the complex puzzle.

“Amy’s part of the project is to develop the

materials that we’re going to grow these cells on that are going to mimic the prop-erties of bone. My part of the project is to actually grow the cells and seed them into these scaffolds,” James says. “We know what goes into the material,” he continues, “but in the final product, we don’t know exactly where it is and that’s what Zou will be doing – looking at where the specific materials that we put into the scaffold end up in the final product.”

With chemical, biological, and engineer-ing variables all at play, designing exper-iments that will ultimately yield the opti-mal solution is a daunting prospect. “A high number of variables gives you a high number of experiments and structures to build,” explains Yousefi. So Zhang and Mueller are applying their respective sta-tistical and computing expertise to more efficiently account for and manage the co-pious parameters. “We want to develop a strategy for designing these scaffolds that is easier for the researchers to use,” Youse-fi says, “so the experimental design itself is something we want to come up with, to offer to the research community.”

Once enough pieces of the puzzle are in place to allow an appreciation of the over-all picture, Yousefi and her team hope to advance their project with funding from the NIH or the NSF. “The OARS seed funding will enable us to generate some preliminary data and increase the chance of outside funding,” Yousefi says. While that may not be the final piece in the puz-zle, it will be an important step in get-ting this biomedical technology into the hands – and arms and legs – of patients.

Scaffold fabrication by rapid prototyping and cell growth on the scaffolds

by Heather Beattey JohnstonOARS Assistant Director& Information Coordinator

Faux bones about it: team improves design

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New CUR Engineering Division formedThe Council on Undergradu-ate Research (CUR) recently established an Engineering Division charged with provid-ing national leadership and discipline-specific expertise in developing undergraduate re-search in the area of engineer-ing and engineering-related fields.

Engineering faculty, including civil, mechanical, electrical, computer, environmental, and other allied engineering pro-fessions are invited to join the Engineering Division.

As a reminder, Miami main-tains an enhanced institutional membership in CUR, which al-lows individual members of the University community to join free of charge. To take advan-tage of this resource, navigate to cur.org. Click the Join CUR link. Click on Individual Mem-bership. Fill in your personal information. Choose Miami University (OH) as your insti-tution. Click OK in the pop-up window confirming Miam’s en-hanced institutional member-ship.

OARS Research News September 2013 6

Statistical science may seem dry, but as anyone who has seen the Brad Pitt movie Moneyball will

tell you, stats can be sexy. Moneyball recounts the true story of how stat-istician Peter Brand helped Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane (Pitt) rebuild the MLB team’s decimat-ed player roster on a shoestring bud-get in the 2002 season. The Athletics went on that season to set an American League record by winning 20 consecu-tive games.

The kind of evidence-based deci-sion-making popularized by Brand and Beane a decade ago is now common-place in baseball, but isn’t always a giv-en in other contexts. So says the chair of Miami’s statistics department, John Bailer.

A statistician with an interest and ex-perience in data visualization, Bailer thinks the key to using information to make better decisions lies not just in the raw numbers, but also in how they are arranged and presented to deci-sion-makers.

“We live in a world where more infor-mation is being collected at faster rates and we need to have tools and strategies for processing and understanding these data,” Bailer says. Data visualization, he continues, is about “how you rep-resent the data in such a way that you help people use it to make decisions.

You convert data into information for action.”

That is exactly what Bailer, also a dis-tinguished professor, and students in his Advanced Data Visualization class have done this summer for several cli-ents, including the Cincinnati Business Courier (CBC).

Like many news outfits founded in the pre-digital era, the CBC has had to ad-just to the expectations of an online au-dience. “We’re helping with some sug-gestions for them to move into a new target area for their audiences,” Bailer says. “They’re trying to figure out what it means to be a reporting organization

Data visualization work aids evidence-based decisionsby Heather Beattey JohnstonOARS Assistant Director& Information Coordinator

Advanced Data Visualization student Alexander Martishius charted data on average indus-try wages in Ohio’s largest cities for his team’s presentation to CBC editor Rob Daumeyer

in a more digital environment.”

For example, at a recent meeting, Bail-er’s students presented ideas for visual-izing connections between education, employment, and projected job growth to CBC editor Rob Daumeyer ’86.

Students in the class, which was team-taught by Bailer, interactive media stud-ies lecturer Artie Kuhn, and assistant professor of journalism Stephen Siff, turned data publicly available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics into heat maps, scatter plots, and other graphic representations that not only illustrate the current state of Greater Cincinnati’s employment market, but also highlight some bright and dark spots on the hori-zon.

“[Visualization] is not an organic strength of most journalists,” Daumey-er says, “so this is stuff we try to find” to help tell a story.

In addition to illustrating the stories journalists like Daumeyer already know they want to tell, data visualization can also suggest what stories need to be told next.

For the business leaders who read the CBC, knowing where to focus limited resources is critical. “We could afford to be less efficient at times when resources were plentiful,” Bailer points out, “but in times when resources become scarc-er, you need to be using your informa-tion more efficiently to help support your decisions. Evidence-based deci-sion-making leads to better decisions.”

“More information is being collected at faster rates and we

need to have tools and strategies for under-standing these data.”

OARS Research News September 2013 7

Retired NIH officer Crutcher offers insightsby Tricia CallahanDirector of Proposal Development

In May, OARS hosted an appearance by Dr. Keith Crutcher, retired NIH Scientific Review Officer, who spoke

about the National Institutes of Health (NIH) peer review process.

Crutcher’s talk led attendees through the intricate maze of the NIH’s two-step peer review process. All grant proposals submitted to the NIH are received by the Center for Scientific Review. From there, a majority of proposals are assigned to a scientific study section and to a particular institute for review. Crutcher noted that when submitting a proposal, it is import-ant for an investigator to include a cover letter that specifies which study section and which institute are best suited to re-view the application.

During his talk, Crutcher emphasized the importance of:• Researching which program, mecha-

nism (e.g., R01 vs. R15), institute, and study sections are most appropriate for a given application

• Communicating with the program officer prior to submitting an applica-tion

• Following up with a program officer after an application has been assigned to a institute and study section if as-signments are not well suited for a particular application

• Following up with the program offi-cer (not the Scientific Review Officer) after summary statements have been received

For a list of what projects particular NIH institutes and centers have funded in the past, Crutcher referred attendees to the NIH RePorter. The RePorter is a search-able database of NIH awards dating back over the last 20 years.

For help in putting together an appli-cation and understanding the funding process at the NIH, Crutcher referred at-tendees to a document on the strategy for NIH funding, which outlines the seven steps in applying for and receiving NIH funding:1. Qualify for funding by doing your

homework. Be diligent in research-ing the best program and study sec-tion for your proposal.

2. Design a project that fits with the funding goals of the NIH.

3. Write your application according to

the NIH proposal guidelines, enlist-ing peers and OARS for editing and review.

4. Submit your application well before the deadline allowing time for cor-rection of errors.

5. Understand how the NIH assigns and reviews proposals.

6. If not funded, work with your pro-gram officer to revise and resubmit your proposal if appropriate.

7. If funded, communicate with the NIH via annual reports and renewals (if applicable).

Researchers who want more information are encouraged to read the NIH docu-ment “NIH Peer Review: Grants and Co-operative Agreements” and/or visit the NIH webpage on Peer Review.

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New OARS program seeks proposal writing mentorsTo help improve the quality of proposals submitted to exter-nal agencies, OARS is launch-ing an internal peer review/mentoring program.

At this time, OARS is working to build a pool of experienced, tenured or tenure-track Miami researchers who have previ-ously received Federal funding and have served on peer re-view panels for Federal agen-cies, and are willing to conduct internal reviews of extramu-ral funding proposals prior to submission. Researchers in the pool will also mentor the proposal writers as they work to strengthen the documents before submitting to funding agencies.

Faculty interested in becoming reviewer-mentors should re-view the qualifications and pro-cedures on the OARS website. Selected mentors may receive a small stipend.

Once a sufficient pool of re-viewers has been established, prospective mentees will be invited to submit proposals for review.

OARS Research News September 2013 8

Miami’s undergraduate and graduate students have a number of opportunities to

present their research in 2013-2014.

GRADUATE RESEARCH FORUMThe Graduate Research Forum is an opportunity for Miami University graduate students to share their schol-arship with the university community. Students present their scholarship in oral sessions and in poster sessions, and are evaluated by faculty and alum-ni judges. Awards are given to top pre-senters. The 2013 Graduate Research Forum will be held Friday, November 1 at Shriver Center. Graduate students interested in presenting their research at the Forum should submit an abstract online, no later than September 13. More information is available on the Graduate School website.

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FORUMMiami’s Undergraduate Research Fo-rum showcases the creative and schol-arly activities of undergraduates who engaged in research over the course of the academic year. During this event, both student researchers and mentors celebrate and promote undergraduate engagment in learning and scholarly achievement. Free and open to the pub-

lic, the 2014 Undergraduate Research Forum will be held on April 16. Pre-senter registration opens January 13.

NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCHThe 28th National Conference on Un-dergraduate Research (NCUR) will take place April 3-5, 2014, at the Uni-versity of Kentucky in Lexington.

Prospective presenters are invited to submit applications and abstracts on the NCUR website (cur.org/ncur_2014) between September 30 and December 6. Conference registration opens Jan-uary 15.

Student researchers invited to share workcompiled by Heather Beattey JohnstonOARS Assistant Director& Information Coordinator

A student presents her research at the 2012 Graduate Research Forum

CUR QUARTERLY FALL 2014Students (and faculty) are invited to submit a prospectus for an article or vignette on the theme “Undergraduate Research in Support of Sustainability” through October 15. Articles should address issues related to creating, im-plementing, sustaining, and assessing undergraduate research experiences to support sustainable practices, sys-tems and educational efforts. Vignettes should offer concrete, creative sugges-tions for connecting undergraduate research programs to campus or com-munity sustainability initiatives. More information is available at cur.org/pub-lications/curquarterly.

OARS to host breakfast for new faculty New faculty are invited to join the OARS team for breakfast on Wednesday, September 18, from 7:15am to 8:00am in the MacMillan Hall Great Room.

In addition to meeting OARS staff, attendees will get to learn more about the ways OARS supports researchers at Miami University.

For more information or to RSVP, please contact Tricia Callahan, Director of Proposal Development, at [email protected] or 529-1795.

Undergrad Presentation

Awards of up to $200 are available.

Students must apply before presenting.

More info available at MiamiOH.edu/oars/ undergrad_research

OARS Research News September 2013 9

The Ohio Third Frontier (OTF) Entrepreneurial Signature Pro-gram (ESP) is a key supporter of

technology-based economic develop-ment in the six Ohio regions it serves. Although the program doesn’t directly support Ohio’s higher education institu-tions, it does foster the entrepreneurial culture and other support mechanisms that help nurture local start-up compa-nies relying on technology developed by or in collaboration with a university in the region. Funding is awarded on a competitive basis, and assists each of the ESPs with the development and delivery of a variety of services, coordination, and capital access to continue to build on well-defined commercialization out-comes for technology-based entrepre-neurial ventures within the OTF focus areas (see list in box at right).

The objectives of the ESP are to:

• Fund specific programs that pro-vide broad-based regional entre-preneurial services with demon-strated value within their region

• Maintainaclimateof start-upandentrepreneurial assistance that leads to creation, attraction, and re-tention of “investable” technology companies in Ohio

• Support the creation and growthof a pipeline of deal-flow to start-ups and tech companies that will sustain an ecosystem capable of

About Ohio Third Frontier and our series on its higher ed programsCreated in 2002 as an initia-tive of the Ohio Development Services Agency, Ohio Third Frontier brings together lead-ers from industry, academia and government. According to the Third Frontier website, it in-tends to “create an innovation ecosystem that supports the efficient and seamless tran-sition of great ideas from the laboratory to the marketplace.”

In this series of articles, Mi-ami’s Director of Technology Transfer and Business Part-nerships, Reid Smith, exam-ines the four Third Frontier pro-grams of greatest relevance to higher education.

� February 2013 Tech Validation & Start-Up Fund � April 2013 Innovation Platform Program � In this issue Entrepreneurial Signature Program � November 2013 Internship Programs

attracting capital investment from sources within and outside of Ohio

• Build a network of universal sup-port for technology companies within the respective regions of the funded organizations

CincyTech, southwest Ohio’s funded ESP, is a public-private organization that provides entrepreneurial support services and makes seed-stage invest-ments in ventures. Their mission is to strengthen the regional economy by driving talent and capital into scalable, investable technology companies in Southwest Ohio. These activities target two key outcomes: job creation, espe-cially within the OTF focus areas; and investment returns to the capital pro-viders for the organization’s seed capital funds. In August of 2013, CincyTech Fund III closed with $10.9 million, a combination of $5 million in OTF funds and $5.9 million from other southwest Ohio partners. These seed capital funds provide a critical source of very early stage financial support, which combined with the service support network, help expand the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Ohio. CincyTech has made invest-ments of $15.3 million in 43 portfolio companies, creating 390 regional jobs and attracting $228 million in follow-on investment and other outside funding. Among the more than 3000 investment opportunities reviewed by the organiza-tion are ventures that have licensed or acquired technologies from the region’s higher education institutions.

For the FY12 program RFP, the Third

Frontier made program funds of $40 million available for ESP services through FY14. If you are working on a technology platform you think might be eligible for support through the regional ESP, please contact Reid Smith, Miami’s Director of Technology Transfer and Business Partnerships, at [email protected] or 529-3753.

by Reid SmithDirector of Technology Transfer & Business Partnerships

OTF program fosters tech commercialization

Ohio Third Frontier focus areas:

• Advanced materials (poly-mers, ceramics, compos-ites, carbon fibers, nano-tubes, specialty metals and alloys)

• Aeropropulsion power management

• Fuel cells and energy storage

• Medical technology (im-aging, surgical, implant devices) and regenerative medicine

• Business and healthcare software

• Sensing and automation• Situational awareness and

surveillance systems• Solar photovoltaics

OARS Research News September 2013 10

Whether you are submitting a grant proposal to a federal or state agency, to a private

foundation or company, or to another institution, at Miami University you are required to complete a Proposal Ap-proval Form (PAF). The PAF is our way of ensuring that all commitments made to a sponsoring agency can be fulfilled. It is also our way of ensuring that you are recognized for your grant-seeking efforts.

