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Research Faculty and Staff,
UC, along with several other educational partners, will take the opportunity in 2009 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s famed “On the Origin of Species.” This year also marks the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth.
Faculty, staff and students throughout the university will participate in a number of events related to this sesquicentennial celebration titled Evolution: Evidence & Impact.
Learn more about this year-long event at http://www.uc.edu/darwin/default.html.
And, as always, we welcome your feedback and encourage you to check out research.uc.edu.
Sandra Degen, PhD
Vice President for Research
NEWS/GRANTS
NIH Policy for New Investigators
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently published a notice describing policies and procedures for investigators who wish to request an extension of the NIH-defined Early Stage Investigator (ESI) classification period. Read the complete notice at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-09-034.html.
CSR Study Section Description Update
The Center for Scientific Review (CSR) has updated and enhanced its study section descriptions. New reviewers often use them to learn about their study sections. Applicants also regularly use these descriptions to request a CSR study section that might best review their applications. View the new descriptions. You can also view a full list of UC faculty on other National Institutes of Health (NIH) study sections. Visit Researcher’s Gateway and click on the “NIH Study Section Members” link on the “Grants” page.
Monthly Research Data Available on Gateway
It’s important—particularly in difficult funding times—to monitor progress of sponsored research awards and expenditures. Monthly reports for the university and each college are available on Researcher’s Gateway under the “Grants” link. Data for fiscal year 2009 (July through October) still shows a 5 percent increase in expenditures over the same period in fiscal year 2008. Funding is still down slightly over fiscal year 2008, but that gap was reduced between the September and October reporting period. The colleges of allied health sciences, medicine, nursing and pharmacy are all showing increases over the same fiscal year 2008 reporting period. Proposal submission are on par with fiscal year 2008.
New Grants Awarded in December
Writing winning grants is tough. We understand the hard work that goes into preparing a proposal and want to make sure that effort doesn’t go unnoticed. Check out your great work—and that of your colleagues—at uc.edu/ucresearch/new_grant_winners.html.
2009 Grant-Writing Workshops
More than 250 people participated in grant-writing workshops offered in 2008. Application deadlines for 2009 sessions begin in March. Information about 2009 grant-writing workshops is available at www.uc.edu/ucResearch/GrantWritingWorkshop.html.
Surveys and IRB Approval
Are you performing surveys? If so, federal regulations may mandate that you submit a protocol for Institutional Review Board (IRB) review and approval. Failure to obtain IRB approval may restrict the use of data and could result in disciplinary action. If you are collecting data from human subjects please contact the IRB office to determine if your work requires IRB review. Contact Claudia Norman at (513) 558-5784 or claudia.norman@uc.edu.
2008–09 Entrepreneurial Faculty Achievement Awards
The UC Office of Entrepreneurial Affairs is soliciting nominations for the 2008–09 Entrepreneurial Achievement Awards. There are two categories of awards being given to faculty for exceptional accomplishment in promoting and maximizing the human benefits and commercial potential of university intellectual property and/or research. The Established Entrepreneur Award is for faculty with a record of five or more years of successful entrepreneurial ventures. The Emerging Entrepreneur Award is for faculty members who have successfully launched a new venture during the past five years. Both awards are based on new venture creation that is connected to UC research, intellectual property or business development activities that support the expansion of markets, delivery mechanisms and revenue streams for existing or new academic programs. To review selection criteria, visit www.uc.edu/facultyawards/awards.htm. The deadline for applications is Friday, Feb. 13. Faculty members from all colleges are eligible to apply. The electronic application form can be accessed at http://webcentral.uc.edu/eaward/apply.cfm. Winners will be notified by mid-March. For more information, contact Dorothy Air, PhD, associate senior vice president for entrepreneurial affairs, at (513) 558-6054 or dorothy.air@uc.edu.
