What We Do & How We Do It By Gil Harootunian, PhD Director, ORSP.

ORSP Overview: What We Do & How We Do It

By Gil Harootunian, PhD Director, ORSP

Part I: What We DoShare common goal: success in landing external funding.

Support your journey to become a lifelong and successful grant getter.

Develop resources—and more resources.

The sooner you come to us, the sooner we can provide services.

On the rare occasions when bumps happen, often we have not been approached early enough.

Come to us early, and here’s what we can do to help deliver an on-time, fundable grant application to a sponsor….

Come To Us….

Question: What is one of the most common reasons for declension of a grant?

Answer: An excessive or poorly justified budget.

Why?: Allocation of resources is a critical leadership skill.

What else?: Bumps in budget slow down award process.

We do … budgets

We do … translationTranslate ‘federal-ese’ into plain English

Interpret and clarify any sponsor’s language

Explain terms, contexts, and regulations

We do … complianceTechnical requirementsFinancial policiesProject prioritiesA compliant application is a fundable application.

Having the application early allows us to do a thoughtful and meticulous review.

Having the application late means that we can verify only the most basic information.

We review (a lot)

We have experience….NIH: We recommend two-day business window to view submissions (e.g., graphics).

Grants.gov: 4-day early submission is narrowest window to successfully re-submit if necessary.

E-Grants: We can give “viewer” privileges.

NSF: We can ‘create a copy’ in Fastlane to re-submit if necessary.

We can minimize 11th hour scenarios….

Partner can’t deliver on promised letter of commitment.

No one is available to sign off.‘Bump’ in complex application = rejection in electronic submission system.

Application just ‘falls through the cracks.’

We can minimize ‘but the program officer told me’ scenarios….

Program officers are informative and dedicated so … keep in touch w/ them.

Program officers are also rotated from program to program.

Program officers must keep external constituents happy (translation: butter can melt in their mouths).

Program officers have prescribed duties and authority.

We can share best practices….

We have an entire session dedicated to this today.

Question: What is the result of sharing best practices ?

Answer: Increased chances of submitting an on-time, error-free, highly competitive grant application.

Part II: How We Do ItHuman Resources (a.k.a., the ORSP Team)◦Tom McClanahan, PhD, AVPRSP◦Gil Harootunian, PhD, Director, ORSP◦Nancy Myers Sims, Grants and Contracts

Development Specialist◦Daniel Griffin, EdD, Associate Director◦Douglas Carey, Grants Administrator◦Grace Liu, IP Attorney◦Maral Kismetian, Administrative Analyst◦Rocio Quiñonez Montaño, Dept. Secretary

Resources…ORSP website◦Guidelines and samples◦Disciplinary resources◦Policies and regulations◦PI Handbook◦Forms◦FAQs◦Twitter

Programmatic ResourcesFaculty awards provide seed money and track record.◦RSCA: $5,000 competitive awards, primarily for release time or summer pay Note: Temporarily suspended

◦One criteria = likelihood that work will lead to successful grants

Programmatic Resources

Laval: The Claude C. Laval Award for Innovative Technology & Research supports development of innovative technology and related research at Fresno State.

Programmatic ResourcesStudent awards enhance the ‘pipeline’ that most sponsors value highly.◦NSF◦NIH◦USDA

Sponsors want to fund the future.

Programmatic Resources◦California State University Student Research Competition — both undergraduate and graduate students eligible

◦Central California Research Symposium — a forum to share recent research as well as to encourage research activities in the Central Valley

Programmatic Resources◦Grant Development Workshop◦…and we do lots more that can be ‘invisible’ to Fresno State stakeholders. Hispanic-serving Institution status

Example: NEH or USDE RUI status

Example: NSF

Finally … the nuts and bolts We guide you through required institutional review

and approval (a.k.a., joining the Fresno State Team). Who must review and approve?

Your ChairYour DeanYour Grants ManagerProvost or AVPRSP or DesigneeVP of Admin/Univ CFO or AVP Finance

Note: Co-PIs in different colleges need to secure

approvals from their own Chairs and Deans.

Finally … the nuts and bolts What is the absolutely best practice here?

Start early!Intent to Apply form—gives all interested

parties a heads up about your grant application

Project Information Form (“PIF”)—abstracts the key information needed for parties to review and sign off

The future w/ the nuts and bolts

Spring 2012: Begin transition to automated workflow system

Benefits Access 24/7/365 from anywhere in the world

Track with accuracyo Good-bye to endless email and phone tag

“Bolts” onto e-systems already in place Generates reports with increased ease

Questions?

Follow-up Questions?

Contact Information:Gil Harootunian, PhDDirector, [email protected]