When an investigator submits a success-ful grant proposal to an agency, it is al-most always the case that the resulting award will be made to the institution, rather than to the individual (fellow-ships being a notable exception). The reason for this is that the funding agen-cy wants to be sure the entity receiving their funds has an accounting system in place that will ensure spending in accor-dance with all federal, state, and agency regulations.

Having the award go to the institution is also in the best interest of the best inter-est of the investigator. Why? If award funds went directly to an investigator, that individual would be responsible for claiming the funds as income and would be taxed on those funds. Also, the individual would be responsible for submitting audited financial reports to the sponsor annually. When funds are awarded to Miami University, we do that for you.

The information the University needs to administer awards must be provid-ed prior to proposal submission. You, as the principal investigator, need to complete the PAF, which captures all commitments made to an agency and verifies that you are in compliance with human and animal subject and export control policies. If your department chair, dean, or the Office for the Ad-vancement of Research and Scholar-ship (OARS) has promised you funds in connection with the proposed project, those commitments are documented on the PAF so that way when the award arrives, everything is ready to be set up in a spending account for your project.

All institutional commitments must be documented upfront, prior to award submission. Failure to do so could result in delays in setting up award accounts

or worse, a loss of institutional funds that were not properly documented.

Because the PAF changes frequently, you should download a PAF from the OARS website for each new proposal. Completing the PAF is simple. Mainly, you are letting us know:• How to contact you and what unit

you are in• Which agency you’re submitting the

grant proposal to and how to contact them

• Whether you have gotten any uni-versity commitments

• Whether you have any compliance issues of which we need to be aware.

While writing a grant proposal can be time consuming and tricky, managing an award can be even more so if you don’t begin on the right path. Start out right by submitting a PAF prior to pro-posal submission. Doing so will ensure that you’re on the right PAF…to success.

Need help completing the PAF? Contact

Tricia Callahan [email protected]

529-1795

Anne Schauer [email protected]

529-3735

Researchers should follow “PAF” to successby Tricia CallahanDirector of Proposal Development

New OARS programs offer incentives to PI’sTwo new initiatives announced in June by Jim Oris, Associate Provost for Research, provide incentives directly to Miami University faculty and staff who are eligible to participate as principal investigators on externally funded grants and contracts.

Running as a three-year pilot, the External Proposal Sub-mission Incentive (EPSI) program awards up to $1000 in professional expense funds annually to PI’s who meet in-ternal deadlines. The amount awarded depends on the num-ber of submissions and the amount of direct and indirect (F&A) costs requested in pro-posal budgets.

The Indirect Cost Recovery Distribution to Principal In-vestigators program awards 5% of F&A costs to the princi-pal investigator to use for pro-fessional expenses.

Details about both programs are available on the OARS website.

OARS Research News September 2013 11

Please be aware of the following research compliance policies in effect at Miami:

RESPONSIBLE CONDUCT OF RESEARCHIf you receive new funding from NIH or NSF, all faculty, students and staff whose research is supported by these agencies are required to participate in Responsi-ble Conduct of Research (RCR) instruc-tion. These agencies have set minimum requirements. These requirements are met at Miami through a series of didac-tic forums to be offered during spring se-mester (watch upcoming newsletters for 2014 dates). Aside from regulatory re-quirements, faculty can require graduate student advisees to attend the training regardless of the funding sources. More information and the forum schedule can be found at MiamiOH.edu/compliance/rcr/rcr_training.htm.

ANIMAL CARECompletion of AALAS online training is required for all faculty, staff, and students interacting independently with animals for research, teaching, testing or demon-stration. As soon as is possible, these peo-ple are also required to attend an orienta-tion to the animal care program at Miami. Fall semester orientations are as follows:

• Fri., Sept. 27, 1:00pm, 134 PSY• Tues., Dec. 3, noon, 134 PSY

More important than both the online training and classroom orientation, is the endorsement by the faculty advisor that the student is qualified for the assigned activities.

HUMAN SUBJECTS RESEARCHFollowing completion of an online re-search and ethics and policies course (CITI Program — link available on the Compliance website), principal investi-gators and faculty advisors new to Miami are required to attend a 75 minute pro-gram orientation session designed to as-sist them or their students in completing human subjects research protocol applica-tions. Sessions for fall semester are sched-uled as follows:• Tues., Sept. 17, noon, 320 LWS

• Tues., Sept. 23, 10:00am, 302 PSY• Fri., Oct. 4, 8:00am, 320 LWS• Thurs., Oct. 10, 10:00am, 320 LWS• Tues., Oct. 22, 2:00pm, 320 LWS• Wed., Nov. 20, 8:00am, 301 LWS• Wed., Dec. 4, 8:00am, 301 LWS

Researchers who routinely investigate similar populations and issues using sim-ilar methods, or instructors who assign their students projects that involve collect-ing data from human subjects using very similar populations, topics and methods, should consider developing umbrella pro-tocols to cover the majority of the projects proposed. Individual projects can then be submitted and reviewed as amendments to the umbrella protocol.

Research compliance provides information and trainingby Jennifer SuttonAssistant Director of Research Compliance

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Center re-named The Center for Human Devel-opment, Learning & Technology has been re-named the Doris Bergen Center for Human Devel-opment, Learning & Technology.

Federal system users reminded to update e-mail addresses Researchers who use eRA Com-mons and/or FastLane should update their e-mail addresses in those systems to include their new @MiamiOH.edu domain. Researchers who do not update their e-mail addresses may miss important notifications and may be unable to use the automat-ed password re-set system be-cause the re-set information will be sent to the now-inactive @muohio.edu domain.

Compliance questions? ContactNeal Sullivan Jennifer Sutton [email protected] [email protected] 529-0454

OARS Research News September 2013 12

Deadlines for the following internal programs are coming up soon. More information about all pro-

grams is available on the OARS website.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 14Doctoral-Undegraduate Opportuni-ties for Scholarship (DUOS)In DUOS, an undergraduate student and graduate student work together on a research project under the supervision of a faculty member in a Ph.D. granting department. Either the undergraduate or graduate student may initiate the ap-plication, but the undergraduate student is to have primary authorship of the project. Up to 11 DUOS projects may be supported by up to $1,000 in funding. Awardees should budget 75% of funds to be used in direct support of the research project. The remaining 25% of the funds ($250) may be used for dissemination of research results (i.e., for costs related to publication or conference attendance).

Undergraduate Research Awards (URA)URAs encourage creative activity and provide Miami undergraduates with fac-ulty-mentored experience in developing grant applications. Each individual stu-dent project or team project must be en-dorsed by a faculty sponsor, who should be provided with a draft of the project proposal by September 30.

Internal support for research is availableby Heather Beattey JohnstonOARS Assistant Director & Information Coordinator

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18University Senate Committee on Fac-ulty Research (CFR) Faculty Research GrantsWith the exception of the individuals who review the applications, all con-tinuing tenure-eligible or tenured facul-ty members, including librarians hold-ing the M.S.L.S. Degree or equivalent, are eligible. The committee encourages proposals from all disciplines and cam-puses at Miami University. CFR funds are considered seed money for obtain-ing preliminary data or information that will lead to submission of proposals to external funding sources. The program awards funding within three categories:• Summer research appointments

(salary of $6200)• Research graduate assistantships• Grants to promote research (maxi-

mum of $3000)Applications may include requests for funding from any combination of these three categories.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1Miami University Awards for Distin-guished ScholarshipTwo awards — Miami University Dis-tinguished Scholar Award and/or Miami University Junior Faculty Scholar Award — may be given in each of the following categories:• Fine arts and humanities (FAH)• Applied and natural sciences (ANS)

• Business, education, and social sci-ences (BESS)

The Miami University Distinguished Scholar Award honors faculty whose sustained excellence in research or other creative activity has brought them prom-inence in their fields, while the Miami University Junior Faculty Scholar Award honors faculty who have demonstrated great potential in research or artistry and achieved significant standing in the field.

Each recipient of a Distinguished Schol-ar Award will receive a grant of $2,000 for the pursuit of further research or cre-ative endeavor.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6Undergraduate Summer Scholars (USS) USS heightens the intellectual level of the learning environment by enabling Miami undergraduates to do research or other creative activities during nine summer weeks, under the supervision of an individual faculty mentor. Stu-dents are responsible for seeking a fac-ulty member to mentor the project, or a faculty member can suggest a project to a student. Individual student/faculty pairs submit a jointly-written applica-tion to the faculty member’s department chair or program director. Each student receives a $2,600 fellowship award; $400 toward project expenses; and a tui-tion-only waiver for six credit hours of independent study. The faculty mentor receives a $600 professional develop-ment allowance.

Funding opp resources availableOARS provides the following resources to faculty who want information about possible sources of funding for their work.

Pivot is a large database of available funding opportunities in the arts, commerce and in-dustry, education, humanities, health, and science. OARS provides access at pivot.cos.com to all Miami Universi-ty faculty, staff, and students while on campus or connected to Miami’s VPN.

Through the bookmarking ser-vice Diigo, OARS aggregates newly announced funding op-portunities on a daily basis. To see the latest opportunities in a specific topic or discipline, or join a specific topic/discipline group, visit the OARS website.

Researchers who would prefer to subscribe to a Miami Uni-versity listserv instead of us-ing Diigo can find directions for subscribing to OARS lists on the OARS website.

Personalized consultation is available by contacting Heath-er Johnston at 529-1760 or [email protected].

OARS Research News December 2013 1

RESEARCH NEWSa publication of the Office for the Advancement of Research & Scholarship at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio • MiamiOH.edu/OARS

December 2013OARS

In this issueWelcome .....................................1Scaffidi research profile ............2de Medeiros research profile ....3Costanzo team research profile ..4Rypstra & Berg REU ...................5Grad student Linz EAPSI ...........6EPSI program .............................7FY2013 summary .......................8Upcoming dates .........................9Changes to U.S. patent law .....10Research compliance ..............11Funding .....................................12

In this last issue of OARS Research News for 2013, we look back to review the aggregate accomplish-

ments of Miami researchers in FY2013, and we celebrate the individual achieve-ments of select faculty members and students.

A summary of the OARS Annual Re-port FY2013 can be found on page 8. The summary reveals a slight increase in extramural funding for FY2013 over FY2012. While federal research funding to Miami declined as expected because of the federal budget sequestration that took effect in January, those losses were largely offset by a significant increase in funding from foundations and associa-tions.

Among those faculty receiving external grants in FY2013 are Jon Scaffidi and Kate de Medeiros. Both researchers credit their success to experiences they had in other fields prior to embarking on their current research. We tell you about their journeys on pages 2 and 3, respectively.

On page 4, we bring you the story of a Miami research team that includes senior research scholar Jon Costanzo. The team’s work on the wood frog and its ability to revive itself from a frozen state has captured international atten-tion, with television programs on PBS and the BBC featuring their research.

We also report on the experience biolo-gy graduate student David Linz had in the NSF-funded East Asia Pacific Sum-mer Institute this past summer. Linz leveraged his work with the Japanese stag beetle into an opportunity to work in a top-of-the-line lab while also expe-riencing Japanese culture.

As we wrap up 2013, we also look ahead to 2014. Bridging the gap between old and new is the Ecology in Human-Dom-inated Landscapes REU run by biology faculty Ann Rypstra and David Berg. The program, which has been contin-uously funded by the NSF since 2001, recently received supplemental fund-ing to support a collaboration with the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS) that will bring AUIS students to Miami in 2014.

Page 7 is devoted to the External Pro-posal Submission Incentive (EPSI) pro-gram, new in FY2014. The article shares some early program statistics, as well as testimony from four faculty who have received EPSI funds.

As always, the last few pages of the news-letter bring you administrative news. Be sure to check out page 9 for upcoming

Saying goodbye to 2013 and hello to 2014by Jim OrisAssociate Provost for Research & Dean of the Graduate School

Jim Oris

events and deadlines, including the 4th Annual Proposals and Awards Recep-tion, which honors faculty and staff who submitted proposals and/or received awards in FY2013. Everyone in OARS looks forward to this event as an op-portunity to show our appreciation for the effort our researchers put into the unglamorous work of writing proposals.

Finally, as we head into the holiday season, on behalf of all the OARS staff, I wish you the joy of family, the gift of friends, and a productive, prosperous 2014.

OARS Research News December 2013 2

Jon Scaffidi has only been at Miami University for two and a half years and he is already working to improve

treatments for cancer patients.

Scaffidi, a first-time professor in the De-partment of Chemistry & Biochemistry, has not always worked as a chemist. Un-like many professors, he’s worked sever-al non-academic jobs in manufacturing, warehousing, and home construction. These jobs provided him with skills he finds useful in his current work in ana-lytical chemistry, which focuses on devel-oping and improving the tools and tech-niques to acquire chemical information in the real world.

Scaffidi enjoys the overlaps between his academic field and his previous work experience. Just like in a factory or on a construction site, Scaffidi says “in some of those situations, being able to tear something apart and see what’s really go-ing on is very important.”

Scaffidi’s mentored research on arsenic speciation as an undergraduate allowed him to delve deeper into analytical chem-istry. Later, Scaffidi went on to develop cancer treatment methods. One project he’s working on involves developing a sensor that can be used by physicians to measure and detect cancer.