Intensive Clinical Research Orientation
Over the last five years, the Office of Research has been offering quarterly, day-long orientation sessions on clinical research. Those sessions have been well attended, generating regular requests for even more training. In response to that feedback, the Office of Research will now begin a more intensive program. Beginning in February, day-long training sessions will be discontinued and replaced with three half-day sessions. Session 1 is strongly recommended for those who are new to research and/or have not completed the day-long training session. Sessions 2 and 3 will provide additional, in-depth training and will include such topics as data safety monitoring, budget preparation, HIPAA, informed consent process, appropriate subject interaction, and information on what to expect during study inspections. Session schedules will vary and will be offered both in the morning and afternoon. A master schedule listing all of the 2009 orientation sessions will be available online soon. Registration is required—and will be available online. There is no fee for these sessions. For more information, please contact Dana Raab at (513) 558-7821 or raabd@ucmail.uc.edu. Additional research and compliance education and training opportunities are listed under the “Education/Training” link on Researcher’s Gateway.
GREEN BITS
The university, as part of the Green Partnership for Greater Cincinnati, is working collaboratively with four other major organizations in the Greater Cincinnati area to reduce its carbon footprint. There are several things you can do in labs and offices to improve energy and waste management. Research Update—with the help of Eric Gruenstein, PhD, professor of molecular genetics—provides monthly “greening” tips for research faculty and staff.
Tip #10: Disconnects vs. Incentives—A Fight to the Finish
There are lots of great ways to save energy (and $) that don’t get implemented because the people who could come up with the ideas don’t have any incentive to implement them. Let me give you a “f’rinstance” that comes from Joseph Romm’s book, “Cool Companies.” The leadership of Dow Chemical’s Louisiana Division thought they had done pretty well at making their facilities energy efficient by bringing in outside experts and making the recommended changes. Nevertheless, their energy manager decided to hold a contest to see if their own employees could find any remaining opportunities, especially low-hanging fruit, i.e. energy-saving projects that would pay for themselves in less than a year. Of the ideas submitted they selected 27 requiring a total investment of $1.7 million. Their investment yielded an average payback time of seven months.
The folks at Dow figured there couldn’t be any more projects left with such high yields, but they ran another contest the next year anyway. To their surprise, they had 32 winners requiring a total investment of $2.2 million with an average payback time of only four months and a savings to the company of $7.5 million for that year and every year thereafter. Incredibly the contest went on for at least 13 years and during the final three years, the company was selecting over 100 winning suggestions per year with an average payback time of four months and an average savings to the company of $25 million each year. The key to Dow’s success was having created an incentive for their employees in the form of a contest. Without this incentive, the suggestions would not have been made and the savings would not have materialized.
Sometimes the incentive is already there, but the project has a disconnect between the part of the company that stands to benefit and the part that has to do the work. A rather poignant example of this occurred in a school system in the Cincinnati area that wanted to encourage its students and teachers to recycle their paper, cardboard and plastic trash. They couldn’t get their program off the ground because it turned out that the cost of emptying dumpsters containing garbage was born by the central administration, while emptying dumpsters with the recycled materials came out of the budget of each school’s principal—the same budget that the principal had to use to purchase textbooks. And they wondered why the program didn’t work!
Around our own University of Cincinnati there are a myriad of missing incentives or disconnects. Turning off unnecessary office and lab lights, turning down an office thermostat in the winter and up in the summer, or turning off computers after hours are all exercises that would save the university money, but where’s the incentive for the student or faculty member to do them? Separating cardboard boxes from other trash could save the university money, but where’s the incentive for the janitorial staff to do it? Recycling printer toner cartridges could save many departments money, but where’s the incentive for the IT people to do it? Where’s the incentive for our people to come up with new ideas for improved energy efficiency or more environmental friendliness?
Do the answers to these questions lie in contests like the one at Dow Chemical? Or in the university sharing some of the savings with the people doing the saving? Or in some other incentivizing scheme? I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure that in the saga of Disconnect vs. Incentive, all you have to do is make the incentive attractive enough to win the battle.
If you, dear reader, are aware of any opportunities at UC for improved efficiency or environmental friendliness, please let me know. As an incentive, we may publish your idea in the next Green Bit—and you’ll be famous!
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