“Being able to go out in the world and measure something and improve some-one’s life, that’s what’s important,” Scaffidi says.

But his research goes beyond developing a sensor. Scaffidi hopes to implement the use of lasers into cancer treatment and detection as well. He says the system he’s working on may one day allow doctors to take a picture of where the cancer is pres-ent and simply turn up the power of the laser and focus it to cut the cancer out in real time during exploratory surgery.

“We’re trying to develop a way to actually take a picture and use the wavelengths of light that are scattered from that tissue to be able to tell if something is cancer,” he says. “If that physician has this picture they can say not, ‘maybe that’s cancer,’ but ‘that is cancer and I have a medical rea-

son to go in and remove it,’ rather than being on a sort of fishing expedition.”

While the experiments he’s conducting have the potential to improve cancer pa-tients’ lives, it hasn’t been an easy process to find funding for his work. Scaffidi has applied for funding from the university as well as from private foundations and government agencies, including the Na-tional Institute of Health and the Nation-al Science Foundation. So far, his efforts have paid off in the form of a $40,000 grant from the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh.

But Scaffidi knows he needs more funds to continue his research and make an im-pact.

“There is a certain amount of disap-pointment when [your proposal gets de-clined], but then you get back in the lab and you see some of the great results and you think of the great things that could happen as a result of the research. It’s like anything else, you get back on that bike and keep pedaling away and keep trying.”

While these projects have only been in the works for a year, Scaffidi’s persistence and hopefulness to change people’s lives keep him motivated to continue working hard in the lab so that he can make a real difference outside the lab.

Chemist aspires to help doctors treat cancerby Catie EwenCommunications Intern

Jon Scaffidi“You get back on

that bike and keep pedaling away.”

Center for Augmented Reality establishedIn October, Associate Provost for Research Jim Oris, with the concurrence of Provost Gempesaw and the Council of Academic Deans, approved the establishment of the Cen-ter for Augmented Reality.

Led by Technical Director Bo Brinkman and Creative Di-rector Helen Armstrong, the Augmented Reality Center is a cross-disciplinary creative community focused on ad-vancing augmented reality as a cultural practice. This means inventing and creat-ing augmented reality (AR) applications that can benefit ordinary people, collaborat-ing with partners in industry and with cultural institutions, ensuring that theory informs practice, and that the lessons learned from practice feed back into scholarship.

The Center invites partici-pation from anyone with an interest in AR, regardless of discipline. For information, contact Bo Brinkman (529-0354) or Helen Armstrong (529-2232).

OARS Research News December 2013 3

Kate de Medeiros was working on a masters in medical humanities when the director of her graduate

program asked her if she would consider taking an independent study with him. Knowing de Medeiros had majored in literature as an undergraduate, he want-ed her to construct a writing workshop for older people.

“I thought it would be the worst thing I ever did but I agreed to it anyway and after the first day that the group met, I realized that I wanted to work with older people. It was purely accidental,” says de Medeiros.

Since her epiphany, de Medeiros hasn’t slowed down. A teacher at Miami Uni-versity for three years, she is writing a book titled Narrative Gerontology in Re-search and Practice that will come out next month, she was invited by the Na-tional Academy of Science to present a paper on arts-based interventions in dementia in D.C., and she’s published five journal articles this year alone. Ad-ditionally, she is in the process of com-pleting research for a number of ongoing projects.

“The key is that you always have some-thing waiting while you’re waiting for the grants to be processed,” says de Medeiros, who has successfully received grants from the Alzheimer’s Association and the National Institute of Mental Health.

Persistence is another key to de Medeiros’ success. She has submitted at least two

proposals for every project she has re-ceived funding for.

“Ninety-five percent of the proposals submitted don’t get funded the first time. Perseverance is absolutely the key and if you don’t have the stomach for it, you shouldn’t be doing it. Sometimes you have to rethink it,” de Medeiros says.

Some of her major areas of interest in-clude friendships among people with dementia and the use of different types of narratives as a means to help people create significant experiences from the past. Recently, de Medeiros has shifted her attention to the study of unmarried older men.

Her current study, a follow-up to a $1.5 million project that interviewed childless older women about their perceptions of life, examines how unmarried men over the age of 65 perceive later life and health. De Medeiros estimates the study will take four years and cost $2 million. She is cur-rently waiting for a decision on funding from the National Institute on Aging, a part of the National Institutes of Health.

While the studies of unmarried men and women are keeping her busy, de Me-deiros is always adding to her already im-pressive research about friendships and dementia.

“[I look at how] dementia environments can help or hinder socialization among people with dementia. We often forget they are capable of maintaining friend-ships and they don’t have to rely on staff for everything,” she says.

It’s evident that her research is allowing the public to better understand the aging population, not just locally, but national-ly and even internationally, as well.

“I’m really involved [as the co-founder] in the North American Network in Aging Studies. We are people interested in crit-ical questions in gerontology and aging. We have an affiliate group in Europe so I have a lot of cross-fertilization with my European colleagues,” she says.

From undergraduate literature major, to published gerontologist with global im-pact, Kate de Medeiros turned something she thought would be “the worst thing” into one of the best things in her life.

“Accidental” gerontologist makes her markby Catie EwenCommunications Intern

Kate de Medeiros

MU Libraries offer NSF DMP helpTo help NSF grant applicants navigate the requirement for Data Management Plans (DMPs), Miami University Libraries staff will consult with researchers on best practices in compiling and implementing DMPs, and offer their expertise in standards for data manage-ment and description.

The library offers the services of staff who are experts in information dissemination and planning descriptive meta-data, thereby ensuring that data management plans are created, submitted, and followed within existing guide-lines and standards.

Miami University Libraries encourages researchers to store their data (in almost virtually any format), along with associated metadata in the Miami Scholarly Commons. The library provides basic services to researchers free of charge, requiring no additional budget line for data manage-ment.

Contact the Center for Digital Scholarship (529-2871 or [email protected]).

OARS Research News December 2013 4

Researchers unlock the mysteries of freeze-tolerant frogsby Margo KissellUniversity News & Communications

Jon Costanzo, senior research schol-ar in the Department of Biology, is helping unlock the mystery of how

wood frogs (Rana sylvatica) can freeze in winter — with their hearts not beat-ing while frozen — then quickly resume normal life after thawing in the spring.

Findings of Costanzo’s work with Uni-versity Distinguished Professor of Zo-ology Richard Lee and graduate stu-dents Clara do Amaral and Andrew Rosendale were reported in the August 21 issue of the Journal of Experimental Biology. The researchers found that the freeze-tolerant frogs can survive at tem-peratures much lower than previously reported.

The National Science Foundation-sup-ported research also has led to some new discoveries related to underlying physiological mechanisms that allowed frogs from the interior of Alaska to sur-vive freezing at minus 16 degrees Cel-sius. They required only two days of thawing to resume normal movements.

The research team’s work was featured on the TV science program NOVA’s “Making Things Colder,” which aired on PBS October 30, and will be includ-ed in the upcoming David Attenbor-ough production, “Natural Curiosities” this coming January. A third, yet-to-be scheduled, program — the BBC’s “Hid-den Kingdoms” — will also discuss the research.

Focusing on the differences between Ohio and Alaskan wood frogs, the researchers collected dozens of frogs on the verge of hibernation near Fairbanks, Alaska, to study how they prepared for winter.

Back at the Miami campus, the research-ers placed the frogs in programmable environmental chambers and manipu-lated temperature and light exposure for six weeks to simulate the frogs’ normal conditions.

“We kind of faked them out as if they were being subjected to decreasing tem-perature and decreasing daylight like they would experience in the field,” he said.

While studying how they changed phys-iologically, they discovered something that surprised even Costanzo, who has been studying the creatures for 25 years.

Costanzo said the finding that the frogs broke down muscle protein at this time, was “completely unexpected” because they would have to breed soon after emerging from hibernation.

The frog “needs good muscle tone, good muscle structure, to be able to pull that off,” Costanzo said. “Yet these frogs were using some of their muscle protein before winter.”

Researchers believe that occurs so the

frogs can use nitrogen in the protein to produce urea. Although humans and other creatures also produce urea, a waste byproduct, they quickly release it from their bodies. The frogs don’t.

“Rather than urinating to get rid of the urea, they’re hanging onto it and they really stacked it up,” Costanzo said.

While the researchers have known for a while that the frogs produce urea head-ing into winter, they don’t yet under-stand how they are able to retain it the way they do.

“The concentration of urea in their blood was just huge and way more than we’d ever seen in the frogs from Ohio,” he said. “We’ve never seen the accumu-lation like we’ve seen in these Alaskan frogs. It’s really spectacular.”

Urea, a cryoprotectant, can help tissues survive freezing stresses and also stabi-lize membranes. 

“It can help brain tissue tolerate swings in salt concentration, which you might see in freezing and thawing,” he said, “so urea is probably one of their secrets.”

Costanzo said urea also helps depress metabolism while the frogs hibernate for nearly eight months.

“They are not going to be feeding so de-pressing their metabolism during the winter is really important to survive be-cause it’s going to help them last longer on their stored energy reserves,” he said.

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continued on page 5

OARS Research News December 2013 5

Miami University professors of biology Ann Rypstra and Da-vid Berg were recently named

the U.S. partners for a project funded by Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) Science, a joint pro-gram of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Agency for Interna-tional Development (USAID).

Rypstra and Berg will work with Christy Jo Geraci from the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS), to bring stu-dents from AUIS to Miami to participate in an undergraduate research program Rypstra, Berg, and colleagues have been running for more than a dozen years. That program – Ecology in Human-Dominat-ed Landscapes – has been funded by the NSF’s Research Experiences for Under-graduates (REU) program continuously since 2001.

“In our REU program,” says Rypstra, “stu-dents conduct research under the direc-tion of faculty mentors, participating in ‘clusters’ of student-mentor pairs who are pursing similar lines of research.”

Geraci hopes that in Rypstra and Berg’s REU program, her students will learn how to conduct research that could help solve a critical problem in Iraq and the larger Middle East region: how best to manage limited water resources.

“We want to bring the REU model to Iraq to get our students excited about research and active learning,” she says. “We want to prepare them to contribute to ongoing international efforts to develop and en-force water management strategies in the Middle East.”

Rypstra and Berg recently received $30,000 in supplemental funding from the NSF REU program to support the col-laboration with Geraci and AUIS.

Frozen frogscontinued from page 4 Trio takes REU international

by Heather Beattey JohnstonOARS Assistant Director &Information Coordinator

If there is something that can be applied from the wood frog research, it is the

role cryoprotectants play in improving freezing survival.

The research also found the frogs pro-duce glucose, which is ordinary blood sugar, as they’re freezing and accumu-late that to high levels, too, which ap-pears to help the cells tolerate freezing.

“We don’t know exactly how they are de-hydrating their organs during freezing but we know the organs shrink,” Cos-tanzo said. “The idea is that rather than have all that water remain in the organ and freeze and become big chunks of ice, have that water freeze outside where it’s not going to harm the tissue struc-ture.”

The researchers found the Alaskan wood frogs survived to temperatures of minus 16 degrees Celsius, which is 11 degrees colder than Ohio wood frogs survived in testing.

“They also survived a two-month peri-od of freezing” at minus 4 degrees and required only two days to get back “up on their feet and looking great,” Costan-zo said.

The response time for the Ohio frogs was a week or longer.

“Given they came back in two days, we think they probably can go much lower than minus 16,” he said.

Rosendale said that they pursue this kind of research because it’s fascinat-ing but realize that their discoveries may eventually lead to medical break-throughs.

Scientists for years have been able to preserve simple systems such as embry-

os by freezing them. Regarding organ transplants, medical personnel ship and store organs on ice because they are try-ing to lower the temperature as much as possible to reduce damage.

“But they can’t freeze organs yet,” Cos-tanzo said. 

If there is something that can be applied from the wood frog research, it is the role cryoprotectants play in improving freezing survival.

“That is something the frogs demon-strated very well,” he said.

Additionally, understanding the winter biology of ectotherms such as frogs may help predict consequences of climate change for their survival, according to Lee.

This article originally appeared August 21 on the Miami University News & Events website as a “Top Story,” and is re-printed here with per-mission.

City of Sulaimani, Iraq

“We want to get students excited

about research and active learning.”

OARS Research News December 2013 6

David Linz had spent countless hours in the lab. He was exten-sively researching insect flight

structures and examining a tiny beetle known as the red flour beetle. Things all changed when his advisor, Yoshi Tomoyasu, proposed that Linz study a new beetle, the giant Japanese stag. This beetle can only be found in Japan so Linz packed up his bags and traveled to Japan to pursue his studies through the East Asia Pacific Summer Institute (EAPSI).

“We decided to use a beetle that we can only get in Japan, and we used that bee-tle as a way to travel to that country and research its flight structures. So that’s how I ended up going to Japan,” says Linz, a graduate student of zoology.

A three-month program funded through the National Science Founda-tion, EAPSI provides U.S. graduate stu-dents like Linz the opportunity to study in East Asian countries. After complet-ing the orientation process in Tokyo, Linz then moved to the large city of Kobe where he spent the majority of his time.

He quickly made his way into the lab and began putting in long hours.

“The Japanese people are extremely hardworking people. They’re very ded-icated to their work and I kind of ad-opted that work style while I was there,” says Linz of his research.

Linz also had the opportunity to work at a top-of-the-line facility with some the best resources and lab instruments.

“It was no chore to spend a lot of time at work. The group that I was work-ing with was a really high impact and heavily dedicated lab, so it was fun to be surrounded by top scientists that were performing cutting edge research.”

While he put long hours and hard work into his studies in the lab, Linz was also able to have some fun. He not only inte-grated himself into the culture through his participation in rock climbing, a pastime he also enjoys in the U.S., but also through travel funded by the NSF program.

“The beauty of this program is that along with giving U.S. graduate stu-dents the opportunity to work in the lab, the program is also really dedicated to giving us these cultural experiences, so they were highly encouraging of us to take the time to travel and see these countries that we otherwise wouldn’t get the opportunity to spend time in,” says Linz.

The EAPSI program was the first for-eign travel experience for Linz and he hopes that other students take any op-portunity they are given to travel.

“Having my eyes open to the vast cul-tural differences that exist was pretty impactful for my life but in a positive way. Getting to experience a culture that is extremely different from your own is really important in shaping your view of the world,” he says.

Linz never would’ve guessed that he would be faced with a world of oppor-tunity in Japan, all because of a beetle.

For student, big beetle means big opportunityby Catie EwenCommunications Intern

David Linz (left) and his mentor, Dr. Shigeo Hayashi, in the lab in Kobe, Japan

“The beauty of EAPSI is that along with work in the lab,

the program is really dedicated

to giving us these cultural experiences.”

CEHS offers grant writing workshopOn Tuesday, January 21 and Wednesday, January 22, the College of Education, Health, & Society will present a grant writing workshop led by Meg Cantwell, Senior Consultant for Special Initiatives in the Grants Resource Center of the Amer-ican Association of State Col-leges & Universities.

All Miami faculty are invited to at-tend the workshop in whole or in part. The schedule is as follows:Tuesday January 21, 20148:15-8:30 Intro speaker8:30-10:30 Intro to grant writing strate-

gies/proposal development10:30-10:45 Refreshment break10:45-12:15 NSF in a nutshell12:15-1:00 Lunch1:00-2:45 Demystifying the NIH3:00-5:00 Individual/small group

grant writing developmentWednesday, January 22, 20148:15-8:30 University grant writing

resources8:30-10:30 Grant writing for education10:30-10:45 Refreshment break10:45-12:15 Private foundations:

challenges and gateways12:15-1:00 Lunch1:00-2:45 Underbelly of peer review3:00-5:00 Individual/small group

grant writing development

To register, log into your Miami Google account then click on the desired date(s) above and fill out the form. Questions? Con-tact Kevin Bush (529-0405).

OARS Research News December 2013 7

EPSI program deadlinesAction

Minimum number of working days prior to agency submission deadline

Notify OARS of intent to submit proposal 10

Submit PAF and final, approved budget to OARS 3

Submit or release final proposal to OARS 2

Modified Total Direct Costs requested

Full F&A 42%

Off-campus F&A 26%

State F&A 8%

Charitable F&A 0%

> = $1,000,000 $1,000 $620 $190 $190

$500,000-$999,999 $700 $434 $133 $133

$250,000-$499,999 $400 $248 $76 $76

$50,000-$249,000 $200 $124 $38 $38

$15,000-$49,000 $150 $93 $29 $29

$14,999-$1 $50 $31 $10 $10

EPSI program award scale

Few researchers consider writing proposals their favorite profes-sional task. But with the advent

of FY2014, some Miami researchers are finding proposal writing a little more rewarding, thanks to the External Pro-posal Submission Incentive (EPSI) pro-gram.

Under EPSI, principal investigators who meet certain OARS deadlines for sub-mitting proposals (see chart) are eligi-ble to receive professional development funds, according to a sliding scale that is based on the amount of the direct and indirect costs requested in the project budget (see chart).

“In today’s challenging funding envi-ronment, writing proposals can some-times feel like a thankless task,” says Anne Schauer, Director of Research & Sponsored Programs. “The EPSI pro-gram is meant to show researchers that their efforts are noticed and appreciat-ed.”

To date, 26 faculty have received a total of $7000 in EPSI funding. Individual awards have ranged from $29 to $1000 (the yearly maximum).

Bo Brinkman, associate professor in the Department of Computer Science & Software Engineering, received $40 in EPSI funds. “It’s not a lot of money,” he says, “but it’s enough to let me know that the University and OARS appreci-ate what I do and how I do it. Building goodwill between faculty and adminis-tration is an ongoing process, and the EPSI program is part of that.”

Geology & Environmental Earth Sci-ence professor Liz Widom agrees. “This is a novel incentive program, and it is a nice token of appreciation for those who make the effort to submit grant propos-als,” says the recipient of $1000 in EPSI funds.

EPSI funds can be used for any profes-sional expense consistent with universi-ty expenditure policies, with the excep-tion of supplemental pay and summer salary. Kate de Medeiros, assistant pro-fessor in the Department of Sociology & Gerontology plans to use her $1000

Incentive program rewards faculty for proposal submissionby Heather Beattey JohnstonOARS Assistant Director &Information Coordinator

in EPSI funding to purchase books and test booklets and to support profession-al collaborations. Those things, she says, “will help to strengthen my work and ultimately help me maintain a com-petitive research profile.”

Rick Page, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry & Biochem-istry, plans to use the $500 he received through EPSI for a professional society membership and for conference travel. “Participating in EPSI is a no-brainer,” he says. “Miami is the first institution I have worked at where simply by provid-ing OARS with a reasonable lead time on budget and grant application review, faculty are given additional funds.”

Questions?Contact Anne

Schauer (529-3735) or Tricia Callahan

(529-1795).

“It lets me know the University and OARS appreciate what I do

and how I do it.”

EPSI is currently running as a three-year pilot program, available through the end of FY2016. It may be extended as appropriate.

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External funding provides Miami University faculty, students, and staff increased opportunities

to engage in inquiry and the creation of knowledge. In FY2013, Miami re-ceived 421 awards from external sourc-es. From July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013, projects initiated by University faculty and staff yielded $21,461,446 in support from these sources, a slight increase over FY2012’s $21,341,475.

Federal funding sources provided $12,287,590, nearly 60% of Miami’s ex-ternal funds, despite the federal budget sequestration that took effect halfway through the fiscal year. Three federal agencies, the National Science Foun-dation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) were responsible for over 70% of Maimi’s fed-eral awards.

In addition, Miami saw a 100% increase in funding from foundations and asso-ciations, which amounted to $2,343,838 in FY 2013, compared with $1,172,022 in FY2012. There was also a 25% in-crease in funding provided by business and industry industry.

More information, including detailed tables of funding and research high-lights, is available in the OARS Annual Report FY2013.

Miami saw slight increase in external funding in FY2013by Jim OrisAssociate Provost for Research & Dean of the Graduate School

Service

Research

Instruction

Fellowship

$3,941,32918%

$15,616,60173%

$1,761,8568%

$141,6611%

Amount of funding, by purpose

Other Government Agency

State Government

Federal Government

Business & Industry

Foundations & Associations

$2,343,83811%

$4,527,77421%

$12,287,59057%

$1,144,528

5.5%

$1,57,716

5.5%

Amount of funding, by source

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Service

Research

Instruction

Fellowship

Other Government Agency

State of Ohio

Federal Government

Business & Industry

Foundations & Associations

Purpose of funding, by source

OARS Research News December 2013 9

Please join theOffice for the Advancement of Research & Scholarship

for

ethe 4th Annualf

PROPOSALS & AWARDS RECEPTIONhonoring

faculty and staff who submitted proposals and/or received awards

from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013

The McMillan Hall Great Room (212)

Thursday, February 20

4:00-5:00pm

Light refreshments will be served.RSVP to [email protected] by Friday, February 14.

Events and deadlines to note

2014Join CUR free

Visit cur.org, click Join CUR, and select Miami University (OH) as your institution.

December15.............. “Undergraduate Research Highlights”, article, and vignette sub-

missions for the Spring 2014 issue of CUR Quarterly due

January8 ............... Registration for National Conference on Undergraduate Re-

search (NCUR) opens13 ............. Presenter registration for Undergraduate Research Forum

opens15 ............. Abstracts due for CUR Biology Division student travel awards

support (for discipline-specific meetings held February 16-June 30, 2014)

21-22 .........Grant writing workshop with Meg Cantwell, sponsored by CEHS

February14.............. Deadline to submit abstracts for poster sessions at the CUR

Conference20.............. OARS 4th Annual Proposals & Awards Reception28.............. Presenter registration for Undergraduate Research Forum closes

March7................ Registration for NCUR closes7-9 ............ CUR’s Broadening Participation Institute, Charlotte, NC28-30 ........ CUR’s Integrating Undergraduate Research in the Curriculum

Institute, Lakeland, FL

April3-5 ............ NCUR, Lexington, KY16 ............. 20th Annual Undergraduate Research Forum

June28-July 1 ... CUR Conference, Washington, DC

OARS Research News December 2013 10

America Invents Act overhauls patent practice in U.S.by Reid SmithDirector of Technology Transfer & Business Partnerships

The most substantial revision to U.S. patent practice in many decades was signed into law in

2011 as the Leahy-Smith America In-vents Act (P.L. 112-29). Taking effect March 16, 2013, America Invents im-poses many reforms designed to align U.S. patent practice with that of other nations. The reform intellectual proper-ty practitioners consider most radical is moving the U.S. from a “first-to-invent” system to a “first-to-file” system.

The shift from a first-to-invent to a first-to-file system has important implica-tions for inventors and case managers in academia. Under the old, first-to-invent framework, academic inventors -- pro-tected by claims to an earlier date of conception if another competitor claim-ing the same invention filed an earlier application -- often timed patent filings to accommodate publication schedules and to facilitate strategies meant to avoid the loss of rights associated with pub-lic disclosure. Within that framework, inventors could rely on documentable dates of conception to overcome 102(a) rejections, in which the patent examiner cites one or more examples of prior art (either in the literature or in the patent art) that demonstrate that the claimed invention is already known. If an in-ventor could document a date of con-ception that pre-dated the cited prior art, his or her patent would be awarded based on the earlier date of conception.

Under first-inventor-to-file, howev-er, the date of conception is no longer a factor in the timing, and the earliest filing date takes on much greater sig-nificance. Because the pace of devel-opment for innovations that arise from university-based research programs is often much slower and more linear than analogous industry research and devel-opment programs, academic inventors can be at a disadvantage under the new system.

Academic inventions tend to be very early stage discoveries at the cutting edge of the technical discipline, but the need to protect and claim rights in the inven-tion must be balanced against the risk of premature filings that later run into difficulties with patent prosecution re-lated to the scope and breadth of claims in light of the development work com-pleted at the date of filing. Many patent claims for academic inventions fail to issue from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office for lack of enablement, meaning that the claims weren’t fully supported by the specification at the time of filing. Often an academic inventor has a very broad and comprehensive vision of the scope encompassed by his or her in-ventive ideas, but does not have enough resources to satisfy a patent examiner’s standard of proof for the traits and char-acteristics claimed.

With the switch to first-to-file, the U.S. patent system has eliminated practic-es that were widely held to give parity and fairness to innovators who lacked the substantial financial resources mar-shaled by large corporations to shorten the time from conception to filing. Un-der the current framework, it is more important than ever that Miami inven-tors work with the Technology Transfer and Business Partnerships office early in the process of developing an invention to ensure that the best strategy for filing is developed and implemented.

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Questions?Contact Reid Smith

(529-3753).

The need to protect and claim rights

must be balanced against the risk

of premature filing.

CUR student travel scholarshipsCUR’s biology and social sciences divisions offer lim-ited travel support to under-graduate students presenting original research results at a regional or national disci-pline-specific meeting. Biol-ogy applications are due by February 15; social sciences applications are rolling. Visit cur.org for more information.

OARS Research News December 2013 11

NEW DATABASEThe Research Compliance Office has contracted with IT services and the Part-nership Office to develop a new tracking database for both Animal Care and Hu-man Subjects programs. This database will automatically send notifications to Principal Investigators regarding re-ceived applications and post-approval reminders for continuation.

TRAINING RECORDSThe training search utility on the com-pliance website (www.units.muohio.edu/gsrcompliance/home.php) is now synced with the new database. To ac-cess training records, you need to login using your Miami UniqueID and pass-word. Faculty and staff have access to all records, while students have access only to their own training records. It is the responsibility of the researcher to renew their human subjects training at three-year intervals. For renewal, researchers can either complete the refresher CITI online training modules or attend one of the classroom sessions.

RESPONSIBLE CONDUCT OF RESEARCH (RCR)Principal investigators granted research funds from NSF or NIH or any an other agency requiring RCR training are re-quired to participate in a series of RCR training sessions. Graduate and under-graduate students, post-doctoral schol-

ars, and other research personnel who are supported, or whose research activ-ities are supported, by funding agencies requiring RCR training are required to complete the training. A series of ses-sions will be scheduled for the spring semester. Check the compliance website for upcoming dates.

Research compliance: in briefby Jennifer SuttonAssistant Director of Research Compliance

Googling for grant dollarsby Dan RoylesForeign Language Lecturer,University of Angers

This article originally appeared on Vi-tae, the academic jobs web portal from the Chronicle of Higher Education and is reprinted here with permission of the author. While it is targeted at grad stu-dents, we think other researchers can benefit from the advice too. — Ed.

I had a recent email conversation with a fellow graduate student who is also a friend:

Friend: Hey … question for you. How do you find postdoc opportunities?Me: Google “humanities postdoc.”Friend: LOL. Smart ass.Me: I’m not kidding! That’s literally how I look!Friend: “Oh [expletive redacted], real-ly?”

Really. And that doesn’t just go for seeking a postdoc. Finding money for your graduate work in the humanities or social sciences isn’t easy, but nor is it rocket science. It goes something like this:

1. Find funding sources.2. Apply to funding sources.3. Repeat until retirement.

STEP 1: FIND FUNDINGThe Internet makes it almost criminally easy to track down grant opportunities. H-Net, for one, brings

announcements right to your inbox. Subscribe to at least a handful of different lists related to your research, and pay close attention to both the weekly job guides, which sometimes contain fellowship opportunities, and the weekly announcement e-mails, which compile grants, fellowships, and prizes.

Every six months or so, spend a cou-ple of hours looking for grants and fellowships online. Start with a general search, something like “humanities fel-lowship,” “humanities research grant,” or “humanities postdoc,” depending on where you are in your dissertation process. Repeat this process with more specific search terms according to your field and subfields. For example, I might search for “history postdoc,” and “African American history post-doc,” but also “public health history postdoc” and “transnational history postdoc.” If you know your work will take you to a particular library or col-lection, see if they offer travel money.

Aside from academic grants and fel-lowships, think about government

continued on page 12

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Questions?Contact Neal Sullivan

(529-2488) or Jennifer Sutton

(529-0454).

If you know your work will take you to a particular library or collection, see if they offer travel money.

OARS Research News December 2013 12

agencies and large nonprofits that deal with your research interests, and find out whether they offer grants. For ex-ample, if your work is on public health and medicine, you might look at the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-vention and the National Institutes of Health. If you’re writing about crime and punishment, you may want to check out the Department of Justice or the Soros Foundation.

For a general listing of federal funding opportunities, check out the Federal Grants Database.

As you go through your search results, be sure to bookmark opportunities that don’t fit you right now, but might be possibilities down the line. You may not be ready for that perfect postdoc today, but in a few years, you will be, and it’s good to have a working list handy. For deadlines that are closer on the horizon, start getting organized. I use Google Docs to create a spreadsheet of grant deadlines each year, with columns that keep track of common requirements: writing samples, teaching portfolios, transcripts, abstracts, research propos-als, and the like. I also plug those dates into iCal, which makes them easy to track and view. The goal here is twofold: Keep your adviser and other referees in the loop (Google’s cloud integration makes sharing easy), and help yourself keep track of what needs to be done and when.

STEP 2: GET THE FUNDINGNow, how do you convert that bur-

geoning spreadsheet into cash? Starting early is key. Give your referees plenty of notice so they can write strong rec-ommendation letters for you. Set draft deadlines with your adviser for your application materials so you can re-vise them a couple of times before you submit the final version. Ask your oth-er committee members and mentors to read your documents as well. Many institutions also have a development

office [OARS at Miami] that will help you revise and refine your application. In short, the more feedback you get, the stronger your application will be.

To get you started, Tenured Radical has some excellent advice on how to tackle the cover letter. For the rest of the appli-cation, some general rules apply:

1. Avoid jargon. Your application will probably be read by people out-side your field, especially if you’re applying for one of the big fellow-ships in the humanities and social sciences. Communicating your main ideas and the stakes of your project in clear language shows that you can make your work ac-cessible and relevant to a broad audience, and will make you stand out as an applicant and as an ear-ly-career scholar.

2. Pay attention to requirements. The first year that I applied for a lot of fellowships, I had to abandon one — and it was a big one — because I started the application too late. I had my CV, my abstract, and all of my other supporting documents ready to go, but I didn’t realize until it was too late that all the in-formation on my vita had to be en-tered manually into the fellowship’s online forms, and there was no way I could make the cut-off at mid-night. Don’t let this happen to you! Similarly, make a note of which ap-plications need to be snail-mailed, and which can be submitted on-line, so you can plan accordingly. If you’re using a dossier service, let your referees know which institu-tions ask for direct submission of

Googlingcontinued from page 11

documents, and again, give them plenty of notice.

3. Use key words. This rule only ap-plies to grants and fellowships or-ganized around a particular theme. Whenever that is the case, pay at-tention to the language used in the call for applicants, and weave those words into your materials. Grant readers go through hundreds of applications. Using key words may help yours to stand out.

STEP 3: REPEAT AD INFINITUMIn academia, money follows money. The travel grant you get today will make you a stronger candidate for a dissertation fellowship next year, which will make you a stronger candidate for a postdoc or a tenure-track position as you near completion of your Ph.D. Moreover, all of that writing for a general, educat-ed audience about your project helps to sharpen your focus and nail down your ideas. So even if you don’t get the snazzy grant, you won’t come up empty handed.

Dan Royles is an English lecturer at the Univer-sity of Angers, in western France. Tweet him @danroyles or check out danroyles.com.

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Communicating in clear language shows

that you can make your work accessi-ble and relevant to a broad audience.

Pay attention to the language used in

the call, and weave those words into your materials.

OARS Research News February 2014 1

RESEARCH NEWSa publication of the Office for the Advancement of Research & Scholarship at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio • MiamiOH.edu/research

February 2014OARS

In this issueWelcome .....................................1Troy research profile..................2Zou research profile...................3Crowder research profile ............4Sparks research profile ..............5Events, Research Compliance ..6OMB Omni-Circular overview ...7Material transfer agreements ....8New OARS website ....................9

As we were working on this is-sue, OARS staff were also work-ing on putting together our

2nd Annual Interdisciplinary Research Round Table event to be held on March 6. We received very positive feedback following last year’s event and awarded seed money to four interdisciplinary teams formed there. Those teams are currently pursuing external funding for their projects. Please consider joining us this year – details are available on page 5.

Speaking of interdisciplinary research, be sure to read our feature on Doug Troy’s work with the American Red Cross. Troy, Professor Emeritus of the College of Engineering and Computing, is collaborating with Sharon Stanley, former Red Cross Chief Nurse, to estab-lish an online database of current and former Red Cross nurses that has value for historians, healthcare providers, and policymakers.

The other research profiles (pages 3-5) in this issue focus on last year’s Research

Incentive Awards recipients. Even though Miami’s Research Incentive and Shoupp Awards programs have been suspended (see sidebar on page 3), we want to update you on these projects be-cause these stories illustrate how Miami and other public universities in Ohio have leveraged Ohio Research Incentive

funds to bring in nearly $10 in federal and private funds for every state dollar spent.

On the technical side of things, you can find Research Compliance announce-ments on page 6, an overview of the re-cently-released OMB Omni-Circular on page 7, and information about material transfer agreements on page 8.

If you haven’t already, we hope you’ll take the time to visit the new and im-proved OARS website. We took the op-portunity presented by the migration of our site to Miami’s new Cascade CMS to overhaul our information architecture, making it easier to find information and accomplish top tasks. Information Co-ordinator Heather Johnston gives you an overview of the changes on page 9.

We hope you enjoy this issue of OARS Research News and look forward to April, when we bring you more news about Miami researchers and their work.

Welcome to this issue of the newsletterby Jim OrisAssociate Provost for Research & Dean of the Graduate School

Jim Oris

20th Annual URF to be held April 16Miami University undergrad-uate students will present re-sults of independent research projects and other creative ac-tivity at the University’s Under-graduate Research Forum on April 16.

Prospective presenters should register by February 28. More information is available from Undergraduate Research Co-ordinator Martha Weber at 529-3600 or [email protected].

OARS Research News February 2014 2

The Red Cross Nursing Service formed the backbone of the mili-tary healthcare system during the

two World Wars,” says Dr. Sharon Stanley, former Chief Nurse of the American Red Cross. “These nurses also provided public health nursing services to countless peo-ple at home and abroad in the 20th Cen-tury.”

Despite their important historical role, however, little is known about the Red Cross nurses themselves, owing in part to the inaccessibility of records detailing their service between 1906 and 1993.

Stanley says that when she first became Chief Nurse, she visited the archives at Red Cross Square in Washington, D.C. “When I asked, ‘If I were a historian or a researcher, could I come in and access information about Red Cross nurses?’” she says, “I was told, ‘Well, there’s really no way to do that. Most of our records are held at Iron Mountain [an enterprise information management services com-pany], and they’re on cards and there are boxes and boxes and boxes of them.’”

Recognizing that the inaccessibility of these records represents a hole in the his-torical record that is problematic not only for historians, healthcare providers and Red Cross nurses’ family members, but also for policymakers who are responsible for developing and implementing strat-egies to address healthcare emergencies, Stanley turned to Miami University’s Dr.

Doug Troy, with whom she had worked on a previous Red Cross project.

Professor Emeritus of the College of Engi-neering and Computing (CEC) and cur-rent director of CEC’s graduate programs and its Suncorp Agile Academy, Troy saw the project as an opportunity for Miami students to engage with a real customer.

“When students can see that they’re doing something that’s meeting a need and is po-tentially valuable,” says Troy, “the project

is much more meaningful to them than a strictly academic exercise.”

Taking the work on as a capstone project, teams of Miami undergraduate students transformed data extracted from the Red Cross’s punch cards by an expert in New Mexico into a searchable database, and built a website that would allow us-er-friendly access.

Taking the project to the next level, Troy secured funding from healthcare indus-

Database developed at Miami tells Red Cross nurses’ stories by Heather Beattey JohnstonOARS Assistant Director &Information Coordinator

The work of Dr. Doug Troy and his students helps tell the story of American Red Cross nurses like Lt. Col. Josephine M. Becker (left), shown here in 1962 receiving an award for outstanding nursing services from the 2795th USAF Hospital and the American Red Cross.

try service provider Cardinal Health to move the website from Miami’s servers to an external host, and recruited his CEC colleague Mike Stahr, an instructor in the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, to provide high-er-level technical support.

Today, Troy and Stanley are seeking funding – perhaps through the National Historical Publications & Records Com-mission’s Publishing Historical Records program – to take the project even fur-ther. They want to expand the website to include a self-enrollment section where current and recent Red Cross nurses can voluntarily input their own data, allowing them to, as Stanley puts it, “tell their story in a way that will really resonate fully with history.”

If it’s true that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it, Sharon Stanley has done her part to save the Red Cross from ever again keeping its nurses’ stories hid-den from public view. But she’s happy to share the credit with Doug Troy and Mi-ami University students. “I want people in the Miami Valley and the state of Ohio to understand,” she says, “what a wonderful asset they have in Miami University and the community service they provide.”

This project means more to students

than a strictly academic exercise.

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OARS Research News February 2014 3

About the Research Incentive programTraditionally supported by funds from the Ohio Research Incentive (RI) program, OARS’ RI program was established to enhance the capability of Miami University faculty to attract pub-lic and private funding.

All told, Ohio RI funds have been leveraged by University System of Ohio (USO) schools to bring in $10 in federal and private funds for every state dollar spent.

Even though Ohio Third Fron-tier funds have been allocated annually to the Ohio Board of Regents (OBOR) for the RI pro-gram, no funds have been dis-tributed to USO schools for the past three years. While there is a possibility funds may still be distributed this year, Associate Provost Jim Oris has suspend Miami’s RI program until the funding situation is clarified.

Several outstanding RI projects funded in previous years are still in progress, and will continue to be funded. We highlight last year’s projects in this newslet-ter to update you on progress, and we look forward to seeing the fruits of these labors.

Prof helping to scope out fuel cell potentialby Heather Beattey JohnstonOARS Assistant Director &Information Coordinator

Fuel cells have long promised to be one of the answers to keeping hu-mans on the move in a post-fos-

sil-fuel era. However, despite being used in some limited commercial con-texts, including co-generation power plants, spacecraft, and concept cars, fuel cells are not widely used in consumer applications.

One technical challenge standing in the way of more widespread adoption of fuel cells is that reactions powering polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) – among the lightest weight fuel cells with the quickest start-up times – are catalyzed by expensive ma-terials, commonly platinum.

Researchers are working to identify more-affordable PEMFC catalysts to replace platinum in whole or in part. According to Shouzhong Zou, associ-ate professor in Miami’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, this work relies on the ability to study reactions on the surface of catalysts in the form of very small, nanoscale particles.

Currently, Zou says, potential catalysts are evaluated by putting a large number of particles on an electrically conduc-tive support and measuring the cur-rent, which is the reaction rate, when a voltage is applied. “And then,” he says, “because your support is also conduc-tive we need to subtract the background

current produced by the substrate to de-termine what current is being produced by the reaction.”

The result is that researchers are able to describe how particles behave on the whole, but aren’t able to determine the ability of a given particle to promote re-actions, and any single particle might be very different from the particle next to it. “How the atoms align on the surface of a particle has an impact on catalytic activity,” Zou says.

So Zou and his colleagues are working to develop methods for studying reac-tions on a single particle. One of the ap-proaches they are working on is to mea-sure the reaction rate by monitoring the surface plasmon resonance peak shift in optical spectra. With the help of Chem-istry & Biochemistry Professor Andre Sommer, Zou and his team are develop-

ing a type of accessory for the optic mi-croscopes ordinarily used in research, which will give scientists the ability to measure the plasmon resonance of a single particle, thereby assessing its re-activity.

Because this accessory will allow any-one with a research-grade dark-field microscope to study the catalytic po-tential of various materials, Zou hopes his work will accelerate development of more consumer-friendly fuel cells.

According to Zou, when a researcher works at a school Miami’s size, the bur-den of proof is a little bit higher. “These days,” he says, “it is really hard to get funding if you don’t have any prelim-inary data.” He credits the OARS Re-search Incentive grant he received in 2013 for helping him obtain this data so he can show prospective funders and investors the potential of his research.

“At a lot of places you don’t have this kind of support,” Zou says of the Re-search Incentive funding. “and one good thing about Miami is we can af-ford to provide the initial investment. I think that’s very, very helpful for us to get this kind of funding.”

Shouzhong Zou (left) and Ph.D. student Yongan Tang in the lab

“It is really hard to get funding if you

don’t have any preliminary data.”

OARS Research News February 2014 4

Antibiotic resistance is a growing and costly problem. In a 2013 re-port on the topic, Tom Frieden,

Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, characterized it as one of the country’s most serious health threats, pointing out that “patients with resistant infections are often much more likely to die, and survivors have signifi-cantly longer hospital stays, delayed recu-peration, and long-term disability.”

“As soon as penicillin was introduced 60 or 70 years ago, bacteria began working to outsmart it,” says Mike Crowder, profes-sor and chair of Miami’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Crowder and his colleagues believe they have solved a problem that has stymied the biomedical community since the drug Augmentin was introduced in the late 1970s.

According to Crowder, Augmentin is comprised of two active agents – a pen-icillin-group antibiotic and clavulanic acid, which inactivates the ability of some bacteria to resist penicillins. But not all in-fections respond to Augmentin. Crowder says that’s because clavulanic acid works only against bacteria making one of the two types of enzymes responsible for an-tibiotic resistance.

“Clavulanic acid is only active against bacteria making serine-beta-lactamas-es,” he says. “If your bacteria are making

Chemist shows bacteria that (antibiotic) resistance is futileby Heather Beattey JohnstonOARS Assistant Director &Information Coordinator

Scanning electon micrograph image of stapylococcus aureus bacteria evading human white blood cells. Some strains of s. aureus have become resistant to penicillins.

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a metallo-beta-lactamase, Augmentin doesn’t work.”

However, Crowder’s team, which includes two graduate students and five under-grads, has developed a compound that not only inhibits metallo-beta-lactamases, but also natively destroys bacterial cells by the same mechanism penicllins use.

Such multi-tasking compounds are a sort of holy grail in the drug development world. If a pharmaceutical company wants to market a single drug that con-tains multiple agents, it must complete multiple FDA-required clinical trials – one for each individual agent, plus one for the combination.

“If one of them fails,” says Crowder, you’re done,” and the money invested in con-ducting the trials becomes a sunk cost.

But a drug that contains a single agent that performs multiple functions – like the one Crowder’s team has developed – requires only one clinical trial. Considering that as much as 90% of the cost to develop a drug to market is attributable to clinical trials, being able to conduct one trial, instead of the three that Augmentin required for in-stance, represents a huge savings.

Crowder and his colleagues are current-ly working with Sopharmia, a St. Joseph, Missouri-based biopharmaceutical start-up specializing in developing treatments

for drug-resistant bacterial infections. It’s an obvious fit, but not one that came nat-urally.

As Crowder puts it, most academic sci-entists are “sort of protected from having to worry about lawyers and intellectual property rights,” and other things asso-ciated with commercialization. As an academic, says Crowder, he would never have thought to pursue a relationship with a company like Sopharmia if he hadn’t applied for an OARS Research Incentive grant in 2013.

“The people who actually reviewed our Research Incentive proposal gave us very, very concrete advice,” says Crowder. “They helped us think much bigger and helped us see the potential for commer-cialization. We took their advice to heart and did what they told us to do. “

Since receiving the $40,000 Research In-centive grant, Crowder and his team have leveraged the investment to develop the relationship with Sopharmia, and to at-tract interest from the more established biopharmaceutical company Cubist. “I’m going to Cubist in Boston at the end of March to pitch them this idea and show them what we have so far,” says Crowder.

Crowder feels it’s important for Miami to do more to develop these kinds of rela-tionships with business and industry. “Big universities have been doing it for years,” he says, “and Miami needs to be doing it too, because our students are making some amazing discoveries.”

OARS Research News February 2014 5

Using 3D printing in the field of medical simulation for training has lots of potential,” says Jessi-

ca Sparks, “Those two things should go together.”

Sparks, an associate professor in the Department of Chemical, Paper & Biomedical Engineering, has an active research program in additive manufac-turing (AM), often referred to simply as 3D printing. AM uses three-dimen-sional design data to produce items by depositing successive layers of metal, plastic, or other material.

Sparks, along with Department of Nurs-ing faculty Deborah Beyer and Brenda Barnes, recently submitted a proposal to the Ohio Board of Regents’ Work-force Development and Equipment Fa-cility program. If their project is fund-ed, Sparks will buy AM equipment to produce models of pressure ulcers that will be used to train the nursing staff at a number of long-term care facilities.

Pressure ulcers, commonly known as bedsores, often afflict the elderly and others with limited mobility. Not only are pressure ulcers painful, but they also sometimes lead to complications that can be life-threatening and expensive to treat. “They’re something that all long-term care facilities want to prevent in any way that they can,” says Sparks.

The anatomical training models Sparks

proposes to develop will be realistic in color and shape. “We’re going to use them to train the frontline staff, who would be the most likely to see a very early stage pressure ulcer developing on a patient,” she says. Those staff could then call in a wound care specialist to administer treatment before the condi-tion progresses.

As valuable as models like this are for training, Sparks thinks they’re just a be-ginning. With pressure ulcers, she says, patient-specific anatomy is helpful, but not essential. “But if you have a tumor with a specific geometry, it’s good to have the capability to practice surgery on a model as close to the real thing as possible.”

While commercially available AM equipment is capable of using anatom-ical data from a CT scan or a MRI to print the type of patient-specific train-ing models Sparks envisions being useful to surgeons, the models will not have tissue-like mechanical properties. “Some 3D printers can print in flexible materials,” says Sparks, “but those ma-terials don’t do a great job of mimicking biological tissue.”

So, aided by an OARS Research Incen-tive grant, Sparks and her biomedical engineering colleagues Justin Saul and Jason Berberich have been working on developing new 3D printing platforms that use a wide array of tissue-like ma-terials that look and feel more like hu-man skin, muscle, blood vessels, and other soft tissue.

The Research Incentive funds have al-lowed Sparks and her team to demon-strate the promise of their innovation to potential industry partners, includ-ing a large chemical supply company as well as regional additive manufacturing startup businesses.

3D printing may become heart of med training

“It’s good to have the capability to practice surgery on a model as close to the real thing as possible.”

OARS event fosters interdisci-plinary researchOn March 6, OARS will host its 2nd Annual Interdisciplin-ary Research Round Table. Jokingly referred to as “speed dating for researchers,” this event is an opportunity for faculty and staff from various departments across campus to come together around projects focused on five broad topics:

• Public health• Cyber security• Community development• Environment, climate,

and disaster relief• Commerce/

employment growth and workforce development

Everyone with interest or expertise in any of these areas who is curious about interdis-ciplinary research and open to participating in a collabora-tive team in search of external funding is welcome to join us on Thursday, March 6, from 4pm to 6pm in the Shriver Center Multipurpose Room A.

Please RSVP to Anne Schau-er (529-3735) with your topic of interest by Monday, March 3.

by Heather Beattey JohnstonOARS Assistant Director &Information Coordinator

Additive manufacturing equipment builds objects by depositing layer upon layer of material.

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OARS Research News February 2014 6

Events, deadlines to note

Join CUR freeVisit cur.org, click Join CUR, and select

Miami University (OH) as your institution.

February28.............. Miami Undergraduate Research Forum: Presenter

registration closes28.............. CUR Conference 2014: Poster abstracts due (extended

from 02/21)

March6................ 2nd Annual OARS Interdisciplinary Research Round Table7................ NCUR 2014: Registration closes7-9 ............ CUR Institute Broadening Participation, Charlotte, NC13.............. Brownbag lunch discussion: “Perspectives on the NSF

DEB” with Sudeep Chandra, former NSF DEB program offi-cer (12:00-1:30pm, Pearson 103; RSVP to Tricia Callahan)

14.............. CUR Conference 2014: Earlybird registration deadline28-30 ........ CUR Institute: Integrating Undergraduate Research

in the Curriculum, Lakeland, FL

April3-5 ............ NCUR 2014, Lexington, KY16 ............. 20th Annual Miami Undergraduate Research Forum

May1................ CUR Proposal Writing Institute (July): application deadline16 ............. CUR Conference 2014: Registration closes

June28-July 1 ... CUR Conference 2014, Washington, DC

July17-21 ........ CUR Institute: Proposal Writing, Mobile, AL

RESPONSIBLE CONDUCT OF RESEARCH (RCR) FORUMSPrincipal Investigators granted research funds from NSF or NIH are contractu-ally required as a condition of accepting the funds to complete Responsible Con-duct of Research (RCR) requirements. PIs are also responsible for ensuring others associated with the funded proj-ect comply. Graduate and undergradu-ate students, post-doctoral scholars, and other research personnel who are sup-ported or whose research activities are supported by funding agencies requir-ing RCR training are included in this obligation.

To meet the obligation for RCR aware-ness, the Research Compliance Office is offering two six-week series of sessions beginning in early March. Not all under-graduate research assistants are required to attend all six sessions. The degree of participation by undergraduates is at the discretion of the PI and may be indexed to the involvement of the student with the research. When a student’s activities can have only a minimal impact on the validity of the research, then an abbre-viated familiarization with RCR may be acceptable. A one-time, 75 minute ses-sion for undergraduate students will be offered near the end of the semester.

For more information regarding RCR training and schedule, please go to Mi-amiOH.edu/compliance/rcr

HUMAN SUBJECTS RESEARCH & ANIMAL CARE PROGRAM ORIENTATIONSHuman subjects research and animal care program orientations for Spring 2014 are now available on the Research Compliance website. Training dates, times, locations, and registration information can be found at: http://www.units.miamioh.edu/compliance/irb/irb_training_MU.htm and http://www.units.miamioh.edu/compliance/iacuc/ac_04training.htm, respectively. The human subjects research website will be updated as additional sessions are scheduled.

Research compliance: in briefby Jennifer SuttonAssistant Director of Research Compliance

Questions?Contact Neal Sullivan

(529-2488) or Jennifer Sutton

(529-0454).

Jennifer Sutton

OARS Research News February 2014 7

Recently, the Office of Manage-ment and Budget (OMB) re-leased final guidance on “Uni-

form Administrative Requirements, Cost Principals, and Audit Require-ments for Federal Awards.” This guid-ance, termed the “Omni-Circular,” combines eight previous circulars in an attempt to streamline policies and pro-cedures for Federal awards, effectively reducing redundancies and confusion between previous circulars.

The new guidance takes effect Decem-ber 26, 2014, with the exception of guidance on “Subpart F: Audit Require-ments,” which will take effect at the start of each institution’s fiscal year (July 1, 2015 for Miami University).

Just what the new guidance means for those who submit proposals and re-ceive awards from Federal agencies is yet to be determined. This article will highlight some of the major changes in the first few subparts of the new circu-lar, speculating on what those changes might mean for the grant community at large and for Miami specifically.

SUBPART A: ACRONYMS AND DEFINITIONSSubpart A defines the ABCs of the OMB, explaining common Federal ac-ronyms and giving definitions for terms such as “contractor,” “equipment,” and “supplies.” It is meant to clarify and

explain common terms used in Federal granting.

SUPART B: GENERAL PROVISIONSThis section discusses effective dates, conflict of interest, mandatory disclosures and other items. Most notably in the new circular, institutions will be required to report potential financial conflicts of interest to Federal awarding agencies. Potential conflicts of interest exist when a situation (such as an investment) in which financial or other personal considerations have the potential to compromise or bias professional judgement and objectivity. The practice of reporting potential and actual conflicts of interest is already in place at Miami University, so the new guidance should not affect our current practice significantly.

OMB Omni-Circular provides guidance, raises questionsby Tricia CallahanDirector of Proposal Development

Additionally, the new guidance requires the Federal awarding agencies to develop policies around conflict of interest. This means that we should expect to see a number of the Federal awarding agencies either develop new policies or fine-tune existing policies.

SUBPART C: PRE-AWARD REQUIREMENTSSubpart C of the new circular requires that each Federal funding opportunity be announced 60 days in advance of its due date. While some exceptions al-low for a minimum of 30 days advance notice, we should see fewer “surprise” or last-minute announcements, which will in turn allow more time for pro-posal preparation. As always, advance notice to OARS is appreciated. In fact, we developed the External Proposal Submission Incentive (EPSI) Program to encourage an early heads-up to your OARS consultant.

This section also addresses the proposal review process. Federal awarding agen-cies will be required to design and exe-cute review processes based on proposal merit. The nature of the review process will be left up to individual agencies. Over the past couple of years we have seen the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the NSF (National Science Foundation) take a close look at their review processes, resulting in changes to both their review and scoring of pro-posals. Likely we will see other agencies follow suit.

SUBPART D: POST-AWARD REQUIREMENTSProposed post-award requirements for financial management of awards call for stricter internal controls (such as separate bank accounts for each Federal award). Exactly what this means for us as an institution is yet to be determined.

Additionally, Subpart D addresses the long debate over whether or not vol-untary committed cost-sharing should weigh into the proposal review process. Recently, the NSF clamped down on showing voluntary (i.e., non-mandato-ry) cost sharing in a proposal in order to gain an “upper hand” in the review pro-cess. Due to this guidance, we may see other Federal awarding agencies adopt-ing NSF’s strict polices against volun-tary committed cost-share in proposals.

This section also addresses procure-ment standards, financial monitoring and reporting, subrecipient monitoring, record access and retention, and award closeout. It is likely that the changes in this section will have an impact on the ways our grant accounting and pur-chasing offices conduct business. Those changes, along with many others, re-main to be seen.

The changes outlined here are just the tip of the iceberg bringing new proce-dures and processes to Federal awarding agencies and the institutions they work with. Stay tuned for more in future is-sues of OARS Research News.

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OARS Research News February 2014 8

Transferring materials more complex than it might seemby Reid SmithDirector of Technology Transfer & Business Partnerships

While it remains true that col-legial sharing and transfer of materials is a fundamental

element of an open scholarly commu-nity and while most academic journals still require authors to provide to other researchers samples and materials nec-essary to replicate experimental results, gone are the days of informal, VIP (vi-al-in-pocket) transfers. The growth of the biotechnology industry prompted academic institutions to formalize ma-terial transfer with agreements or con-tracts that establish basic elements of ownership and use rights, either to pro-tect commercial value or manage risk.

Today, formal material transfer agree-ment (MTA) processes afford universi-ties like Miami the opportunity to assess outbound transfers, identify materials that may have financial value to industry, and ensure compliance with export con-trol regulations. At Miami, the Office of Technology Transfer and Business Part-nerships is the coordinator for incoming and outgoing MTAs.

An MTA is a contract that establishes a mutual understanding of the following:

• Ownership of the material and its derivatives

• Scope of rights in permitted use and further transfer

• Liability for unanticipated circum-stances that might arise from use

• Publication rightsWhile it might seem straightforward, establishing the ownership of a material can actually be complicated by a number of factors. Issues can usually – but not always – be resolved in the assessment process, although complex arrangements and permissions from third parties may be required. It is not uncommon for the assessment process to determine that materials derived from products ob-tained from commercial third parties or distributors such as American Type Cul-ture Collection (ATCC) are not transfer-able.

Once the assessment process is complete, the Uniform Biological Material Transfer Agreement (UBMTA) makes executing many material transfers – both outgo-ing and incoming – between academic institutions simple. The UBMTA is a pre-negotiated, standard form of materi-

al transfer contract that many universi-ties have agreed to use for all applicable transfers. Although the agreement re-quires an authorized university official’s signature, it spares researchers the com-plexity and time involved in negotiation of specific terms and conditions, and avoids legal contentions regarding liabil-ity and governing law.

In some cases, however, universities may choose to use an alternate form of agreement, in which case negotiations and modifications may be required to conform with policies and establish per-mitted use and publication rights that minimize restrictions. In particular, in-coming material transfers from industry often require substantial negotiation, and can be the most restrictive, espe-cially if the materials are proprietary to the industry partner. In this situation, the Office of Technology Transfer and

Business Partnerships assesses how such restrictions will impact the University’s research interests and activities, as well as those of staff and student researchers. If the motivation for a material transfer contract with an industry partner is to avoid substantial financial costs associ-ated with an alternative acquisition ap-proach, such as a purchase of materials, it is especially important for the value of the materials to be balanced fairly with the rights and obligations assigned to both parties.

While it is usually desirable to limit a recipient’s rights to use and transfer commercially valuable material, it is sel-dom desirable to restrict the recipient’s editorial and publication rights. Not only do these kinds of restrictions com-promise the intellectual integrity of the research enterprise, but they can also place the work outside the export control “safe-harbor” of “fundamental research.” Outside this safe harbor, the work may be subject to additional internal compliance reviews and processes and the participa-tion of foreign students and staff may be unnecessarily restricted or delayed.

In most cases, MTAs can be signed by Reid Smith, the Director of Technology Transfer and Business Partnerships, al-though some agreements require the sig-nature of the Vice President for Finance and Business Services. In either case, the process is initiated by contacting Reid Smith ([email protected] or 513.529.3753) or OARS Administrative Assistant Vanessa Gordon ([email protected] or 513.529.3600).

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OARS Research News February 2014 9

Re-design aims to make OARS website more user-friendlyby Heather Beattey JohnstonOARS Assistant Director &Information Coordinator

We are pleased to announce that a new OARS website (MiamiOH.edu/research) is

up and running (although the new Re-search Compliance and Undergraduate Research sections are still in develop-ment).

Our goal in re-designing the website was to make it easier to find the infor-mation you’re looking for and to help you accomplish common tasks more quickly. The screenshots here show you how our information is organized and point out new features.

Once you’ve had a chance to check out the new site, we’d love for you to tell us what you think by completing our sur-vey or by e-mailing OARS Information Coordinator Heather Johnston ([email protected]).

Finally, make sure you update any bookmarks you had for our old site to corresponding material on the new site.

New researchers (or experienced researchers new to Miami) can learn about submitting pro-posals for external funding at Miami by clicking on “Getting started” in the navigation menu.

A “Policies and Procedures” widget collects all this important information in a single place.

The Proposal Approval Form (PAF) and other key documents can be downloaded from the homepage with a single click.

Point-of-contact is provided directly on the page for each service, so you always know who to call or e-mail for help.

Pages are more streamlined and text is less dense. Accordion button arrows allow you to select and focus on just the information you need.

OARS Research News May 2014 1

RESEARCH NEWSa publication of the Office for the Advancement of Research & Scholarship at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio • MiamiOH.edu/research

May 2014OARS

In this issueWelcome .....................................1Armstrong research profile .......2Clerkin research profile .............3Bautista research profile .............4Posters on the Hill ......................5NSF GRF recipients/events .......6New patent issued......................7Omni-Circular overview, pt 2 ....8

Summer is a special time for faculty, but not for the reason most people think. Despite the popular notion

that college professors have summers “off,” many Miami faculty work just as hard or harder in June and July as they do in September and October. The reason summer is special is that it allows for a different focus compared to the academ-ic year, the kind that happens outside the classroom.

For some, summer brings opportunities for professional development. Work-shops and conferences, like the CUR Conference being held June 28 through July 1 in Washington, DC, help faculty acquire the tools and skills they need to effectively mentor student researchers. Without this professional development, students like Emily Adams – featured on page 5 – would not have opportunities to present their work at events like Miami’s alternative spring break, Posters on the Hill.

For others, summer means concentrat-ing on research and scholarly activities.

As much as Miami faculty love teaching, having time away from the day-to-day responsibilities of the classroom is crit-ical, not only because of the work that happens in the lab, in the field, on stage, behind a camera, or behind a keyboard, but also because of the work that happens between the ears. While I haven’t asked

any of them about it specifically, I would guess that for the faculty profiled in this issue – Ann Elizabeth Armstrong on page 2, Elise Clerkin on page 3, Nazan Bautisa on page 4, and Donna Scarborough and Michael Bailey-Van Kuren on page 7 – a lot of the thinking behind their successful projects happened in the summer.

For still others, summer time is stu-dent research time. Miami faculty lead REUs, they guide Undergraduate Sum-mer Scholars, and they mentor graduate students. And the effects extend beyond Miami’s brick walls, as evidenced by the NSF Graduate Fellowship Program awards given to biology student Court-ney Clark-Hachtel and mathematics and statistics, engineering physics, computer science and electrical engineering stu-dent James Morton (page 6).

So as we wrap up the 2013-2014 aca-demic year and head into the not-so-lazy days of summer, I tip my hat to Miami’s hard-working faculty-researchers and scholars. I hope you get at least a few days of actually getting away from work.

Welcome to this issue of the newsletterby Jim OrisAssociate Provost for Research & Dean of the Graduate School

Jim Oris

Student work celebrated at Undergraduate Research ForumMiami University undergradu-ate students presented results of independent research proj-ects and other creative activity at the 20th Annual Undergrad-uate Research Forum, held April 16 at Shriver Center.

Nearly 500 student authors working on more than 300 projects participated in oral and poster sessions.

OARS Research News May 2014 2

Western College for Women (now Miami University’s West-ern Campus) is a landmark for

the 1964 Freedom Summer, but most stu-dents don’t know its role in this historical event. Dr. Ann Elizabeth Armstrong, an associate professor in theatre, recently re-ceived nearly $60,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to fund the creation of a prototype game for her project, “Orientation to the Mississip-pi Summer Project: An Interactive Quest for Social Justice.” This game, soon to be an iPhone and iPad app, will be an inter-active location-based game that interprets the Mississippi Summer Project on the Western campus site of the 1964 orienta-tion for Freedom Summer activists.

This app allows people to walk around Western campus and learn about Free-dom Summer while playing an interactive game on their phones. It will be creat-ed using Augmented Reality Interactive Storytelling (ARIS), a platform used for creating mobile games, tours and interac-tive stories. Armstrong hopes to create an authentic app, potentially including real

footage from 1964, to make people feel like they’re physically there. This proto-type is expected to be completed by Sep-tember 2014, in time for the 50th anniver-sary of Freedom Summer.

The creation of this prototype brings to-gether historians, game designers, many other Miami faculty, civil rights move-ment veterans, high school teachers, and professionals from the National Under-ground Railroad Freedom Center and the new Mississippi State Civil Rights Muse-um. While Armstrong has provided the historical background for this project, she

had help from her co-primary investiga-tors Bob DeSchutter (AIMS/EHS) and Elias Tzoc (CDS) on game design and technical support.

“This game gives the opportunity to tell the story of the Freedom Summer and to reach new audiences through this medi-um,” Armstrong explained. “It’s important to think about how to tell a story in a way to reach the next generation.”

This project started in 2004 as a walk-ing tour of Western Campus hosted by Armstrong, and has since been further

Theater professor, supported by NEH, hopes app will bring 1964 “Freedom Summer” site to life for a new generationby Caroline KendallCommunications Intern

Theater professor Ann Elizabeth Armstrong received a grant to develop an app that interprets the history of Freedom Summer that occurred on Miami’s Western Campus.

developed by the Center for American and World Cultures and a 2009 NEH In-terpreting America’s Historic Places plan-ning grant. Then the Humanities Center’s Digital Humanities Work Group provided the essential support Armstrong needed to write the most recent grant.

“As a theatre professor, I’m always inter-ested in telling stories and finding ways to engage people,” Armstrong explained. She has told this story through several addi-tional media, including lobby displays, museum exhibits and reenactments.

After the prototype game is created, Arm-strong hopes to move the medium onto an online format by spring of 2015 to reach a broader audience and allow people to play anywhere. According to Armstrong, along with teaching students about Freedom Summer, this grant also has the potential to expand digital humanities at Miami and to open up new ways of learning. “I’m always interested

in finding ways to engage people.”

Freedom Summer Memorial plaque

OARS Research News May 2014 3

Psychology professor’s study pays attention to attentionby Caroline KendallCommunications Intern

Elise Clerkin, an assistant pro-fessor of psychology, received a two-year grant from the National

Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alco-holism (NIAAA) to develop and eval-uate an experimental intervention for individuals with co-occurring alcohol dependence and social anxiety symp-toms. Clerkin’s ongoing research has been conducted in collaboration with Joshua Magee (University of Cincinna-ti), Nancy Barnett (Brown University), and Courtney Beard (Harvard Univer-sity).

More specifically, Clerkin and her col-leagues are focused on developing and testing a computer-based experimental intervention called AMP, which stands for Attention Modification Program. AMP is designed to change the things people focus their attention on. This program capitalizes on the idea that the things that capture one’s attention are often outside of one’s conscious control, or even outside of their awareness. In fact, research suggests that information in a person’s environment can greatly influence them, even when they don’t

realize it. Further these mental habits become so automatic that they are dif-ficult to “catch” or change on purpose. Clerkin and her colleagues are interest-ed in developing programs like AMP that are capable of modifying, or chang-ing, what one’s brain may automatically focus on.

“Paying attention to negative social in-formation can exacerbate someone’s sensitivity to being rejected, and may even cause higher levels of social anx-iety,” Clerkin explained. Further, the severity of one’s addiction and relapse after treatment has been shown to be associated with heightened attention for

information related to alcohol cues.

Clerkin and co-investigators expect 60 people to complete the trial, and have already randomized roughly 30 people into the study from the Cincinnati area. As part of their participation, individu-als are asked to attend eight experimen-tal training sessions over the course of four weeks. They also complete several assessments where they are evaluated on cognitive measures of attention, self-re-ported drinking, self-reported social anxiety, and behavioral outcomes.

Results from this study will provide initial pilot data to determine how well individuals can be trained to shift at-tention away from alcohol-relevant and

Mental habits become so automatic that they are difficult to

change on purpose.

socially threatening cues, and whether these shifts result in reductions in heavy drinking and anxiety.

“This research is exciting because of the potential not only to elucidate mech-anisms linking alcohol use disorders and social anxiety symptoms, but also because of the treatment implications,” Clerkin explained. “If developed and found to be effective, this type of inter-vention could be easily disseminated, and have the potential to reach individ-uals who often do not have access to ev-idence-based forms of treatment.”

Clerkin is also enthusiastic about this study’s focus on transdiagnostic mech-anisms that may underlie symptom improvement across problem areas. “Rather than focusing on overarching disorders of ‘anxiety’ or ‘alcohol use’ or ‘eating’, studies like this have the poten-tial to move our field toward treating problems on the basis of underlying mechanisms fueling these disorders—including, potentially, biases in atten-tion.”

“Paying attention to negative social information can exacerbate someone’s sensitivity to being rejected,” says Elise Clerkin. She says biased attention may also underlie alcohol dependence.

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The study seeks to determine whether

symptoms of alcohol dependence and social anxiety can be reduced

by changing one’s focus of attention.

OARS Research News May 2014 4

Nazan Bautista, an associate professor of teacher education, has received the 2014 Nation-

al Technology Leadership Initiative (NTLI) Fellowship award for a study she presented at the Association for Sci-ence Teacher Education (ASTE). Bau-tista’s study investigated the impact of a mixed-reality teaching environment using TeachLivE technology. TeachLivE creates a teaching environment using computer-generated avatars meant to be as similar to real students as possible.

TeachLivE is used primarily by early childhood education majors to improve their understanding of inquiry-based science education. Bautista explained that when she began teaching only two out of 80 Miami students were able to teach science in their field experiences. Thus, student teachers never really got the opportunity to practice the skills and knowledge to teach science through inquiry while in the field. TeachLivE al-lows everyone to get the opportunity to teach science in a real life situation.

In TeachLivE, there are five avatar stu-dents in the classroom, each with a different personality based on the char-acteristics of real life adolescents. Stu-dent teachers wear headsets that mon-itor their movement in the room while speaking directly to the avatars in this program. The avatars respond when asked questions, creating real life teach-ing experiences. TeachLivE also has the ability to adjust the avatar’s behavior

Prof wins award for study on using VR tool to train teachersby Caroline KendallCommunications Intern

Nazan Bautista (seated in photo on left) observes a student teacher as she interacts with student avatars in the TeachLivE environment (right).

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level from calm to extreme to further enhance the experience.

“It’s like playing Nintendo Wii, but in-stead of playing sports or games, you are ‘playing’ classroom teaching and you can interact with your virtual students,” Bautista said.

Along with giving students the oppor-tunity to teach science, TeachLivE also gives students the opportunity to prac-tice classroom management techniques in a safe environment. While participat-

ing with TeachLivE, student teachers are able to get physically closer to the avatars on screen by standing on certain “X” marks on the floor. This gives them the ability to directly ask a certain avatar a question so that they learn the impor-tance of proximity and body language to classroom management.

As a former physics teacher, Bautista has always been interested in finding a way to effectively incorporate scientific inquiry into early childhood education. Many student teachers are deprived of the opportunity to teach science during their field experiences because many schools emphasize other subjects, such as math and English.

“Three experiences with TeachLivE isn’t going to make students the best science teacher, but it makes them internalize what inquiry is and what it means to teach through inquiry and to be a teacher. They’re able to critique their own lessons.”

Student teachers who participate in TeachLivE are taped so they can evaluate their own performance and get immedi-ate feedback from fellow classmates and the instructor. TeachLivE complements field experiences by providing student teachers with the opportunity to actual-ly teach science in a way the 21st cen-tury classrooms demand and by helping them prepare for situations they may encounter.

The NTLI Fellowship award has been given since 2000 and is sponsored by the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE). The award is given to researchers for their exemplary use of technology in teacher prepara-tion with the purpose of furthering di-alogue within professional associations regarding appropriate technology use in teacher education.

“It’s like playing Nintendo Wii, but instead of playing

sports or games, you are ‘playing’ class-

room teaching.”

“TeachLivE isn’t going to make

students the best science teacher,

but it makes them internalize what

inquiry is and what it means to teach

through inquiryand to be a teacher.”

OARS Research News May 2014 5

Emily Adams, an undergraduate senior studying geology and en-vironmental earth science, par-

ticipated in Posters on the Hill, an alter-native spring break sponsored by Miami University. Posters on the Hill is a forum on Capitol Hill that attempts to help members of Congress understand the importance of undergraduate research.

Adams, along with 32 other students, was able to present her research to legislators in Columbus and in Washington, D.C. While in Columbus, the students pre-sented their research to Ohio Senators and Representatives with the goal of en-couraging continued support for research by showing specifically how their fund-ing for research is used. In D.C., students presented their research to Congressmen and Senators in D.C. to further advocate for support of research and education at Miami University.

“Posters on the Hill was a great experi-ence to meet members of the govern-ment, make connections and also to grow as a public speaker and a person,” Adams explained.

Adams’ research focuses on finding nat-ural gas. She looks for hot spots of Mar-cellus shale, a type of sedimentary rock containing untapped natural gas. The sig-nificance of this research is the economic impact it could have in regions through-out Ohio. This information could be giv-en to smaller oil companies, which could help create more jobs and boost econo-

mies. Additionally, the use of this natural gas would have significant environmental benefits as well. Her impressive research was featured on Congressman John Boehner’s blog.

“I thank the students from Miami Uni-versity for making the trip to Washington to share their research with lawmakers and policy staff on Capitol Hill,” Boehner said. “Posters on the Hill is a great oppor-tunity for students from our local area to showcase their hard work, and I’m always impressed with their accomplishments.”

To participate in this event annual event, Adams was nominated by a professor and then went through several rounds of in-terviews and meetings to be selected to present.

Research supported by federal funds helps to create future jobs in emerging technologies, fosters the development of clean energy and develops the next gen-eration of scientific leaders. Posters on the Hill encourages federal legislators to support research funding at the levels re-quested by the various agencies.

Students advocate for research funding in DC OARS hosts second annual round tableOn Thursday, March 6, OARS hosted a round table event for researchers interested in identi-fying collaborators for interdisci-plinary research projects.

Jokingly referred to as “speed dating for researchers,” this event brought researchers from differ-ent fields together around five themes:• Community development• Environment, climate,

and disaster relief• Public health• Commerce and employment

growth/workforce development• Cyber security

Interdisciplinary collaborations re-sulting from the round table event were eligible to apply for up to $25,000 in internal seed money to be used to gather preliminary in-formation and/or data necessary for developing a proposal for ex-tramural funding. Results of the applications for internal awards will be shared in a future issue of OARS Research News.

by Caroline KendallCommunications Intern

Geology student Emily Adams was featured on Speaker of the House John Boehner’s blog

Join CUR freeClick Join CUR at cur.org

and select Miami University (OH).

OARS Research News May 2014 6

Miami University students Court-ney Clark-Hachtel and James Morton have been offered a

prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship Award by the National Science Founda-tion (NSF). Clark-Hachtel is a graduate student in biology and Morton is a senior majoring in mathematics and statistics, electrical engineering, computer science, and engineering physics.

Since 1952, NSF has provided fellowships to individuals selected early in their ca-reers based on their demonstrated poten-tial for significant achievements in science and engineering. Recipients receive three years of financial support within a five-year fellowship period.

Clark-Hachtel, who studies the evolution-ary origins of insect wings, received hon-orable mention from the NSF last year. “After three years of applying, finally re-ceiving the NSF GRF means quite a lot,” she says. “I am humbled that others in the community find my research exciting and innovative.”

Morton plans to pursue a PhD in comput-er science at the University of Colorado Boulder. “I feel very honored to receive this award. With this funding I aim to further my graduate work in biological/medical research,” he says.

The following Miami alumni pursuing graduate degrees at other institutions also received Graduate Research Fellowships: Nathaniel Rogers (Cornell University), Ashley Richards (University of Louis-ville), Mark Noviski (University of Cali-fornia San Francisco), and Samuel Greer (Florida State University). Paige Lloyd, currently pursuing a graduate degree in psychology at Miami, received honorable mention.

Current and former Miami students recognized by NSF

“I am humbled that others in the

community find my research exciting and innovative.”

by Heather Beattey JohnstonOARS Assistant Director &Information Coordinator

NSF GRF recipient Courtney Clark-Hachtel

Events and deadlines to noteMay1................. CUR Proposal Writing Institute (July): application deadline16 .............. CUR Conference 2014: Registration closes

June1................. CUR Geoscience Division Undergraduate Research Mentor

Award: nomination deadline (self-nominations accepted)25............... NIH AREA grants: application deadline25-27 ......... NIH Regional Seminar on Program Funding and Grants,

Baltimore28-July 1 .... CUR Conference 2014, Washington, DC

July17-21 ......... CUR Institute: Proposal Writing, Mobile, AL

24 .............. NEA Art Works grants: application deadline

September11 ............... NEH Digital Humanities Start-Up grants: application deadline

19............... CUR Creative Inquiry in Arts & Humanities Institute (November): application deadline

October25............... NIH AREA grants: application deadline

November7-9 ..............CUR Institute: Creative Inquiry in Arts & Humanities, Milwaukee

NIH loosens its policy on re-submission On her Rock Talk blog April 17, NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Re-search, Sally Rockey, announced changes to the NIH’s policy on re-sub-mission. “While the new policy still allows for a single resubmission per application,” she writes, “ideas that were unsuccessfully submitted as a re-submission (A1) may now be presented in a new grant application (A0) with-out having to substantially redesign the content and scope of the project.” The move is expected to be especially advantageous to new investigators. More details can be found in Rockey’s blog post.

OARS Research News May 2014 7

Patent on gag-reflex reduction device granted to Miamiby Reid SmithDirector of Technology Transfer & Business Partnerships

The month of April brought good news for Miami’s innovation portfolio. The Office of Technol-

ogy Transfer and Business Partnerships received news from the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that a pat-ent will be granted on Miami’s gag-re-flex reduction device. This device, in-vented by Donna Scarborough (Speech Pathology and Audiology) and Michael Bailey-Van Kuren (Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering), dimin-ishes the gag reflex in situations where a hyper-sensitive response can interfere with routine health procedures. Cur-rently there is no clinically-tested and approved product for this healthcare problem.

The technology behind the device is a pressure applicator that provides a con-trolled, specific input to an area of the palm, which in turn has an effect on the nervous system that attenuates the gag-ging response to stimuli in the oral cavi-ty. The device has been on a commercial-ization pathway for a number of years,

with the business plan having its origin in a Farmer School of Business capstone class. The team assembled to assess and construct an entrepreneurship plan for the invention began the process in 2009, which led to the formation of a compa-ny that secured rights to the technology under an option agreement in 2011. The company PharynMed is now in negoti-ations with the university to secure a li-cense upon having reached the milestone of first patent issuance. The company is also seeking funding to support further development and commercialization of a product under the license.

While the news bodes well for the tech-nology, it also highlights one of the chal-lenges faced by academic institutions, individual inventors, and corporations

alike. The original patent filing for the invention dates back to May, 2008. With the recent notice of allowance, the uni-versity and the USPTO close a process that required almost six years of activity to bring to conclusion. This fact points to the substantial time and cost involved in pursuing a patent for a technology in the US While some of the individual characteristics of this case and its prose-cution history contributed to the lengthy pendency at the USPTO, it is not uncom-mon for patent applications assigned to certain technology art groups to spend several years in the process queue at the Patent and Trademark office.

Recent changes to US patent law in the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (2011) were designed to address the

problem of lengthy pendency by afford-ing the USPTO new fee setting authority and allowing for a new expedited prose-cution option for an additional fee. With the new fast-track or prioritized exam-ination procedures, an applicant has the ability to move an application forward in the queue. This option is available for applications filed on or after September 26, 2011, and is available for original/new utility applications, as well as new continuation applications and plant ap-plications. In the current form, entry to the accelerated track is limited to the first 10,000 requests during any fiscal year, so the demand for the program and the effect on the current backlog of cases remain as factors in reducing pendency time for cases.

According to the USPTO’s patent dash-board, there are approximately 616,000 unexamined cases in the backlog and the traditional total pendency measure (including Request for Continued Ex-amination, or RCE, applications) is 38 months, with first office action pendency at 18.6 months. The number of patent examiners on staff at the USPTO has de-clined slightly to 7966, since December.

Donna Scarborough and Michael Bailey-Van Kuren, inventors of a recently patented gag- reflex reduction device, discuss another one of their inventions: a controlled-flow “sippy” cup

PharynMed is now in negotiations with

the university to secure a license for this patented device.

There is substantial time

and cost involved in pursuing a patent.

OARS Research News May 2014 8

In the last issue of OARS Research News, we touched on the proposed Omni-Circular, highlighting some

of the changes in the new streamlined document that will likely affect pre- and post-award operations. We continue where we left off under Subpart D: Pro-gram Income and continue on to Subpart E, where cost principles are addressed.

SUBPART D: PROGRAM INCOMEIn the past, Federal agencies could either let program income generated under a Federal award be used toward project costs or require that generated funds be returned to the Federal-awarding agen-cy. In the new guidance, income from fees for services performed, from rental or personal property acquired under a Federal award, or from the sale of com-modities or items fabricated under a Federal award (e.g., license fees and roy-alties on patents and copyrights) can be used to pay for current project costs or to meet Federal cost share requirements.

SUBPART E: COST PRINCIPLESSubpart E of the new guidance address-es Administrative and Clerical Support. A common question is whether Federal funds be used to pay administrative/cler-ical staff. As under previous rules, the new circular indicates that the answer

depends on circumstances. The new circular states that salaries for adminis-trative and clerical staff may be allowable as direct costs in certain circumstances provided those costs are not being cap-tured under indirect or facilities and ad-ministrative costs (F&A). Additionally, a specific individual must be identified and associated with specific work on a proj-ect in order to directly charge for clerical support. In our current negotiated indi-rect cost rate agreement, administrative and clerical support is captured as part of our F&A base. Therefore, the matter of whether Federal funds be used to pay administrative/clerical staff depends on the nature of the project and the duties to be performed. Contact OARS if you have questions.

Proposed Omni-Circular affects program income and costs by Tricia CallahanDirector of Proposal Development Facilities & Administrative

Costs (F&A)Federal awarding agencies are now re-quired under the new guidance to accept Federally-negotiated rates unless a par-ticular funding program has a statutory rate. This means that our current F&A rate of 42% of modified total direct costs can be charged to a majority of our Fed-eral sponsors. (And if we happen to be working with an entity that does not have a Federally-negotiated rate, the new guidance has set a rate of 10% of modi-fied total direct costs for those entities). Again, if you have questions, feel free to contact an OARS representative.

A reminder from the last OMB update: Federal agencies are being required to crack down on voluntary cost share. While in the past, we might have been able to reduce the F&A requested on a Federal award, going forward this will be more difficult as any voluntary reduction in F&A constitutes voluntary cost share, which will not be allowed on a majority of Federal awards.

ComputersAlso under the topic of cost principles is the question of whether computing de-vices can be paid for with Federal funds. In the past, a computer or computing device had to be essential to the project (or research) being proposed and had to be 100% allocable and dedicated to the project. While computing devices must still be essential and allocable, they no longer have to be 100% dedicated to a project to be requested.

REMAINING QUESTIONSAs interesting as what has been included in the new guidance, is what has not been included. For instance, the new guid-ance does not address how payroll dis-tributions will certify personal services compensation. This raises the question of how institutions are to certify time and effort. Currently, Grants and Con-tracts certifies time and effort. It remains to be seen whether we will need to make changes to our policies and practice with regard to certifying time and effort.

TRAINING & EDUCATION The Office for the Advancement of Re-search and Scholarship, along with Grants and Contracts, will be closely monitoring the changes in the new guid-ance, reviewing and analyzing our exist-ing policies and procedures to ensure we remain in compliance. Any changes to our current policies and practices will be communicated to you, our constituents, via e-mail, newsletters, and special train-ing/education sessions.

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Any changes to current OARS

policies and practices will be communicated to you through

multiple channels.